• Chapter one.

    “Alright Duke, I’ll see ya later.” I said, strapping my book bag back on and jogging down the road.
    I laughed. They’re probably looking at me right now, thinking how the hell I can even walk after that track meeting. I’m a natural born running, even more than they think. I’m the fastest in track, school and state. Haven’t tried country yet.
    I walked down the road, slowly getting into a hilly area. It was dark and getting wooded. All of a sudden, a SUV drove up next to me. The window rolled down.
    “Ace, is that you?!” Cherry yelled.
    I looked over. Yep, it was Cherry’s car, like I thought. Cherry was a pretty red head. He had yellowish brown eyes and a short, athletic body.
    “Yeah, was up Cherry?” I asked, wiping my fore head.
    “God, you just never quit, do you?” she said as she laughed.
    “Ace! Hey, can I join you?” Megan asked, popping her head out of the back seat’s window.
    Megan and I we’re really good friends. We’ve been friends since preschool. We do a lot of things together. I look at her as a sister more than a friend now.
    I smiled and nodded at her. The SUV stopped; she got out, and started to jog next to me.
    “Alright, I’ll see you two die-hards later, I’m going to go home and take a shower…and you two might want to think the same. I can smell you guys from here!” she laughed before she peeled off, leaving us two jogging, and after this one hill, walking alone.
    “So…what did you think about today’s little ‘contestation’ in the cafeteria?” Meg asked.
    I laughed. “You mean the one I jumped into?”
    “Yeah, that one.” she rolled her eyes as she said.
    “I don’t know. I have detention next week. So…it was worth if it you ask me. There were six kids in that fight, I just did a flying elbow right into the middle and started kicking and punching randomly.” I said with a smile.
    I haven’t been in a good fight in forever and one. That just gave me a taste of what I was missing.
    A truck flew by, going way too fast, headlights repelling the darkness in like a magnet in a scrap field. Pushing the darkness aside.
    As it went by, the red tail lights looked like monster’s eyes looking at us, angrily. But as the truck went down the road, the eyes grew small and dim, as if the monster was starting to fall asleep.
    It brushed up leaves next to us, spitting small rocks and seeds to our legs, biting us like bugs. And they stuck to our sweaty legs, making us itch. Well, it made me itch.
    “So, I got a question Ace…” Meg said, looking down at her feet.
    I was intrigued now. She never acts submissive around me. Especially around me.
    “Yeah, go ahead…” I said.
    My heart was starting to race. I have no idea why though. Well, it could be that I basically haven’t stopped working out for two hours straight now. It could also be because we were walking up Megan’s hill, witch was a work out enough.
    “We’ve been friends for a long time now right?”
    “Yeah…” I said uneasily.
    “And good friends none the less right?” she said.
    We came to the top of her hill. We were walking towards their garage. We turned left, towards their stone walk way. It was really red brick, the walk way. Something out of The Wizard of Oz. To the right of the path, were flowers and bushes and a small tree. To the left were just a couple flowers here and there.
    The front door was a jade green color, with three panels of glass that allowed the people on the inside to see out, but people on the out side can’t see in.
    The house was quiet and nice. White, windows here and there. Some tan shutters, basically a nice, regular house. I remember coming up here, playing pirates with Megan. Megan wasn’t the girly type, but we played a couple girly games.
    Just a couple, but that’s just the ten year old thing. I remember lying in bed with her, at thirteen or fourteen, looking at the glow in the dark starts on her ceiling, just talking. Movie ideas, story ideas, book ideas.
    I liked the mythical stuff, she liked future stuff. We came up with great thoughts and ideas. Ha, I remember when she was sixteen, a year ago, when her dad split her mom.
    She sat in her room and cried all day, missed school. When I went over to check on her; her mother said she hadn’t come out of her room all day. She hadn’t had food four over a day. Her mother was starting to worry about her.
    I took some peanut butter, some saltine crackers, a banana and some milk up to her bed room door. I knocked on the door and remember, just like it was yesterday what she said.
    “Go away!” she screamed.
    “Come on Megs, it’s me Ace. Let me in. You’re not mad at me, I mean, I’ve done nothing.” I remember I said.
    “No, I’m not, but go away!” she screamed even louder.
    Her voice was scratchy. From crying all day most likely.
    “I’m not going away. I will sit out here and sing. And remember, I made a dog howl last time I song…”
    I heard the door unlock. It opened up. Megan’s brown, chocolate like hair was in her eyes. Her green eyes were bright and shiny, but the skin around her eyes couldn’t be redder.
    “I only unlocked the door because I don’t want my ears to bleed…” she sniffed.
    I know I said, nodding. I walked in, sitting the food on the bed, glass of milk on the table next to her bed.
    I sat against the bed board, Megan sitting next to me. I wrapped my arm around her. Almost as soon as my hand hit her shoulder, she buried her face into my chest. I held her close as she sobbed. She would say something now and again, but my shirt muffled it and her crying didn’t help it either.
    “It’s ok Megan, I’m here, and I’m here…” I would say over and over.
    After a couple hours, she stopped crying, but it was around seven now. My mom had texted me (yes, I have a texting mom) where I was. I would say I was at Megan’s and she’s really upset, and she told me she’ll call at eight for me to come home.
    Right around seven sixteen, she stopped crying, and started to talk.
    “…he always acted strange around me and so buddy-buddy with you. Like he would wish I was a boy I think…”
    “Ha, lucky for you. Your dad didn’t get the term ‘deodorant’. I swear he smelled like a McDonald’s hamburger that sweats.” I joked.
    She laughed. “Yeah, he did always smell a little funky…”
    She looked over at the food on the table. I smiled. I reached over, grabbed the banana, plate of crackers, the peanut butter jar and the spoon.
    “You know a lot of people peel the banana wrong?” I said.
    She shook her head. “No, really? What other way is there than by the stem?”
    I smiled. “That’s what a lot of people think. But when they peel by the stem, more than often than not, they bruise the banana. If you take it by the little black thing, at the other end, and squeeze it, it’ll split relatively easily and you just…peel and eat.”
    I smiled. I took out my pocket knife, and started to cut the banana. To be a little flashy, because guys can’t help but flash a little in front of any girl, I began to cut the banana at a lighting speed. I was a little nervous though. One tiny cut and I’ll be a growling mess. Haven’t built my tolerance yet.
    But before you knew it, the banana was cut into tiny slices. I took a cracker; put some peanut butter on it, a banana slice, and another cracker on top. A peanut butter and banana sandwich. Mini sized.
    I held it out to Megan. She took it weakly, or slowly, I couldn’t tell which. She put it all in her mouth and began to chew. After she chewed, she reached over to the glass of milk and sipped it.
    “It tastes funny…” she frowned.
    “That’s because it had ice in it, now it’s melted. Hey, it’s better than nothing.” I said.
    She nodded slowly. We repeated this process about three or four times. Then my phone rang.
    “Hello…oh, hey mom. What? Yeah yeah yeah, I hear ya. Ok, I’ll be home soon, alright, I love you too, bye…hey Megs…” I started to say as I snapped the phone shut.
    She sat up instantly, turning around to face me.
    “Please Ace…is there anyway you can stay? I don’t want you to go…” she said.
    I sighed.
    “I know, but-”
    She inched closer.
    “Please? You’re the only person…the only thing that has brought comfort to me…” she said.
    We were inches away. That…may have been one of the only times I have ever had the urge to kiss Megan. To see her as a…woman than just a friend. We just sat there, breathing. Warm, moist breaths hitting each other’s lips. It was…passionate.
    “…Meg…I’m going to talk to your mom first, then mine…k?” I said, gathering myself.
    That seemed to snap us other out of whatever we were in. she nodded as if she was coming out of a daze. I honestly didn’t get it. I mean, the charm was supposed to go the other way around.
    “Yeah…sure, I’ll come with you.” she said.
    We both got up from the bed, walking to the hall way. It was lined with white rug, white walls, and photos of years of memories. Most of them I was in. As we walked down the wooden stairs, we came into the kitchen.
    The kitchen was beautiful. It had redwood color floor, as well as cabinets, with stainless-steel everything else. It was like…something out of a magazine. I love cook in here. When we hit the floor, Megan’s mom rushed to hug her child.
    “How are you feeling? Ok? Oh, thank you so much Ace, you’re a life saver!” she said.
    She was basically the adult version of Megan. To the T even. Though a little more…curvier as comes with adulthood.
    “Yeah, about that mom…” Megan said, walking over to me.
    She took my arm. Though it wouldn't bother me, if what just happen didn’t happen.
    But she did it all the time, so her mother didn’t show emotion to it. But she did a little at this time, feeling the energy waving from us.
    “Yeah?” she asked.
    “I was wondering…” Megan asked as she put on her puppy eyes as she usually does if she wants something. “If Ace can stay the night…” she asked at last.
    I wasn’t expecting to stay the night, maybe an hour or two more, not the night. As would be expected, her mother was taken aback by the question. Of course a parent would be worried about they’re child having some one else of the opposite sex stay the night, but we were friends. Have been for double digit years now.
    “Well…as long as Ace’s mom is ok with it,” she said.
    Megan hugged my arm quickly, then her mom. I began to walk outside, putting my debating hat on.
    Mom was not going to come to a decision easily about this. My mom is hardheaded and protective. Even more than Meg knows. I shut the door behind me as I walked out of the house.
    I dialed the number, my breath shooting out of my and turning into a small cloud. God…it’s so freaken cold. I walked off into the darkness, out of site. When I was somewhere out of sight, I let loose.
    Black fur crawled out from every pore on my skin like zombies from the dirt. My cloths screamed to keep from ripping as I suddenly shot up from six one to seven six. My finger nails turned into three inch claws that’ll turn into eight if I wanted.
    My skin, though not visible, turned jet black, bumpy as a gooses. My teeth grew to razor sharp, sharp enough to cut paper like a sharp knife. Yeah…I know this because I was board one day…
    My eyes turned from green, to neon blue. Unusual for my kind. But my noise grew out a little, like dogs. My muscles were bulging, and you could clearly see that, despite the black fur. My feet shot out, cutting my shoes to ribbons. Dang…forgot about my shoes…oh well.
    Usually, a werewolf’s (as you might have guessed I was now) feet are small (for they’re size), with long, inch or two, strait as a nail claws.
    Mine are huge. I’m the big foot of the werewolf world. And my claws curve like a raptor’s. My big toe even stayed up, like a raptors also, and I used it to launch my self off of stuff. Trees, vampires, Oars, stuff like that.
    And last but not least, I had two pointy ears on the top of my head, able to hear the wings of the fire fly a couple feet away clear as day.
    The phone I have is a clunker. It’s huge. Like a brick. Now, it’s kind of small to my bowling ball sized hands. I held it to my ear.
    “Hello?” a woman answered.
    “Mom, it’s me Ace.” I always say, even though she knows my number.
    My voice was very deep and very sandy, but that’ll change soon to a smoother, rouged voice.
    “Ace?!? Why did you Warp!? Aren’t you-”
    “Yes, I’m at Megan’s. I’m out side, in the dark. It was cold so I Warped to get some warmth. But here’s the thing…Megan’s dad is leaving their mother. Apparently, this is a big deal for Mortals.”
    “What?! That’s stupid,” Ralph yelled.
    Ralph is my brother. Apparently I was on speaker. “Jackie and you never knew your dad, and I didn’t know mine.” He finished.
    “Yeah, I know- ack!” I coughed
    “What’s wrong Ace!?” mom howled nervously.
    Finally, I swallowed. Wow…I can’t believe that just happened.
    “Um…nothing mom, just nothing…but back to what I was saying, I know it’s usually tradition for fathers to leave the cubs I know.”
    Werewolf fathers never usually stay around. They basically, as much as I hate to say this, sleep with the female werewolf, make sure she’s safe from any harm; like a body guard. Most don’t sleep for nine months, watching over the females as they sleep. That’s the most love most fathers show their cubs.
    But our father wanted his first born to have something, a necklace. And for him or her never to take it off. That’s me. So I have this pendent on my neck ever since I could remember,
    “But Megan’s father has been with her for sixteen years, one year shorter than I’ve been alive. She wants me to stay…”
    “What?!?! NO! Absolutely not!” my mother shouted.
    “Mom! Come on! Megan is in a sensitive place-” I started to protest.
    It was true. This was the same girl that would sit on me when we were little till I gave into going to the movie she wanted to see. That even happened a week ago.
    “I know! That’s why I said no! I have no idea how Mortal teen age girls deal with this. They could want to have-”
    “Mom!” I, Ralph, and Jackie, my sister, all shouted.
    “What?!” I heard her say.
    Like she didn’t know…
    “She’s like my sister! Only I like her better than Jackie.” I said.
    “Oh thanks you snot ball.” I heard her say.
    God…I dislike her with great intensity…“Mom,” I continued. “Come on. Nothing what you’re thinking will happen. She just needs a friend right now…please. I don’t want to not be there for her…” I said.
    “Aw, mom, I think you should let him stay. After that heart filled thought…I don’t want that wuss home!” she laughed.
    Ralph laughed too. “Ha ha! Yeah, wuss!”
    I and Jackie are the same age, Ralph is two years younger than us and as you might have thought, had a different father than us.
    “Shut up, both of you! Mom, please. I wouldn’t be begging like this if it wasn’t important to Megs…” I pleaded.
    Silence fallowed that sentence. A long, miserable silence. Like waiting in the ER for a family member in surgery. It was so heavy; I thought I could actually taste it. Or it could have been that lighting bug I just choked on…
    “Sure, why not. As long as Megan’s mom is ok with it.” she said.
    I smiled. “Thanks mom, thanks a lot!” I said.
    “You’re welcome, but be back nine tomorrow, k?” she asked.
    I nodded, agreeing. We said our goodbyes and I hung up the phone. I took a deep, cool breath, looking into the darkness. Breathing out a cloud of white, but was taken by the night before I could even see it. The black night seamed to be a live, spitting things out when a car’s high beams hit something on the road below.
    Only to swallow it again once the car went by.
    “Ace, you out here?” Megan called.
    She scared the fur off of me. Almost literally. I quickly Warped back, almost in a flash. Just in time too apparently. She poked her head out from the door just when I was fully Warped back.
    “Yeah, I’m coming in…mmm,” I said, walking out of the shadowy lawn and into the porches light’s light. “What is you mom cooking? Smells good.”
    She smiled, holding the door open for me. “Sloppy Joes and some Cantaloupe for you.” she said.
    God…I tell them I’m a vegetarian because when I eat meat…well…it’s hard to stop when I do…but that what all teenage werewolves go through. I’m out of that stage and been out of it for a year now.
    “Um, about that Megs…” I said, walking with her down the hall, back to the kitchen. More pictures, but this was at family reunions. So I was in a couple too, when Meg invited me. “I’m not a vegetarian anymore…”
    she looked back, amazed.
    “Really? Good, because my mom always make enough for three day’s worth anyway.” She said.
    She turned and walked back to the kitchen. My gaze fallowed as she walked. She wore blue, with a white stripe, sweat pants with a tight orange and yellow T-shirt. I never notice this before…but she’s has grown up.
    More famine features more…pronounced then when were thirteen, a lot more when we were ten, and they were non existent when we were six or seven. Her hips shot out from her sides, giving her than disable hourglass shape. Hair and face something of an angel’s. Her chest seemed to- wait what?
    Why I’m now, all of a sudden noticing this stuff? I backed up to the full body mirror. I’ve changed too.
    Arms long, muscular and strong from lifting buckets of who knows what everyday. Shoulders broad and toughen up by years of construction and hauling lumber back and forth. Legs were strong and long too, but even I had to say, were pretty nice.
    My triceps were clear, even through my T-shirt. And…when did I get a four pack? God…I rubbed my head, leaning against the wall, making it creak.
    What happened?
    What happened to all those years? They just seamed to…fall out from under us like a brick through off a bridge. Next year I’ll be eighteen, have to go slay a Bolgunnar, go off to Mortal collage…and another year closer to leaving Megan and Cherry and Kevin and everyone one else.
    I remember in the field, just up the hill, me and Meg would play. And I remember when we both learned what marriage was. We were six or seven. Megan fell in the field, and I went to lay behind her. We looked up in to the blue sky, sometimes blinking when pollen falls in our eyes.
    A golden butter flew by once in a while. It was…a basic time.
    “Ace,” Megan said. “You’re my best friend. You’re going to be my husband when we grow up, k?!” She said, laughing.
    I laughed too. “Fine, then you is going to be my wife!”
    Find, then let’s make it final she said.
    “How?” I asked.
    “By a kiss.”
    That was fallowed by us laughing at the joke. We were young. Kissing was…eky.
    “Ace!” Megan shouted, snapping me out of my flash back. I looked around.
    I and Megan were standing in front door, it was night out, a year later. Man, I got to get my head out of the past…
    “What?! Oh, sorry, I wasn’t listening…what were you saying?” I asked.
    She blushed and laughed. I threw in a nervous chuckle myself.
    “God Ace, you never listen have the time. What’s on your mind anyway?” she asked.
    She asks that a lot lately.
    I shrugged, laughing, thinking of something to say.
    “Um…the polar bears?” I asked back.
    She laughed once more. I can do that fairly easily, even when I don’t try.
    “Ace…why can you always make me laugh? That doesn’t matter now…I’ll just say what I said before…just…”
    Then, like something from a crazy romance novel, she jumped to me. She threw her arms around my neck like a five year old girl to her dad, home from the war. She pressed her lips against mine.
    At first I was surprised, even shocked. And with a werewolf, that wasn’t good. I had my hands on her hips, ready to push her back into the wall and bite her neck out. But once I realized there wasn’t any danger, my hands genially wrapped around to her back. I held her close to me.
    She inched her head away, putting her ear on my shoulder.
    “Ace…incase you weren’t listening again…I want to be more than friends.” She said softly.
    The stars seemed to fall around us. The porch light’s movement censor didn’t pick up any movement, so it flicked off. So there we were, in the dark. Everything seamed to spark around me, before I knew they were lighting bugs.
    “Yeah…I heard that loud and clear…” I said.
    We stood there, taking as much as each other as we could. Just…standing there…hearts opened, talking to each other…
    “Ace…I wanted to kiss you ever since that day my father left me and my mom…that day, when I said I didn’t want you to go…I meant I never wanted you to go…” she said, pouring her heart out.
    I held her even tighter. “I…never want to leave you either Megs…” I said.
    She reached over and turned the door, opening it up.
    “Ace, my parents are out of town…do you want to come in and…hang out?” she asked.
    I raised an eye brow. Now I knew that this ‘hang out’, did not mean ‘hang out’. But I also knew that this ‘hang out’ did not mean ‘want to have sex?’.
    Meg wasn’t like that. She liked taking things very, very slow. Her last boyfriend did the funniest break up. Oh my god it was funny…but I’m not going to tell what happen. Megan made me promise.
    “And by hanging out, you mean…?” I asked, taking her in my arms again.
    This felt…so right…
    “I mean…” she bit her bottom lip, eyes rolling away from me with a huge smile. “I mean…I want to kiss you again…and again and so on…” she said, kissing my lips real quick, faster than I could register.
    This is saying something. I was about to kiss her again, when I remembered something.
    “Do you guys still have the pool table?” I asked franticly.
    She nodded, a little confused. Then it hit her. “Find, I’ll play a couple games, then I get to pick what we do…k?”
    I nodded. I love pool. I mean…I guess I can say I love kissing Megan too, but I love pool a lot. And she knows it makes me happy.
    All of a sudden, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Damn…stupid vampires…why now!? Megan was leading me in the house by the hand, which I now snapped back.
    “Um…Meg, I can’t tell you now, but…I have to go.” I said.
    She looked back, blinking. As if I just said those jeans made her butt look big. Just to clarify, I was kidding. It was a metaphor, she was wearing jogging shorts.
    “What!? But we were, and we’d just-” she was babbling.
    I threw my arms down. “I know, I know! If I it wasn’t important, I would be all over you-”
    I froze. I looked up slowly. Megan was covering the smile she had with her hand, barely holding her laughing in. God…so stupid…
    “Megan, I meant I would be all of the chance to…you know what? I don’t know what I’m talking about!” I said, smiling. “All I know I’m happy to be with you…I just can’t be with you right now…”
    She smiled, lifting a red, sleeveless jacket with over sized holes were the sleeves would be attached. “You left this here last time you where here. It’s going to get cold, and I know this isn’t much but-”
    I reached and took the jacket, kissing her on the cheek. “It’s perfect, but I have to go now…this is going to sound strange, but…I love you, see you later?” I asked, making sure that was right.
    She nodded and smiled. “I love you too Ace, call me when you want to come over and play pool…ok?” she smirked.
    I nodded, waving good bye and running down the drive way, out into the road. It started to rain, so I slowed to a walk, flipping my hood up. stupid rain, I’m going to-
    BAM!
    A file shot a bullet hit the dirt hill next to me, a couple inches away from my head. Crap, Dusk members. Ok, if they want me…they’re going to have to catch me.
    I flipped off my shoes quickly. I began to Warp. My baggy gym shorts that I wore for track began to tightened, till they felt like tights against my fur. My jogging shirt was tight to begin with, so when I was fully Warped, it was torn in several places, so I reached up a hand and fished it, letting the cloth landing on the road. My jacket flapped freely, thanks to the holes I cut in it.
    I had two slits in the hood too, for my ears. Megan asked about that occasionally. I just said because it looked cool. Witch reminds me, how am I going to tell her she just kissed a dog?
    BAM! Bam! Bam, bam!
    Where are they? I can’t tell…wait, a flash! There! Ok…I’ll take the long way, up the creek.
    I jumped off the road, just in time for a car to just barley miss me. I’ll hear about that in the tabloids tomorrow. I step on something sharp, blood emitting from my foot now. I wasn’t worried about it. It didn’t slow me down, nor did I feel it. Werewolves are tough and heal quickly.
    I saw sparks fly from bullets hitting the rocks in the creek. It curved, out of the range of the vampires firing at me, up a hill. I bounced of eat rock like a Billy goat trying to get to the last patch of grass.
    When I got to the top, I jumped to a tree, my raptor claw sticking into the tree. I launched myself into the trees. I walked out to a branch, listening in on that they were saying.
    “Damn! He’s gone! Now we go to look for another werewolf! God…Cody is not going to be happy about this…” one of them said.
    Male. Dark gray, almost blue hair he had, with grey eyes and long, slender body. He looked twenty something. He had two pistols. A hit man.
    “Shut up, he just ran to his pack. We’ll just fine another, it’s not big deal really Cab, your making a big deal out of nothing.” A woman said.
    She looked around my age. Blond hair, blue eyes. That was strange in vampires, having Mortal color eyes. At least, I haven’t seen any with them. She had a rifle too. The sniper.
    “Shut up! Both of you! He might be planning a surprise attack. We maybe faster than werewolves, but we’re defiantly not stronger. That is the only thing they have against us really…no shh! He might be near…”
    A taller, balder one said. He looked just the part of a old lab professor, glasses and all. He looked anything but a vampire. He had a shot gun. Body guard of the group. I crouched lower to hear them, and to get ready to pounce. Bad choice. The branch bended, letting out the mother of creaks.
    B-b-b-b-b-b-b-bam!
    They all shot at me. Only a couple hit me. Leg and arms. I dropped like a stone though. And I landed on.
    “Damn, sliver bullets…” I said.
    They all looked at me, speechless. The dark headed boy walked over to me. He kicked dirt as he walked. Making bits of mud of dirt splatter on me. The rain poured on me, like forgiving needles, washing the dirt out of wounds before they healed closed. I loved the rain.
    Ca-caulk.
    A gun was aimed at right between my eyes. We looked at each other. My eyes kept blurring out and in from the rain, I had to blink a couple times too. And just if this scene couldn’t get better, lighting flashed just at the right time.
    No thunder yet though.
    “Ha, we knew werewolves were stupid, and we mean stupid, but we never thought one would pop up and try to ambush three strong, armed, deadly vampires. But hey, whatever will get the prey…”
    He was going to pull the trigger, this I knew, so I acted. I swung my legs, tripping him. He fell back, shooting the professor with the shot gun in the heart. The girl acted too. She shot at me, the sniper rifle with the suppresser (or silencer) covering the sound of it firing.
    Before she could have pulled the trigger, I was up and by her side. Bam! One switch chop to the neck, and it broke. Usually a kill, but for vampires, werewolves, goblins, and anything else, it’s just knocks them out-
    Bam!
    The kid was back up, firing at me. I jumped, into the trees above, hiding…
    “Here doggy…” he said, looking into the black trees up above.
    It was like looking into a tar pit, except when lighting stuck, letting beams of light shooting through. “It’s not going to hurt little fella…just quick and painless…” he called.
    I remained hidden. Though I don’t know how long I could have hid.
    “I mean, I could skin you alive, like was planned, but I don’t know if I have the heart…I mean, all that blood…I don’t know if I’ll be able to take it. I might have to go kill some Mortal out of the excitement!” he called.
    I was getting twitchy. I didn’t like where this was going.
    I was leaning against the truck of the tree, peering through the branches at the boy. Heart racing. Fur all wet, a wet dog smell was in the air, but with a touch of something else that made it an almost cologne smell.
    “You know…I might just be tempted to suck dry that pretty little Mortal you where-”
    I pounced. Raged filled, the acting was for killing and killing only. I landed on the boy. I dug my eight inch claws into shoulders, popping them out of place. He screamed an animal like blood-curtailing scream. It was great to make a vampire scream…it was in our blood.
    “You…even think about touch her…” I whispered into his ear.
    My teeth were bared, my ears glued to the back of my head. I was fighting myself not to kill him. “Even if you bathed in Holy water, with garlic cloves float in the tub, on the hottest and brightest day of the year…the pain I would make you feel will decry that…” I said.
    He looked me in the eyes, smiling. “Bite me. Matter a fact…I’ll bit her…” he said.
    It made no sense almost. No sense. But it got to me more than anything. I grabbed his head, making him scream in pain. I squeezed and squeezed, yelling increasing. Then, limp. He went limp.
    I gave him some major head trauma, close to crushing his head, but no. I deiced not kill him. He knows I could have though.
    His dark hair was now brown with mud. Face with a couple splotches here and there, making him look like a three day corpse.
    He’s probably a forty year old corpse. I stood up, looking around. The Professor (the old guy who I kindly renamed) was gone, and the girl was still out, but was going to come to it soon.
    The boy on the other hand, wasn’t going to come too. At least for a couple days.
    I sighed. Well, let’s see who sent these guys after me. I walked over to the girl, limping. My body was pushing a five inch stick I stepped on out of me, and was almost done.
    I leaned down, picking her up, taking her back to my house. God, when she wakes up, she’s going to be a screaming, demanding mess. What fun…