Rolling back my lips, my fangs almost touching my chin, I locked my calf muscles like a sprinter on the blocks, ready to launch myself forward, when Drake appeared from the darkness between the trees.

Seeing me, he asked, “What are you doing out here?”

“That’s just what I was gonna ask you,” I growled, still holding my attack stance.

“Taking a whiz,” he said, yanking up his zipper. “Jeez, what’s with the fangs?”

Relaxing just a little, I stood up and looked at him. “Did you bring the chair outside?”

“What chair?” he asked, looking puzzled. “What are you talking about?”

“The chair!” I barked, pointing back over my shoulder.

I watched Drake peer over my shoulder, screw up his eyes, then open them wide. “How did that get out here?”

“You tell me, wolf man!” I said, not withdrawing my claws, just in case. I didn’t know this Drake guy and I now had reason not to trust him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, brushing past me and heading towards the chair.

I followed him, and as I did, Madison appeared in the doorway. “What’s all the fuss about?” she asked us. Then looking at me with my giant claws swinging below my knees and my fangs hanging down over my bottom lip, she added, “You look scary.”

Ignoring her, I pointed to the chair and said, “Who brought the chair out here?”

Seeing it for the first time, Madison looked quickly from left to right. “Who put that there?” she asked, sensing that she wasn’t in any immediate danger.

“A Lycanthrope,” I sneered, looking at them.

“How can you be so sure?” Drake asked.

Pointing at the giant footprints, I said “What else do you think made them, some freaking mutant squirrel? There’s werewolf prints all over this area, and look, they lead from the chair back into the woods, where you just happened to be taking a piss,” I said.

“They’re not the only prints,” Drake said, staring at me. “Your footprints are here too, and they lead away into the woods.”

“Are you trying to be funny?” I snapped, turning on him.

“Are they your footprints?” Madison asked, stepping away from the doorway.

“Of course they’re my footprints,” I barked. “What do you think, I magically appeared out here?”

Looking at the chair and then back at me, she whispered, “Drake’s right though, it could have been you who brought the chair out here.”

Shocked by what I was hearing, I looked at her, opened mouthed and said, “Are you for freaking real? Why would I bring the chair out here?”

“You tell us,” Drake said. “We don’t know you, Potter.”

“Listen to me, Flake, or whatever your name is,” I hissed, “I found that chair exactly where it is now. So if I was you, I’d be careful what you go around saying, because I might just take you back into that wood and stick that chair where the sun don’t shine!”

“I was taking a leak,” Drake said, looking at me. “What were you doing out here?”

“You don’t hear real good, do you?” I said, snatching up the chair. “I saw it sitting out here and I came out…what am I doing? I don’t have to explain myself to you.” Then, taking the chair, I went back into the house.

“Where are you going?” Madison called after me.

“To do what you seem so incapable of doing!” I roared over my shoulder.

“And what’s that?” she yelled.

“Catch the Lycanthrope scum that moved this chair!” I shouted, entering the house.

I took the chair and placed it back in the middle of the room where I had first seen it. The toys lay on the floor and I pushed the fire truck gently with the tip of my boot. The lights on top of it flashed momentarily red, then faded as if the batteries had just run out. Slumping down into one of the arm chairs, I positioned myself so that I was looking directly at the chair.

Drake and Madison came inside and closed the door behind them. Without saying a word, Drake stomped up the stairs and disappeared. Thank fuck for that – I couldn’t care if I never laid eyes on that turd again. Madison, however, walked silently into the room and I could see she had the Barbie doll in her hand. Reaching the chair, she stopped in front of it. Then, with the tips of her slender fingers, she straightened out the doll’s hair and propped it against the leg of the chair.

With her head hung low and her yellow eyes cast to the floor, she walked past me, and as she did, I shot my hand out and grabbed her wrist. Madison gasped, and looked down at me.

“What?” she breathed.

“Do you really think I was the one who put that chair out there?” I asked her.

With her eyes glinting in the darkness, she looked at me and said, “Does it really matter what I think, Potter?”

Pulling her arm free, she looked away and headed for the stairs. “There are some old clothes in the wardrobe in my room,” I said into the darkness. “Who do they belong to?”

I heard her feet stop momentarily as she simply said, “I don’t know.” Then she was gone, the sound of the staircase creaking beneath her boots.

I turned back to face the chair. My body began to loosen, as if the armchair was sucking the tension from me. I felt myself begin to relax, as my claws withdrew back into my fingers, and my fangs slid back into my gums, taking that taste of bloody-copper with them. The little chair sat just across the room from me and I watched it. I was going to stare at it all night long. If Drake and Madison were right, the wolf would return tonight carrying a child in its giant jaws and I would be waiting for it. I wasn’t going anywhere.

10

She crawled up the bed towards me, the ends of her hair brushing against my chest. Her eyes sparkled and that smile of hers crept across her face. My heart raced and I breathed deeply. She brought her face over mine and I could feel her breath, warm against me. She lowered herself slowly and her lips caressed mine. She didn’t kiss me fully, but I wanted her to. It was as if she were teasing me. My heart beat louder and faster and I think she could sense it. Unable to resist her any longer, I buried my hands in her hair and pulled her down on top of me. We kissed at last, and her skin felt warm against mine. Entwining our bodies as if we were one, I rolled her over and pinned her to the bed. Arching my back, I kissed every part of her face, neck, and chest. She released a gentle moan, and this just made my heart race faster still.

“I love you, Sophie,” I whispered in her ear, kissing her neck. Now I could feel her heart racing. I could feel the artery in her neck swelling with blood as it pulsed through her. I could smell her blood just millimetres beneath her soft skin and I wanted it. I had never smelled anything so good before.

We had made love before, but never had it felt as intense as this. I hadn’t been back to The Hollows now for several weeks and that itch – the one that told me I wanted blood - had grown worse. It was agony. I had discovered that tobacco eased it slightly. The need for the tobacco was sometimes stronger then my lust for blood and it masked those cravings, but not tonight. I pressed her flat against the bed and she writhed beneath me and gasped, but not out of fear. Not yet, anyhow.

“I want you, Sophie,” I groaned. “I want all of you.”

“Then take me,” she whispered against my chest, and I thought my heart was going to explode. But she didn’t realise how I wanted to take her. I wasn’t talking about making love to her, I wasn’t playing a role in some kinky love game, I was talking about ripping her throat out and gorging myself on her blood.

My whole body shuddered and my back arched again, but not out of lust or desire, but because I could feel my spine stretching out of shape, making room for my wings that just wanted to be free. I felt my jaw lock tight as I fought to hide my fangs, and I gripped the bed sheets in an attempt to stop my fingers turning into claws.

Why hadn’t I gone back to The Hollows? I knew why I hadn’t, because I’d met her – Sophie. I’d become besotted with her. She had become my new drug; she had become the thing that I couldn’t bear to live without. But it hadn’t just been me. Sophie had fallen in love with me too, except really she hadn’t. She had fallen in love with what she thought was the real me. Sophie believed she was in love with a human just like her – but I wasn’t human, I was a monster, a vampire bat – a Vampyrus.

Over the last several weeks since meeting her, there had been so many times that our love for each other had deepened and I’d wanted to tell her about the real me and show her the real me. She loved me, right? Wouldn’t she, therefore, love me regardless? It was a decision that I’d put off for fear of being rejected. But tonight, as I wrestled with my lust for the red stuff, it was going to be a decision that was made for me.

Throwing her arms around my neck and wrapping her legs about me, she pulled me close and I couldn’t fight it anymore. Crying out in pain, my back made a cracking sound as if every one of my ribs were breaking. I pulled myself from her, and kneeling, I threw my head back as my fangs shot from my gums and sprayed her with a jet of ice-cold blood. Clutching at the air with my hands, my fingers stretched as my curved, black claws appeared like a set of knives. With my heart pounding in my ears, I felt them twist as they grew into points. Then, the worst part: I could feel my nose changing shape, as if invisible fingers had been thrust up my nostrils and were yanking my head backwards. Wiry, black hair bristled from every part of my naked body and then the pain was gone. I only felt joy and pleasure as my true self was set free and my giant black wings beat behind me.

Then, the sound of screaming took the pleasure away. I looked down at Sophie who had now crawled away up the bed, the sheet pulled up under her chin. Tears ran from her wide, open eyes, and I could see a stream of my blood running down her face, dripping onto the white sheet in rose-shaped patterns.

I held out one my giant claws towards her and her screaming became even more high-pitched.