He glanced down at the wound on my leg, and with a swish of his gigantic tail, he walked away and back into the shadows. I heard the sound of the cell door wail on its hinges as it was pushed open. For a moment there was silence, and then I heard the wolf speak again from the darkness.

“By the way,” he said, “I’m Nik. It was good to have met you.”

“Where am I?” I asked.

There was no reply, just the sound of the cell door closing on its rusty hinges behind him.

Curling up small, I nestled my head in the crook of my elbow. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the throbbing in my leg and wondered if it had been caused by Nik biting me. But I couldn’t remember if he had. The pain in my leg had a rhythm to it - like a heart beat. Boom-Boom-Boom I timed my breathing with the throbbing and then felt myself begin to drift off to sleep. As I did, I wished more than anything that I had my iPod with me so that I could fall asleep listening to The Calling sing Where ever you will go, instead of the pain beating in my leg. Humming the tune softly, I drifted…

Chapter Six

“…out!” someone screeched.

I was standing in the middle of my room – the one with the bed and cold, sterile floor. Ignoring the screams, I continued to stand rigid - refusing and unable to move - staring at the little round window in my door.

“Please let me out of here!” the voice screamed again.

Just like Isidor’s voice had, these screams came in thin, shrill cries.

“You’ve got to let me out…” the voice screamed once more, but the screams were cut short – silenced – as if someone had placed their hand over the person’s mouth.

Now they were quiet.

I inched my way back towards the window and dared to peek out. This time there was light and I was peering down a long, white corridor. There were doors which were identical to mine at intervals down the length of each side.

Two men dressed in surgical scrubs and masks were struggling with a girl, and I guessed it had been she who had been screaming. The girl was dressed in a white hospital gown.

She struggled with them, her arms and legs pin-wheeling as they tried to restrain her. Then suddenly my view of the girl was blocked by a face at my window.

Throwing my hands to my face, I screamed and stumbled backwards from the sudden apparition. The lower half of the face was covered with a blue surgical mask, but there was something about the eyes that peered at me from over the top of it. They seemed familiar.

“Get back from the door,” he said softly. “I promise no harm will come to you.”

Stepping away from the door, I stole one last glimpse over his shoulder and I could see the girl was still struggling with the men in the surgical scrubs.

The man pushed the door open and came inside followed by two others, one female, the other male. All of them wore surgical face masks and long, white lab coats.

“What do you want?” I asked, edging away and back towards my bed. “Keep away from me!”

“Just calm down,” the female said.

“I am calm, I just want to know what’s going on here!” I demanded.

Without answering me, the female produced a syringe from behind her back.

I looked at the needle and then at the covered face which looked vaguely familiar.

“You look tired, Kiera, we’ve got something here that will help you sleep,” the familiar-looking man said.

“I’m not tired!” I barked, screwing my fists together as if preparing for a fight.

They came towards me, the female holding the syringe above her head. The second male lunged at me and pushed me onto the bed, taking hold of my wrists.

I kicked out with my feet striking the approaching female in the stomach. She made a burping kind of sound as I knocked the wind from her. The syringe flew from her hand and somersaulted through the air. She spun around and chased after the syringe as it skidded away across the tiled floor.

“Goddammit!” she shouted. “Keep her still!”

Then, both masked males were pinning me down. The male who seemed familiar took hold of my arm and yanked up my sleeve, revealing veins which pulsated green and purple beneath my skin.

The female came back towards the bed with the syringe. When she was only inches from me, she looked at the male who held out my arm and said, “Keep her still, Doctor Hunt!”

Hearing the name Hunt, I glanced up at the masked face, but as I did, I felt a sharp scratch in the crook of my elbow. Looking down, I watched the female sink the needle into my flesh. Immediately, I began to relax and loosen, my eyelids becoming heavy and wanting to close.

Doctor Hunt gently laid my head onto my pillow and stepped away, where he stood looking down at me.

All I wanted to do was close my eyes, but I fought the urge to do so.

I stared past him to the corridor. The girl who’d been struggling with the men wasn’t fighting anymore. She lay on her back – face gleaming with sweat. Her eyes were open and staring at me, but they looked dazed and sleepy and I knew that they had injected her, just like they had me.

“Just let yourself sleep, Kiera,” Doctor Hunt hushed.

I stole one last look back at the girl’s face and my heart almost slowed to a stop as I realised that it was Kayla.

Unable to fight it any longer, my eyes closed, and before slipping into unconsciousness, I heard a scratching sound – like metal being scrapped across stone and as I…

Chapter Seven

…opened my eyes, I was startled to see that huge white paw snaking through the open hatch and dragging the remains of my food and water away.

“No!” I shouted, shaking the sleepiness from my head. “That’s my food and I haven’t finished with it yet!”

I lurched forward, but with my leg not yet fully healed, I fell and landed in a heap on the floor next to the hatch, which had now been hurriedly closed.

“Give that back! You can’t treat me like this!” I yelled. “I’m not an animal!” but all I could really think about was the loss of that red, bleeding meat. The thought of it being taken away from me filled me with panic.

The hatch was forcibly thrown open again and that big white paw shoved two more bowls of fresh food and water into my cell. Once again the food bowl was full of fresh flesh - meat. I waited for the paw to disappear and for the hatch to close, and then I took the bowls to the opposite corner of the room and began to eat.

I was so engrossed in ramming chunks of the raw meat into my mouth, that I hadn’t been aware of the heavy footfalls outside my cell door. A set of keys jangled in the lock, and I looked up. The door was flung open and Phillips came striding in.

He eyed me with an air of superiority, and then sauntered forwards, his arms swinging loosely by his sides. He stopped only inches from me and I cradled the bowl nervously in my lap, fearing that he might snatch it from me. He glanced back at the doorway and I followed his gaze. On seeing the wolf standing there looking at me, I dropped the bowl from my hands and it clattered onto the stone floor. The wolf trotted towards me and I could see that its coat was a light grey colour with white flecks that made it look as if it were covered in a fine layer of snow. Its muzzle was black and its head was attached to a long, muscular neck.

The wolf stopped beside Phillips and sniffed the air around me.

“Hello, Kiera,” the wolf said, releasing a hysterical little laugh that sounded almost human. Hearing that laugh reminded me of the nervous laugh my friend Sparky once had. I looked into the wolf’s eyes as it stood on its hind legs and began to twist out of shape. It lurched forward as if in pain, grabbing its stomach and snapping its huge head from side to side. And then it almost seemed to shrink before my eyes. Its arms and legs grew shorter and its snout receded back into its face. The wolf’s skin appeared to blister and stretch as its hair began to shed like a moulting dog, revealing human-looking flesh beneath. With the last of the fur falling away, Sparky stood and looked down at me. Just like I’d always remembered him, the skin on his face was flushed with angry-looking spots, his glasses sat skew-wiff on the bridge of his nose and his hair was sleeked back and greasy.

“Where are my friends?” I snapped at him.

Ignoring my question, Phillips grunted and then said, “Show me the leg.”

I just sat there. Before I’d the chance to comply, Phillips impatiently grabbed hold of my right leg and pulled it towards him. I flew backwards and smacked my head against the wall behind me.

“Ow! That hurt!” I shouted.

“Silence!” Phillips warned, meeting me with his hard, red stare.

Sparky grinned and loomed over my leg.

As if I wasn’t there at all, Phillips said to Sparky, “What do you think? Is the infection clearing up?”

Sparky glanced at me, then turned his attention to the cut that ran down my leg. Dropping to his knees, he jerked his head forward and rubbed his nose into the wound. I cried out in pain and disgust, not believing what I was seeing. He then ran his tongue down the length of the gash and it felt as if it was being cleaned with sandpaper.

“Get off me, you animal!” I roared and kicked him away.

Licking his lips, he looked away, seeming to savour the taste of my leg. “Mmm, I’m not too sure. Maybe we should get Doctor -” Sparky started.

“No! Not him!” Phillips growled. “Lame is no good to me. I need her to be healthy!”

I looked at the both of them as they stood and discussed me.

“Like I was saying,” Sparky said, “We should get her to the doc…”

“I don’t know if I can trust him,” Phillips said.

“But if the infection doesn’t clear up, then -” Sparky said.

“Then, what?” I asked, cutting over him.

“Then you will be put down,” Phillips barked.

“What do you mean, put down?” I asked, but I knew exactly what the Vampyrus meant.

“Destroyed,” Phillips replied. “Got rid of, killed…”

“You can’t just destroy me because I’ve got an infected leg!” I protested.