As I am driven to school in the sepulchral darkness of morning I sit in my father’s silence. I can only think how I wish he would get a better car, it’s not like he doesn’t have the money for it, he just doesn’t want to. My father drives us in through the vehicle entrance of Morpheum, a city wide compound incased by a sunlight repelling dome. The dome is so high you can’t notice it especially with its digital sky meant to deceive us, you can only realize the truth when you reach the city limits, and witness the glass wall it makes. The deception is not to make us feel human for the mortals don’t believe we deserve that lie, there are no sunny days in Morpheum the dome doesn’t create an immutable darkness, it’s not night but it makes the city seem to be in the shadow of a storm. The type of darkness that invites you and holds you in its cold embrace and since you can see inside of it you will not be in fear of it. In the fifteenth year of the twenty first century the world gave up its ignorance and had excluded the race of the darkness dweller, well that’s what I call them but you call them vampires. What sparked the world to act was the fire of war fueled in blood, in that year the U.S declared martial law even before then there was bloodshed. The great race of vampires would no longer be held in myth and isolation, they could have the world and decided to try and take it. City after city, night after night they killed and fed. It took months for ignorance to be broken down enough for the human race to realize that they weren’t dealing with a mortal enemy. Several thousands died and hundreds were turned in the carnage. After that, Washington did what it knew best, denied the truth to the media and try to combat the threat. Soldiers, weapons, bombs, none of it worked; if the masters lived they would cut through the men and replenish their ranks. When the world became smaller, we became more noticeable and then the government thought of us as either monsters to fear or monsters they can use. The beast to the beast and when the sunlight descends and the moon rises we become the hunters, that protect the hunted. It was a war the world could stay out of; no soldiers, no weapons, and no cities lying in ruin just blood and bone. So we were militias, factions, groups whatever the people wanted to call us and we starting fighting back. I was a soldier and I endured it all but that’s the past.
When the dust settled and the blood dried none of the three races saw a clear solution, so of course a deal had to be made. One granting them the deal of a lifetime, a lifetime spent in the compounds to breathe in recycled air and drink blood delivered right from the blood banks. Well in the time of the reform, the United States had made a type of Red Cross for the cities one where the blood donated is by law, years ago two percent of people donated when ninety eight percent were able now it’s the other way, and it all goes to the cause to feed the darkness dwellers. My kind do not like them, we actually would have been content with this deal but the humans found us, their savior once, now a threat to their safety, a big mouth bastard can’t keep his claws in his pockets and now we’re all screwed. They couldn’t kill us and they knew it, so instead of causing a massacre on both races they created an arm of the law that was fueled by the strength of my kind, an international lycanthrope police department, to investigate werewolf related deaths. We live outside Morpheum but my life, like all my kind has to be lived with the dwellers. Schools, businesses, and colleges are integrated inside Morpheum, none of them can leave their assigned city that is the law and that is how my actions of killing those street thugs last night was justified, they were outside of a city and they were after a human. The dwellers stay inside and humans . . . well humans are protected by constitutional law but if they enter a vamp city they sign their death waiver with their own choice. The choice that will make the freshest blood in all of Morpheum up for grabs, to the first vampire who hears that steady heartbeat and smells that sweet smell of untainted blood as it courses through the human’s veins. Lunar beasts such as me do not crave blood as much as the darkness dwellers do, but the blood makes the flesh sweeter, gives it a more refreshing taste, plus the drinking of blood does help our regeneration if we’re fatally wounded.
I stare through the glass of my father’s car and see the gray aired city as the two races of immortals walk side by side in a civilized fashion as if they were human. As my mind wonders my body takes me through the hallways of Morpheum high, it would be quite a fine campus if it wasn’t so segregated. There are a few classes that have to deal with both types of students, but the campus is divided into four main buildings, one at the north end is the auditorium and cafeteria, to the east is the recreational center, a place divided into the gyms of dwellers and beast, to the south is a building dedicated to the lockers of the many students who reside in this very school. And last but no least is the academic building to the west in which the building filled with windows to only show the absence of sunlight beyond the school walls divided into the first and second floor, first for the beast below and second for the dwellers above. This segregation is a complete farce, how can we be below the very creatures we help condemn here.
I walk into the south building when I stand at the security check point; I pass through the metal detector and get my bag back after they search it. I look over to my left and see the miniscule armory the school has from the confiscated weapons the students bring to defend themselves. I move along not saying a word before I find my locker as quick as I can with back up brought on by the hallways being halved.
The werewolves have one side while the dwellers have the other; I remain silent as I shove my books into my mesh backpack and see the she-vamps laugh and smile showing their pearly white fangs as they twist their bangs with their fingers, and just enjoy the sure bliss of being cold. Damn vampires, the one thing they love is their immortality, it is the fact that they are living vanity with their beauty never ending and unchanging. But our immortality has the condition of only aging at a tenth of the speed a human does. The whole world seemed somewhat silent, all until she slammed her skinny little hand on my locker. All my frustrations can be summed up in one name, Iris.

“How are you doing baby?” Iris asks.

“Morning Iris,” I say as I still look at the she-vamps. She grabs my chin and jerks my head to look at her, “Look at me when I’m talking to you” she says. Iris, we only call her Iris, a dangerous beast with beauty to match. Seventeen years old turned at fifteen, making her thirty five with an attitude to match. First few decades are the most fickle with the people who lose themselves in the ecstasy of immortality. She is a paragon of the immoral and the impudent. She enjoys bloodshed, it excites her, so when she heard of my past she decided to try and entice me to her side but when I refused she took it as a game, a challenge to win my affection. But it’s her game and hers alone, she wants what she can’t have and I wish to be left alone. There’s nothing wrong with her beauty, she has curly brown hair that came down to her shoulders, a thin figure, light tanned skin and brown eyes. “You still fantasizing about fucking the she-vamps,” she opens her mouth and ruins it all.

“Watch your mouth Iris,”

“Ooh, a little tense aren’t we. You should stop wanting what you can’t have and come to me when you’re lonely,” she says as she leans against the wall.

“And you should mind what you say when your public, it makes you look bad,” I warn her. She is the exact opposite of she-vamps, they have black or blond hair, well mannered and all have blue or green eyes. Not just the color you humans see but the bright blue and green that appears to glow a glow that you can see from afar. I must be frank though, the she-vamps do posses a certain quality I find . . . enticing. I feel the warm fingers of Iris’ hand stroke against my chin as she says, “Don’t want baby, just have, that’s what we do, take and have what we want,”

“You know how untrue that is,” I say. Then I catch a new scent in the air, the wolves cast one scent while the vamps cast another, but I could smell this scent as soon as she walks through the door.

“Do you smell that?” Iris asks as she turns her head to try and follow the scent in the air.

“Just another vamp with perfume on,” then I saw her, she looks like a vamp but smells different, her hair looks different too, and all she-vamps wear their hair long while her hair was short and is the color of dark red. Alright I admit it she had a face that would make a river stop to show her reflection, eyes like two blue moons that would bring about life on the darkest day. I am quite astonished and everything goes silent as my heart beats faster. Before my eyes reveal how special she seems, I say, “Come on, this place is starting to bore me,” as we walk away we can’t help but hear them, “Bye doggies, goodbye enjoy your time at the kennel,”

“Be sure to get those fleas removed,” I stop for a moment before I look back with my eyes glowing from the burning fire of gold and I bark a fearsome groan that makes them cry out. I only grin before I see the guards take hold of their firearms tighter as they stand by, “Keep that close to you,”
My groups of friends join up with Iris and me. Two of my best friend’s names are Michael and Gabriel, two others I trust are Luke and Anthony, we all look alike, we all dress casually, dark blue jeans, solid color dark t-shirts and dark colored jackets. We are the greasers of this generation while the dwellers are the soshes. I believe I ought to give a better introduction of them. My first friend I found twenty years ago it was at the beginning of the war, quite an odd thing to think twenty years not seeming very long. I remember it like it was yesterday. Gabriel Gavattore, he was a pacifistic werewolf who barely knew me as I barely knew him but after months of fighting side by side we turned from strangers to brothers in arms. I remember those days so well I can still name all the soldiers of my faction. Gabriel and I were trained together I remember being lectured by our teacher, “We are stronger than them!”

“Stronger than them!” We roared in a chant.

“We are faster than them!”

“Faster than them!”

“We will fight to the end!”

“Fight to the end!”

“When the moon rises, blood we will shed!”

“Blood we will shed!” I can name a thousand times he saved my life just as many times I’ve saved his. We’ve stood our ground, together at the best of times when we stand tall in our triumph and at the worst times when we both lied cleaved and bloody on the ground.
Michael was different, he wasn’t as lucky as Gabriel and I was. I had my dad to teach me our ways while Gabriel had the faction to teach him but Michael was orphaned when he was turned. You see in movies the young wolf running away of the family he wishes to save from himself. But Michael wasn’t that wolf; he told his family that it was a wolf that turned back into a man that attacked him. They left him out into the cold for him to turn alone in the dark. How can anyone be so cold? My father and I went to find him, and find him we did.

“Cut him off John!” I ran as fast as I could in mortal form as the wind cuts pass me with my powerful speed as I make a pounding stride against the dirt and leaves. I can smell the musk of the beast’s fur and hear the heaving of his breath. I step onto a log and leap to jump the beast causing him to fall. I place my hand against his throat keeping him from tearing at me, he flings a claw before I catch his arm and bash his snout to try and mollify him. Another hit knocks him unconscious before and I stand up and look at my father who just watches me in disdain. The memory dissipates like smoke in the wind. From then on Gabriel and I took him under our wings so we could teach him how to live a type of abnormal life. He became a good friend when he got a handle on how to live.
Anthony Alvarez was a totally different story, the first time he me the three of us was during the registration of lycanthropes in Morpheum. Anthony was a thief who used his abilities to steal things with skill far beyond any human thief and enduing so he was wanted by the authorities to where he was desperate to escape so he decided to register for the city. One insult and the beast in him came out. I grabbed his jacket and flung into a locker to stop him.
He stood up yelling traitor before I stuck him down again. We fought nearly breaking bones as we pounded our fist into other. Only after throwing him through a plate glass window would he calm down enough to listen. I warned him about the war we just ended but he didn’t care, he relished the idea killing vamps twenty four seven but he wasn’t there to see the pain and feel the sorrow. I straighten the listen bastard out and now we’re good friends.
And last but not least was our youngest friend was Lucas De Marco found him in Manhattan on the way home, I helped him out when he was being attacked by a group of prejudicial humans, four of them with aluminum bats and the kid being a newborn he couldn’t defend himself. I walk by the alley as I smell one of my own kind as his blood drips onto the concrete. “Please guys I haven’t done anything to you,” I hear the sound of the metal pounding against flesh as I hear the young boy cry out. I phase turning my eyes to gold and drawing my canines. I roar a thunderous and deafening roar as the men drop their bats as they turn back to stare in fear. I snarl at them and they all take off running. I saw him a second time at the beginning of this high school and I saw how he was fearful of being a loner, like any normal highschooler, so I made him one of us. He may be the youngest but he is the brightest of us.
The vamps find themselves more refined, always wearing dress clothes, and jewels, some dress normal but those are the thugs like the ones I killed last night. We all walk down the hall, the wolves know us and the vamps hate us, only because they hate the way we augment our kind, I don’t really like it that way but I guess it is a way I’ll settle with it. A concerned werewolf runs to us out of breath as he warns taking a breath in each pause, “Guys . . . Clark and Jack are . . . having a fight again,” All of us run down the hall to catch up to those two fools who constantly ignore my warnings. When we find them they are pounding each other fully turned and transformed. “Gabriel with me, the rest of you, keeps back their friends,” Gabriel and I phase and charge the two. We both bull rush them to the ground I press my right claw against the beastie boy’s chin as he bites at me and struggles. I try and swing my left fist across his face but he still fights back until I grab his head and bash his head into the linoleum. As we held them down I scold them, “What the hell is the matter with you two, you think turning and trying to kill to solve your problems is power! The real strength is holding back the change, and if you can’t realize that then we are no better than when the world thought we were animals!” I let Clark stand up and Gabriel let go of Jack. The darkness dwellers lurk in the shadows on their side of the hallway to stand by and laugh at us, and that is something I can only tolerate for so long. Like most people a few bad things as well as foul language comes to mind, but another thing that comes to mind is 1:26 I will also laugh at your calamity; I will deride when terror comes to you. The classes here are silent and meaningless, you are taught new things every day but it just seems like a routine we go through in the middle of the time we can spend time with our friends. There are only relative age groups here, the blood barons don’t age of course and we age too slowly I can’t begin to comprehend why they create schools for us. Maybe they think if we learn some history and logic we’ll give up our primal instincts and be domesticated, I’m glad I was born this way, I would hate to endure school year after year if I knew any other way of living, s*** I fought wars and spilled blood but now I have to worry about homework and test. At first I was surprised at how many immortal teenagers there are but in clarification it was one of their laws, youngest age to recruit is a suitable teenage year. I guess wolf teens are just unlucky or born unlucky which ever you prefer. I still can’t stand this screwed up city; it’s like putting the union soldiers and the confederate soldiers in the same town after the civil war.
“And the civil war ended with _”
“Lincoln getting his crown capped!” A random student yells out. We all sit down in a normal size classroom but no worries we aren’t forced to sit in the back the administration wouldn’t trust us to be that close to each other. The classrooms are divided to two sides us on one end them on the other. Teacher’s a teacher to me a poor soul doomed to serve the knowledge formation of the youth even though the youth couldn’t give them a second thought; but to me they deserve some form of respect it must be the way my dad raised me.
“Actually no Emilio you’re an idiot, it was the surrender negotiated between Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant,”

“Why do we even need to learn this crap?”

“Ladies and Gentleman you forget that we review history so we do not repeat its mistakes,”

“To late Mr. Wilkins,” I add as I sit down looking at my textbook.

“Well it would appear that young Mr. O’Brian has some opinion he would like to share with us,” the rest of the class look to see if they can humiliate me or ignore me over this opinion.

“We constantly read in one book after another of the war, prejudice, injustice and lethal strife but it takes decades for the grip they have the people to even loosen. We don’t stop we just become mild in our ways that’s if we are not stubborn enough to alienate ourselves from others and stay the same. We as part of the nature of even existing as a society need something to hate, something to fear something to put all our hate fear and malice into and that leads to war and death,” the classroom is stunned with all I have to say, I don’t speak to the masses very much but I end my lecture with, “read as much as you want soon you are obliged to realize that unless that someone can change the conditions of the human being that still lingers in us the times, eras, and trends change but we won’t,” my well educated history teacher couldn’t come up with a response for my little speech so I was sent to the counselor’s office.

“Are you feeling any blah, blah, blah,” I don’t care what they think of me that’s why I speak my mind when I actually do speak. I wait outside the counselor’s office and try contemplating my thoughts, “Told you talking gets you in trouble,” Gabriel tells me.

“Yeah I guess it’s just a bad habit I really need to work on,”

“You ok, you look a little out of it,”

“Yeah I’m fine I just I just couldn’t get much sleep last night after a brush with some of the cold hearted,”

“Are you serious?”

“Dead serious, four of them were chasing a girl on my land can you believe that?”

“No I can’t, it’s been a long time since something like this has happened. I think being in here too long has made us blind to the outside world,”

“Kind of makes you miss the old days aye captain?”

“Nothing of the old days makes me miss them sergeant,”

“At least we could go find our enemies now we watch them walk around us,”

“Hey come on, it wasn’t these kids we fought in that war so stop thinking of them that way,”

“Yes dear,”

“Shut up. Come on, by now Anthony or Michael should be getting into trouble,”

“And we have to bail them out why?”

“Something about being there guides to better choices making them as good as men as we wish ourselves to be or just the usual reason, if anything happens to them we won’t have anyone else to be friends with,”

“So be it,” good news instead of finding them in a fight or in an argument we find them in eating at first lunch. We sit down at our usual lunch table and Gabriel enlightens the boys to what happened between me and the trespassers.


“How did it feel to cut down some vamps again?” Anthony asks eagerly.

“Shut up Anthony,”

“What it’s a valid question?”

“What happened last night shouldn’t have happened and I was lucky they were novice or I would’ve been in trouble,”

“They’re lucky we weren’t there, right we all would take them down,” he smiles his I love a good fight smile.

“He’s right shut up Anthony,” Gabriel says before the bell rings.

All vamps talk during class, but as they did I notice her again. She sits still and looks forward with certain attentiveness. In all classes I see her actually listening and in English I sit next to her, just at the imaginary line that divides our class in half, and the teacher reads a book of poetry.

“I lay without regret of my life but lay victim to my nightmares, I dream of you, for you can save me from my nightmares, be safe for it is my nightmare to lose you, for I forever dream of you,” I dare and brake the one thing we Lunaris have in common, we don’t talk to the other immortals, “Do you have dreams vampire?” the entire sea of voices were stun silent. She turns her head and looks at me with her glowing blue eyes and says with one of the softest and sweetest voices you will ever hear, “I have many dreams werewolf, but what dreams do you have?”

“Dreams of better times, but then I’m reminded of worst times and they become nightmares,” we both merely turn our heads forward just before I hear Iris’ voice, “What are you doing baby?”

“I already told you not to call me that.” As the day goes on I couldn’t help but wonder where she was or what she was doing. I soon catch her scent again as she walks by on the second floor, I can’t help myself but gaze at her pose as she walks gracefully along as she carries her books in hand. The second floor classrooms bear large windows that allow you to see into them from the hallway. And I start my downward spiral of rule breaking by going to the second floor and to watch her as she vigorously pays attention in class. I lean against the second floor railing as I watch her trapped in an almost trance. The bell rings as I step over the railing and land onto the ground twenty feet below. Hopefully no one saw me up in dweller territory.
The school day ends and my friends were still looking at me in a suspicious way; we all wait by the gate afterschool. The vamps get the field where they talk and play around. Four vamps that were in that English class were playing golf as one drove a golf ball in front of Anthony’s face but I luckily catch it. I sling shoot it back to them and stop Anthony from making a scene, “Don’t mind them Anthony, let it be,” I see the girl standing by other she-vamps passing a flask of blood-alcohol. I notice she passes the flask without taking a sip, who are you she-vamp. I decide to listen in on her group’s conversation, at first it was muffled but then crystal clear, “Some first day huh new girl, I’m not sure how it was in your last city but in this one and this school we don’t talk to the dogs,”

“I’ll remember that next time,”

“So are you staying for the football game tonight?”

“Yes I surely we’ll be attending,” I made a call to my old man to tell him I was staying for the game, he didn’t get upset since I was staying late for a workout in the gym. Our gym, our activities here are separate, but the separation is caused only by immortal arrogance of having more elegance than us. We would box while they would fence, we would play pool while they played chess and they prefer it that way as if we were the poor and dependant while they were the rich and powerful. The whole thing makes my skin crawl, but to think about it acted as a way to fuel my anger for when I stepped into the octagon with another werewolf. Here we learn to fight and take care of ourselves as well as develop physical strength. My opponent was Jimmy Carlson, a fast little bastard, with each swing I would make he would dodge and hit me back with four more punches. “Hah keep this up, and by the time you make eight punches, I’ll have made thirty two and you’ll be lying on your back,” he says as bounces on his feet and holds his fist up.

“Are you sure about that?”I put a punch into his guts and another across his jaw. The gym echoes with the loud sounds of flesh being beaten to a pulp, you see we fight as if it’s the real thing, no protective padding just full contact. He glares at me with his werewolf eyes and bolts for the cage wall, as her reaches it he climbs to the top. He leaps off the top and glides in the air preparing to strike down on me but I launch myself up sending my shoulder into his gut. We slam against the wall and when we drop to the floor I toss him to the other end of the octagon.

“Nice try, but it your little fly like an eagle trick didn’t work,” he jumps back to his feet and throws two kicks, first one to my stomach, when he tries his second sidekick to my face I catch his shoe and throw away his foot and hit against his chest with the palm of my hand knocking him back against the cage wall. When I rush to try and punch his face again he ducks causing me to bash against the cage with my fist but I react and back hand him before he could make a move. He steps back and ducks twice when I try to lay a punch to his face again with my one two punches he evades and punches my knee cap making me drop to one knee and then he took the opportunity to kick me in my chin making me fall onto my back. I was stunned for a moment, he stands above me as he was about to kick me in the face. I move at the last second turning onto my left shoulder and then elbowing the back of his calf. The force was good enough make his back fall and when it did I rose up and grab his shoulders and flung him into the one of the eight sides of the octagon. I rush to him and shot one of my punches into his guts and another into the side of his jaw. When he tried to hit back I kneed him to the wall, after his back collided with steel he fell to the ground. When he looks up at me fearful, I take a breath and offer my hand to help him up. When he stands up I ask, “Were you scared?”

“A werewolf’s never scared, but you had me thinking twice,”

“Get some water and take a breather that’ll be enough for one day. Good fight,” I say as I head for the door. I take a walk down the hallway for a drink of water, they have water bottles in the gym but I just needed some time to cool off. There were two fountains; one of them marked water the other marked blood. I bet you already can tell who gets what, but our sad excuse for fountain was the one rusted piece of scrap metal in this whole school. As I try to get water I push the button to see the water barely escape the steel. It’s unfair, the dweller’s fountain is stainless steel and properly maintained. I look to the other gym and see the finesse they receive I’d see all of the vamps enjoying their personal fencing time in their little padded gym. I would see them cutting into each other with broad swords, each continuing to fight until they can’t endure the pain of cuts going into their flesh and the wound swiftly healing. The cuts would only make small blood splatter so even when they bleed they just need to water down the padding and let the blood flow into the drain at the middle of the room. Two dwellers were clashing swords and making slices and parry all until one ran his sword through the others shoulder. The fight ended when the loser drops his sword, the victor moves forward and pulls his sword out of the losers shoulder laughing at his pain.

“Drink dead man’s blood and let the worms feed on your corpse!” The loser yells in utter defeat.

“I’d prefer not to,” the victor says before the wounded vamp drags himself off to the fountain after he yells the derision. He sucked down on the blood like the elixir of life, and I watch as his dark blood dried and the hole in his shoulder closes and becomes perfected pale flesh once more.

“What are you looking at dog breath? Aren’t you on the wrong side of the face?” I look upon him and calmly answer “I don’t see a fence just another bleeding corpse who got itself impaled,” he glares at me with a glare of upmost hate. I hear the tightening of his grip on the handle of his broad sword, right when he was about to strike at me the beautiful girl I saw in the hallway stood between us, “Easy boys, let us not have such matters over small squabbles.” The creature steps back when she said, “don’t let yourself be angered by words, it’ll make you predictable to them,” he walks off as she stands and looks at me.

“Are you always looking for trouble?” She says with her arms crossed as she stands gracefully with a pretty look on her face.
I try and speak softly, “No, trouble just has a habit of finding me,”

“We may have that in common,” she says just before she walks back into her nocturnal gym. She continues to hypnotize me with one glance. As I watch her walk away she is asked by a friend to go shooting outside behind the gym. Obviously I was compelled to follow them and I did. When I find her she stands with two other black haired she-vamps, at a skeet shooting range, launching plastic disk in the air to be shot with hunting rifles. The girls were each thrown five disks, the first shot three out of five, the second two out of five and this mystery she-vamp shot all five down.

“Damn,” I say to myself making sure no one will over hear me. And do remember these bat bums have excellent hearing you may have to keep to your own mind but even then there are listeners, if a vampire is old enough their brain develops telepathy. I leaned against the side of the brick wall thinking about all of it. There is more to my long life of eighty years than I can tell you for now, every now and then I like to lie back and reflect on it all, everything that’s happen everything I’ve done. I listen to her friends asking where she had learned to shoot like that. I wait for her answer but before I hear it I am cut across the arm with one of their broad swords, staining my cut shirt with my blood. I grip the shirt and look to the where the blade came from. I look upon a smiling whelp carrying a sword with my blood dripping from it.

“Poor dog, I cut you,” he says as he raises his sword. I don’t say anything back to him I merely cut across his cheek with the hand I used to cover my wound. The blow knocked his face to one side only for him to bring it back to meet me face to face. His fangs appeared as he snarled at me with his eyes glowing with its color of blue. When a monster is angered they lose the focus the need to keep up their glamour, their mask, these creatures begin to screech like bats and their face looks animalistic and they sprout four fangs, two on top and two on bottom, a type of demon form. Yet their bat look is nothing compared to the fear that is inflicted with just our gold eyes that stare into the soul, see its fear and then reflect it upon the soul’s carrier. I could see the boy was experiencing it now, his face returned to normal, the glow in his eyes began to dim and a certain shock began to show as an expression on his face.

“Tit for tat batboy, now run along before this game get’s too painful for you,” when he walks away I began to breathe deep to retract what I was releasing out of me. My eyes return to normal but I still feel the sting of the sword’s cut across my arm. I catch the scent when I turn around and see her walk by, those eyes not a dweller’s eyes but her eyes are what captivate me, her trance holds me in a daze. She stops walking to only gaze at my wound before she says, “You should get that cleaned,” but then she walks away when I don’t say anything back. I sigh and ask myself, “Why didn’t you say anything stupid?” I went to the nearest coed bathroom, and began to wash my wound with cold water, my blood had already soaked down my sleeve so I decided to take it off and try and wash it out with mere water. I see a great red line made from the blood before I wipe it away showing disappearance of my wound. It had already healed but as I was scrubbing out my t-shirt I look upon my reflection and I see and feel the hundreds of old scars as they wear my chest more than my chest wears them. The door closes behind me making a loud knock and I turn around to see who the one who closed it was. I find Iris with her back to the door as she turns the lock, “You know, when I see those scars on you I get a little tingle in my skin and I realize just how much pain you’ve endured,” she takes off her leather jacket and moves close to me,
“What do you want?” I say worried because of her villainous grin.
“I just want to help ease that pain for you,” she walks up to me and grabs the back of my head shoving my mouth into hers making each movement of my lips a way to kiss her. I grip her waist pulling her warm body close to mine, I pull her over to the wall and when she let loose her grip I began to kiss her neck as she laughs in the pure enjoyment. I pry myself away from her, “Wait,”

“No don’t stop,” she says as she tries to kiss me again.

“We can’t,” I say trying to catch my breath.

“Yes we can, if you like poetry so much then show me the romance that comes with it,” she pulls me back to her and as we kiss I pin her wrist against the wall. I slide my hands down her arms caressing her skin with my finger before I trail up her soft shoulders so I can place my hands at her cheeks before I kiss her lips again.

“John, are you almost done?” Michael ask when we stop abruptly, I tell them just a minute. I take a deep breath as I step back from her as she fixes her clothes and hair, “That was fun,” she kisses me on the cheek and walks out almost too casually.

“I’ll never understand women,” and that’s why I can feel nothing deeper for her, she only wants carnal pleasure. I wash my face and put my shirt on just before I walk out to the lot.

We all walk through the school and to the football stadium, the one place vampires and lunaris stood close to each other, but only to yell and curse out the other team. Football players here are even bigger assholes than mortal football players, the athletic teams are the only bonding groups of dwellers and Lunaris that respect and look out for each other. But with the accomplishment comes the ego, they think they’re the higher forms of either race, another barrier I intend to break down. My group and I always stand at the very top of the stadium above the noise so we can speak to each other; the game is more chaotic and at the same time more cavalier than what humans play, the beast serves as linemen while the bats are receiver and runners. All leap hundreds of feet in the air and run as quick as wind bashing into walls of flesh made by the werewolves who hit and kick down each other. From the top of the stadium I see, hear, and smell everything. At the middle of the stadium and below are the peppy, cheering school spirited vamps and above are the cursing, yelling wolves, and above all is us. But that’s just the stadium, behind it are the outcast who enjoy a good smoke, smoking is a past time for the immortals since they get the thrill of the flame and not the burn of their lungs. We beast can smoke but we prefer not to since we need our lungs to run as fast as we do. All of them may not know it but this is our school, because we are the ones who decide to care about the others rather than ourselves, if the dwellers did require our help and if we feel they deserve it we would help them and when it comes to this school, we’ll do what we have to, to protect it. In the sea of familiar scents and faces I see her face, a few rows down from me and I smell that scent, my heart already is beating fast as I see her talk to her friends. I use my ability to hear only her conversations, “So you haven’t seen this at your other school?”

“Um, no we couldn’t get enough students to make a full football team, the werewolves were being stubborn when asks to join,” I see her sitting with she-vamps but then I see a boy move in with his immortal speed and sits next to her just before he raises her chin to see his face, some how I’m ready to run down there and cut his fingers from his hand just for touching her. My fists are clinching as my full grown claws dig into my palms causing them to bleed yet all I could do is lie back on the fence and listen to their conversation, “What’s your name new girl?”

“Eden,”

“Eden? I like that,” bastard, we all say we like the girls name but it’s just another lie in the category of what women want to hear. I spent thirty minutes watching him charm her; I could have lost her to that charmer if the fight hadn’t ensued. When a fight breaks out in the field the officials give three minutes to see if either team is put out of commission and can’t continue, the mob of students love it, blood drenches the grass as wolves cut each other and immortals fly through the air fighting one another. Everyone cheers and laughs as they see the bloodshed, everyone but her, Eden, she was terrified, and I could see fear in her eyes, fear and disgust.

“I’m going for a drink,” she tells them. I almost let her go alone if it wasn’t for what I saw after that. She reaches the bottom of the stands and two beasty boys follow her. I look over the fence, about thirty feet down was the two standing over her on the ground laughing at her terror I leap over the fence and land behind the two of them. First attack I grab the one closest to me and slam his skull against the raptors of the stadium and the next one I deliver a hit that nearly broke his neck when the kid looks back at me. I attack quickly enough to where I was breathing hard, “Don’t be afraid of me Eden, I’m here to help you,” I walk up to her and extend my hand, “are you hurt?”

“No, thank you for your assistance, uh?”

“John, John O’ Brian,”

“Well John,” she takes my hand to pick herself up, “I think it’s time for me to leave,”

“You don’t have to,” I try and say softly.

“What?” She asks as she looks back me with a surprised look.

“You don’t have to leave,” I don’t know what came over me but some how my heart began to beat so fast in my chest I could only hear the beat as I look at her.

“Are you alright?” she asks me.
“Yeah I’m fine, but you, you’re not hurt are you?”

“No I’m perfectly fine,” she answers dusting her jean jacket and jeans off.

“I guess I’ll escort you back to your friends,”

“I can’t,” I stop in my tracks as she continues to say, “I can’t go back and watch that gruesome carnage,” I was at a loss of what I could do for her. I was a hot head who was use to this and she was horrified by it.

“Um maybe we can get something to eat . . . or drink?”

“Well I don’t believe I should but then again I would do anything to get away from all that. So do you have any place in mind?” She lights up a bit and lets out a smile.

“Well,” I don’t know how she agreed, all vamps like five star restaurants and other rich people places but she some how settles for a small barbeque joint. The place is owned by a werewolf family I know. As we walk in through the door the wolves greet me, “O’Brian aren’t you a sight for soar eyes boy what you doing here?”

“Ah we just decided to skip out on a football game and spend the time here,” I say as the cook from the kitchen looks to her. Before he could ask I say, “This is Eden,”

“What can I get you two?”

“I’ll have a steak as usual,”

“Do you want that well done or extra crispy?”
“Quit messing with me you know I like it bloody as hell, but what will you have?”
“Yes young miss we do have some bottled blood but it isn’t the best of quality,”

“That’s fine I’ll do just fine with a big red though,”

“Ah soda yes, we have plenty of that,” we take a seat and our order is served to us. It’s odd this girl not drinking blood out in public, most of her kind I’ve seen drink blood where they please. When I sat across from her I did my best to be well mannered as I ate my steak and watched her pale face staring at the place she was in. In her sweet low voice, “Thank you for bringing me here, I’ve never been in a place like this,” she was different, not a stuck up she-vamp but a thoughtful young woman. “So how did you get into the peacekeeping business?”

“Oh, well the saints and I_”

“Pardon?” she asks.

“The teachers deem us the saints because my friends and I have the names of saints, John, Anthony, Michael, and Gabriel,”

“Saints, really,”

“Yes, we all hold the idea that we won’t stand for being belittled by rumors and legends of our kind. So we stop anyone who causes a bad outlook on the name of us beast,”

“So that’s why you saved me?”

“No, no one would have seen what they would have done to you. But I couldn’t allow it,”

“Because of your pride,” she says with a hint of shortness.

“Because of you,” I finish my meal and ask, “Are you done?”

“Yes we can go,” as we left, the cook and the waitress say goodbye to me, we were lucky most places for food are not open at night.

“Well John,” I was waiting for her to tell me goodnight but for some reason she says “You took me to a place you know and now it’s my turn,” I couldn’t tell what she was thinking but before I could protest I was following her down an alley made by two building that vamps own, they keep the outside as good as the inside to what looked like a bloodsucker fest, “A vamp club are you kidding me, no way I’m going in there,”

“What’s wrong, you afraid of a few vampires?”

“They won’t even let me in that place,”

“Don’t worry they will, you just need , oh I know , she pulls out a hat with the school “M” and puts it on my head pulling it down lower over my eyes.

“Don’t look people in the eye,”

“They’re going to kick you out too,”

“Don’t be so worrisome,” she takes my hand and we walk up to the door and knock. A vamp in a leather jacket and sunglass opens the door, “Hey Eden, how you doing?”

“Good, I just wanted to get away from school so can you let us in?” I can see him turning his head to me, “Who’s us?” She steps closer to me and says, “This is a friend from school, and my escort for the night,” he takes a few steps closer to look at me, “Come on Marco just let us in,”

“Fine, but make sure you get home soon,” when we walk in I see a constant laser show in a dark club. To the left there are tables with vampires smoking and drinking blood-alcohol in their five hundred suits and eight hundred dollar dresses. To the right is the bar and in the center of the club is a suspended dance floor that took a stairway to get to. And in front of that was a massive speaker system hooked up to a turn table that a dweller with a lit up head set stood by.

“Let’s get to the dance floor,”

“No I can’t,”

“Don’t worry you’re with me they won’t hurt you,”

“No, I mean . . . I can’t dance,” the music slowed and the vamps slowed with it.

“Perfect, slow dance, I’ll show you how,” she pulls me up the stairway with all vamps staring at us and moving apart from us as she has me hold her close. She feels cold but her body is soft and almost weightless, she holds her wrist at the back of my neck as I hold her by the waist, the music is hypnotic, the lights turn from red to white, I stare into her blue eyes and it feels as if all my troubles have faded away.

“I enjoy just looking at your gold eyes,” she stops looking at me and says, “You know, I think all the vampires here are staring at you,”

“No, they must be staring at how beautiful you are,”
She gently pulls on my neck and we kiss for the first time, her kisses are soft and sweet. And I am powerless against them. But something or someone pulls me away from her. A young man with his hand on me threatens me with his fangs out.

“All dogs stay outside where they belong!” Two more vamps step behind me and grip my shoulders, “You both have a few seconds to take your hands off of me,” I warn. The two behind us don’t do anything but the one who took me from Eden decides to anger me with a punch into my gut. I lean forward but knock back the two behind me and grip the vampire who hit me by his coat and raise him off the ground, “Now, I would usually settle this the old fashion way but I can’t act like that in front of my date, so leave us alone, now!” I drop him and he walks away with only a sense of broken pride.

“Thank you, but I think its time for us to go,” Eden says to me just before we walk out back into the alley and I felt contrite for letting out some of an old self.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean_”

“Stop, your too hard on yourself John, I’m okay, the guy hit you first and you stopped what could have been a bad fight. Plus I’m almost late for my curfew,” she says as she interrupts my apology. The sound of sneakers stepping on the on the rooftops and the sound of sliding gravel reaches my ears, “Oh no,” before another word could be said all of my friends except Iris step down from the rooftop and land in front of us. They all stare at us with the upmost awkwardness, as if anger and shock were mixed together inside of them. Their eyes were turning gold as I look toward them and ask, “Hey guys shouldn’t you be getting out of Morpheum by now?”

“It’s not midnight yet, plus what’s the matter, don’t you want us to meet your vampire?” Before I could answer Eden answers for me, “Of course he does, John why don’t you introduce me to your saints?” The saints begin to look astounded at the fact she is willing to meet them.

“Alright,” I take her hand before she and I walk closer to the saints at the mouth of the alley. “Eden this is Gabriel and this is Michael,”

“Pleasure,” she begins to shake their hands one at a time.

“And this is Anthony,” his smiles at her with his goofy grin.

“Guys this is Eden,” before I could ask where Iris was she drops down and rips Eden from my grip, pulling Eden’s cheek to her face and breathes in Eden’s scent and as she breathes out she smiles and says, “Yes she is,” with a smile.

“Iris let her go,” Iris licks Eden across the cheek, “Yum, baby she tastes like a Popsicle lets have some fun with her,”

“No damn it, you let her go right now,” I could see Eden’s face frightened and anxious as her face was in Iris’ deadly grip.

“I just want a taste,” I rush up to her as I roar to show my anger, Iris jumps back onto the wall in her cowardice. She let Eden fall but only for me to catch her, “All of you go home now,” the boys walk out of the alley, I don’t have to worry about them, they know one act of violence could start a war on the streets, blood would fill the sewers, vampire and werewolf alike. Iris ran away and it was Eden and I alone again. I help her up and she says, “You should put a leash on your groupie John she’s touchy,”

“Let me walk you home,” she must have been in a bad mood for she only let me walk her to the bus stop where she left me only wanting her more.

“I’m sorry _”






“Stop, don’t be sorry plus I can handle myself. Plus its not like I’m your girl,” she turns around and I stop her by grabbing her wrist, “Wait, what about the club, you could’ve gotten me killed and you say you feel nothing?”
“Look werewolf, there can not be anything between us and I don’t feel_,”

I take her in my arms and look into her eyes.

“You’re a cruel temptress,” I interrupt her.

“Temptress, well I don’t try and be that as it may seem but you better let me go,”

“That’s my point, I can’t stop wondering about you yet you aren’t even trying,” I couldn’t help myself to do nothing but kiss her and taste her sweet lips once again, I lay my forehead against hers as we breathe hard in the pure amazement of her. I could hear her voice shaky as she says, “I lied, I do feel something for you, strongly but now I have to go. Goodnight John,” I let her go and she walks on to the bus and I feel happy, really happy for the first time in a long time.

“They have cheated us with the very result of our own efforts!” Around the corner I overhear preaching and chant from a small crowd. I make the turn and see it. A small crowd that forms around the speaker on a platform, “My poor brothers and sisters who are so wrongfully forced to do the hard labor that is beneath them we must rise up against such injustice. We may not be human but we not meant to be treated like beast of burden!” I walk into the crowd out of curiosity, and I see a man in a moderate suite and fedora. “We were once more than this. We brought about the means to this new world and yet the humans put us here, practically saying we are no better than our once mortal enemies! And what do they give us in addition, the lowest of the low jobs that act as a waste to our true potential!” The whole crowd agrees with him in a single chant. I couldn’t help but wonder if this man this preacher was anything more than his words. “We are the people who descend from warriors who, I must add the humans turned to in their time of most dire need. Only when they feel safe again do they foolishly declare themselves top of the food chain, they have grown arrogant in their comfort but I say what would they do if they were forced to realize our power again,”

“Then they’ll annihilate us,” the crowd turns around to me, “they put us here because to them we are no different, but the dwellers look more like them so that’s why they treat us worse,”

“And who are you young sir to say such a matter? Were you even bitten in those times adolescent?” The choice of words only anger me, “I fought in those times old man which is more than you can say,” I answer back to the preacher.

“And what do you have to such an improbable statement,”

“I don’t have to prove anything to you preacher all we withdrawn soldiers have is our stories and scars that several people like you would ever believe because you weren’t there. I fought for the humans and I had to realize the hard way that self preservation is in their nature. They took what they needed from us and then screwed us over,” the preacher step down and walks up to me as he looks me in the eyes, “If what you say is true then why do you sound like someone who’s lost hope,”

“What’s their to hope for, things don’t change, no matter how many banners you make,”

“You’re wrong; it’s thinking the way you do right now.” The street lights begin to flash orange we have another hour to get out. “Ladies and gentlemen we will have another meeting next week thank and have a goodnight,” as the patrons walk away the preacher nods his head motioning me to follow him. He reaches behind his podium for a bottle before offering me some. I shake my head no.
“Stranger you say there is no hope, but if there really is nothing to hope for, nothing to believe in anymore, perhaps we need someone to believe in,”
“And who is that preacher, you? Do you believe your little protest will change anything?”
“I have faith but maybe the people need a warrior for once, a warrior like you O’Brian,”
“You know me?”
“I know your father, you talk just like him, but he isn’t as pessimistic as you are,”
“He’s just as bitter I assure you,” it takes me only a second before I feel the need to say, “I’m sorry for demeaning your speech, what you may not see about me is that I believe in what your saying, that and all that’s happened to us. But in that war I can only tell you about I was forced to see how the humans deal us, why they put us here. It’s because we’re too dangerous and they know it. I’m actually waiting for when they decide to take action. Its not that I don’t have hope I just don’t have a cause,” I start to walk off.
“When that day comes, what will you do O’Brian?” I stop in my tracks and turn around to show my vicious grin as my eyes glow in the excitement, “Then they’ve finally know how this all has made me feel. They’ll have danced with the devil by the pale moonlight,” I walk away as the preacher watches me with the slight fear what I would do clawing at the back of his mind.
In Morpheum a werewolf can enter at dawn and has to leave by midnight, before the cities the vampires had only the night, but now they still walk in the night but sleep in the morning. I ran all the way to the edge of Morpheum and walk past the armed guard gateway. I step up to the booth and see a vampire at the desk and the werewolves outside acting as the muscle.

“I’ll need your full name and I.D number as usual kid,”

“John O’ Brian, cereal number 3545,”

“Bout damn time werewolf, your one of the last to get out of Morpheum,” He was like several other proud vampires with their uniforms and badges making them look like a pale faced rent-a-cops. When outside I could see the bright stars and breathe fresh air outside Morpheum is only an abandoned ghost town. I believed that my father would murder me when I got home but what I got was a cold and more damaging, your father going to sleep for he cares not tell you to get to bed and be ready in the morning. I have to admit, it was more striking to my heart than being yelled at. When I walk in I find myself staring at my dark room, always clean only because I don’t spend enough time in it to make it a mess. Yet I still enjoy seeing the posters, on my navy blue walls, of rock bands and dark figures that only reflect what humans think we are. I fall back on my bed and finally feel the softness of my bed and pillow; I was put into an endless sleep that gives you nothing, no dream, no night that passed, just the disappointment of waking up in the morning feeling just as I did last night. I walk into the living room and am forced to remember my younger brother, poor Eric, he used to sit in there and watch cartoons. I walk the cold windy road alone on the way to my prison, my home away from home. As soon as I walk into the city I have to find my way to wolf sidewalk, it takes longer to get to the school. From that way I must endure taking a few different turns and short cuts in order to avoid some undesirable dwellers that claim territory. From that simple choice I run onto a construction site where I see the hard labor that my people are forced to do. At the site I see one old man, a wolf with gray in his hair and beard tirelessly trying to raise a hammer and smash two ton stones, a job easily meant for twelve men but they give it all to one wolf for less than a fourth of the cost. He sweats severely as he breathes agonized breaths.

“Why are you doing this?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“It’s my job,” he says with his voice cracked from the dehydration.

“What I mean is why are working so hard for them?” He sets down the hammer and looks back at me, “It’s not for them it’s for my family; it’s to show them how much I love them. It’s to show these people that hard work and integrity is the one thing they can’t take from us,”

“Aren’t you tired of working so hard for them?”

“Sure I am. This mere body of mine is tired but my soul is not, my soul grows stronger,” he raises the hammer and with one more strike upon the stone he cries out in the exhaustion. His arm shakes as he tries to lift up the hammer; I walk to him and grip the hammer’s handle. I take it from him and bash the stone as he sits down. For an hour I bash the stone and see it turn to gravel before me. I begin to sweat and my arms begin to tire but the old man’s words remain in my head and carry on. I finish the work and the man says to me, “Bless you boy. I’m sorry if I kept you from wherever you were going,”

“Its alright I still have plenty of time to get to school,”

“Ah, school’s good young man, knowledge is one of the few things that no one can ever take from you,” I pick up my jacket and say good day. But before I get too far I turn around and ask, “Sir would you mind if I came here tomorrow morning to help out some more?”

“You would be very welcomed; we old dogs could always use help here,”

I head to school and try to get breakfast from our side of the cafeteria, an over crowded area full of hungry creatures that fill the lines breakfast and lunch, all three lunches. The dwellers are a quick moving coffee cup buying assembly line that doesn’t stop. Both acted as a reason to be angry at both the darkness dwellers and lunar beasts. In all the darkness made by the vampires wearing black I could see her aloof from them a red flame in the darkness. She was in pink converse and an atheistic red coat that made her seem exotic yet gentle she sat down at her vampire table, even the other immortals’ jaws drop. In the cafeteria as well as the hallways the vamps always seem taciturn; they speak of course, but always do they seem tranquil. I got out of line and began to walk to the vamp side; I could feel the eyes of my kind trying to discern what my intentions were. But when I passed them and the invisible boundary line that divided us, the eyes of the vampires watching me fills with disdain. I sat next to her and say, “Hey red riding hood you sure are looking good,”

“What are doing here?” She asks thinking of the risk I am taking.

“I wanted to see you,”

“Really, you did?”

“Yeah I missed you,”

“Well I’ll miss you, after the vampires tear you apart for being on their turf,” she breaks a smile as she looks at me.

“They won’t, they know if they hurt me they’ll bring the wrath of the saints upon themselves, plus why would our great school allow such a thing?” I ask sarcastically. She giggles and covers her mouth just as two voluptuous girls who have their hair curled and hair sprayed and wear thin fitting dresses sat across from us one asks, “Well Eden who’s your new friend?”

“Oh, Rachel, Regina this is John,” she says as she waves her hand to me. Rachel was the one sat in front of me and wore more make up as if it would make her appear more beautiful than her friend; her hair was black while Regina’s was blond. She extends her hand palm down, “Hello,” she says and as soon as her cold fingers were caressed by the warmth of my palm, she reacts as if pleasure hit her with that one single touch. She breathes deep and says, “It’s been a while since I felt the warmth of a man’s touch,” I slowly let go of Rachel as Regina extended her hand, “Nice to meet you two,” They both smell of sweet perfume, and had flawless skin like Eden, while Rachel was speaking to Eden, Regina was staring at me.

“Hey Rachel do you want to ask him or should I?”

“No Regina not now,”

“I wonder why not?”

“Wait, ladies what do you want to ask me?” I ask confused.

“Well, Rachel always told me, if a werewolf had a set big enough to come over here she would want to hear his heartbeat,”

“My word Regina, do you have to paraphrase it like that?”

“Those were your words Rachel I remember,”

“Well that would be up to Eden ladies,” Their blue eyes turn to Eden, “Please Eden, let us?”

“Well . . . sure,” she seems almost saddened with her decision. But her dazed and confused look turns to a jealous glare as Rachel walks around the table and sat in front of me blocking my view of Eden.

“May I lie on your chest?”

“Alright, sure you can,” she places her cold ear down on my chest, she feels almost weightless like Eden, she listens for seconds before she says, “Ah, I love that sound, it reminds me of the old days, when I had a mortal lover,” she raises herself and smiles with her pearly white fangs out, “Regina, your turn,” she says. Regina nods her head no, “I don’t think I can handle myself with that pleasure,” as Rachel moves out of the seat I ask Eden if she wants to listen but she stands up and rushes out, “Eden,” I call only for her to walk out faster. I got up and went after her, I found her facing away from me leaning on the wall, “You asked me if I felt anything, and I do, but do you?” She asks. She holds herself as she says, “You want me to hear your heart but I wonder if you even have one,” usually I’m impetuous when insulted, but she really wondered, it was not a derision of werewolves but a question about me.
“Your friends ask to hear a heartbeat but I haven’t felt my own heart since I saw you, you gave me a reason strong enough to feel something for the first time in a long time. I do feel something for you, a feeling I’m not suppose to feel for a vampire and yet I think you and me can help put an end to this rancor between our kinds just you and me,”

“That’s just it John, your care for me is divided, half heart the other half reason and logic. I can’t handle that right now,”

“Then . . . let it just be you and me, just us,” she sighs and turns around and says, “Well I want to know your friends more than you know mine,”

“Alright, but for starters, there’s something I need,”

“What?” She asks suspiciously.

“Your last name,”

“Oh, Sinclair, my full name is Eden Sinclair nice to make your acquaintance”

“John O’Brian, at your service,”

“Well John O’ Brian, may I ask how old you are?”

“You may, last time I checked I have lived seventy nine years maybe, give or take,”

“Wow,”

“Yeah I hope you don’t have anything against older guys,”

“Older? Ha, I’m a hundred and three,” In the shock I move closer, “What are you insinuating, that you know more than me?”

“No, that I’ve done more,” she says in a seductive tone. I laugh a little and take another step closer, “A good girl like you would never do more than a guy like me_”

“We’ll see big bad wolf,” with her last seductive words I give her a long kiss and a shorter one after that, her lips are sweet and soft.

“Well, more than friends aren’t you’ll,” I stop and turn around and we both see Rachel smiling with her fangs out once more, “Oh don’t let me stop you two I think you’re both a modern day Romeo and Juliet, so cute. Plus the sight of your two just makes me . . . thirsty,”

“Come on Eden, let’s go,” as we walk she holds my hand, and I feel her cold fingers once more, when walking I ask her, “Eden may I ask you a personal question?”

“Yes you may,”

“Who turned you into one of them?” I try and ask with the upmost sincerity.

“Oh, ah my mother turned me, when I was sixteen, she was made into one of us by my father when I was four and she waited till I was at the age I wanted to be. But what about you, what’s your family like, how was your beginning written?”

“Well my dad was a politician who had very little problems in keeping to himself since politics weren’t cared for but, he found my mom and they had me, and we all lived blissfully, but I turned ten and the werewolf gene took hold and we were alright until my mother passed, now he’s a senator for werewolf affairs and we haven’t spoken like father and son for a long time,”

“I’m sorry John, I’m saddened to say that it is one thing we have in common. I lost my dad to the sun a long time ago as well,”

“So now it’s just you and your mother?”

“Basically,” she answers with her eyes down as we stop walking. A strand of her hair falls in front of her face, my claws had grown out as I raise her chin to see her tearful eyes and say, “Don’t be sad Eden, I’m here for you,” I slowly brush the strand of hair out of her face. With her at my side of each class everything seems somewhat better. The classes are less chaotic, they’re quieter, and the florescent lights seem brighter. In each class I see the world differently, all the noise goes dead silent and all I can see and hear was her, she still sits on the vamp side but she sat at the edge as I did on wolf side; only three feet lie between us and yet I feel she was still too far away from me. I could see her beautiful face as she stares at the front of the class with uninterrupted focus, her skin was flawless, her smile, with or without fangs her smile was hypnotizing she shows so much happiness I have not seen from a wolf’s excitement or a vampire’s pleasure in drinking human blood.

As the end of school bell rings I receive a note from the office telling me that my dad was going to Washington for three days and it hit me, before an hour could pass I hid around the corner and stole Eden away from her pack of friends so she begins to laugh, “What are you doing John?” She asks while still giggles.

“My dad’s not coming home for three days,”

“Oh poor baby, would you like me comfort you?”

“I would actually,” she laughs again as I answer her, “Really I’m saying since you can’t come over to my house I was wondering if I could see your house?” She hums as she looks away from me and thinks it over, “Alright but you need to be gone by eight o’ clock alright?” My answer of course was yes. Several of the darkness dwellers either drive themselves or have paid drivers pick them up in black limousines or Chryslers, man now days all cars look the same, I do miss the old fashion American-muscle cars, now it’s all Japanese and Chinese made mechanical boxes. As I wait by her I even see security astounded at the fact that I’m not leaving on foot. Eden’s ride was a black slick car, all windows were tinted and I couldn’t even see the driver. When we got in the back the seats were luxurious red leather interior.

“Do you like it?” She asks.

“Yeah, a little much for my taste but it’s nice,” when we travel I feel I couldn’t do or say anything while we were being watched. When we stop and leave the vehicle she taps on the glass and says, “Don’t tell my mom,” we were in vampire suburbia, all houses were dull and look like they were made of grey building blocks with windows. I could tell the grass was the fake hand planted grass to look what they feel is perfect; they don’t know what is perfect, real natural growing mother earth’s green. In the middle of the store bought lawn was a stone walkway that lead up to the front door. She walks up the walkway and dials in an entrance code and her steel door opens, Morpheum residents get more security than most humans, due to the threat of wolf invasions. I was hesitant, for I’d never been so close, she saw my morose look and asks, “What’s wrong John?”

“I’m sorry, it’s just, this is the first time anyone has been willing to let me into their home,”

“Take my hand,” she says with her palm out. I grasp her hand and she walks me into her home, it carries a sweet smelling scent of lavender. A soft white carpet covers the floor and a hazel color is worn on the walls, no pictures, all just walls. The doorway leads to the dining room where a flat screen TV is hung on the wall, and a three part sofa made of a soft fabric, “Take a seat and I’ll get you drink of water,” I sit down and somewhat sink into the cushion, she walks in from the kitchen and hands me a clear glass of iced water. She sits as I take a sip of water, and she asks, “What do you think of my home?”

“It’s nice and uh_”

“Boring?” She interrupts me.

“No, no it’s just I might have gone a different way,”

“Yeah I would have too but moms the decorator. So where do you live?”

“Green Acres pass; it’s an acre outside the city nearest to Morpheum, I love it ‘cause it leads to a forest that has a few miles of nonstop trees and a green field clearing that’s light up when the moonlight shines,”

“Did you say clearing?”

“Yes I did,” she brings her hand up to her throat and rubs her neck with a peculiar look on her face. “Are you alright?” I ask her. She didn’t answer me, “Eden?” she looks as if she is in some sort of trance.

“Eden!” she looks at me as if she was lost.

“What?” She asks me as if nothing happened.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes of course why wouldn’t I be?” She smiles at me. I try to brush off that little moment of hers and ask, “When you said you’ve done more than me, I couldn’t help but wonder what a beautiful creature like you, mean by that?” She stands up and walks from her part of the couch to right next to me, she seductively whispers in my ear, “I’m pretty sure you know what I mean,”

“I thought you were a nice girl?” I ask sarcastically.

“I am John, but you know even nice girls have dark secrets,” I feel the cold touch of her fingers touch the back of my neck and feel a strong tingle go threw out my body.

“Now what’s wrong with you?” She asks.

“Your hand is cold is all,” I lie. She still sits close to me as she asks, “Do you want to see my bedroom?” I look at her for a second and look away to help myself bring out the words, “Well I don’t think_,” she begins to kiss my neck, “ah we, we,”

“Just shut up and kiss me,” I give in to her, I feel the cold sensation of her soft lips again but this time, she’s my angel, two sides to her, an innocent girl and a temptress who I’ve just met today. While we kiss we walk into her room only pausing for a seconds for her to let a few words, “This is my room,” we walk to her bed and she lies back with me still holding her. I begin to kiss her neck as my hand feels her body, I brush my hand down her side and I grip her thigh. She begins to breather faster before she says, “I don’t usually do this type of thing,” I kiss her sweet before I say, “Your lips say otherwise,” My claws grew out in the excitement, a light illuminates her bedroom window and first she breathes but then gasp before she says, “Oh no, John my mom’s home,” I pry myself away from Eden.
“What should I do?”
“Hide, please just hide,” she kisses me once more before I do. Her mother walks into her room to find Eden sitting on her bed with a book in her lap, “Hi mom, you’re home early,”

“Yes the meeting ended quicker than I thought it would,” her mother had long black hair up in a ponytail and wore a business suit and had clear silver glasses on, she began to look around. “Is there a boy here?” She asks with her arms crossed and her foot tapping on the floor.

“No of course not mom,” her mom looks up at me clinging to the ceiling, she sighs and demands , “Get down from there young man,” I drop down in front of her and say respectfully, “Nice to meet you Ms. Sinclair,” I say extending my hand.

“Don’t you nice to meet you me, I loathe boys over without my permission,” she says being crass with her arms still crossed.

“Mom this is John, my new boyfriend,” Eden says as she walks up to me.

“I had no reference to believe you would get a boyfriend let alone a new boyfriend?” She gently pushes her away from me and says, “Let me look at him,” her mother walks around me and touches my arms and shoulders. She says, “He doesn’t look too provincial, but has a morose look upon his face, open your mouth,” she inspects my teeth and says, “doesn’t floss and has no fangs what made you think you have a chance with my daughter?”

“Mother_” she tries to say as she takes a step closer.

“Don’t interrupt me I want his answer. Do you have one or do I have to reiterate myself?” She asks as she waves Eden off.

“I didn’t think I had a chance but I saw an opportunity and I took it,” I say looking down as if I was not worthy to look at the mother as she asks the question.

“Spontaneous, I like that but you better not be impetuous I don’t want my daughter in trouble on your account,” she says as she points her index finger at me.

“Yes miss,” she grabs my jaw and turns my head to the left and smelled my neck.
“Expunge yourself of my daughter’s scent and if you have any guile plans involving her it will be the devil to pay do you understand me?” She asks with the sternness in her voice.

“Yes miss,” she stays low in volume but her austere words out did any amount of yelling would do. As she lets go of my face she asks one more question, “Right arm or left?”

“Left arm Ms. Sinclair,” I say reluctantly. She raises my left forearm and pulls back the long sleeve of my sweater, “You have two weeks left so be sure be sure to be vigilant,”

“Mom _”

“Enough of this conversation, I’m tired and his dog aroma is giving me a headache, I’m going to take a hot bath,” she lets down her hair as she walks out of Eden’s room.

“Wow,” I say popping my over extended neck.

“I know my mom can be a little_”

“Strict?”

“Bitchy,” I laugh out and tried to contain myself.

“What did my mom mean by two weeks?”

“Oh,” I turn my forearm facing up and look upon two lines imbedded in my skin, “Four weeks in a month every werewolf has the gift to have a line appear in their skin for each week until the full moon. I like to call them moon scars. The last week we take it outside the city, taking prescribed meds, hunting wildlife game and running through a field to satisfy the urges of our less than friendly side,” I say with a bit of shame.

“I don’t think you have a less than friendly side John,” she says as holds my arm and feels the lines with her cold fingers.

“You don’t know the way I was before I met you,” I kiss her on the cheek and say, “I guess I better go,” I left Morpheum with the regret of leaving her behind. As I stand outside my house I catch a scent in the air, the scent belongs to someone I haven’t seen in a long time, a man I personally despise with every fiber of my being. The anger I feel in my core causes my eyes to turn gold and my claws to grow out. I rush into my home and I stand in front of a man sitting down in the shadow as I ask, “What are you doing in my home?”

“I was waiting to speak to your father,” he says with a tone of hate in his voice. I speak back with the same tone in my voice, “He’s in Washington, so leave Julius,”

“What? No hospitality for an old friend?”

“You’re no friend to my father nor’ me. And you breaking into my home already exhausted my forbearance for hospitality,” with my fist clenching.

“Careful boy, those big words may make you lightheaded,” he stands up and folds the newspaper he was reading, just before he takes a deep breath, “Wait, you have a vamps scent on you, what are you doing with a plasma junkie?” He says with a small grin cultivating in his teeth.

“It’s none of your business,” I say with a low but threatening tone.

“Ha, I knew sooner or later you would fall for one of those she-vamps at your school,” his sinister grin grows wider, “does your father know about the vamp tail you been chasing?”

“Don’t say that about her,” I exclaim.

“It would appear I’m making you mad, I really do wonder how long until she gets bored with her pup and leaves him outside Morpheum,” in my anger I leap instinctively battle ramming Julius to the ground, yet when I stab my claws at him he catches them as he lays there only inches away from my claws he laughs and says, “Come on, Johnny boy you know I’m stronger than you,” he stands up with my wrist still in his grasp only to toss me out through the front door onto the dirt . I stand up and I see him waiting for me; I jump up putting my weight into a left hook into his jaw. The force in my hit is so great I fall onto my torso after hitting him, only for him to kick me in the gut, a kick powerful enough to throw me back onto my feet. As I try to punch him again Julius catches it and shoots a hit into my ribs and then grabs my shirt and head-butted me to near unconsciousness. Julius picks me up by my throat and says, “At a boy John, your dad would be proud I know I am. All this hate, all this rage it’s a shame it goes to waste. Thank you for escorting me out but allow to me show you in,” he raises me off the ground to where my chest lies on top of his knuckles, he flings me so hard I bash across the front door and land onto my kitchen floor. I plant my fist into the ground to help me stand up, Julius was gone. Julius I had wished that son of b**** disappeared with the other war criminals of the Era War. The bastard’s been plaguing me and my father for years, every time he comes here my father doesn’t let him get pass the front door, he is a bureaucrat with a guile hidden agenda; several times he tries to coax my father into signing something that will change an aspect of our people for the worst but he cares not for he looks out only for himself.
As I lay in bed I think about how I would be furious with Julius disrespecting me in my own home, but I can only think of Eden, her beautiful face, her scent, her sweet smelling hair, her smooth skin. The thought of her left me restless and only thinking of when I can see her again.

In the morning, run to Morpheum and find Eden at school; I see her standing with her she-vamp friends, Regina and Rachel. I walk up to her, “Morning Eden”, I kiss her on the cheek and she plants another one on my lips, “Morning Jo_,” she was interrupted.

“John, hey Regina and I just had a discussion,” Rachel says as she interrupts Eden.

“Really, so what were you doing at Eden’s house?” Regina finishes with a question.

“Uh, isn’t it time to go to class?”

“Wait werewolf you’re blushing,” Regina says as she points at me with a long red fingernail.

“Who’s blushing?” Anthony asks as he and the other saints arrive.

“No one guys but, Rachel, Regina, I would like to introduce you to a few friends of mine. This is Gabriel, Anthony, and Michael,” their flawless smiles disappear as soon as I finish saying the boy’s names. In the bad tasteful silence, Eden was brave.
“Well it’s nice to see you boys again,” she shakes their hands one after another just before Iris arrives.

“How sweet, you presenting your snow white to us once more. But I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced,”

“Eden, Iris, Iris, this is Eden. There, you’re acquainted,” I say impatiently.

“Easy John, plus Eden’s such a nice name I’d want to meet the girl who has it,” she walks around Eden, examining every curve of her body, Iris slides her fingers across Eden’s back. Have you kissed snow white’s dead frozen lips yet?” Eden answers for me, “Yes he has and we both enjoyed it,” she says proudly.
Rachel and Regina have their fangs out in the excitement of Iris being so close to having her way with Eden. I step in between the two of them, “Ladies, I really think it’s time for class,” Iris walks away.

“Will you please stop trying to get me killed,” I beg her.

“I’m sorry but I’m unable to acquiesce with your request,”

“You’re an evil temptress,”

“How am I evil temptress?” She asks as she steps closer.
“Even when you’re not trying you’re an evil temptress who’s going to get me killed,” I tell her.
“I find that a complement. By the way you look thin, when was the last time you got something to eat?”

“Hey just because I told you I got two weeks doesn’t mean you have to look after me and what I do,”

“Ooh laconic today aren’t we, you need a hug,” she says all child like.

“No I don’t,”
“Yes you do,”

“I’m not a hugging person,” she grabs me and hugs me close and I get that cold embrace that I love to have but only get when I’m running through a field on a cold night.

“You’re a hugging person, you just haven’t had the pleasure of it,” she kisses me on the cheek and says, “See you in class,” then she walks off in the seductive way only a girl can do. I slap myself and say out loud, “Temptress,” I somewhat wake up from her spell. I somehow didn’t realize my friends and her friends were still watching me, watch her.

“What are you all looking at?” My boys shake their heads practically saying that they are looking at nothing.

“I just love how attentive you are with her John. It’s nice having a man who cares for you; she’s a lucky girl, if only there were more who wished to have a relationship rather than just a one night stand,” Rachel says as she walks past me.

“We all need to get to class, come on guys,” the saints and I went one way while Rachel and Regina went another; the classes as usual were dull and morose. But in the dark gloomy rooms, she is my light, her smile gave me happiness. One of our first classes of the day was Anatomy 101 with a dead man for a teacher, by the name Monsieur Corpo. The man looks like a nineteenth century corpse; he dresses what was considerably the proper dress of that time, hand made Italian shoes, dark but chalk covered slacks, a grey black button vest with a silver chain hooked to a pocket watch, covering an old silk long sleeve button up t-shirt that covered his arms and several ink splotches that cover the wrist. But the man carries his dry pale white face, with his eyes covered by old grey spectacles and a head covered by untended grey hair.

“Morning ladies and gentlemen, today we’ll be studying on the transformation of a common werewolf,” he says as he raises the map above the chalk board showing a detailed drawing the beast’s anatomy. “Now several of you wolves believe you know how all of you turn during your time of the moon-cycle but I bet none of you realized the science behind the change of your anatomy. But all of it breaks down at first to the skin as the a humans skin absorbs the rays of the sun the enhanced skin of any werewolf naturally begins to absorb moonlight at the epidermis section of the skin then it goes down the arrector pilli muscle, do you’ll remember that its what causes Goosebumps, then its deeper into the skin. Going past the dermis and then into the hypodermis where then it will travel into the muscle and cause a reaction that being the change. Questions anyone?” The lunaris of the right side of the classroom try and act as if they knew this information right off the back, the vamps on the left couldn’t care less. Just picture a bunch of dead kids lying on top of the desk or against their hand. The classrooms along with the teachers never change so the teachers can do as much change to the room as they want. His room was an odd tan color, the color of old codex pages you’d see in a 1st addition copy of the bible with all walls covered with science posters and paintings of famous scientist of lost centuries. “Now everybody you do remember great father Osiris,” he says as he pulls over the skeleton in the classroom, “Now you may be able to easily tell that the smallest bones are the first to break in the transformation, the phalanges will begin to crack and heal along with the metacarpals and all eight of the carpals shall shatter and grow back and the tibia and fibula will separate making room for the muscle to grow stronger than before, and speaking of the muscles all will grow beyond the skins capacity to contain so eventually it’ll break the barriers between man and wolf,” he says grabbing a pointer and moving from the skeleton to the drawing. The bell rings and all begin to stand up and walk away just as they start to reach for the door he tries to say, “Do remember that in a week you should expect a test of the anatomy of a man and the anatomy of the wolf and how they begin to mix, you’ll see that on page one twenty seven!” As I grab my backpack my saints and I are the last to leave and I make sure to say, “Have a good day Monsieur Corpo,” he turns back to look at me as he begins to erase the chalk board and says, “O’Brian,” he nods and we all take our leave. Next Geometry Honors lead by Mr. Von Barren. This teacher’s a wolf, like the rest of us and has only a few of the dwellers in his class for several spend extra time to get passed it and go on to Algebra 2. As we begin to sit down I notice one of the few vamps in class, his name is Jules and a smart kid just has a permanent grim look of life on the account that he’s ridiculed for learning with lunaris. As I sit down I see him focused on a Rubik’s cube as his hands move with remarkable speed which he uses to solve the cube in two and half seconds.

“One of these days you gotta teach me how to do that Jules,” he looks up to me sighs and as he sets down the cube he says, “Why should I teach you anything werewolf,” he turns toward the front of the class.

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen today we shall go over third dimension diagrams showing the points of an x, y, and z axis showing the difference of how positive and negative can the thing that defines the placement of the points and location of which octant it will be in. Third dimension octants please,” he commands just before the computer projects a holographic image of a cube divided into eight octants. He grabs a laser pointer and begins to explain, “You see the x axis being positive or negative being what makes the octant front or back, the y axis being right or left and the z axis being what makes it top or bottom. Does everybody understand?” Nobody really answers but the absence abjection. I say, the leaps in technological advances from the fifties are quite astounding I mean I was there to see the jumps as well as the rest of these teenagers but I still am astounded. After the first two classes we all get lunch, a werewolf’s appetite is dangerous if not sated, after another two classes we see another lunch for our hunger is near unquenchable. And the meals also are for the vamps on account that since they can’t drain a human each day they must make due with the ounces they get each lunch.
The saints like the rest of the wolves were slamming down extra crispy barbeque meat and the vamps with drinking their afternoon blood from champagne glasses like it was red wine, but in the dark and smoke that was their side I could still see her, I take the last sip of my drink and wipe my face just before I walk up to her, sitting alone at a round table. She holds her arms in a shivery embrace, I ask, “Are you alright?”

“Do you have a jacket I can borrow? I’m cold,”

“You’re always cold,” I say with a laugh as touch her chin with my thumb and index finger.

“Yeah and you love that about me,” she says back as she smiles at me, her smile fades though, “what time is it?” she asks.

“Let me ask,” I turn away from her and ask Gabriel what time it was. Once he yells it across the room I tell Eden, “Almost one thirty, why?”

“I’ll be right back, just wait a moment,” she walks away and leaves me sitting at her table. After a few awkward moments of their staring and glaring she returns, “It’s alright John, your ice princess is back,” she says. I tell her as I pick up her cold hand and kiss it, “You’re my ice queen, but instead of a ball I can only take you to the girl’s basketball game tonight,”

“I’ll go but there is . . . a dance at the end of the school year will you take me to the ball then?”

“Yes, I promise,” I am hypnotized in her eyes once again. Out of nowhere a soft sounding voice just appears “You two are just too cute,” the voice didn’t belong to Rachel or Regina. We broke eye contact and see a girl with a younger girl’s innocence strung about her, she had light brown hair, hazel eyes and a cute face, but one that made her seem younger than she was. We both were stunned by her childlike smile at us; I basically signed my death warrant when I opened my mouth, “Evening Charlie, what are you doing on vamp side?”

“Same as you, venturing new horizons, meeting new people and seeing old friends how are you?”

“I’m good,”

“Oh please, John O’ Brian you don’t do good, you only do less bad,” she giggles.

“You never get tired of that joke,” I say as I pat her arm.

“Never, how rude of me, I’m Charlotte Bartlett and you are?” Eden was resistant to Charlie’s happy open handshake.

“Eden Sinclair, nice to meet you. But I’m unaware of how you know John,” Charlie stares at us with her hazel brown eyes as Eden looks back at her with her own glowing blue eyes.

“Oh our families are old friends, and you?”

“I’m John’s girlfriend,” Eden says as she moves closer to me.

“Really, I never thought . . . John would take a girlfriend, not even Iris who fancies him the most,”

“Not anymore,” Eden says just before she kisses the side of my jaw.

“Um, if you excuse me I must go,” as Charlie leaves I was left alone to be persecuted by the grand Jury of Eden.

“Did you date her?”

“No, our parents just know each other through old events of our families,”

“How well do you know her?”

“Look Eden, nothing happened between us and no one will ever pull me away from the want and care I have for you,”
She smiles and says, “I bet you say that to all your vampire girlfriends. But it works,”
She gives me a long kiss and our problems end, we are happy as we spend time together. The day fades and slides as smoothly as the sands of an hour glass.

The afternoon came upon us and we engulf ourselves in the sound of werewolf yells and the smells of popcorn, hotdogs and candy as we watch the pale and cold chug down tap blood from plastic cups before they drop them on the floor and rush to go and buy another one. The she-vamps would face other schools of course in basketball but like football the rules are bent to fit the abilities of the vampire and werewolf players. The rules are only bent not broken yet it does make the game interesting, seeing one she-vamps toss a basketball all the way across court to a werewolf to slam dunks it. Over to the right of my friends and the rest of the crowd was the band, the band consisted of five werewolf base drummers, six vamp snare drummers, four quad drumming wolves, I would tell you all the rest but only the drum line is playing tonight. The speed and precision given to the skilled hand of the supernatural drummers let them out play any mortal player. The time flew by as fast as the vampire players and half time came along, the bandy vamps and wolves would get down from the stands and join the morphine dancers, we all call them that because they put you into a high feeling as they dance, they’re she-vamps of course. The bandies got to dance and run around carrying their drums swinging them around and sliding on the floor and jumping right back to their feet making the twenty pound drum appear as light as a feather. I was always impressed with the skill that the drum line possessed and the morphine dancers, every time they perform you still are amazed with the quick and fluent routines that they put together. Of course when I was looking at the whole performance Eden saw my eyes only look at the morphine dancer.

“Oh, you like the dressed up dancing type of girls,”

“No, of course not, I’m going to for some more popcorn,” the concession stand was located in the hallway that leads to the gym, “I’ll join you,” Eden said. I stand in line while Eden waits on the side, only a few wolves wait in front of me on the left side while the lines were full of vamps on the right side. I can hear them on the right side, I can hear the vampires in the front, I need o negative, b positive, for Christ sake, blood is blood and when the vamps are riled up they drink even more than usual. At the concession stand, I see an old friend, “Hey John, what can I get you?”

“Two large bags of popcorn Kevin and I might be back for a refill,”

“Alright, just need a thumb scan,” he says as he pushes a scanner forward. I press my thumb onto a pad where a green line scanner went up and down analyzing my thumb print. This world feels that currency is too precious to waste on our hardship and efforts. So all the money that is made by werewolf labor goes to the government and then the government will use a percentage of it to fund the cities continuation. And we live off using credit to buy our necessities, and I do believe that the labor and contribution to society also pays the way for the cold creatures’ lifestyles. And speaking of them, right now I can hear two of their voices and see them bothering my Eden.

“Kevin, I do apologize but I’m going to have to leave this here for now,” He looks at me, and then her, just before he says, “John, try and not to do anything I wouldn’t,” he says with a bit of fear in his voice.

“I’ll try Kevin; you know I’ll try,” I walk out of the line as I left the popcorn on the counter. I walk over to Eden and ask her, “Is there a problem?” Before she could answer my question one of the scums says, “Oh and here the loyal dog arrives,” she turns to me and tries to convince me to leave them be, “Let’s just go back to the game,” she begs.

“You’re not leaving with him traitor,” I stare into their eyes with mine turned gold, they only laugh.

“Your scare tactics don’t frighten us. And trust me, when were done with you you’ll wish you never met your nocturnal whore,” my claws spring out and I ram the two of them into the wall behind them. I push one aside, and the other that dared call her that vile name, I kept against the wall as I punch him in the face and across the cheek. When he was about to fall I catch him and shot my knee into his stomach a countless number of times with cracking sounds arising from within him. I wouldn’t have stopped but the filth’s friend charges and rams against me causing me to fall. I feel the annoying sting of the friend’s kick into my ribs. I catch his foot and toss him aside, when I rise to my feet I grab onto my victims throat and while slowly pressing my claws into his flesh I raise him above the ground just when his companion rushes to his aid I catch him by the throat and raise him just the same. They both kick me in the torso making me drop them. The one with the cracked ribs, grips his neck and gasp in pain, his friend tries to kick me again but I catch his leg and send my fist into his knee cap breaking it. As our fight escalates every vampire and werewolf who were not in the gym, gathers around us and shouts, cheering either I or them to win. They kept trying to bring me down but I was in frenzy, knocking them back and waiting for them to rise again so I could knock them back down. When they try to jump me I catch them by the throat and clench my fist hard enough to where the pain overwhelmed them so much to where they couldn’t fight out of my grasp. My eyes’ gold color grew stronger and I began to laugh as if the werewolf inside me was enjoying their pain, I could tell they were pulling their hardest against my wrist, and in all the anger and violence I heard her voice and the world went silent.

“Stop!” she yells with her scared and shocked face. I let them go and walk up to her, sad and ashamed.

“I’m sorry Eden,” a sharp sting struck my back and electrical burn that filled my body with enough that it drops me to the ground. I see Eden’s face scared, I’ve been looked upon while lying on the ground barely alive but not with concern of me. My vision began to blur and I lost sight of her. I must have been carried to the office by the security, for I woke up in a leather chair with the principles staring at me. The lycanthrope principal, who chooses to defend us when it seemed right, wore a navy blue suit and black tie, along with glasses, a dog’s eyes can be only so keen for so long. The nocturnal principal wears a fashionably gloomy suit and tie with a gelled up hairstyle enough said.

“John O’Brian, alleged leader of the_”

“Gang,” the dwellers principal interrupts our principal.

“Saints actually, they’re called saints for they keep order, him and his friends are sublime and_”

“And he is easily angered,”

“I believe you mean irascible,”

“Shut up with your vocabulary words Andreas,” my principal’s full name is Daniel Andreas, but to my friends and me, it will always be Principle Andreas, for what he does for our side he deserves at least that much respect.

“Well in simple terms he was provoked by vampires who insulted one of their own kind,”

“That girl is just a fraternizing she-vamp who happens to spend quite a bit of time with this_”

“Student!” Andreas interrupts him before he could call me a name.

“Your student, who also happens to have attacked two of my students and had to be brought down by Morpheum high school security,” he glares at me as he says.

“Do not fabricate what had happened McGibbon, he let your students go before the security had viciously electrocuted him, he restrained himself and could have possibly been walked to this office rather than dragged in,” he says with such confidence.

“Even if he could stop himself this time, there is no proof of him being able to do so a second time,”

“He has circumspect his restraint capability in his past, he has stopped more trouble than this single and first offense has caused. En-doing so he can only receive a minor disciplinary punishment,” Dawson declares as he points his index finger at me.

“A slap on the wrist, are you kidding me, werewolves deserve a bull whip on the back,” he says voicing his disappointment.

“So could be said of your kind at a time McGibbon perhaps you remember,” he says with a subtle but stern tone.

“Don’t you dare make the assumption that we have anything in common,” he says as he looks Dandridge in the eyes. I can no longer take just sitting here, “Principal Andreas?” they both look back at me, “if you feel it’s a fair treatment I would like to suggest a detention afterschool tomorrow,” He thinks about my proposal and says, “Alright John, you can go now,” I get up from the chair and on my way out I could hear them still arguing. My friends were pacing back and forth outside of the office, when they see me they light up and say all together, “He lives. We wondered about Principle Dandridge but we feared that McGibbon would have skinned you alive!” After that all were silent, for me to say something, “Let’s not hold hands and sing guys let’s just get out of here. By the way where’s Eden?” When all the others were silent Michael spoke out for them, “She ran out when you got snatched up by the security. But anyway come on the forest is waiting and you definitely could use a little fresh air,” I don’t know why dare ask them or risk the consequences of being caught, “Why don’t we run in Morpheum?” All together like a pack of whining girls they voice their shock in one word “What?”

“What are you’ll the gay man’s chorus of Morpheum? I said let’s run the city,” I repeat myself.

“Come on John, you know how bad it is for us to breathe in this recycled air, why can’t we do an ordinary run like usual,”

“Ordinary you say? Saints what about any of us is ordinary, come on guys you know what I say about ordinary,” they mumble an a little. “Forget ordinary be extraordinary!” I exclaim.

“Alright, so what place would be a good run site?” Michael asks.
I put on a grin before I tell them, “The bat building construction site,” they all grin at what the possibilities of the fun there is to be had a construction site.

“Alright boys it’s agreed but give me a minute to get my back pack,” the saints head to the front and go back through the hallways. When I try and walk through our main hallway I see how it’s blocked so I make a rash decision and try make my way through the dweller’s main hallway. I go around and see their hallway, this may be my school but its still divided, into turfs and this main hallway is their turf. I slowly walk down it keeping my eyes forward as a few dwellers stand by their lockers glaring at me as I pass through. I need a few more steps then nothing can come of it. I pass the last dweller before I hear his voice at my back. “Stop,” I do as he says and slowly turn back to them. Four of them step from their lockers and face me. “You have some nerve coming through here after that show you put on at the game,”

“I’m not here for trouble,”

“Then you shouldn’t have come at all. Our people deserve justice,”

“You want revenge, it’s only natural, but I implore you, just let me pass,”

“Sorry O’Brian, but its time you were judged and you aren’t getting through here,”

“So only through bloodshed will this end?”

“Yes,” I see the two more vamps stand behind me.

“So be it,” I back hand the one behind me and elbow the other. I catch one of their arms then slam his face into a locker. Another tries to hit me but I open a locker and block his punch with the door before I swing out hitting him in the face. The leader punches forward at me before I dodge the strike making him dent a locker with his fist. Two of his friends grab my arms holding me back as he tries to strike again but I kick him back pull free one arm before I punch out the other captor and swing my forearm into the first ones face. But with that hit the leader throws a right hook along my lip before I look to him. I touch my lip to see if blood’s drawn before I raise my fist. He makes two punches I dodge but then I block a hook and throw one of my own into his jaw. He gets knock to the ground but rams his shoulder into my gut before I knee him and fling him into the wall. He keeps fighting but I swing a punch into his gut and an uppercut making him fall back into the wall. “That’s enough,” he throws one more punch but this time I catch his forearm through a left into his ribs and another to his face before I lock his forearm and break it. He falls to the ground as he grips it in pain. I look around me and see the boys lying unconscious on the ground. “So much for me not looking for trouble,” afterwards was a bit better.

We all leap from rooftop to rooftop till we jumped from the market store roof and landed in the middle of one of the building floors. It was basically an open concrete slab that had a walkway up.

“Alright guys cat and mice shall it be?” They all answer me, “It shall,” they stand in a line and I ask, “Who will be cat?” Someone dropped down, “I’ll be your pussy cat John,” only one girl I know talks like that. I turn around and say, “Iris, what are you doing here?”

“Someone hurt you, so I worry and your breaking rules; you know what that does to me,”

“Guys, let’s head in different directions and give her a few moments,” they scatter and climb throughout the building. I see Iris unzip her jacket and turn around, “What are you doing?”

“I’m not going to tear my clothes for the change. You can stay if you want,” she tells me.

“I’d rather not,” I leap down the hole made by the stairway and leave Iris to begin her change. I have taught the secret of phasing to my friends and urge them to keep to the phase but Iris doesn’t have the control or the serenity needed to master the skill. A loud yell of pain echoes through the site, accompanied by the sounds of cracking bones. I pop my fingers and neck and I phase. The pain pulls me to my knees, but when it was over I raise back up and roar a roar that was long and loud that broke down to a laugh. When I was done I could see Iris in her full werewolf form leaping up the stairway, I bent my knees but before I could make the jump a voice stops me abruptly.

“O’Brian?” I look to where the voice came from and see a grown women vampire in a black cocktail dress, “I knew you were Senator O’Brian’s boy, I recognize that roar anywhere, your father has one that sounds just the same,” she says to me.

“Oh, a, Senator Grayson,” I say as take a guess at who she is. As I look at her I revert back to normal.

“Yes,” she smiles with her fangs out and her blue eyes light up.

“Apologizes, I didn’t recognize you without your suit,”

“Well I like to dress up when I go out,”

“Is there something wrong?” I ask her.

“No, but I wish to ask you something. Did you attack two vampires today, that part being insignificant but what caught my attention was that you defended the honor of a she-vampire. What’s her name?”

“Wow Senator I didn’t know that you had such sources,”

“Word of mouth goes somewhere and I have people who go everywhere so enough stalling tell me her name,” she commands me this time.


“Eden Sinclair,”

“Well, don’t be shy, I know you’re going out with her, tell me about her, what is she like?”

“She’s nice and quiet but I really like her and she_”

“She’s different and you receive that compassion you get only from a loving vampire, am I correct?”

“I believe so,”

“Ah, I so wish my daughter could have a caring boyfriend like you, but no, she has her infatuations with uncaring low-lives, who have mischief on their minds,” she looks away, “but you John, actually feel for your girl, bring her to my building tomorrow afterschool I want my daughter to see how you treat her,” once she turns her back and begins to walk away I say, “I have detention,”

“It has been canceled,” I look up and say, “The night is still young,” I say to myself as I grin. I leap from one floor to the next till I catch a ladder and rush up to see the beast which had made the roars I heard. I look upon Iris swinging her claws her claws and chomping her werewolf jaws at the saints, the guys phase were jumping and swinging all around her, the object of the game is for the mice meaning us try and bother her as the cat and make sure she doesn’t get any of us. When she sees me she leaps out at me with her claws, with my hands still hooked to the ladder I fling myself up above her. My force was so strong I ascend to the next floor up. I hold onto the concrete by my claws as they scratch into the concrete. I look down and see Iris just as she leaps up and grabs my foot. I lose my grip and am pulled down by Iris’ werewolf weight. She grabs my shirt and throws me across the building floor, I was lucky for I stop before I fall over the age. I look down on the lights of the city just before I look back and see Iris is nowhere in sight. I stand up and my friends ask me if I am alright.

“I’m fine but Iris is losing it did any of you see where see went?” Before they could answer Iris drops in and knocks them aside to where they fell into the safety net. I see them fall just before Iris claws my cheek with enough force to knock me to the ground. My anger gets the best of me, I bolted from the ground and grab her arms and push her to a pillar just before I knock her across the jaw, the hit put her out, but I knew she was alright, or maybe I don’t, maybe I don’t care right now.

After that I leap to the nearest building rooftop and ran off, I’m getting tired of her constant irritations. I jump several roofs and climbed up fire escapes, I can’t lie to myself, I only suggested this idea to find Eden, I got dropped and she ran off, why is she scared, is she angry with me? As I stop for a short breather I catch her scent. I look down in an alley and see a girl laughing, I see Eden and another boy vampire, “Alright see you later,” I step off the roof and land on the ground right behind her, “Who was that?” She turns around and says, “John, you startled me,”

“Did I?” Where did you go, the security carries me off and you run away without even telling my friends where you’re going,” I say with a tone of impatience.

“I got scared, you got taken and I thought for certain that I would be too,”

“Who were you talking to right now?”

“He’s just . . . wait you’re worried, you scare me with your behavior and then taken by the security leaving me all alone and you’re worried” she begins to raise her voice “you’re just jealous of me being oh my god what happened to your cheek?” She takes a closer look at me as I bring my hand up to cover the scar.

“It’s just a scratch, plus my healing will make sure it’s not even a scar by tomorrow, it’s alright, no big deal,”

“No big deal, John you have a scar of a gash across your cheek. Did Iris do that to you?” When I don’t answer her she says, “She did, that b****, what makes her think she can go off cutting you,” she feels my scar with her cold hand; I feel that relief as she cools my warm flesh with her cool fingers.

“I’m sorry about earlier, I couldn’t stop myself when they called you that, I didn’t mean_”

“Hey, I told you before; you’re too hard on yourself. Plus I’m fine and you’re alright, right the principle didn’t expel you did he?”

“No as a matter of fact a senator friend of my father’s wants to meet us over for dinner,”

“When, what time?” She asks.

“Tomorrow after school,”

“Ok, but what are you doing here, it’s almost midnight,” she tells me waiting for an answer.

“Oh, the boys and I wanted to do a night run inside the city,”

“Then somehow you found me?” she asked suspiciously before she tells me, “Admit it, you can’t stand to be without me, you adore me,” I couldn’t help myself but laugh, “you laugh to deny the truth of it,”

“Fine, I went looking for you but to make sure you’re safe,”

“Well John, it’s time for you to go home and I am as safe as I can be,”

“I can’t go home yet,” I tell her.

“Why can’t you,”

“You still need your goodnight kiss,” I say softly.

“Oh you think I need a goodnight kiss from you?” She says sarcastically.

“I know you need a goodnight kiss from me,” I answer confidently.

“Try it and see what happens,” I place my hands on her cheeks and give her a long kiss. I look at her dazed face as she had her eyes closed, frozen in that one moment of pure enjoyment, for both of us.

“I told you so,” she opens her eyes as I walk off and I feel a sense of accomplishment. I got out within minutes of curfew and had to run home to try and salvage what little amount of sleep I had left in the night. In the morning I got a shower and had myself a quick breakfast. As I eat on my dining room table I realize that my home is fallow for almost everything is covered in dust. It wasn’t like this when my younger brother was around, Eric was a year younger than me and he was gregarious and verbose, he was always happy, the life of the party, and the talkative one. All of his stuff is boxed and stored somewhere. I miss my brother, a lot of people in Morpheum would miss my brother as well but we lost him before Morpheum’s time. I find the one thing that I kept from my brother’s effects, I take up a box from my desk and open it, and I retrieve an item wrapped in a black cloth, I dare not touch it myself so I keep it in the cloth and put it in my pocket. When I was back at school I waited in the courtyard outside the cafeteria for Eden to arrive. When she did I walk up to her carrying her backpack and a dress bag.

“What are you doing with a dress bag?”

“Rachel and Regina insisted that I change for the dinner with a senator, so I brought this,”

“What is it?”

“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” we both smile just before I tell her, “I have something for you,” I put the cloth in her hand and she opens it and takes out a charm necklace, “The image engraved on it is a Wolfsbayne,” I say, she smiles and says, “Wolfsbayne, I know the poem. Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night, may become a wolf, when wolfsbayne blooms and the autumn moon is shining bright,”

“Very good, but this belonged to my mother, my father gave it to her so she would be protected during the lunar cycle,” she puts it around her neck.

“It’s beautiful,”

“Without you it’s just a necklace, I do hope it protects you,”

“John, in this city and at this school, you won’t harm me, even during a lunar cycle,”

“I won’t be here that week,” at first she looked shocked, but then tried to hide it by saying, “Too bad, so many suitors will throw themselves at me, it will be hard to stay faithful to you,”

“Really what will I do how can I go on knowing the possibilities?” I ask sarcastically.

“Really,” she says with an assuring tone.

“Promise me you will not joke like that next week, it won’t be safe,” she takes my words to heart.

“What’s wrong?”

“The week before my lunar cycle I will begin to start acting irregular,”

“How will you act irregular?”

“I will have less restraint over my abilities; I will be more instinctive than rational, and at the very least I will see things,” I warn her.

“What things will you see?”

“My first change, my father and his memories that still linger in me, the memories of centuries and without a doubt all the sins I’ve committed. You mind if we sit down this is a bit overwhelming?” I ask her.

“Sure we can,” we sit down at the nearest bench.

“I can tell that you want to know what happens when I turn,” she only nods her head yes, “it’s painful, more pain than you can ever imagine, even if blood mad. My body can’t take it, my hands and feet change without injury but the rest of my body, well the muscle breaks through skin and only the wolf resides when the flesh is gone and when I turn back, it’s worse, a type of fire inside me burns away the wolf and when I’m back all that’s left is me and steam from the water in my body burning up,” I look and see Eden’s eyes watering.

“Don’t shed a tear because of me,”

“I’m sorry,” she says.

“I could never forgive myself if I hurt you, even if it’s just your feelings,”

“We’re the same, I feel my own pain before and after I fed on a person when I went blood drunk in the beginning, I can . . . still see his face and I feel so_”

“Don’t, you didn’t know it was wrong,”

“Your words can’t exonerate me John,”

“I can try,” I lean in close and give her a slow kiss and after I see her blue eyes glowing in front of me. The silence of us focusing only on what was in front at the time was so sated.

“Excuse me you two?” We both look at Rachel who called us, “The bell rang, like two minutes ago,”

“Oh,”

“No,”
We both speak at the same time, “See you in second period,” I kiss her on the cheek, and we both run off to our third period class. I went through the motions with a little more attention than most. But when I got to second period and waited for Eden, things go bad. I look down the right hall, but look left Iris grips my chin and says, “Good, it didn’t scar,”

“Don’t touch me,”

“John, I’m sorry I was in the moment you know what it’s like when you lose it,”

“Doesn’t matter, don’t touch me,” I know I’m being terse, but I’m done with her problems and excuses. I try and look around Iris for Eden, “I know you’re upset but I also need to know that you’re done with your resentment and that you forgive me,”

“No,” I say unenthusiastically.

“Uh, um, no is ambiguous it also means yes,” she becomes discursive when nervous, she just rambles on.

“No, means no Iris,”

“You b****!” Iris turns around only to be slapped across the face by Eden. The slap was powerful enough to swing Iris’ face back to me and draw blood from her lip. She wipes the blood off as her eyes turn gold; when she swings I catch her hand before it hit Eden.

“Don’t induce this on yourself Iris,” she pulls her hand free and walks only a few feet before she yells with such zeal, “When he’s gone, it’s open season on you!” When she was gone I look at Eden and say, “You shouldn’t have done that. She was apologizing,”

“I don’t care, she is a misanthrope and profuse of evil,”

“She hates you not all, ok maybe all mankind as well,”

“Don’t exonerate her John; she deserves what she gets with that crass nature of hers,”

“Well O’Brian, Sinclair with all the vocabulary words flying around you two ought to be in my English class rather than detention!” He shouts at as we apologize and walk into class. The excitement of the near fight was transient and covered by worry for her. What is to become of Eden when I’m not here? I must be very introspective of what I must do, who I must ask to watch over her. I wonder why she can’t be more docile but I would never ask her to change, she is amiable, munificent and elegant like a . . . sorry in English we have been going over vocabulary words, but she is everything I’m not, perfect for a shut in like me.

Every other class flew by when I was deep in thought of what is to come. By the end of school was waiting outside the cafeteria, everyone left the courtyard for their own place after school, so it was empty and silent. The only sound I heard was a high heel, tapping on the stone tiles. When I look up I saw my Eden, she did her hair up in a fancy way, and wore a long red dress and red high heels all that would turn heads. Certainly had my mouth watering for her, for I was already hypnotized by all that she was yet she still can make me want her more. She slowly rubs the back of her neck as she gets close, “Do you like it?”

“I love it,” I tell her. I take her arm and we walk together to the car that drove up for us. She steps in with me following her, we both were amazed as we left the slums of dog town and entered the other side, Morpheum High is basically in the center of werewolf hang out streets and the vampire penthouses think of going from a small town to a rich city. The skyscrapers encased only few streets, and the vampires travelled like bees in a bee hive, always moving and working, another thing I hate about vamps, they imagine that they are civil while we are crass like. Just like what Eden said, “crass,” it means unrefined. To me it doesn’t matter, but it still doesn’t make my job any easier.

“Is this as new to you as it is new to me?”

“I live in the suburbs John, not a penthouse,” when we reach the building we were greeted by a werewolf doorman wearing a grin on his face for the fact that finally a werewolf who doesn’t work there enters those doors. The vampire security team, six men, four carrying taser sticks and two carrying tranquilizer guns, did not feel the same.

“Young man this hotel has a very wealthy and privileged clientele of vampires and by the looks of it you are neither,”

“Look buddy_”

“Mister we were invited by here by Senator Grayson,” the head of the security officer nods his head to the front desk as the manager makes a phone call. When the manager was done talking in hushed tone on the phone, he signaled back to the security officer before he says, “We apologize for the inconvenience, her pent house is on the top floor,” the team step aside for us to get to the elevator up to her pent house. In the awkward silence I tried to say, “I was just going to talk to _”

“No you weren’t. You’re impulsive, I understand that but you must be vigilant these last two weeks. Be meticulous,”

“Don’t worry about me Eden,”

“I do John,” the golden elevator doors open and the Senator stands in font of them waiting for us.

“I’m glad to see you both,” she says with her Russian accent. She tries to hold it back to seem more American but sometimes she just lets it out.

“You look with great beauty Ms. Eden,”

“You really think so?”

“Dahl. If only my comrade Nadia would do so,” Eden whispers in my ear, “Who’s Nadia?”

“Her daughter,” I answer as Senator Grayson smiles with her fangs out as she says, “Nadia, dear would you please come out here, our guest are here,” she asks nicely before her smile fades and she yells, “Nadia! Get out here, now!” She demanded before she yells her name once more, “Nadia!”

“One damn second mom,” Nadia walks out looking like a Goth with a leather jacket, black jeans, and her long black hair painted with strands of red and blue dye. Senator Grayson’s rebellious daughter with eyes colored in purple eye-shadow and black eyeliner. Senator Grayson looked at her daughter with an almost scornful and sinister look in her eye. She looks away and takes a deep breath, “Nadia I have already told you that I have had it with the way you dress, now as my daughter and being the daughter of a senator you must act and dress like one but you choose to dress like hoodlum,”

“A lot of people dress like this mother, forgive my desire to be like every other vampire in Morpheum,”

“Every other vampire in Morpheum is not my daughter and I have worked explicitly to make sure that we are not just any average vampires try and take that into your mind before you say such things,” they speak to each other as if we are not here.

“Plus today we have guest, and I thought I told to dress properly for our dinner and guest,”

“You thought but you obviously didn’t,” Nadia looks to us and says, “Yum, I get to have them for dinner?”

“Enough of that, act properly,”

“Well, who is this?” She walks to us as she asks her mother.

“That’s John O’ Brian, Senator O’Brian’s son,”

“Not him, her, who is she?” She places her cold hand at Eden’s cheek.

“Eden, Eden Sinclair,” Nadia began to stare into Eden’s eyes and says, “I find everything about you intriguing,” she smells her neck, “your perfume,” she touches her lips with her finger and tastes it, “your lip-gloss,” she was close enough to taste her before I say, “Yes this is Eden my girlfriend,” Nadia pulls her hand from Eden’s cheek slowly.

“You’re lucky, try and not to lose her,” Nadia says.

“Children why don’t we take our seats now,” we all walk over to a glass table. Several tuxedo wearing waiters arrive to serve us as we sit down.

“What can I get you to drink sir?”

“Just water,” as we are served Eden sits next to me and Nadia sat across from us and her mother sat at the head of the table. I am served a multitude of foods while the girls drank red wine in champagne glasses. But as I eat and they drink Eden is asked a multitude of questions.

“So, how did your vampire werewolf relationship start?”

“Well, Senator, he saved me at a football game?”

“Oh, the age of shivery not yet dead ah, such young romance,”

“John, end my immortal existence for I cannot take much more of this talk of romance,”

“Now Eden other than the fact that he was your savior what may I ask was your thoughts on dating a werewolf?”

“Well in the excitement I was planning on going home but he asked me out and we just made a connection,”

“Reminds me of the days I had met my husband_”

“Oh don’t go into ancient history mother,” Nadia interrupts.

“Back in those days, you had to prove your worth to the girl, there were no such things as flings like now,” she says ignoring the daughter’s interruption.

“For me, being intimate without actually having passion is a bore,”

“Dear daughter your idea of love is of no concern to any of us,”

“Oh I know mother, it just concerns the boys I bring back here,” I choke on the water as she says that.

“Forgive my daughter John she forgets common decency in her home,”

“It’s alright senator, like you said we are your home,” even as she talks I can see Nadia eying Eden. I place my hand over Eden’s hand to try and comfort her from being watched so attentively by others.

“John what are your feelings on the subject of passion in a relationship?” Nadia asks.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve seen several werewolf couples, passionate and loving; all of them just can’t keep their hands off of each other. And you settle for a deeper meaning relationship rather than a passionate one, are you content with that?”

“I’m perfectly fine with all that she is Nadia,”

“Don’t worry Nadia I make sure he’s satisfied,” she says. Nadia’s fangs appear as she hears Eden’s answer. I pick up her hand and kiss it, as Eden smiles.

“Have you told your father of your new girlfriend, John?”

“Past couple of days we haven’t spoken so much and I haven’t been able to tell him yet,” there was an awkward silence for a few moments after those words. She didn’t really plan for me to meet her mom and I don’t know if she even told her mom about me. But the thing to consider is that she introduced me to her mom and I feel I can’t even tell my father.

“As soon as he gets home from Washington I’ll tell him,” I feel as if a weight has been lifted off of me. All was well until the senator asks, “Eden, how do you fancy the wine?”

“It’s nice but it has a peculiar taste to it,” she says as she looks as the glass.

“Oh, Dahl, that is the AB negative, it adds a sweet taste to it,” Eden began to look shocked before she says, “Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom,” Eden rushes out into the nearest bathroom.

“She’s a bit odd that vampire of yours,” Senator Grayson says.

“Yeah but a hot piece of_”

“Nadia, don’t speak of people that, just don’t speak,”

“Well John I hear you decked a few vamps for her, was it worth it,”

“She’s worth everything to me,” I take a drink of water before I ask to check on her. When I reach the bathroom door I knock and ask, “Eden, are you alright?” She opens the door and tells me, “Don’t be so frightened John, I accidentally drank some blood left out of the fringe too long, it . . . um must have gone bad,” I couldn’t help but feel conflicted, first worried, now suspicious. She walks past me back to the table where I over hear the senator and Nadia ask her if she was feeling alright. When I sat back down I saw her practically avoiding her wine glass. When dinner was over and it was just me and her in the elevator, she decides to ask me, “What’s troubling you John?” I decide to lie, “I’m thinking about the week, I fear that soon I may spill my own people’s blood,”

“Well, civil blood makes civil hands unclean and pair of star-crossed lovers take their lives,”

“Shakespeare knew what he was talking about, centuries go by and his words are still remembered,” I add.

“But our lives won’t be taken John,” Eden says with such reassurance.

“How is it that you always can make me happy?” I ask bearing a smile.

“Natural born talent and vampire powers of persuasion,” her dazzling smile put a shadow over my suspicion, like snow over a man’s sight. We were driven home in the limousine and the happiness of each other’s company was soon ended when we saw my father standing in front of the school, right next to Eden’s mother. When we got out I dare ask, “What are doing here dad?”

“I received a call from your principle on my way back home, and when I get here they say you were excused from your detention. What did you do that excused you?”

“I’m afraid that’s my doing Mr. O’Brian,” Eden said as she stepped out the car. And when she did his austere look was broken down and he spoke in a kind enough voice when he asks, “And you are Ms.?”

“Sinclair, Eden Sinclair, pleasure to finally make your acquaintance,” she holds her hand out palm down. My father shakes her hand and says, “I can see, even if he did tell me of your beauty he wouldn’t have done you justice,” she smiles as he says that but Mrs. Sinclair says impatiently, “Excuse me Mr., Senator, or whatever I am here only to pick up my daughter,” When her mom rips her away from us and takes her away I try and say, “I’ll see you tomorrow Eden,” my tone of voice gave away my care for her in front of my father.

“What do you find so special about her, what’s special enough to where you’re starting fights for her and her honor?” Before I could answer he says, “I remember a time you were smart enough not to let anyone get close to you. Don’t you remember the last she-vamp that brought hell upon you? So what’s so special about her?”

“Well you saw her,”

“Ah, young men’s love then lies not in their hearts but in their eyes,”

“She’s a fan of Shakespeare as well. But she’s different; she respects us and acts unlike all the others,” he kept his straight face as told him about Eden until he said, “Well it looks like my pup has learned some of the old dog’s tricks,” I laugh only a little at his joke.

“Well any way I just need to grab my backpack before we go,” I leave my father standing in the front of the school so I can run to my locker real quick. When I grab my backpack I hear a faint whispering sound from behind the wall, I usually wish not to be an ease-dropper but I feel I have to, I grow out my right ear to wolf length and place it against the wall and listen.

“What are you doing Eden? A dinner with a senator and a werewolf boyfriend who’s the son of another senator,”

“Mom, there’s nothing wrong with dating a wolf,”

“No, but you draw too much attention when you are suppose to be keeping a low profile,”

“Don’t you think I know that? I’m the one here risking my neck,”

“If you want it to end, leave him,” I could hear a pause as if she is shocked, “He saved me,” she says faintly.

“I can tell you care for him, but you can’t,” what do they mean, low profile, can’t be with me, risking her neck by what. All this can’t be the result of just dating me.

I was silent and morose until my father told me good news, “I have something for you,” he reaches into the glove box and pulls out a brochure, “I thought you would like to check it out,”

“Feature the natural beauty of the Grand Canyon. When would we check it out, over the summer?”

“I was thinking of more around the time of next week,”

“Are you serious? I get to do my lunar cycle week in the Grand Canyon?”

“Yes I thought it would be a nice new touch,”

“Thanks dad,” I was happy that my father thought of me to where I get to have a fun run during my week of infamy, I still couldn’t help myself but feel worried, she’s afraid of even being at Morpheum High, and yet she still keeps things from me. I mean if she can’t tell me than whom can she tell her secrets to? Rachel, Regina. If my father was a bit more caring for my feelings he would ask me why I was distraught, but fortunately he wasn’t.

Three days went by and the symptoms began to increase. My friends did their best to protect me from myself but Eden didn’t worry for what I would do near her.

“My, my, what big eyes you have,” she says as she walks up to me.

“Alright Eden, Michael and Gabriel will look after you while I’m gone, when you’re not with them stay with crowds of your friends alright?”

“Yeah sure,”

“Don’t yeah sure me, this is important!” I raise my voice.

“Oh come on try not to be paranoid John,” Eden walks over to her friends to talk as I watch her. She seems more delectable to me each day that passes by, I could feel my eyes turning gold as I kept watching her, I was drawn to her, my world was going silent and I focused only on her. Someone snaps their fingers close to my ears; my ears are stronger and thus more sensitive. I literally snap out of it when Charlie snaps her fingers, “You need to keep it together before you jump her and make a scene,” I wave my hand in her face as I say, “I’m fine,”

“John?”

“What?” I ask her.

“Your hand,” she says. I look at my left hand as it is a full grown claw that I try to conceal by closing my fist and tucking the claws away.

“Alright you got me there but I’m fine,” I shake it off and my hand retracts the claws.

“I’m just saying, I would hate to see my friend jump a vampire and do something bad in the middle of the floor,”

“You presume way too much Charlie, I would not _,”

“You’re a guy and all guys are the same, so be careful,” when Charlie left I feel a cold arm over my shoulder and chest, “What are you doing talking to her?” I tighten up and look at Eden as she hugs me from behind, “You should not sneak up on me Eden,”

“What will happen?” You’ll tear me to pieces?”

“Don’t joke about that, I don’t want to hurt you,” she pulls her right arm off my shoulder and with her left she trails up my chest with two fingers.

“You may be a bad, bad, dog but you won’t hurt me,” she says slowly and seductively.

“You enjoy tormenting me don’t you?” I ask with a sigh.

“Of course I do, now why don’t you kiss me?” I answer her by only giving a long kiss, a kiss that lasted until I felt a burning on my chest that forced me to pull back, when I look at I saw the pendant around her neck.

“Are you alright?” She ask before I laugh and tell her, “I gave you that for this reason,”

“If you knew about this why did you give it to me?”

“I told you, it’s for your protection,” after a few moments of silence I say, “You shouldn’t play like this Eden it’s not safe, why are you doing these things?”

“I’m interested in what you are John, I don’t know what it does to me but the fact that you can be stronger, faster and more deadly than you are now is interesting to me,”

“I don’t have a gift like you; I was born with this curse,”

“It’s in your blood John, it is a gift, one you received from you father and you need to embrace that fact,

“You don’t fear me at all?”

“I don’t have fear when I’m with you,”

“Alright but . . . don’t make me jealous, I don’t want to accidentally kill someone,”

“Wow, a boyfriend who will kill for me, what a turn on,”

“You’re evil,” I say.

“But you love it,” I was powerless against her charms. She had me in the palms of her hands and she toyed with me because of the fact. The last two days of the week before the lunar cycle are the worst. Thursday morning I found myself with sharp teeth and long ears. I grabbed a baseball cap and tried to conceal my ears with it but that wasn’t the least of it. I was walking down the hallway when the sound of hard pounding flesh against a soft surface echoed from a far. It was early morning and several of the hallways were still in darkness without the florescent lights. I made my eyes change the dark hallway into a scene of clear black and white. The noise I heard had ended and the hallway was silent, I walk slowly and cautiously preparing for anything that could happen. As I reach the end of the hallway I turn a corner and see Rachel being pinned against a wall by a dweller who spent his time beating on her. When she fell to the ground he turns away from me to look down on her. When he raises his right hand my instincts and veracity take over. I grab his arm and break it by the elbow then grab his skull and bash it against the wall then I endlessly punch his face in until he was unconscious. I was breathing hard and Rachel looks over my shoulder at what I had done for her. When I turn to face her she hugs me and starts mumbling her gratitude. I feel awkward with her holding herself up by placing her hands around my neck. I catch the vampire scent up close, it wasn’t Eden’s but still, her scent was powerful I could hear my breath leave through my teeth. I couldn’t believe it but the beast in me had me hold her tight when I wasn’t up for hugging her at all.

“Eden is lucky to have a protector like you,” I pull back, prying myself from her.

“I don’t think he’ll bother you again,” I walk away to the nearest bathroom to splash water in my face. I take my hat off and see my werewolf ears standing out once more.

“I have to get out of here,” I say under my breath while looking at my reflection in the mirror. I spent the hour before school starting sitting in between the book stacks in the library. The library was always empty, the rough and rowdy would never come to the place of silence and peace. Both vampire and werewolf love to hate this place, and it’s the only place I can get away. Vampires feel that their lives are a greater journey than any human can create or have seen the world in a life long enough to know its history and foretell its future and doing so they feel reading stories and history is useless. And us wolves, well my father once told me that we’ve made our mark on the world in almost every aspect of its history, we helped make history and we were never credited so a werewolf should only look to his path and only his path, let the rest of the world deal with its own problems he would say. I use to not believe those words . . . but two decades, a war and a death really change your way of thinking and that is almost the way all Lunaris feel now a day. The stillness gave me the serenity I needed to focus. Several humans are unable to comprehend what we can do, when I focus and I am uninterrupted, I can hear every single person in this school. I can tell where they are, what they’re saying, and they’re doing. It all reminds of Psalm 5:1 Hear my words, O Lord give heed to my meditation. It’s my own personal way of keeping tabs on everyone. I can hear the she-vamps laughing and talking about the time they’re going to the mall, I can hear a few wolves talking about the latest dog fight of Johnson Vs Marks, biggest boxing match this season. I can hear the bandies talking about their state competition, the varsity about regional championships, the morphine dances about nationals. As I shift through the voices I halt when I come across my friends worrying about me. They’re asking each other if they’ve seen me this morning. I felt like a monk sitting with my feet cress crossed and my fist lying over my knees. I breathe steady and focus to prevent being overwhelmed by the sea of voices. I feel my world in motion it was the only time I could see it at peace. My eyes are closed but I feel a cold kiss on my lips and I knew it was my Eden. I open my eyes and I see her, she is my life, my beating heart, the air in my lungs. I hug her in that cold embrace and hold her tight.

“I can’t imagine how it is going to be without you,”

“I can only fear of how it’s going to be without you,” we acted this week as if it wasn’t dyer but we could only act for so long.

“John there’s something you need to know,”

“What?” I ask as I look into her concerned eyes.

“Your ears make you look like a goblin,” I put my hands on to my ears as if she would forget, “thought you should know,” we laugh and we smile together.

“I know it sucks, this last day, my changes appear simultaneous for a few hours,”

“Don’t feel too bad, you kind of look cute,” she says stroking my ear.

“What are you doing here Eden?”

“Do you not want me here?”

“No it’s not that it is just I usually don’t bump into any body here it’s the one part of the school you can get some piece and quiet. But were you looking for me?”

“You flatter yourself John; I am here to rent a copy of Hamlet,” she says showing me the book.

“You are such a nerd,” the rest of the day was fantastic. The hours were grains of sand in an hour glass, several falling in an instant.

“John I want us to go out one more time before you have to leave,”

“Whatever you want love, name it,” we spent the night trying to find a nice place to eat but soon we were to find out that it’s easier said than done. Down Morpheum Main Street you will see a string of restaurants on two sides of the street, one for wolves the other for the bats. Eden and I stand in the middle of the street wondering which way to choose so I foolishly, “Which ever one you want Eden,”

“Alright let’s try vamp-side,” she says taking my hand and leading me to the other side. As soon as we step in we hear the soothe sounding piano playing and the dark scene as it is clouded with smoke and crowded with vamps. At the front we see the host standing at the podium just before he declares, “You can’t eat in her boy,” I would usually brush that off and walk away, but the beast in me decides to ask, “Are you saying I’m not good enough to eat at this hole you call an establishment?”

“Get out,” he says with great disdain.

“Fine,” I hold open the door for Eden but then that dweller has to say “Boy!” I look back at him as he raises his glass, “to the wolves in the hills,”

“Son of a b****,” I take a step forward before Eden stops me, “John come on, there are other places we can eat now come on,” I let her talk me out of it and we walk out.

“May we try a place on wolf side?”

“Of course,” she says with her gentle and pure smile. We walk into a night club on wolf side as it blazes with life and joy. As soon as the door opens you hear the snappy happy music that just makes you want get up and dance. But like the restaurant on vamp-side we were alienated the boys and girls turn to us and stare at the wolf with the she-vamp. They begin to crowd us and ask her questions as she steps closer to me in fright, “You little lost pilgrim,”

“If you looking the country club it’s on the other side of the street, you must be lost,”

“Not really, they were being very rude so we came over here,” Eden answers softly. I hold her hand and pull back my right preparing it for a slash.

“Hold on a second there patrons, we got ourselves big bad O’Brian here so why don’t you show some Lycaon courtesy and let them man and his lady through,” the people begin to try and disperse right when the band begins to play again and the tension just fades away. We make our way to the bar and I shake hands with the owner behind, “Nice to see you again O’Brian now uh,” he looks to Eden with a confused expression as if he doesn’t know what to say, “don’t be rude introduce me to your lady friend,”

“Oh well Lycaon this is Eden Sinclair, Eden this is Lycaon owner of one of the best were-bars in all of Morpheum,”

“Pleasure to meet you, this is a great restaurant,” Eden says with her welcoming smile.

“Why thank you missy it is quite a rare occasion to see such a gentle bird of prey in the wolves den and on that note. Everyone! The drinks are the house!” All applaud his notion of celebration. The night bathed in music and dried in happiness as we spent it care free with no word of wolf or bat just us people. After the fun of the night I walk her home and again we stand in front of her door way and I give her a kiss and say goodnight but she tells me, “My mom’s working late tonight, do you want to come inside,”

“Um well I would but_”

“I thought I could just help give you some release . . . from the tension,”

“It’s not safe Eden, this close to the moon I’ll act . . . a like a_”

“Like an animal?” She enticingly steps closer to where I can almost taste her.

“It’s dangerous,”

“I think I’m beginning to like danger,” I can take it no longer before I pull her close and kiss her passionately. Her eyes stay close as she is in a daze and I say, “Good night sweet Eden,”




The next day before I could think about it I was hugging my girl goodbye and telling my friends to look after the place, and her. As I step into the car my father begins to drive all the way out of the city and it was smooth sailing from there. My father packed all I would need, a sleeping, a few gallons of water, a spare set of clothes and a book of matches. My father may be a senator but before that he was a warrior like all the rest and is still a tough son of a gun. A lunar cycle week for us is like a week of survivor, he finds a shelter for me and I set u my supplies and go hunting for each of the three nights of the full moon. My father is my keeper for the week I am gone he’ll watch over me, make sure I don’t leave the area near the lake, I don’t attack any innocent bystanders, and he burns the caucuses of the animals I have eaten.

We drove up and down the highway with only the comfort of the radio music to drown out utter silence. The tint of our windows keeps out the sunlight but I see the nature and feel a bit of relief to see something new. To see something different than gray scenery and concrete, like many werewolves can’t spend too long in a city, I once heard from an older wolf that we are a force of nature and that may be reason we can’t be far from her touch for too long.

It saddens me to think of how I could never see her out her, with the moonlight shining and glistening on her pale body. She would appear as angel, my angel may her wings fly and take my soul with her for she already has my heart. I grow more and more concerned by the hour and I being farther and farther from the city does not help my nerves for her. She is being watched by my crew of misfits and she has a hormonal she-wolf looking for her because of the fact that I have eyes for a she-vamp and that same she-vamp slapped her for cutting me, and I’m off to the Grand Canyon while she stays behind. I still wonder if a human kid gets this much stress, even with all this I still wonder about what her mom and her were talking about. How can she risk her neck each day she is still an average immortal, even while she dates me and granted there are a few risks with that but not enough to worry them. Then again, if she believes she is suppose to keep a low profile than that must mean she is hiding from something and if that’s true than I am not the conductor of her worry but I am more fuel to the fire. What would a . . . no she can’t be a hunter, I know her, she wouldn’t be the type to feed on humans and if she would she wouldn’t seek refuge in a city. All that was different about her came flooding into my mind and spinning around as a tornado hoping that the answer would just fall into my lap. All of it was overwhelming until my father ceased my torment by waking me from deep thought with a sudden stop. You only hear the sound of the car’s tires skidding against the dirt the forest was quiet.

“This is far enough John you should start walking,” he says as he turns off the engine. As soon as I open the door I had to cover my eyes from the sunshine, “Does the light bother you?”

“No, it’s just, too much time in the dark I suppose,” I say with my hand in front of my eyes.

“Wait till summer you get plenty of sunlight back in you,”
I get out and open the trunk so I can get my supplies. My father handed me my pack and says, “You have five hours till nightfall, you keep going north and you’ll make it to the cave where I set up your shelter, the moon will be full tonight so you better hurry,”

“Love you dad,” I say as I sling my backpack to my shoulder waiting for him to say it back.

“I’ll see you in a week John,” he answers as he gets back in his car. I do wonder if Eric lived to this day, would my father act different when he put him through this week. My father won’t be too far away but I won’t see him, not at all. I begin jogging into the forest next to the dirt road, I don’t stop I can’t stop. I past through the trees as easily as wind, I barely make a sound as I run and jump, and slide through and over each obstacle that was in my way. I saw the clearing and smell the scent of the cliff’s dirt, I sprint out of the forest and slide into a stop before I fell off the cliff. I look down and see a lake at the bottom of the cliff. I jump onto a mountain pillar just before I step off of it and jump to a mountain side and I grow out my claws and plunge them into the side of the mountain, as I climb down spurts of dirt fly out from the strike of my claws, after minutes of my climbing I find myself just a few feet above the entrance of my cave. I swing my legs into the cave and somewhat throw myself into it. I’m breathing hard as I lay on the ground of the cave with a drop of sweat on my brow. The sun wasn’t its hottest this month but living all of your days waking up before sunrise and returning home hours after sunset makes you a stranger to the sun. I unpacked and sat on the entrance of my cave and stared at the sky, seeing its color of blue with the white clouds easily flowing as if on a river enchanting me. Like the stars at night you find yourself without the time to admire their natural beauty, it puts a smile on my face to think that there still is something out there untainted by conflicting influence. Even though you can’t see what conceals you in that city you somewhat feel trapped and even at night you can’t see the stars. The time had finally slowed down, you get to take the time to admire what is around and I find myself wishing to see all this with Eden. I unroll my sleeping bag and take off my shoes and socks along with my jacket. The sun was slowly descending as the sky reflected an orange shade over the horizon. When the sky began to get dark I lit a fire using the book of matches and firewood my father collected, the stars were shining and my nerves are getting worse and worse. I continuously glance at my watch and back at the sky. I watch the hour hand strike and expire my five hours. It had marked eight and now I have four hours till midnight, at midnight I’ll begin to turn and rest of the night I’ll be the beast.

I look at the sky and see the moon rise, for humans the moon raises slowly but in our eyes it’s like seconds and with our eyes we can see the moon as if it was right in front of our eyes. I throw down my watch and feel the changes and in the agony I crawl back into my cave to hide the cracking of my bones, and the tearing of my skin. I scream out as I feel each one of my ribs crack and break. I try to breathe as my leg bones crack to heal back stronger and bigger than before. Then my arms began to break only so they heal and grow back longer and if that wasn’t enough pain the muscle began to cultivate and split through my skin. My screams of pain were echoing sirens to all the animals soon to be hunted. I was free, no more holding back, I can’t explain all of what happened, for I can remember only so much. I remember rushing through the forest with the ground being torn with my paws and claws. I remember seeing deer eating peacefully before they could even see me coming after them. I felt free, no worry, no fear, not even pain. I remember feeling the wind blowing passed me as I chased my prey the splash of warm blood in my face as I fed, the one thing that still scares me to this day is the fact, that what that animal . . . what that beast does, I like it. It was pure enjoyment until I faced an adversary that was unafraid. I hid in the trees until I saw a buck grazing on the grass. My attack was perfect, a quick clean kill but as soon as I dropped the creature a thunderclap echoes in the trees and the bolt strikes me in the chest. The strike is so powerful I stand still in the pain before the beast falls on its side. I heal to where the bullet is thrust out of my chest before I intensely rise to two feet and track the scent in the air of my attacker, in the wolf vision, making the night as clear as day, I see the hunter running just before I began to charge after him. I’m mere feet away from him as I leap with my claws out when I am smashed aside onto the ground. I rush to my feet and look down on a man a few feet shorter than me; the beast’s rage would have me rip anyone to pieces. Anyone but him, my father stood in front of me not even in wolf form but he stared into my eyes without fear nor’ concern, just a vast nothingness. I felt as if he was disgusted to where he didn’t know how to look upon me. I couldn’t stand to be in his presence so I ran away.

I ran to a distant spot where I could only see the moonlight, I can’t keep my eyes off of it when I’m turned, we as wolves can’t keep our eyes off of it, seeing it so close you can just reach out and grab it. Its light acts as a beacon to our souls, unable to catch, unable to reach. Its light gives us the warmth in our bodies the feeling of life and security, like the sun for humans. Historians believe that the very first werewolf was created during a full moon and in the moonlight. But my father says we came from man, a man who stared into the dark abyss that hid behind the moon and when he returned to civilization he was more than a man, not half man, but more than just a man, he saw the wickedness that belonged to the dark abyss and chose to be a fighter of the malice and cruelty that belonged to the darkness and we stand united when called as warriors of the moon together united and just against the moon’s enemies, and the moon looks over all so we must protect all that is right and good. I wasn’t sure to take that to heart but I remember it word for word, so it may act as a motivation to keep going on to seek out those who need help vampire and werewolf alike, I am just having problems sorting it all out. I feel the burning feeling on the way back to my cave, if you don’t know this it is not skin that burns it’s your clothes that does, but this burn came from the inside out, it boils your blood, and your organs feel like they’re on fire, my arms began to burn away and the rest of me followed, all that was left was the smell of burning flesh and smoke arising from my overheated body. I woke up with a few of my scratches on my shirt and jeans. I was pacing from the pain as I grabbed one of the water jugs and drank from it. The change back leaves you dehydrated and feeling weak, I just need rest; I lift up my shirt and look upon a dark purple bruise from where I was shot. I am lucky my father stopped me, if he hadn’t I would have another notch on my belt and I probably would be arrested. Damn canyons were supposed to be cleared out by nightfall what was a hunter doing out there. Its my lunar cycle and that arrogant hunter made the mistake of trying to shoot a werewolf, god only knows what I do if I find that guy again.

I pass out from exhaustion, and sleep from morning to midday. I ran around for firewood, I don’t need the heat, but each day I light a fire to show my father I am in the cave. As I stoke the fire and listen to the cracking of the corks of wood I stare deep into the flame and look back at the red marks on my arms.

That day I went for a run to try and get my mind off the fact that I nearly killed a hunter and got my but kicked by my dad. I stop abruptly as catch a scent of an animal; I enhanced my vision and saw the pig. I grew out my claws and caught the creature I carried it back to my cave and slow roasted the hog. I had myself a decent and cooked meal and used my claws to cut pieces of meat off so I could have only a bit at a time. I am finally able to enjoy myself for I have clean water, cooked meat and a view. I’m full and I just feel like lying back for now, but during the night I had not changed so I merely went to sleep kind of like normal camping.

I wasn’t so fortunate the next night, I looked upon the moon and turned into the beast that lay dormant inside of me. I was thrashing as I began to turn and I fell out of my cave and landed on the ground as the wolf. I was out hunting like before and I followed a stray scent. I find a small fire that nearly blinds me as I look closer at the camp sight; my ears are overpowered by loud music radiating from a boom box. Then I see a pack of teenagers dancing around and drinking beer.

“Guys are you sure we should be here? I heard on the radio of a Were-warning around here, and the police clear out people on Were-warnings,”

“Ha, like a werewolf’s going to show up around here, they’re dogs; the fire will keep them away,”

“Yeah, plus I think it’s a bit exciting, one of those wolves could just show up and any moment can be our last,”

“That’s not funny Maria, god I don’t know why I let you talk me into coming along, this is dangerous,”

“Any of you ladies ever see the study of how life and death are closely related how the excitement of love or making love is like the excitement of near death. Either of you ladies feeling that right now,” the teenage boy says standing at the campsite.

“I maybe,” one of the girls’ says seductively as she sits by the other.

“That’s you Maria, not me, I am only thinking of near death,” my focus and drive was on the teenagers wondering what they would do causing me to act. But then I smelled in the air, the scent of another hunter, and it followed the fire to its prey. It was buying its time just as I was, but when it struck the boy one girl ran screaming while the other sat still frozen in fear. I still retain some of my control when I’m not provoked or angered like with hunter so I intervene and save the poor boy from the mountain lion that jumped him. I knock the animal off and the boy begins to run away, I look at the scared girl still frozen in fear, when the lion jumps onto my back and begins to claw at it; I easily fling the creature off and roar a roar that scares the lion away. I look back at the girl and still see her scared of me, how can I be a monster even when I try and do good? I woke up in the cave with my jeans and shirt with a just bit more dirt and tear in them, but I find myself wondering why I do what I do. Is it because it is right, the teenagers were not even suppose to be there, when there is a Were-warning all people are told by the police to leave the area by nightfall, but they just don’t listen. That little girl around the fire reminded me of that night, the night I killed four vampires for another human. I didn’t feel anything then, but I killed them, I killed them when I didn’t have to. I’m not sure when or if god answers to people like me but I still beg his forgiveness. The thought of it all left me in tears, for people like me time to yourself makes you think of all you have to atone for. My god I just hope what I do is right, and I serve a better purpose than my own. These teenagers have no idea what even just happened they just camped out for the shear fun of it and put there lives at risk for no reason and I have to deal with this on a full moon for what because of their stupidity. Another day went by and I hadn’t changed, I only have to make it passed one more full moon and I’m clear.

I spent my day in confinement; I was house on the prairie carving into firewood with my thumb claw until I heard an innocent in distress. I could hear it was an animal, caught in a trap or injured some how. I jogged a few feet into the woods and caught the scent of fresh blood, when I followed it I found the trail of blood to the poor creature that was bleeding. I look upon a grey wolf pulling its bloody leg from a razor wire, “You stepped on a snare didn’t you? Snares are hunting traps my friend, you keep pulling and you’ll only further cut yourself. What you need to do is find what the wire is attached to,” he tries to bite down at the wire, “that doesn’t work pal, trust me I tried when I got caught on one of those,” I trail the wire from his leg to the ground. The wire was attached to a steel stake. I gripped the stake in both hands and heave the cursed thing out of the earth. As the wolf was free I loosen the knot around his leg, “Now let’s help with that leg,” I grow out my claws and tear off one of my sleeves. I bind my cloth around his wounded leg and tie it tight. “Try and avoid these next time little wolf,” I pet his fur and say, “you’re okay now, go on,” the wolf leaves and I hold up the snare. I sigh as I look on the initials R. F. The damn hunter from last night must be the one who set this up. I smell the stake on the snare and grasp the owners scent. When I look in the direction of the scent I see how it’s above my cave on the mountain. I run back into my cave and begin to contemplate what I would do if I found the man who owns the snare. Dusk was upon us, the moon had not risen, yet, but a new scent was near by, a woman and a little girl, and a bleeding immortal. I focused my ability for hearing and I didn’t hear their voices but merely their racing hearts. I tried to ignore them, I can’t risk their blood being on my hands, you turn, and you won’t save anyone. I hear thunderous pounds echoing in through the grounds, my heart begins to beat faster and my claws grow out, and I grip tight on my backpack before I throw it against the wall and say, “The hell with it,” I stab my claws into the side of the mountain and began climbing to the top. As I reach it I look upon a woman and her daughter, they were ordinary human beings but I see the mother shaking in fear, and when I look beyond them I see a creature stretching his arms and yawning with his fangs out. He touches the bullet holes leaking blood on his chest, “You put holes in my t-shirt now that’s not nice,”

“Stay back, this gun has silver bullets in it!” She yells trying to be strong for her daughter.

“That’s for the dogs, sweetheart,” she shoots twice and he stands tall unharmed, only to laugh at her feeble attempt. It all angered me, “Don’t you get it I’m immortal!” I climb up and stand for all to see, “The united states is a human hunting free zone, drinker! And you should know that even immortals die,” his eyes glow blue as they are greeted by mine turning gold. I look to the camp ground and see a woman and a little girl scared and frightened after looking around the sight I see the same hunter from before knocked out on the ground. So the dumb hunter brought his family along for the terror night at the Grand Canyon and look how that turned out.

“On a normal basis I would just kill you, but I implore you, walk away,” he laughs at my plea.

“You’re the city boy that came out here, well you mutts may have been something back then but now you’ve gotten soft and weak,” I clench my fist and bleed my hands as my claws dig into them.

“Now as sure as the sun shines I am going to feed tonight so get out of my way or stay here and die, I think the woman would shoot you anyway rather you save them or not so try not to startle them. Quick question, why does your kind even care for the weaker species, huh, if it wasn’t for you it would be the two great kinds side by side, but no you help them and that makes us the enemy,”

“We keep the balance and your kind upset it when you declared genocide on the human race,” my voice deepens.

“Balance and nature and life it is so boring and it gives me a headache and now I am annoyed and thirsty,” he moves quickly and knocks me aside. The woman shoots again and the gun jams. I lie on the ground and see the vampire grab the mom and pull back her neck before he bites down on her; I see a stone on the ground so I pick it up and throw at the vamps head. I rush back to my feet and jump on his back grabbing onto his arm and wrapping mine around his neck. I pried him away from the woman and pulled him back to the ground, he acts like a wild animal doing anything to be free from my grip. He rams his elbow into my gut loosening my grip on his neck. He got free to stand up when I catch his shoulder only to be hit back down. I was doing everything in my power to and not to fight but merely stop him. To do no more than stop him from feeding on the mother and daughter, back and forth me holding him back as he would try and hit me away. When he finally gives up he kicks me to the ground and pulls out a hunting knife, “It may not be silver but I’m going cut your head off kid,” the very words he used to threaten me caused a bit more of the change. With my voice turned deep and dark I ask, “You ever dance with the devil by the pale moonlight?” He strikes with great speed and precision with the knife making cuts in the air as I dodge the blade. I raise my arm and in an instant I swift cut was made across it. I cry out and grasp my arm, the wound heals quickly and I roar out at the immortal. I avoided the blade as it was swung near my face, until I caught his wrist and shot my fist into his gut and with enough power to where he was lifted off the ground, and then I shot another into the side of his jaw. When he got back up he tried to cut me across the gut I had to step back to make him miss me, he was getting angry, I can tell his strikes are getting more unrestrained wider than when he first struck. He would try and swing outward to keep me back from attacking him. When he tried to swing outward I caught his arm with my right and slashed at his cheek with my left claw. After I made the gash in his cheek I pull back my fist and nearly blind him as I punch out his left eye, “Enough! I told you I don’t want to do this,” he was on the ground gripping his eye with one hand while still holding the knife in the other. A cease of the fighting was brought on by the gun going off and the bullet hitting dirt. I turn around and see the mom fidgeting while she was trying to pull back the chamber.

“Your gun’s jammed. I’m not here to hurt you I’m trying to help you,” the mother was still pulling back on the chamber until her daughter screamed, “Behind you!” He stabs at my neck I move out of the way and I catch his forearm with one hand and with my other fist I break his elbow. When he drops his arm I ram my forearm into his face knocking him on his back. I look back at the mother and child and yell, “Run now go!” When I look back for the vamp he sticks me with the knife, I feel an immense amount of pain so I stab right claw into his shoulder, we both are trying are hardest holding back the others hand. When I was able to pull back his arm taking the blade out of my gut he presses the blade up against my throat. I did my best to keep his blade away but the point began to cut my skin. The pain forced my rage to fuel my strength; I twist his wrist to where it breaks, take away the knife and slit his throat. Blood splashes across my face and it felt numb in the shock of what I just done. Before he could fall dead to the ground, I kick him off the side of the mountain. I am still shocked from I had done in result of me trying not to kill. I look down on the blood stained knife shaking in my hand before I let it drop to the ground. I was in shock all until I felt the pain, the pain is more excruciating than you can possibly imagine. The knife wound heals but when I think I’m alright a gun shot strikes my shoulder and I look back to see my blood dripping on the ground as it stains the dirt. The silver makes the wound feel like, like salt and acid poured on an open gash, and the acid feeling spreads throughout the muscle system of the whole body. I dropped to my knees and felt the changes beginning, as the silver circulates through my bloodstream it stops and reverse the effects of the change. Think of how you rewind a video recording tape, how disfigured and rumpled it sounds, and well think of a person being what is rewound. The woman finally pulled back the chamber on her gun while I had my back turned, I tried to keep it together even though I was in that much pain.

“Stay away werewolf,” she says with fear in her voice.

“I told you . . . I am not here to . . . hurt you,” I tell her taking deep breaths in between my words.

“Shut up, if you turn into that thing, I’ll . . . I’ll shoot you!” She yells with a dwindling confidence.

“Mom, he helped us,” the little girl says as she stands at her mother’s knee.

“Be quiet Selena, you don’t know what he is!” I slowly got onto to my feet but still kept my knees bent. I leaped over the side of the edge and when I tried to catch the side of the wall on the mountain but I slid down the wall’s side holding on by the tips of my claws. When my claws finally caught hold of a crack I was able to climb down slowly, I was too far below from my cave and I didn’t have it in me to climb up for I was closer to the bottom then the top. When I reached the bottom I was too weak to even stand, I was forced to crawl across the dirt with my blood still draining from my shoulder. I crawl by tooth and nail with each movement as an act of pain I reached the lake; I took a few handfuls of fresh water and tried to clean my wound. I’m not sure if I am going to live, the silver bullet didn’t go deep and it certainly didn’t hit any organs but if the silver stays in it can slowly kill me, like poison.

I pass out from the blood loss, and I lay here a victim to only my nightmares, I stand alone amongst the streets flooded with blood, cursed to bare the rotting corpses of vampire and werewolves alike. In the beginning, vampires’ lust for blood and act to be sadistic had gone out of control, the order of things had ceased in the new era, and the entire vampire race had been exposed. And the human race took a stand and acted in a way that was equally sadistic, a death sentence on all of the vampires, no trial, no grand jury of peers, no justice, just death. When the numbers in America dropped the rest of the vamps of the world decided to retaliate and when we chose a side, the humans and my kind started a war. My father tried to keep us out of it, but not just the war he kept us out of the world it was like he tried to shelter us from everything and everyone; maybe he was sheltering it all from us. But the war found us and broke into our home a dweller hunting party found us and attacked me and my brother only then did I first begin to fight them and that’s when I met my mentor, he offered me a chance for retribution, to join a paramilitary group of lunar beast, we guardians once again for the human race fighting vampires when we could and killing them to protect humans, he told us of the dangers that would befall us if we got involved in that war and we . . . well I didn’t listen and my brother followed my horrid example. In the last fight of the war we thought we won, that the humans were coming to finish what we left off but they opened fire on us with their weapons, my brother forfeited his life for mine and I lost faith in humans for it was them who took Eric from this world. The human race can be a dangerous one, one that can be more dangerous than us at a time.

You may not know this but being a vampire is the hidden side of man; man uses its ingenuity and greed to feed its lust for power and carnage. The darkness dwellers are a human’s darkness unleashed being able to satisfy all their needs and desires with a few ounces of fresh blood from the flesh of their prey. That’s why humans have a tendency to look for them, to have a natural affection for them and why they want to be darkness dweller, to gain power, to be immortal, and to be free. When the war was over and politics reigned again the government’s best minds calculated the logics of what would come of these blood beggars living out in the open unlike they did before. They realized even with blood banks supplying vampires with as much blood as they need, vampires would never acculturate and start feeding and turning humans like there’s no tomorrow. And if that would happen, they could cause war again, or have numbers outranking humans and bring upon an epidemic. So they quarantined all that was left in a few dozen megacities like Morpheum, and instead of rewarding us with freedom they tell us we have to live our existence with them our sworn enemies. It basically was a way of saying that we were no less monster than them that our devoted service meant nothing and that we are nothing more than lap dogs only necessary when there is something greater to fear. The rest they say is history; maybe I tell you how I handled it all later.

The world feels dead as I let my limp body lie on the ground with the dirt in my face; the sounds of the wild didn’t bother me as I laid unconscious none of it would have woken me up, too quiet, even though I was passed out I could still hear all the animals around me, the predators and the prey, circle of life and all that usual tree hugger crap. I had woke up in the morning with only with the grey shadow before sunlight to comfort me, I press against the ground and flip myself onto my back and I look at the wound on my stomach, it basically healed but there still was dried blood on it and a minor puncture. I took a few deep breaths trying to relax, and I was everything’s tranquil until I catch a familiar scent in the air. I sit up like a dead man rising from his grave, I focus on the scent, and I breathe it in more. “It can’t be,” I say knowing how impossible it is. I hid in the shadow of the mountain while I look into the gray scene of the morning. I see a figure of a girl, I try to change my sight to see her but it fails, she’s too far for me to see her but that doesn’t hide her scent. It would make sense if Iris came after me, especially since I’ve been embarrassing her with Eden for the past few weeks. But that would be highly unlikely; she knows I don’t like being followed. I crouch down on all fours and bear crawl silently along the bank of the river, I wasn’t ten feet away when I jump the girl following me. I place my left forearm against on her throat and while I raise my right hand as it’s a full grown claw.

“John!” She says with her black hood covering the top of her face I can only see her lips and chin. I recognize the voice, I slowly lift up her hood and see Eden’s pale face with her eyes glowing blue as they are shocked and frightened. I raised my forearm and place my hands on her cheeks, “My Eden, how . . . why, what are you doing here?”

“I missed you,” she says to me.

“How did you get out of the city?”

“John, can you get off of me first?” I help her stand up and once she stands she takes down the hood of her black cloak.

“School was dreadful without you so I snuck out of the city using an old tunnel system that leads to a street outside Morpheum; I tried to get here during night_”

“You stupid girl, did the fact I told you I turn this week mean anything to you. Jesus Eden, if I was turned, I could have killed you,” I rise from the ground with her in my arms as I speak with a contrite tone of voice.

“What happened to your stomach, god is that blood over your t-shirt?” She asked with the up most concern.

“A vampire was attacking a woman and her daughter, I didn’t want to fight but he stabbed me with a bowie knife and the woman shot me with a silver bullet. That’s the only reason I didn’t turn last night,”

“It’s not going to kill you is it? Please tell me you’re going to be alright, you can’t leave me here all alone,” she says with her voice rising in fear.

“Eden,”

“John don’t leave me,”

“Eden, I’m alright, I’m not going anywhere. That stuff will only make me weak for the night,”

“My poor John,” she places her hand on my cheek and I feel peace with that one cold touch. Then I awoke from her trance, “Eden the sun comes up in an hour, we have to get you . . . come with me,” I pick her up onto my shoulder and rush up to my cave climbing with one arm pulling us up and the other holding her onto my shoulder. I reached my cave and set Eden down in the back of the cave and set her away from any rays of sunlight that could enter.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m perfectly fine Lancelot and I could have got up here by myself,”

“You are so careless; you do realize you’re going to have to sneak back into the city,”

“I realize, but I wanted to see how you were doing without me,” she says as she scoots forward, “didn’t you miss me?” I catch a fresh breath of her scent and I pull her close. As she is close to me I whisper to her, “You can’t imagine how much I missed you,” before I could help myself I was kissing the side of her neck, then the front of her neck and then the other side of her neck. I could hear her pacing as I continue; I am fixed in the pure enjoyment of being with her, all until I felt a beat in her chest. I jerk back from her shocked and almost frightened.

“John what’s wrong,”

“Nothing, I just thought I heard something for a second, but it’s stupid,” another odd thing to add to the list that’s different about her, but even that’s too crazy. “Dawn approaches, sit back here in the cave for now, and I got to go and talk to my dad,”

“He’s here, now?”

“Yeah, he’s my spotter for the week, he stays off somewhere in a cabin I have to find but I have to talk to him,”

“Are you going to talk about me?”

“No of course not, but I have to talk about the attack and what happen to me, if I don’t he’ll be suspicious,” I stand up and walk to the entrance of my cave, “Don’t go anywhere,” I say sarcastically.

“I’ll be asleep, I’m exhausted from traveling to get here,” she says as she lies asleep. I leap to the bottom and run to the last site of my meal. I had to only follow the smell of piling wood and smoke, my father must be already burning the carcass of the dead animal, and I found the black smoke. When I followed it I found my father standing in front of the bonfire burning high, “What happened last night, why didn’t you signal me in your cave?”

“A vampire attacked humans on the mountain, can you believe that?”

“Usually they attacks humans boy it’s in there nature,”

“When I tried to stop it I was stabbed with a bowie knife, and shot if you care,” I look into my father’s eyes and see him unmoved.

“Well you’re obviously alive and well. And above all things you know better so don’t let it happen again,” he picks up another log and throws it into the fire. I turn around and walk away, now you might see my father’s capacity for feelings. “You shouldn’t have got involved boy it wasn’t your concern, you know better,” I walk away and spent the day out in the wild I caught a deer and took back a leg to my cave to roast over a fire; maybe a good barbeque will make me feel better. I was sure Eden was in a deep sleep that I shouldn’t disturb so I fed and kept my back to the cave acting as a guard for her, I drank my water and ate my food in peace knowing my Eden was safe at my back. She moves right behind me and places her arms around me and asks, “You’ve been guarding me this whole time?”

“Yes, pretty much all day,”

“Have you gotten any sleep?”

“No, I can’t afford to,”

“It’s alright; nothing bad will get to us John,”

“You don’t know that,” I feel the cold touch of her lips on the back of my neck.

“Eden we can’t_”

“Why not, I know how much you care for me and I know that I care for you as much, why not?” She asks. I look upon my claws and say, “Vampire and werewolf will never have union, of blood, of races, we are looked on as the same monster and yet we still fight each other,”

“John, we are not monsters, you are a caring and loving creature who chooses to help all creatures alike,” she says as she gently pulls my face to see her.

“Yet I seem to make all resent me, all humans’ hearts race in anger when they even see me,”

“Not all humans John,”

“What humans?”

“You make my heart slow down John,” I look at her shocked at what I just heard, “What did you say?”

“Well uh,” she mumbles as she pulls back from me.

“I thought I heard a pulse,” she slowly steps back, “give me your hand,”

“No,” I snatch up her right hand and cut a line across her finger; I take a drop from her finger with my thumb claw and hesitantly bring it to my lips. I taste the drop of blood, with it seeming more sweet and untainted than I ever tasted before. I could tell, “Your human, I should have known you were human. That’s why you were so precious to me; it was your innocence as a human that drew me to you. Only a human, only a human could be so cruel,” I let go of her hand shocked at what I just learned, everything’s in a bitter silence until she says, “I’m sorry John,” she tries to walk past me out of the cave as I look down at my feet. She reaches the entrance only to gaze upon the horizon and the long fall down; I use my speed to appear right next to her. I place my hand on her shoulder, “Let me……….” I drop to my knees and fall onto my stomach.

“John what’s wrong?”

“It’s the silver,” I say very faintly.

“You said that was nothing,” she says picking me up and holding me in her gentle hands.

“I know, I lied,” I tell with my voice faltering.

“What can I do?” She asks as she gets more and more nervous.

“My bag . . . there’s a pocket knife in my bag I need you to get it,” she does as I asks.

“Now what do I do?” I feel so much pain with each movement but I take my shirt off to show her the healed bullet wound.

“I need you to open up the wound,”

“What!?” She asks in a shock tone.

“The bullet is still in my shoulder I need you to open the wound and take out the bullet,”

“Ok,” she clicks open the knife, “John its going to be ok, alright John, its going to be ok_”

“Eden, I don’t think we have time for sentimentality, just do it,” I take a few deep breaths, “you need to make it deep,” I say before I feel the horrid pain of the blade going into the old wound. After yelling out in the agonizing pain Eden says, “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry,”

“Its ok you doing great,” my vision beginning to blur.

“Come on John stay with me, what now?”

“Take the bullet out,” by the time the pain was over she held the deformed slug in her fingers. As soon as it was out of my flesh I was feeling better.

“That wasn’t so bad now would you like me to get you some water,” we both sat down and had a drink of water after I got out tin cups from my bag. The shock and fear of the surgery easily faded and we enter back into silence as we discuss the task at hand.

“How did you do it?”

“How did I do what?”

“How can pass as an immortal, fool everyone, fool me,”

“I take daily dozes of diluted tetrodotoxin, it’s a paralytic shuts off the nervous system that gives you the appearance of death; this mixture is made so it lowers my heart rate enough to where it appears I have no heartbeat and I don’t breathe enough for vampires to notice. A number of other drugs keeps my skin pale and lowers my body temperature,” she takes a sip of her water to calm herself.

“What about your eyes?”

“These baby blue eyes are all mine,”

“I should have known, all the times you didn’t drink blood, when you got sick at the Grayson’s, why?”

“I was sick by drinking blood?”

“No, I’m asking why are you pretending to be one of the immortals? If you wanted it that bad you could have had someone turn you,”

“It’s complicated,” she tells me.

“What about your mom, is she a vampire, did she just not turn you?”

“She’s human, we both are,”

“I can’t believe how stupid I’ve been. Tell me the truth; I won’t take anymore secrets from you Eden. That is your name right?”

“Yes, I am Eden Sinclair, human teenage girl. I have to admit, at first I envied people like you,”

“Envied?” The wolf enhances my voice, I try to breathe steady, “What have you seen that makes you envy us?”

“I didn’t mean_”

“Of course not! You never had to live on the other side of the tracks. You were inside in the warmth we were out in the cold with the hunters at our backs,”

“What do you mean the cold?”

“God, I can’t tell if you are blind, naïve or just uniformed. While engaging with your dwellers did you happen to notice the wolves forced to hard labor. The segregation forced on us. Do you even know what we’ve done for you and your kind and this is how you repay us,”

“John I don’t know what you’re talking about,” her words slow me down for a moment before I say, “of course, history is written by the victors not heroes, and the humans always thought they won their war,”

“John please explain, I’ll understand it all if you just tell me you know you can talk to me,”

“I spoke to the Eden I knew back in Morpheum, I don’t know what you are? Other than just a shade, something I have shown and told far to many things to,”

“John it’s still me. The one girl you fought for, the one you broke boundaries for, who you happily introduced to your friends, John please remember me,” as her tears form at her beautiful blue eyes they begin to mitigate my rage.

“Fine, I don’t know you so tell me the real story of the girl I did all those things for,” I ask not sure if I really should know it.

“John, uh my dad he is uh, he’s not dead his actually a C.E.O of a corporation that deals in biological warfare; the . . . the government hired him to try and create a sort of defense against vampires,” it only took my expression to show her how much I hated the idea, “you don’t know what’s going on out in the world John, city breaks have been getting worse each month, the government’s getting tired of the attacks,”

“So, you walked right through the front gate, there is no way outside Morpheum,”

“No John, my dad couldn’t get volunteers for a teenage girl to be an insider,”

“You volunteered?” She hesitantly answers, “He asked me. I’m suppose to learn all I could about vampires, gatherings, habits, weaknesses,”

“What man puts his family at risk?” I asked rhetorically. “Why are you here then, you risk everything by being away from that school,”

“I missed you_”


“Stop pretending!” My raised voice scares her, “I bet your daddy gave you a gold star for ambition in getting an insight on the werewolves, you played nice and I fell right into your cold hands, boy did I play the fool,”

“John we’re not after your kind,” I grab her by the throat and say, “I have had my life hanging by a thread when a group of humans were told to only attack vampires. Humans fear them, as well as us wolves at their door and they hate what they fear, they don’t defend against us they only kill,”

“That may be, but I am here to learn and keep a low profile that’s all,” she tries to assure me as her eyes fill up with tears as her throat was still in my claws grasp.

“I’m not listening to anymore of your lies,”

“I’m not lying, and if you don’t mind I can argue my case if you take your paw off my throat!” As I let go I say, “When we get back to Morpheum, I won’t tell anybody but make sure you leave me and my friends alone,” she seemed hurt for a moment before she says.

“I don’t want to walk away, if you didn’t interrupt me you have already heard that I’ve been dating you because I do care for you, I wasn’t suppose to get a boyfriend, let alone a werewolf,”

“Then why did you?”

“You were different, you saved me, and you were willing to do anything for me. You actually can make a girl feel special,”

“You are special to me Eden,” my anger had faded and I had returned to the undeniable love for her. “Even now I still want you,” I lost for words as was she until she exclaims in an impatient tone.
“Well you’re an idiot!”

“Well if you don’t like it you can go,” I tell her.

“Oh yeah well I’m not ‘cause I like you!”

“Well I like you!” I shout back at her.

“Fine!” She yells at me.

“Fine!” I yell back. As we stare into each others eyes with a mixture of anger and passion; we embrace each other and give long kisses with the relief of knowing that each others feelings we true. Between each we tried to speak to each other, “I’m sorry I grabbed,” we kiss, “your throat like that,” we were inseparable.

“I’m sorry I was mean,” She says before we kiss more.

“You can’t be mean,” I kiss her lips and her neck as my hands feel her body. She holds the back of my neck and I feel the tingle from her cold fingers. As we were kissing, we laid back down on my sleeping bag. I help her take off her coat, she takes off her shirt and I see the pendant, she looks at it before she pulls it from her neck and tosses it aside before I hold her again. We’re in an ecstasy, you don’t know exactly what you’re doing but you can’t stop. I kiss her whole body as she moans to the passion. The excitement brings out my gold eyes I try to look down concealing them before I kiss down the side of her thigh. She pulls me back to kiss her sweet lips and as she kisses my neck I claws grow out and I drive them into the dirt. She pulls me close to her as the sweet smell of her neck as I taste her sweat and our passion is a burning fire.

The next morning I wake up with her in my arms as we lie in my sleeping bag covering her. Her temperature had risen back to normal and her skin tone returned to a tanner brown, she wasn’t an immortal, but nothing about her changed, she is still Eden, she’s still my Eden. I take my left over deer meat and boil it in hot water so it was decent for her.

“Morning,” I look back at Eden wearing my spare shirt.

“Why are you wearing my shirt?”

“You tore mine,” she says as she walks to me into the sunlight, “my god, it has been so long sense I felt the sunlight on my skin. That and rain, my god do I miss a light rain. Sunlight and rain, two different things and yet they both are some of the things I miss the most,” I watch her as she leans on the entrance of the cave staring at the sun. “Ah, I’m hot,” she says slowly and seductively.

“Yes you are,” I say as I am hypnotized by her mere presence.

“What was that?” She asks looking back with a smile.

“What was what?”I ask sarcastically.

“You said something,”

“No, I didn’t,” I try and act casual.

“Well, I could use a bath,”

“Bath?” I say with my voice in a weak state.

“You could use one too, will you carry me down?”

“I got a better idea,” I pick her up and carry her in my arms and say, “trust me,”

“Now John as a she-vamp I couldn’t tell you,” I step near the edge, “but I have,” I step over the edge, “fear of heights!” We feel the wind whooshing by us as we descend to the ground. Eden only looks at on the way down until my feet shatter the ground itself.

“Are you alright?” I ask as I let her down. She steps away as she breathes hard, “I am fine but don’t do that again. Couldn’t we have just climbed down?”

“That wouldn’t have been that fast,” we walk to the river bank where I first saw her. She grips the bottom of her shirt when she says, “Turn around, right now,” I turn my back on her and overhear the sound of her clothes hitting the ground. When I turn around she’s already in the water letting it wet her hair.

“Do you want to join me?”

“Um, I don’t think that would be a good idea,”

“Are you sure, it feels so good in here, what are you afraid of?”

“Many things,” I found myself stuttering, “I, I, I am pretty sure that I sh-sh-shouldn’t be swimming with you,”

“John you’re making me blush. What you don’t trust me, I don’t bite,”

“I do trust you Eden, but I might,”

“Ah, what’s wrong John, since I’m human your afraid you might turn me,” I drop the permanent smile I had on and say, “You shouldn’t joke like that, I would hate to do such a thing to you,”

“You say that like your scared,” A wave of truth hit me like a bolt of lightning; I could nothing but fall to a knee before I sat down.

“John, what’s wrong?”

“I now have to face facts, I’m going to lose you like my father lost my mother,” the words are like the frozen breath clinging to you as you see it in the air.

“John, it doesn’t matter as long as we can spend as much time as possible together,” that night I ran and told her to stay behind and to hold onto her necklace. As I return I saw my jeans a little more torn and a few new scratches along my arms and legs. After a few hours of sleep brought on by the pain killers, I woke up to see Eden’s face hold a look of fear and worry. I ask, “Are you alright, you seem distraught,”

“I’ll be truthful, seeing you change back was a bit frightening,”

“I’m sorry,”

“Don’t ever be sorry for who you are John,” she says as she feels my cheek with the palm of her hand.

“If you don’t mind I would wish for us to discuss the truth, shine some light on all this deception,” I say as I grip her hand.

“Whatever you want. I’ll tell you everything you want to know,” she says as I see the truth in her eyes.

“Now that night at the football game did those werewolves realize that you were human?”

“No, they thought they were attacking a vampire I’m sure of it,”

“Now, the doorman at that nightclub who was he to you?”

“My father paid off the city officials; they used their sources to make owners to look after me as the vampire daughter of a rich benefactor,”

“When I mentioned the clearing near my home what upset you, were you that girl I saved,” I ask almost anxious of her answer.

“No, but she was the girl they got for this job, she blew her cover after a week of being in a near by city. My father received a report that she chased outside the city into a forest and she vividly described a werewolf who attacked and killed the vamps chasing her. I put her description of you and your mention of the clearing together. My father volunteered me for Morpheum immediately afterwards. No grown woman would volunteer to infiltrate a city, knowing that grown vampires would be to smart to be fooled, so they decided on a teenager, the blonde girl you saved was a security officer’s daughter, no one else would do the job, so he chose me,”

“That’s truly unbelievable and I thought I had seen it all already,”

“So tell me more about you,”

“Well I use to live on the outskirts of Chicago in a bit of land that my father own. The lights of Chicago, back in 56 nothing beat them. Me and my family we all lived simply and happily, I was nine when I inherited my werewolf abilities and from that year on, I only aged one year every ten years, as did my brother who was a year younger than me. You see Eden that is our immortality one year every ten, its like reverse dog years but I was born this way even though I’ve lived this long I still feel like I’m supposed to be sixteen. Everything would have been perfect but my mother was mortal and we all outlived her. From the day she died my father was never the same. And several things I did weren’t helpful to his attitude towards me,” I can feel tears trying to work their way into my eyes but I keep them back.

“What did you do?”

“You asked me what I talking about when I mentioned what we did for your kind so I guess I have to tell you now. Back in the day I was quite the rebellious type. In the Era War, the war set to define the new era that was free and prosperous. An Era of the human race alone, but they couldn’t fight the war alone so my people intervened and I fought in the war,” I look to her and judge from her expression I saw she had no idea what I was talking about, “Doesn’t your father at least tell something about the Era War?”

“He says it’s best not to dwell on the past,”

“Well back in twenty fifteen the world discovered the vampire race and declared martial law, wiping out most of their numbers in the U.S but they were still dangerous, thousands of them kept fighting and feeding and the government couldn’t stop them,”

“How is that possible?”

“I don’t know even with the military, the army everything could only slow them down but nothing could stop them,”

“So why save us, I mean you sound like it didn’t affect you at all,”

“It didn’t affect my kind? Of course it did, the world we all loved was dying it was drowning in the rivers of blood, suffering from the neglect brought on by the loss of thousands that tended to it,”

“Is that why you hate them,”

“Not all but trust me if you were there, you would really see some blue eyed devils,”

“How did you deal with all that?”

“You don’t, you just try and get passed it and become someone else, someone who is accustomed to it,”

“How did you volunteer for the war?”

“I didn’t, but it found me, a squad of vengeful dwellers tore through my house thinking we were soldiers. They attacked my family, put my dad in a coma and in result of that atrocity I joined the group of warrior wolves who saved us. That’s when I found my purpose; from them I learned how to phase and how to kill, with those two traits I made a name for myself,”

“How did it end?”

“One fateful night, the last night of the war everything changed. We won, the dream came true and we couldn’t handle it, the war was over, there were a few darkness dwellers left but their spirits were destroyed and we left them be. That’s when a nameless horror, a faceless terror came and killed nearly all of my friends everyone I had fought with. It was confounding, you ever wonder what you’d do if your enemies were being slaughtered in front of you along with your friends, it makes them one in the same,”

“What are you saying?”

“I helped them, I defied my leaders and aided vampires something I never thought I would do. So in one day I killed and saved my most hated enemies and fought humans to do it,” Eden could see how this all upsets me so she places her arm on my shoulder, “How did it all end?”

“Numbers put the favor into others hands, my heart was pounding hard, my vision was blurred, blood loss was turning me pale, and my little brother was there experiencing it all with me,”

“Brother?” I pull out my wallet and show her a picture of him.

“Eric, my little brother, he was the loyal son, I was the prodigal son, at least in my dad’s eyes. He was always the one who was eager to please him I was the one who was eager to defy him. I can only see now why he took his loss so hard,”

“They took your brother from you,” she says with her eyes tearing up.

“I lost him to the world, and I became dead to my father,”

“Hey he loves you,”

“You don’t know him,” I keep my head down, I take a deep breath before I say, “the world swept it under the rug, we were a distant memory and now my people don’t believe in anything anymore,”

“Wow, that’s why you do what you do, you’ve seen your race in all forms and you try and change it, make it better,”

“Exactly, you know you’re the first person I’ve told the whole story and I believe you may be the only person who understands,”

“I’m flattered, but now can I ask a few more questions of you?”

“What else?” She looks up as if searching for the questions to ask.

“Why did people think they needed to stake a vamp in the heart?”

“Eden?” I ask with a short laugh.

“Not for my dad I swear it’s just a question I was wondering about,”

“Well in the eighteen hundreds hunters who were particularly sadistic had the taste to catch a dweller and stake them to the ground just before sunup, the chest was most effective. But some humans still believe in its ability to kill dwellers,”

“Crosses and holy water?”

“Only superstition, you feel the creature is of hell you cling to the relics of god,”

“You say it so poetically,” she says with her cute smile. We both felt as if a great weight had been lifted from our shoulders, for once the truth did set us free. It’s a freedom that lets us be together.

“There is something I need to ask of you,” she says as if she’s scared of the outcome.

“What is it?”

“Rachel and Regina spoke of a vamp club a few miles from here; I need to see it for myself,”

“Why, if they’re keeping to themselves then they are_”

“Feeding on humans,” she interrupts me.

“What would we do?”

“We just need to go and see humans being fed on and we can bolt and they’ll be arrested,”

“I can’t help with that,”

“Please it has to stop,”

“I can’t”

“John this is what you do,”

“No,”

“If not you then who_”

“I said no!” she frowns and says, “I’ll go alone then,” she stands up and I swiftly grip her wrist, “No, I don’t want to lose you again,” she couldn’t be stopped. Before more words were said she takes that drug she was given by the corporation, she apparently had some in her coat pocket, and we run with her in my arms to make the trip within the same night. I run at my fastest pace to where we appear as shadows in the dark as we fly past the ground not making a sound, traveling fluently with only one moment that makes me plant my feet and skid against the ground. I see a black building with red nylon lights for its name Danton’s, but there was a Latin inscription in dark red, “Venio in Moriturus,” it means come in to die. It seems somewhat appropriate but when I see the name Danton I stop in my tracks for an old fear.

“John what is it?”

“Nothing, just an old memory nothing more,” I let Eden down and we try and clean ourselves for the moment we walk into the club, she fixes her hair and I straighten my t-shirt for that’s all I can possibly do. The doorman, a vampire in an all black suit is letting couples in, some were vampires, some were human, and quite a few were a mixture of both, you can just tell the difference, the excited and warm eliminated look in the humans faces, against the anxious and tempted animalistic need in the vampires eyes. Plus I can smell them, on a human you can smell the sweat, the pheromones, the sunlight, and the vampire smells like death itself. We walk up to the doorman with my arm over her shoulder, the vampire looks at us and says, “She can come in but you can’t,”

“Why can’t I?” I ask holding back my anger.

“We have a strict, dress code; people in there have standards that you, don’t_” before he could finish insulting me I bash him in the jaw with a hit that was powerful enough to throw him through the very door.

“Subtle, very subtle,” Eden says to me sarcastically. We walk in through the door and see vampires drinking and smoking, lavishing the enjoyment of the nightlife. The glance at our excessively bold entrance, but merely choose to ignore us, “I know your fury but did you have to hit the doorman?”

“I have done things in service of a greater cause than some of these dwellers could ever comprehend. Some of the older ones who would recognize who I once was would know never to consider me unworthy of anything,” she stops me in my steps.

“You sound like you had an interesting past John,”

“I’ve done a lot in my past, several things that gave me reputation, pride, arrogance and a few unflattering nicknames,”

“Tell me one of them,”

“I’d rather not,” After talking to her I look around us and see the vampires glaring us as she stands close to my side. “Stay close to me,” I hold her hand, as we pass through the crowd of vampires enchanting humans by dancing close enough for the humans to feel their cold flesh. The music was slow but some type of vampire music that they love to listen to. As we walk by, you could see the pets; pets were humans who signed a waiver to surrender all that they are to the darkness dwellers. But feeding is only considered when its human beings drained against their will. We get past the horde of vamps and walk to the bar, a she-vamp with black hair, red lips, and a black leather outfit, she looks at me with some hesitation but then she says, “Can I get you two anything to drink?”

“Just water for him,” Eden answers for me. A young woman with bite marks along the sides of her neck walks to the bar and sits besides us. As I drink my bottle of water Eden scopes the entire bar as best she can and doesn’t notice the girl to my right staring at me. She’s peppy and gregarious; you can see all that with just her big smile, “Are you a werewolf?”She speaks with the accent of a southern bell.

“Yes I am,” I tell her regrettably.

“My stars, all the times I’ve come here I haven’t seen a werewolf. Are you here alone?”

“No he’s not,” Eden tells her as she places her arms over my shoulders. She places her left hand onto my chest while with her right hand she pulls my chin turning my face toward her just before Eden gives me a slow long kiss.

“Wow, a vampire girl and a werewolf, what a night we all could have,” Eden didn’t like what she implied, not, one bit.

“Beat it Bleeder!” The girl ran off scared of having angered a vampire. The bartender stares at us with a look that seems to be a combination of excitement and sensation.

“Do you have a problem with that?” Eden asks the bartender.

“Not at all, he’s yours, and the pet should have known better. Don’t mind me, I just love lovers’ quarrels,” she says as her fangs appear and she grins with them. The club was dark and full of smoke, but my eyes turn the scene to a black and white room clear as day. I notice only a few vamps taking small bites into a pet, but then I saw a curtain covering a wall at the end of the dance floor, “What’s behind the curtain?” I ask the bartender.

“V.I.P section, you could go though, they would love to have a werewolf join them,” I take Eden’s hand and we try to walk past the vampires who began to stare at us. But I see their glowing blue eyes gaze upon her, I can’t help but fear even more, she is more innocent than I possibly could have imagined yet she risks it all by throwing herself into all this danger. I would do anything for her and yet she makes that difficult with her actions, I can’t believe it, seventy nine years of life and I still have the issues that a teenager gets plus hundreds more. Relationships with my friends and girl begin to tear; I have problems with her parents, were keeping secrets that complicate the relationship and I have to keep her safe from any bloodsucking leech who thinks she’s here alone. Beside all that everything’s peachy. We finally get past the horde of grinding, and rubbing vamps and reach the curtain entrance.

“Keep hold of my hand when we go in,” I open the curtain and see vampires sitting on red velvet chairs, smoking from crack pipes and hookah jars. Humans were in there too, if you can say they’re still human, I would see the vampires stare at us with a bit of amazement, rather than hate. The humans almost sicken me; one young woman was lying down while two other she-vamps taste her. One bit down on her neck while the other was on her knees as she slowly punctures the girl’s thigh. After they taste her blood and it covers their lips they look at me staring at them. Eden acts more casual than I do, “Come on honey, it’s not nice to stare,” another couple of vampires were going at it while biting each other. A vampire can drink another vampire’s blood; it is a common sign of affection between vampires, but if they drink their own it will have the same result as drinking a dead man’s blood, death for the undead. I whisper to Eden, “They’re just pets, let’s get out of here,”

“Why leave so soon, our host tells me that he would love to meet the both of you,”

“I’m sorry to decline your invitation, but we must go,” I say to a pale face waiter in a cheap black suit, who stands in front of our way out.

“He insist and you can not refuse the host,”

“Listen to me I’ll refuse_,”

“John, it can’t hurt, lead the way,” the vamp walks past us deeper into the V.I.P section. We saw more pets moaning to the pain vamps subject them to as a form of pleasure, but it finally ends when we head up a dark stairway. We reach the top of it as we see a black door with noise arising from it. When the door opens and the vamp waves us in, we walk in on a dweller in a black suit and red tie biting into the neck of his she-vamp, a black haired red leather dress wearing woman, sitting on his lap with her eyes glowing blue and fangs sprung. As her man tastes her neck she speaks in an Italian accent, “Darling we have company,” the man pries himself away from her neck as her blood drenches his teeth and lips. He gently pushes her off of his lap before he pulls out his red pocket handkerchief and wipes the blood off his mouth.

“John O’Brian,” he says with great enthusiasm. I know this vampire from the war I fought him but I try and act surprised, “You know me?”

“Senator Grayson speaks highly of you and yet I wonder why a boy like you, so proper would come into a club like this in odd attire,” he says waving at me.

“It’s a long complicated story, and I apologize if it offends you_,”

“John, I do wonder what you are doing outside of Morpheum, and with such a beautiful young she-vamp?” He asks with a smile.

“It’s the week of the lunar cycle for me,” his faces drop its flawless smile.

“You dare be around others?”

“Yes . . .,” my voice begins to crack, “but the three days of the moon have passed and I_,” he breaks into a laugh and smiles.

“Johnny boy I’m just kidding. She said you were tense but come on, those laws were written decades ago, and I don’t care for them. Plus life has no boundaries, no rules when you always apply rules to life then it’s not living,” his gaze turns from me to her, “Now she spoke of you but not of your sweetheart, did you just meet her tonight?” Eden grips my hand tighter in fear of my answer, “No . . . at the beginning of the week I met her near my site and just, well one thing led to another and we ended up here, I’d introduce you, but I don’t know your name,” I lie, I learned his name twenty years ago.

“Of course how rude of me, I am Danton owner of this club and over there at the bar is my darling wife Francesca,” we look to our left to see Francesca pour blood from a wine bottle before she waves to us smiling.

“This is my new girl Eden,” Francesca walks over to us as she drinks her glass of blood.

“Mmmmm, how’s your relationship been so far?” She asks Eden.

“Great . . . it’s been great,” she says nervously as Francesca stands close to her.

“Would you like some blood dear, you look parched,” she says as she looks up and down Eden enthralled at her natural beauty.

“No thank you I’m not thirsty,” she moves close to Eden, first she smells Eden neck just before she whispers in her ear, “How was it?”

“What?” She says quietly.

“Becoming his lover?” Eden looks at her with a glance of surprise.

“Don’t be shy dear, I congratulate you, of course I never had a werewolf before,” she spoke out loud just before Danton rushes over with incredible speed to her side and grips her chin and neck with his pale white hands. He seems angry just before he says, “That’s because I made you mine remember,”

“Don’t I regret it,” they both smile just before he kisses her right next to us.

“Danton, please forgive us but we must go,” I tell him respectfully.

“So soon?” he asks as he pulls away from his dazed bride.

“Yes, this beast can’t ever stay in one place for too long,” Eden answers for me.

“Well, John do try to not to be a stranger, for you’ll be welcomed here,”

“We’ll try not to be,” as we walk towards the door with Eden in front of me Danton tone of voice changes as he says, “Boy!” I stop in my tracks and with my back to him I fear for what he knows. “You, John O’Brian are welcomed here, not the chaos kid,” the name I cursed so many years ago was remembered.

“That boy died along time ago,” I sat with my back to him.

“Never the less, you are the chaos kid, who killed twenty soldiers in a single night along with three masters in the Era War,”

“So you do remember me?” I ask looking back on him.

“How could I forget, you tried to kill me and make me the fourth master you’ve ended. And on the fact that several of the men you killed along time ago were my kindred. But don’t worry what’s done is done,”

“I should have known better, even though you are the oldest doesn’t mean you forget past grievances, but what are you doing here in a nightclub?” I ask out of shear curiosity.

“Young man I told you before I’ve grown tired of war and death so my way of defiance against all enemies is merely to survive,” he takes a seat and says, “You are welcomed here for I remember what the chaos kid did for us a long time ago,”

“Thank you, I just wish for that name not to be repeated again,”

“Fair enough, John O’Brian, you can go now. But make no mistake you may have killed masters close to my age but I still can destroy you at the drop of a hat,” I nod my head yes as I walk down to the bottom of the stairs where Eden waits for me as I spoke to Danton. We walk back out into the club hand in hand knowing not to speak of our business for vampire sense of hearing is like the bats. Once we got back to the dance floor we ran into more complications, three vampires in cheap suits stood in our way, two were right in front of me while the third stood behind them and they stood between us and our way out. I try to stay as calm as possible, for Danton’s warning, when I ask, “Gentlemen would you mind moving?” They smile and don’t answer me. We try to move around them but they still stand in front of us.

“Do you have a problem?” One of them spoke out, “We don’t but if you leave that girl on your arm can have a good time,” I look back at Eden just before I say, “Guys, we aren’t looking for any trouble,”

“Then leave,” I take a step forward before the one on my right stops me with his hand. I growl as I prepare for this unavoidable strife doomed to ensue. I look back at Eden and say with my voice deepened by the wolf, “Head for the door,” I let go of her hand just before I shot a left punch into the gut of the vamp on my right and then a right hook for the other on my left. The last ran forward and threw a lucky punch into my chin; he was smart enough to use his speed against swinging punches that were blurs to the naked eye but I’m used to fighting them. So duck once duck twice, right hook into the gut, left hook across the jaw and right before he hit the floor I grab him by the coat and throw him into a pillar. Before I could walk away one of them socks me in the cheek with enough force to hit me to the ground when I look at the vamp he tries to kick me in the ribs just before I catch it and break his knee. He falls onto the ground I grab his throat and begin to punch his face without stop until a random vamp jumps me and I roll onto my back and elbow the vamp first in the ribs and then the face. These vamps must have had friends for two more ran to my feet and I had to kick them back into the crowd, soon after I rush to stand up.

“Enough!” A voice yells a yell that echoes throughout the club when the music stops. Everyone looks up at the balcony where Danton stood and overlooked his club’s dance floor. He stands on top of the railing and glides down to the dance floor, he walks up to us and says, “Boys, boys, you should know that I have no issue with werewolves anymore, and if you think that any of you can decide who to let in my club then you are dead wrong. Now John unless you want to continue this debacle outside I suggest you leave,” I feel Eden’s touch as she places her arms around me and says, “Come on lover let’s go, you know how all this fighting gets me thirsty,” Danton places his hand on my shoulder and says, “Go on, John let your Eden lick your wounds,” the crowd makes a path that leads to the door. As we walk out she and I are in a bitter silence, I’m at a loss for words, plus how can you explain to your girl why you lost your temper and started a fight. But as I was about to begin a long and well thought out apology she cries out, “I’m sorry,”

“What?” I ask confused.

“I shouldn’t have asked you, I could have gotten you killed back there,”

“Oh no, that wasn’t your fault, that was mine, I should of just tried to walk away but I got angry. I_”

“No, they wouldn’t leave us alone they were asking for it,” she says as she interrupts.

“Plus I would have jumped back into that fight if you hadn’t stopped me,” I listen to her sweet voice and I forget all about the things that went wrong. As we walk through the forest, a grey aired scene, one that isn’t darkness or light but just bright enough to make you feel comfortable at night. I couldn’t help but ask, “So how’s the world these days?”

“Same problems, different people, global warming has been a b****, soon were all going to have to live in domes. The Afghanis are fighting American rule, again, they lost the war but still keep fighting U.S forces,”



“Damn, I remember when that war started; time flies on birds wings doesn’t it?

“It does,” as we walk in the forest she asks, “You think you could carry me up one of these trees to see a romantic view?”

“What do you think this is Twilight?”
“Pardon me?”

“Sorry that was beyond your time, just some book slash movie series that offended a lot of the immortals back in the twenty first,”
“I mean what am I a vampire? I’m no romantic, plus you’re too heavy,” her jaw drops in shock of what I just said. She hits me in the back of the head.

“Your mean,” she turns her head away from me and begins to walk forward. I put my hands on her shoulder only for her to pull away, I take a step back and leap forward flipping in the air in front of her, and she holds her stern look acting as if my stunt did not amaze her, she merely walks around me. I rush to her and hold her in my arms, “I’m not in the mood John,” I start to kiss the side of her cold neck as she starts to shiver from the tingle of that one gentle kiss.

“Do you forgive me?”

“Yes, but I hate it when you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Make me feel like I’m under your thumb,” I kiss her on the cheek, and stand in front of her just before I take a knee.

“You think that I have control of you, when I am on your beckon call, everything I do is to try and please you, and if you don’t want me to I won’t make another joke in my life. I fear to displease you for I will find it a cruel punishment to not even see your beauty for a day. Ask me to do something for you and I will do it without a second’s hesitation,” she smiles as I look deep into her glowing blue eyes. “Your eyes are so beautiful and your hair and your face, everything about you is gorgeous,”

“Now you’re overdoing it. You’re not too bad yourself,” she smiles her beautiful smile and I give her a long kiss and hug her tight. As we walk again I ask, “So how are you going to get back into the city?”

“I’ll call my driver to bring me in unnoticed,” the night is quite beautiful itself, the sky is clear and full of stars, the moon isn’t out but the scene is a shade gray rather than an absolute empty blackness. We walk all night and on the canyons edge we stand and watch the sunrise. The Grand Canyon is bathed in fresh sunlight as we part ways so she could head to the nearest road and get picked up, when she was gone I packed all my stuff and waited for my father to show.

In all honesty I feel like I just laid my head to rest and already find myself waking up in a desk at school. Another week of school ends and I see my friends rushing to tell me, “John, its Halloween tonight, time for the party,”

“What party?” I ask.

“You know, the Halloween rave at the warehouse on fifth and Grande,”

“Um yeah sure just let me tell Eden,” all of them sigh at the fact that I am including her again.

“You guys need to get girlfriends,” before I could make another comment Eden grabs my face and kisses me hello. The boys say hello to Eden as she stops and says, “John O’Brian, will you go to the rave with me?”

“Of course I will, I dare not go with anyone else,” the thing that will make this fun is the fact that a Halloween party for us creatures of the night, is more of masquerade dance, the one and only time you will see a werewolf girl in a beautiful dress and the one time you try and look good while listening to great rock music. The she-vamps wear normal dark dinner dresses as usual but knowing my Eden, she’ll be in beautiful dress and like the she-wolves she’ll have her hair up in a provocative way.

“So are you going to get a mask and find me?”

“You know I will,” she tells me. Eden gives me a quick kiss just as Charlie walks by, “Get a room!” she yells softly. When she was gone and we were left in an awkward silence Eden asks, “Do you think she doesn’t like me?” We both laugh. My friends walk off to check out a street ball game and Eden and I were left alone once more.

“So John, you know my secret, where do we go from here?” She asks me with a look of worry in her eyes.

“From here we go to the rave and actually have some fun,” the day went by until I went to gym class with Gabriel. We decided to discuss some matters as we run the obstacle course.

“What’s the matter what’s so pressing that you need to tell me?” We climb the ten foot rock wall with only our claws, then leap from the top and latch onto a suspended net.
“The guys are freaked out right now John. This isn’t like you,”
“What part of all this is me not being myself?”
“We keep peace around here and breaking the rules doesn’t condone to that purpose,”

"What rules am I breaking old friend huh? The unknown rules of high school hierarchy, the archaic grudges that divide us?”We pull ourselves to the top of the net and step onto a platform fifteen feet above the ground, a platform attached to handle bars to either climb or run over.
“How about the rules we all happily live by, none of us even talked to them till that day you spoke to her in English,”
“That’s a lie Gabriel you know that. There are several alliances here even if the students don’t admit it,”
“Those are athletes they’re not us,”
“When we were forced to come here what did I say to you?”
“You said something about making our people better,”
“I said that the human race won’t accept us the way we are so we must adapt to where we are equal. Giving up our old hatred may be a way,”
“A way to equality, for whom, all of us or you two,” I stop in the middle of the course to look him dead in the eye and say, “Gabriel you know me well enough not to question the honor of my motives. To start a revolution that helps thousands you at least need to start with two,” we go back into the course, “she’s different she’s not like the rest,” we jump to the bars and run on top of them.

“That’s all you’ve said about her, I mean what do you really know? And forgive my skepticism but for over a millennium there has been strife between our kinds do you think just a crush will end it all,”
“It’ll be a start. I don’t know what is to become of this but what I do know is that, she’s revived something in me that I felt was lost. Another thing anyone can see is that she’s smart, beautiful, compassionate, and respectful she respects us as men not as dogs like the other she-vamps,” we jump from the bars to descend a few feet just before we catch a climbing rope just before we drop the rest of the way. “Her mom’s a corporate V.P, quite strict, and her dad died when she was young so her mom had to turn her when she was sixteen,” every word was a lie and I just lied to one of my best friends. We run forward knocking down two wolves holding up mats for us to punch. That was the end of the course but instead of leaving the course Gabriel suggested for us to spar. As we put on our gloves Gabriel says, “You know her history but remember what people say about dating, you take at least three months learning what your partner wants you to know then you spend the next three months learning the real them,” I throw a few right and left punches that he blocks.

“Your talking like we’re human we don’t have to worry about things like that, plus if that’s true then I can’t wait to spend the next three months learning more about her,” he swings a leg that I block and respond with a right punch he catches only so I can knock loose his grip with my other hand.

“The one thing I want know is what does your dad say about dating a vampire?” When I didn’t give him a quick answer he asks, “I mean, have you even told him?”

“He found out and he said she was pretty, but that was about it until he decided to ship me off to the Grand Canyon,” we put up our fist and wait for each other’s next move. We were light sparring for the moment until he had to say it, “With all the problems from Iris and Charlie, do you think she’s worth it?” I wide punch he blocks but in the same second I shoot a punch into his gut that knocks the wind out of him. When he drops to a knee to catch his breath I take off my gloves and walk out of the gym. She is worth everything to me. I finally was able to drown my worries in loud rock music. The warehouses was full of both kinds, neither knew the difference, everyone wore dark mask that covered their whole face. The girls would wear baby blue but with a navy blue outlining of a personal design. Others would purple or light green, some wore red. I stood there by a wall wearing a black mask with a silver outline, looking for my Eden, “Looking for me?” I turn to the direction of the voice and see a red mask only covering the girl’s eyes.

“Charlie, is that you?”

“Yeah, where’s your date werewolf?”

“She’s not here yet,”

“Really, that’s a shame but do you want to dance?”

“No thanks you know I can’t dance,”

“Come on, one dance while we wait,”

“That won’t be necessary, but thanks for keeping him company Charlie, but I’ll take him from here,” When I look to my right I see my Eden hiding behind a beautiful pink mask that complements her. She dresses normal but in a more stylish way and she put her hair up like the day we went to the Senator’s.

“Been waiting long?”

“All my life,” she raises her mask and I see her gorgeous face once more but as she leans close to kiss me I say, “Wait,” I take up her hand and say, “If I profane with my unworthiness hand, this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this: my lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand, To smooth, that rough touch with a tender kiss,” I kiss her hand. She is dazed with my proof of romance she wished to see so long ago. We have one of our long gentle kiss that gives me a taste of joy.

“Um, ah, Eden would you mind if we talk?” Charlie asks as she stands next to Eden trying to stand us kissing next to her.

“Sure, John we’ll be right back,” Eden pulls her mask back over her face just as they walk a distance for their conversation to be private but to still be in my sight. I focused my hearing on them, “You see John, has been one of my oldest friends and I don’t want to see him hurt, he’s been hurt by a vampire before,”

“I would never hurt him. But who was this vampire?”

“Well he never told me and I think it was too painful for him to admit. Oh and John,” I realize that she realizes that I am listening, “this will teach you for ease-dropping,” she brings up a small silver whistle and whistles her loudest.

“Ahhhh!” I fall to the ground gripping my ears in pain. When I look up I see Eden staring at me with her arms crossed, “You were listening?”

“No,” I stand up and notice behind her were werewolves turning heads, wondering where that came from. You could hear them asking amongst themselves, “What was that?”

“Who was that?”

“Who brought a dog whistle?” I’m lucky: if you just listen the sound can bring you to your knees but if I was fully turned it would feel worse than a power drill straight to your ears.

“Well, now I know what to do when you’re being mean,”

“Wow Eden, I didn’t know you were so bad,”

“Oh, I am,” she raises her mask. As I lean in to give her another kiss before we hear Rachel’s voice, “Hey, you two is this a party or what?” Rachel’s wearing a black cocktail dress with a mask that is held up with a stick. She removes her mask and says, “You two look so happy together,”

“We are,” Eden says as she smiles with her fake fangs on.

“John, I just can’t thank you enough for saving me again,”

“Saving her?” Eden’s smile slightly fades.

“Oh yeah, Eden I forgot to tell you, Rachel was attacked a week ago,”

“You were Rachel? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It was just a pissed off ex-boyfriend but don’t worry, Lancelot here took care of him easy,”

“Well I’m going to go dance I’ll see you later,” Eden walks over to her and gave Rachel a hug, but as she did Rachel smells her and says, “You smell different Eden,” I could see Eden’s face as she holds back the fear she is stricken with.

“What do you mean?”

“You two spent the night together didn’t you?”

“Rachel shut up,” she says hysterically.

“Hey, it’s ok your both relatively young,”

“Yeah right,”

“Tell me all about it later, don’t spare any details,” Rachel picks up her mask, winks at Eden and walks back into the crowd.

“That was close,” I say.

“You never told me you saved her,”

“I guess I forgot,”

“She’s thankful, did she kiss you?”

“No she just hugged me,” Eden stares at me to the point of almost glaring, “She was hysterical and scared, what would you have done,”

“She’s my friend but I know the type of girl she is and she is always interesting in doing new things as well as new people,”

“I don’t know what she is like but I’ll tell you something I do know,”

“What’s that?”

“I love you,” she looks to me with her eyes glistening as she was stunned at what I said. The rave was lights, darkness, music and dancing she-vamps in lit up cages. After a while a few people climbed the cages and leaped up into the raptors where they would jump and swing from one steel bar to the other. Eden and I looked up at the show as everyone danced and cheered. I look to my side and see Eden missing; I head out the door following her scent into the alley. I find her mask on the alley floor and as I pick it up I sniff her mask for a fresh scent, whoever took her went west not too long ago. I leap to the fire escape and make my way to the rooftop. I sniff the air to try and find the source, and as I search I can smell her scent radiating from a black suburban driving away. Before a thought crossed my mind I jump from each rooftop nearby until I had to slide down the drain pipe of the last building. I followed them using the back alleys so I can cut them off, I am blocked suddenly though, I face a brick wall in the middle of the alley. With the two building that’s concrete walls made the alley and the brick wall that connected them I stare at a dead end, with the wall being too high to climb quickly so I am left with only few options. But none of them are to give up, I step back and jump onto the dumpster in the alley and jump from that to the fire escape ten feet higher and jump from that on top of the wall. From the top of the wall I could see the suburban racing down an empty street. I drop along the wall using my claws to skid across the brick to slow my descent. When I landed I could hear the suburban driving up fast. I summoned all my strength when I sprinted out of the alley way and ram the suburban, impacting the side and causing it to turn over on its side. Looking at the dented door where I had hit I plunge my claws into it and pull until I hear the metal bend and the hinges break, I slide the door back, I see my poor Eden lying on the other end with drop of her human blood painted on the side of her right temple. I drop down to pick her up as I beg her forgiveness. “Forgive me Eden, I didn’t mean to hurt you,” I grip her by the waist, she is awake, barely, she’s dazed and her eyes struggle to stay open. I leap and land outside of the van with my arm holding her up a few inches above the ground; I take her up in both arms. I can hear her trying to speak but she only mumbles a few words, “John you shouldn’t . . .” In moments more and more black vehicles arrived. I lift up onto my shoulder and leap back onto a nearby roof. From there I saw them, one van pulled over and men used a grappling hook to pull down the fire escape step ladder. Another group ran through the front door into the abandoned building we took refuge at. At first I counted six but I can still see more driving by, I lie her down and prepare to fight, I have done this fight before, fighting the darkness dwellers for a human girl’s life but this time, it’s a human girl I love. I prepare for the group attacking from the ground but then I see a group charging from the rooftops, twelve darkness dwelling men gliding from the rooftops, heading for us. This isn’t right, why would two groups of dwellers fight each other for this one girl? The first group came up the fire escape, the first man came up and draws a nightstick, and he swings twice, I duck the first strike and catch the second. Before I hit him a second man swings his nightstick and I catch it as well and I kick them away one after the other. I drop their weapons and one man ran to Eden, I grab him and fling him into the next man. They were all wearing black soldier gear with mask to hide their faces. The second wave came through the roof entrance, the door opened and more men came running through, I charged them and sent them falling back down the stairwell. Two more from the fire escape nearly get to Eden; I leap over to them first punching the one to the left across the jaw and throw an elbow into the right man’s side just before I shot another elbow into his face. More and more would arrive only to be knocked down by my hands. All until they pulled out tranquilizer guns, I grab Eden and jumped off the side of the roof with in my grasp, as the darts are being shot at my back. I end up making a crater in the roof of the car as I am forced to kick down several men who climbed up the van trying to reach her. I leap off the van and ran around the corner, I can’t outrun them the speed may be too much for her even if she is unconscious, I set her down and wait for the next vehicle to approach, they were all speeding to catch up to us, I walk to the middle of the road and stand for them to make a move. One waited for me thinking he could run me over, he was dead wrong. The van drove straight to me; I planted my feet against the concrete, I planted my feet against the concrete and summoned all the strength I had, once the van hit me, my hands brace the grill and felt the jolt as it coursed through my arms and I sent it right back, flipping the car on its back forcing the ones behind it to maneuver. When I went back for Eden, I saw two of them putting her arms on their shoulders. I did one huge kick to the one on the right, then the other pulled out a taser, I grab his wrist and turn it to where it breaks and force him to stab himself with the taser and pull the trigger. He let go of Eden and I had to catch her before she hit the ground. I pick Eden up but before I run a soldier yells out, “Release Ms. Sinclair!” The notion stops in my tracks.

“How do you know her?”

“We’re here to take her back to her father, so let her go,” I was in a numbing shock that had me at such a stun I was unable to make a choice but it was made for me.

“Sorry gentlemen but neither you, humans,” the dwellers points to the soldiers, “nor you puppy are getting that delectable child,” I look to my left and see the group of darkness dwellers as they stand with their mouths salivating for the blood along Eden’s head. Their fangs spring in the excitement and their eyes blaze blue. “So give her up!” He exclaims. I snarl and my claws spring as my fury was burning inside of me. “Careful boy, you wouldn’t want to break the truce,” I retract my claws before I bawl my fist and say, “You can’t have her,” the immortal smiles. A van drives up crashing into the wall as the vamps move out of the way. Then it was a free for all, more soldiers arose from the wrecked van and fought the creatures as the soldiers to my back try to grab Eden. Hours of fighting went on, I ran several blocks to try and gain ground while fighting I knock them away and run back up to a small building rooftop. And I see the blood suckers jump before me. I set her down and await their move. They run forward and I punch them away and kick and strike all that come near her. I block what strikes I can and throw back as many as I can but I being beat down and the sound of the soldiers had me look back to Eden and see the soldiers try and take her. The vampires hold me back as a few of them run to fight, I see the soldiers drawing knifes and slashing at the monsters as they get closer to Eden. As soon as they get the upper hand I break the grip of my captors and kick them away. I rush my fastest as the head attacker tries to bite Eden’s arm I bash my fist into his mouth breaking off his fangs as they skid and cut across my forearm. He screams out in pain as his black blood flows run his wound and I knock him out with my other fist but by then all the soldiers were dead and only a few of the dwellers remained. So grab Eden and jumped into the alley planting my foot into the brick wall sliding against it turning my back to the wall and landing down into the a narrow dead end alley. I still have Eden until a vamp grabs my shoulder making me lose my grips she falls to the ground and I turn to fight, I throw two punches which he catches and I grab his neck bashing him against the brick wall he hits me in the face and I elbow him away and he keeps hitting me down with left punches and I head butt him before I grab his shirt hitting his whole body against both of the walls and fling him forward. As soon as he hits the ground he is struck by an array of tranquilizer darts and I look to the roofs and see a dozen men on both aiming their guns at me.

“John, stop you can’t . . .” she mumbles.

“No I’m not letting them take you,” but then as we are cornered into this dead end with Eden standing fully awake standing behind me and the men standing in front of me. I am soaked in a cold sweat and breathing hard but I am still determined to fight and die for her. In an odd moment the men step back, I don’t understand but I see their eyes and see that they are not looking at me. In fear I turn around and feel the fear Orpheus felt when he turned around and lost the woman he loved. I turn around and see Eden’s face with tears running down her cheeks as she says, “I’m sorry John,” a soft gunshot goes off and my I fall to my knees as I see the gun in her hands and my world goes to darkness.

I wake up with the burning feeling of silver clamped to my wrist as its chains held up my arms, I could barely see for my vision was blurred from some sort of drugs. I shut my eyes and breathe steady, I can’t see for the time so I’ll listen. I hear their voices; two guards aren’t that far, so I hear them first, “You catch the game last night?”

“No, who won though?”

“The cowboys by six,”

“Are you kidding me, no s***?”

“No s***, the bastards beat the spread and I lost two thousand,”

“I told you before, stick with college football those dumb kids are more predictable,”

“Did you see what that kid did to Wilson?”

“Yeah I saw his x-rays, poor guy; he got three broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and a fractured skull,”
“My God and Heaven. That kid’s got the devil wanting him,” they say as they think they are in the seclusion of their office.
A new set of voices broke through their conversation, “Eden, Eden don’t you walk away from me!” I can hear her footsteps, “You told me I had another week what were your security doing there?”

“Wait a minute! What were you doing with one of those dogs?”

“His name is John,”

“Well, John nearly killed thirty men, he is lucky he was in that cursed city, if he wasn’t he would be on death row by now,”

“Why did you bring me back already, father I deserve an answer,” in the pause after her remark he laughs out joyously.

“My daughter, you have done so well, I’m proud of you sweetheart, we’re moving ahead of schedule, the cure has been perfected, we just one more test on a Grande scale and then the cure will be done on a global scale,”

“Why am I here then?”

“The test will done on the murderers of Morpheum in two days time, we had to get you out now, and your mother will be joining us soon,” a cure, what does a corporate suite want with curing vampires, I listen more, “Why do you keep calling it a cure, when it kills them father,” she lied to me, they’re out to kill them all, I can’t let that happen. Slowly but surely I endure the pain as I pull against the chains weakening the bolts that tied them to the wall.

“It will cure the disease that is vampirism in this world. You know this; you’ve spent weeks with them in their places of vice and cruelty, they’re animals, both of them. For god sake a bloody battle was ensued over your corpse. But, good news darling once their numbers are cut down we can begin the extermination of the werewolf clans,” the words way heavy on my heart.

“Father, you said you weren’t after them. You said we were doing this because the vampires were a threat, that they warranted this, you said_”

“I know what I said!” He yells with a fearful tone but he has a contrite pause, “But when they see how strong we are now the wolves will fight back due to them fearing us for the first time, only a pre-empted strike will guarantee us victory over them. Now go I’m tired of explaining myself,” I hear her walk away faintly.

“What’s your name boy?” I kept my head down.

“Who knows you went after the girl?” I didn’t answer.

“I can’t wait till they decide what to do to you,” it was all said and asked by one random guard. They dared not to torture me, but continued to question my lifeless carcass. The world was dead to me, I am destroyed inside, I have opened my heart and had a knife stabbed through it. I have been betrayed and possibly helped wipe out two ancient and once powerful races. How we mighty have fallen.
Eden walks in and tells the guards I would speak to her. I keep my eyes down as she tries to speak to me, “I’m sorry John, I tried to tell you not to fight, but you didn’t listen. You hurt a lot of their people, and they are wondering what to do to you,” when I didn’t speak she asks, “Will you at least say something to me?”

“I know about the cure, you were a lie, you never cared about me or any of us,”
“John I_”
“Do you remember what you told me, that being a monster is more of who you are not what you are? You were right; all of you are monsters,”

“Not all of us,”

“Especially you, my friends were right, I should have stayed with my own kind, your not vampire, your not werewolf, you are just a horrible human,”

“Eden,” a well dressed man in a suit walks up to us.

“Father I_”

“You don’t deserve this kind of talk from a dog it’s beneath you, now go,” Eden doesn’t argue with him.

“So what in the hell do you think your doing here?”

“You brought me moron,” the guards in the back snigger at the insult.

“What do you think you’re doing with my daughter?”

“I was protecting her, but now I know she’s just a Judas made by you to be our undoing,” he back hands me across the face.

“What made you think you were anything good for my daughter?”

“At first I didn’t but now I know I’m a better person than all of you people,” he grabs me by the hair and forces me to look him in the eyes as mine have turned gold.

“You’re not even human!” He lets go of my hair and says, “You met the wrong girl werewolf; you should have stayed with your own kind,” with my face staring back at the ground I say, “So I keep reminding myself,”

“So you’re the little brat my wife warned me about, I should have known you would have been trouble,” he looks at me with an odd gesture, “You seem familiar, have we met before?”

“I think I would remember a human with as much malice as you,” as soon as he leaves the cell door closes and a guard says out loud, “There’s a call waiting for you Mr. Anderson,” the name sparks a flashback that hits me like a truck, the words were different but the flashback was of the night I lost my brother, “What should we do with the boys Commander Anderson?”

“Kill them both,” he gave the order to his lieutenant, in my memories I thought I hadn’t seen his face but I now remember, it was Eden’s father, and he gave the order that took my brother from this world. I can see him standing over us in a soldier’s uniform, looking younger than he does now but I know it’s him. I fill with a rage that only makes me stronger, the chains buckle and the links were pulling apart until they break and the guards come running. I fall to the ground with my wrist bleeding out as the silver nearly burn them off, when one of the guards walk in he laughs and stands over me, “Stupid mongrel,” all hell is about to break loose inside of me and above all the first thing that comes into my mind is Psalm 56:1, “Have mercy upon me, O God; for man would walk over me; all day long the enemy opposes me,” I grab his face and bite into his neck tearing flesh as blood splatters over my face. Feeding off the two soldiers who were guarding my cell give me the strength I need to slide the cuffs off and for my wrist to heal. I clean up my face and try not to look too threatening as I walk out the door. I find myself in a white hallway, the walls are painted white, and the doors are painted the same color. I stay close to the walls, hoping not to be seen by any unsuspecting employee. As I walk by, I see men in white lab coats carrying clipboards. I knew I would be more conspicuous if I just walk, I was able to get to the lunch room where I pick up an extra lab coat and a baseball cap. The guards begin to scramble for I bet someone found my mess in the detention hall and hit the alarm, I rush into a room behind me and lock the door. I realize I just walked into an observation room, one of the rooms with three rows of seats and window taking the place of the wall. I look down and see a detail of soldiers, at first I think they’re firing at paper targets but then I see a wolf trying to leap to the ceiling and get shot down. Each time I see one would die another was released to be shot down again, each death hurts my heart as I feel the nausea of their pain. It drops me to my knees as I feel so many emotions I can’t even comprehend which one I feel. My eyes become tearful as they turn to gold and my claws dig into my palms as my fist clinches. My blood drips through my fingers when a man calls, “Doctor, are you alright?” I stand up and take every ounce of my will to only say, “No I’m fine,” but I whisper to myself, “I’ll get you all soon,” I journey through the hell hole to try and find out what they have planned for us. The room was some sort of computer room, several monitors with statistics on vampires. Sunlight tolerance, dead man’s blood effect, I would read more but I hear a faint sigh. I follow the noise and saw a little man with glasses on,

“Who are you?” He asks in a scared tone. I take off my hat and he says, “You’re that kid who, oh god,” he tried to run to the alarm button on the wall but I out run him. I catch his wrist and force him to sit in a chair, “What in the hell are you people doing here?”

“I can’t tell you,” I crush his shoulder and say, “Show me, show me all of them,” he would click on the files on the desktop and show research clips, there would always be a group of scientist who ran the test, they conducted test on vampires in holding cells, it’s torment was so horrid I can’t even describe it. Their pain would draw a tear from a murderer’s eye, when he got through the second to last I noticed a file to the bottom right of the screen, “What’s that file?” It was marked latest projects.

“You don’t want to see that one,” he says with the upmost fear in his voice.

“Click it,” I watch one scientist narrating a video, “It would appear that with subject 121 we are unable to conduct a full autopsy if the werewolf is dead due it returning to its human form so we have to result to keeping it alive with experimental enzymes and thousands of milligrams of morphine injected into the beast,” he moves the camera over to the operating table where they were dissecting a living werewolf.

“Monsters,” I say with tears in my eyes. After a few minutes the werewolf tried to arise from the table and attack the scientist but was shot dead.

“Just perfect now we have to capture another one,” he pulls the camera to himself, “But the good thing is the fact that we’ve made a new hybrid weapon of hallow point silver rounds with a wooden core works very efficaciously,” he smiles and laughs. I smash the monitor in a brute fury and when I pull my hand free from the shattered glass I tell him, “Get on another computer and download all that to a flash drive now!”

“I can’t_” I grab his skull and press against the broken glass. “Alright I will I will,” as I watch him download the last of the files onto a black flash drive, a guard barges in on us, “You can’t do that, raise your hands slowly and put them on your head,” I do as he says and he unbuckles his cuffs. “Don’t try anything kid,”

“Technically, I’m older than you junior,” he tried to slap on the cuffs but I quickly turned around catching his wrist with one arm and punching his elbow causing his arm to break with the other. I put my hand over his mouth before he could scream out; I grab the back of his head and bash it against the wall behind him.

“My god I thought you were going to kill him,”

“I thought I was too,” he slung the drive to a black lanyard and handed it to me, I hung it around my neck. I opened the door slightly and see through the crack, Eden had changed her clothes, she was out of her formal clothes, and into a white button up shirt and gray skirt. She had wiped away her make up and wore her hair up in a ponytail. As soon as she walks by the door I reach out and grab her by the wrist to pull her inside. I push her against the door and ask, “How could you Eden? How can you just stand by and help with this anguish,”

“What are you talking about John? I have told you everything I do here, the rest is my father he doesn’t tell me the rest,” I grab her wrist and pull her over to the monitor, “You’re hurting me,”

“I know,” I let go as she sits in one of the chairs. I let her overlook the despair they have caused. Her eyes fill with tears as she watches, “This is what your father causes. Did you know?” She doesn’t answer as if she was shocked at what she sees.

“Don’t act so surprised,” she still doesn’t answer, “You haven’t laid a hand on us, but you’ve hurt us more than they ever could have,” when I say the words the pain makes me feel numb, and I am almost too weak to say, “I just wanted to make you happy, so I hope you enjoy your life without the rest of us. Me, I’m going back to fight and die with my friends, people who actually care for me,” I turn my back but as my hand reaches for the door handle she says, “John,” she we both turn to see each others eyes, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t want any of this, I swear to you on my life that I didn’t. I fell in love with you and I know you are not an animal, never do I feel safer than when I am with you,” she stands up from the chair and walks closer to me. I back away into the door, afraid from being deceived by her beauty once more as she gets closer.
“Don’t do that, I can’t take it anymore, you’re tormenting me, it hurts me to love you when I know it’s a lie and I have been betrayed already I will not go through the pain again,”
“I don’t know your past John but it’s not the same,” she steps closer and draws a knife, I see it but decide to do nothing, “if you truly believe that I am a lie then end my life, for I don’t want to live without you,” she places the knife over her heart. I grab the blades handle . . . throw it away; I hug her close and say, “I am so sorry for not believing you,”
“What will we do?”

“Let’s leave this place,” she looks up at me and asks, “Leave?”

“Yes we’ll leave all that this place is, together, and we’ll let the world decide what to do to it,” We were both smiling as we stared into each others eyes. All in the world is perfect until I hear a loud clicking sound. We look over to the wall that had the alarm button on it and the scientist with his hand over the button.

“Why would you do a thing like that?” The man doesn’t answer me but faints and falls to the ground.

“The silent alarm has been tripped, we need to go. Oh and lose the coat, it doesn’t suit you,”

“Yes mam,” I tell my Eden as I drop the coat and we both run out the door. Eden would tell me where to go as we rushed through the hallways. We were able to get passed all unscathed until, until we bumped into a security detail guarding the exit.

“Get behind me Eden,” one guard stood in front of the others as he says, “Step away from Ms. Sinclair and get on your knees werewolf, it’s over,”

“This has only just begun,”

“Please don’t hurt’em,”

“Sorry Ms. Sinclair but_”

“I wasn’t talking to you; I was talking to him,”

“I’ll try not to Eden,” Three on the left pull nightsticks, the other three held on to some sort of werewolf restraints. My claws sprang from my finger nails, my eyes turned gold and my muscles began to grow. I kick back the first guard causing him to slide against the floor. They all attacked at once, I kick back the first and then two of them swing their nightsticks at me, I catch both of them and twist their arms together and punch them both out. There’s one with a animal taser who comes lunging forward but I easily catch it and pull the man forward so I could punch him with a right into the diaphragm and a left into the cheek. When the one with the dog restraint tries to lasso me I grab the rope and connect the taser to it sending a volt down the bar into his hands, he drops down shaking as the electricity still courses through his body. When his men were down the commander was at the end of the hall and I tell him, “You can run now,” he raises his right hand as a grenade pin lies on his index finger. I look down and see a flash- bang grenade at my feet. Oh no. Before I could do anything I was on the ground suffering from a blinding flash and a deafening high pitch. My sight returns as I was looking up at the commander with the barrel of his handgun pointed down at me, “You scared kid?”

“Hate to bruise your ego but this isn’t the first time I’ve had a gun pointed to my face,” I’ve stared death in the eyes more than once in my life, that gun doesn’t scare me.

“Only monster,” right when he was about to pull the trigger, he drops his arm and falls to his knees showing Eden behind him holding a fire extinguisher. Eden drops it and helps me to my feet, she says as she lets her hair down, “No one hurts my boyfriend,”

“Are you alright?” I ask her.

“I told you, I can take care of myself,” on the intercom we could hear them, “Code yellow, security switch to stun rounds, repeat switch to stun rounds!” Once we heard that Eden asks, “You think that’ll be a problem?” We turn a corner and a silenced shot hit the wall missing my face by mere inches.

“I think so,” we lay back against the wall as we only hear rubber bullets bouncing off the wall we were using for cover. I see a stairway exit and say, “I got a plan,”

“Why do I have a bad feeling about your plan?”

“Because you know me so well,” I give her a long kiss before pick her up and hold her in my arm as we slide across the floor with me covering her. The fake bullets fly past us, missing our bodies’ just barely.

“Ah, one of those things hit me,” I stand her up and say, “We have to go, come on,” we ran down the stairs with the guards on our tails, I hadn’t realized how high in the building we were, too high. When we couldn’t down to the first floor we ran into another hallway to try and hide from them. I find a window at the end of the hallway and look down. Each window on the next floor made a good enough ledge to latch on to. I smash through a window with my bare fist and tell Eden to jump on my back. She holds onto me as I grip on to the ledge, I loosen my grip enough for us to drop for only a second. I can hear Eden’s heart beginning to beat faster, so I tell her, “It’s going to be alright Eden, we’re going to get out of here,” we drop about twelve floors and land on the ground behind the building. The building is enclosed by a ten foot gate with barb wire; the grounds were lit by a search light. As soon as the searchlight turns its eye away I run and leap over the gate with Eden in my arms. I still ran, not risking running at a pace, about a quarter mile outside the gate was cornfield, where on this earth did they take us. I let Eden plant her feet and we ran about a medium pace with the corn stocks hitting across us as we push through them.

“Wait stop,” I say abruptly.

“What is it John,” my ears hear farther than her I can hear them starting up vehicles to come after us. We can’t outrun them like this; I have to think of the several aspects that lead to the result at the end of this.

“Whatever you hear Eden, just keep walking, don’t run, just walk to the end of the field, don’t look back and whatever you do, don’t run,” she only nods her head yes and walks away. I take a few deep breaths and I force the change, you know what happens, my bones crack and grow, muscle breaks through skin and when there’s no more John, only werewolf,” They arrive foolishly, making noise, and carrying lights so I can easily get to them. I cut them down like weight, leaping and attacking each man one by one. I can hear their hearts racing; it’s like classical music to my ears. Three senses are needed; I see in black and white, I can hear their breathing and heartbeat and my ears can hear their boots stomping on the ground. I kill three men before I hear one yell out, “Open fire, open fire!” My vision allows me to see the bullets as they fly by me. They’re real silver; they’re done trying to capture me they want to kill me. You particularly should aim for the people who are a bit distant from the group don’t go for the guy everyone can see. I attack clockwise, the group was in a large circle and I was the hand on the clock, the first to go was at nine o’clock, the second was at ten, each drop of their own causes them to fire in that direction blindly. The flashes of light appear as a flare to my eyes as I see in black in white. They were unaware that they were adding elements to their own demise. I may sound heartless, but I can still see their faces, hear their screams, I’ll have to remember them the next time I kneel and feel the deal of being blessed by a man who says he speaks for god. The last man, the commander, shaking in fear, as sweat begins to drip from his brow, he tries to speak in his scared moments, “You don’t have to do this, I’ll walk away, and you can just go, I’ll never come after you again,” I appear behind him, breathing hard enough for him to hear me, he turns around me and shakes as he holds an empty gun. He stares into my eyes almost about to cry, I couldn’t help but figure him innocent for now. I leap over him and ran ahead to find Eden. When I found her, she stood holding her ground, “John?” She calls out. I force the change back, I in my wolf form drop to my knees, feeling the burning of my flesh as soon as my arms burn back I grip my face as the creature burns into ash and I arise from it like the mighty phoenix. Eden helps me to my feet once more; we walk an open green field with nothing but dead silence and solitude for Eden and me. She tells me we should head west from there I should be able to find the direction to my house.

“Hopefully when we get to my dad’s house we’ll be able to think of what to do next,” I say as I lean on Eden’s shoulder and limb along.

“You’re not going to ask for your dad’s help?” She asks me as we stop walking.

“Of course not,”

“Why not, your father would help you, you can trust him,”

“I seriously doubt that, I mean he probably would believe I went mad,”

“Hey don’t do that,” she slides me off of her shoulder.

“Do what?” I say confused at her refusal.

“He’s your father, you shouldn’t think of him that way. Why do you have problems with your dad?”

“Alright, I told you about how I lost my brother, in a fight at Lorelei a group of humans attacked both vampire and werewolf and when I saved a vampire I got caught, and when Eric saved me he got killed in the process. He forever held me accountable, he told me, I lay white roses for your brother’s grave, but I won’t do that for you. He’s been that way ever since,” we continued to walk until we find a river, I stood in front of Eden and say, “I’m scared Eden, I don’t know what to do,”

“I have an idea,” a voice from beyond says out loud. I turn and Iris stands out from behind a tree, and she lays her back against it. I gently push Eden behind me as to protect her.

“John, look at this as a solution. The vamps will be gone; the wolves will look for an alpha as a leader and you’ll control it all,”

“How do you know?”

“She stinks like a human, and I have my own sources to things of this outside world. Send her back to her father and we’ll rule, the pack back to together again, no human tainting us,” her eyes burn gold as her very words excites her.

“Iris, you don’t know it all, if we let this happen they’ll come after us next,”

“We will be strong enough to fight them,”

“We have tried and failed, you haven’t seen the massacres I’ve seen, you haven’t seen the result of hate that some humans have for us, and it goes beyond the despise vampires hold for us,”

“And yet you still stand by her. John she’s a human, do you really think that people like her care about people like us if we weren’t freaks. That’s all she’s drawn to, the allure of immortality not love of you, not like how I love_”

“Stop Iris, nothing you say will change my mind,”

“I’m begging you John, be with me,”

“No Iris,” she almost breaks down before she takes a deep breath and says, “It all could have been yours, I could have been yours,” thunderbolts echo in the air and they plunge into my chest. Just as I begin to fall back into the river I see Iris holding a gun in her hand, the bullets weren’t silver but they still have hurt me enough to bring me to the ground. When I lie in the river and begin to sink to the bottom, I can see Iris walking toward Eden, I use my claws to latch against the river floor before I am swept away by the current. I crawl from the river and still try to fight, “You know I could just try and shoot you, but that won’t be any fun, I enjoy tearing you apart piece by piece,”

“No Iris,” struggling to my feet Iris shoots me once more. As she looks at me Eden tries to stop Iris, she takes up a wooden log from the ground and first knocks away Iris’ gun. She then hit Iris across the head breaking the log into pieces. Iris grabs Eden by her white button up shirt as she balls up a fist. But as she was about to hit her she says, “You could have messed up my hair but I don’t want this to be over too fast,” she opens her fist and back hands across the cheek making her fly back hitting the ground. “You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that,” Iris says with her pride echoing in the wind. Iris tries to step closer to her before I jump her to the ground only so she could hit me across the face. When she stands up a whisper of a gunshot was made as a dart pierces Iris ‘chest. Once she falls another team of men pick up Eden from the ground and carry her off, I try to stop them but a man with a shotgun ran forward and fires a round up close into my chest sending me back to the cold river’s embrace. This time, the river holds her sway and pulls me away down to unknown waters carrying me weightless as I was lost in the darkness of my own mind. I am half dead and yet I feel someone carrying me into a warmer place. I am filled with nightmares as well as hallucinations, when you’re dying you can’t tell which is which. I could see my brother covered in his own blood, “You’re the reason I died,” he tells me, I could see my father in his werewolf form, “You’ll never even have a grave,” he disappears and Eden stood in his place, “You said you would protect me John, but you failed, I should have known you were just an animal” her father stood beside, “I should have killed you myself when I had the chance. But now look at you, you lost more than I ever could have taken from you, just let yourself die!”

I wake up and yell out, “Eden!”

“Easy John, be still,” I see Danton standing by the door smoking a cigar.

“Where am I Danton?”

“You’re in the infirmary of my club, lie still; you’ll need to rest a bit longer,”

“How did you find me?”

“Francesca found you washed up by a creek and a few of my kindred brought you here. I do apologize for any pain you might have experienced; we had to reopen a few of your wounds to retrieve the bullets and shrapnel so you could heal properly,” I feel the bandages covering my shoulder and another wrapped around my gut for that shotgun wound. I check my neck and see the flash drive is missing, “No, the flash drive is gone,”

“What did you say?”

“What day is it Danton?”

“November eighth,”

“Oh no,” I stood up and tore off the blood stained bandages, “The humans are going to attack in a day,” Danton drops his cigar in shock, “What did you just say?”

“I’ve stumbled onto a horrible force that will soon destroy both our kinds,”

“Who’s the enemy John what’s their plan?”


“It’s a company, a powerful, evil company, well organized, military funded and its created a poison for vampires and that company is going to show its strength by starting genocide with the vampires of Morpheum,”

“How do you know this?” He asks as he takes very cautious steps to me.

“I saw it myself,” I sit up and feel a minor pain in my shoulder.

“No,” he begins to look angry, “how does a random werewolf just by happenstance stumble on a grand conspiracy concocted by humans,” I hear his suspicion in his voice.

“Eden’s the C.E.O’s daughter,” he flies across the room with his speed to where he stands in front of me.

“A human can’t have a vampire child it’s not possible,” he says with the same suspicion building up in his voice.

“She’s human,” his eyes go blood red and he seizes my throat and raises me off the ground against the wall.

“You come here and insult my hospitality by bringing an imposter! A spy and you tell this to me asking for my help,” he drops me and says, “I will not,” he turns his back and heads for the door.

“I didn’t ask for your help, but your right I do need it,” he stops but then continues for the door. “Pity, I thought the great Danton could help me but he will ensure the continuation by living, I thought he could be greater than that,” he stops in his footsteps.

“What are you insinuating boy?” he ask with his back still turned from me.

“I just thought, everyone knows you as the survivor and club owner, but after this, all will look at you as The Great Danton, survivor and conqueror of humans, the vampire who will stand for the ones who have been brought down who will say humans have overstepped their bounds and must be reminded of why they once feared us!” When he turns around his fangs have grown and his eyes glow blue, he smiles just before he yells out in a dark deep voice, “Now I like the sound of that, you earned my help and my kindred,” He opens the door “Vampires!” and rows of wooden coffins are revealed to me just before the doors fly off and one after another vampires rise from their coffin and turn their head to the right all at once.

“My kindred, arrogant mortals have wronged us, now we shall go and our brothers and sisters,” before more words were said I was having a sit down with Danton and three other master vampires. I sit at the table with my arms crossed on the table for me to lie on, some of the master vampires recognize who I was, but feel more confusion than hate when I’m here to help them.

“Well, the building is about sixteen stories high, surrounded by a hexagon shaped fence covered with barbed wire, at each vertex there is a guard tower with most likely defenses made for vampire but they do have weapons for my kind as well,”

“What number of forces do they have?” A master asks.

“About a small army of military trained soldiers, so what will we have?”

“John, there’s one thing, we can’t enter that building if they have that poison, they most likely plan for a vampire attack and storming the fort will risk too much. So I’ll risk a dozen strong vampires,” Danton answers.

“As will I,” the northwestern vampire says after him.

“Twelve of my best, yes,” the final vampire answered.

“I respect your wishes I do, but thirty six may not be enough especially if they call for back up outside, and I need help inside the building,” the known fact put us in a gauche state.

“I’ll call the beasts to my aid,”

“Absolutely not John, they wouldn’t come to help us anyway plus they would be as likely to fight us as well as the humans,”

“The humans have been experimenting on werewolves as well, they will fight for me and I’ll keep them under control,”

“You can guarantee that?”

“I can,”

“I find that hard to believe, how could I know that the chaos kid, the killer of kindred, the murderer of masters, isn’t making this up? Quite an elaborate story you’ve told us, one that we may all believe and be brought into a trap. Perhaps a story someone else told you to tell, a story made by the humans!” He draws a dagger only for Danton to catch his arm and say, “I’ve seen this boy show his reliance on duty and honor, and his capacity for compassion, even toward his enemy, lies and deceit do not become him, he’s telling the truth,”

“And you vouch for him?” The accusing vampire asks. But before he answers the Northwestern Master speaks, “Danton’s right, I have felt fear among several of my kindred in which I know reside in Morpheum,”

“Alright, we’ll get our troops together but you have to go back and rally your wolves and make it back in time do you understand?”

“Yes,” I ran all day and night till I reached Morpheum once again. The city was a ghost town, the guards were gone, I walk right in half the city streets were empty, yet werewolves still walk along the streets. It must have been a force of habit; we still feel the need to come here. I ran to my high school to find it still overwhelmed of wolves. Most seemed more gregarious, but the few groups who formed friendships with vampires, they seem depressed; hopefully I can count on them, the werewolves of the football team, the drum line missing their other musicians, the she-wolves fearing for their teammates. In truth the school seemed somewhat darker than before, talk about not knowing what you have, until it’s gone. Before anything must be done I somewhat have to engulf the person I once was and take up the tools of war that I had laid to rest in the confinements of the very school’s chapel. As I walk in and see the crucifix I make the sign of the cross and walk into the chapel. “Lord and father forgive me, I do not wish to become what I was and I pray you understand I do this for the sake of others. That I wish to hold back the beast I was, but I can’t I need him now,” I walk straight up to the altar and pick up the stone slab that made it; I sit the stone down and move aside the stones that acted as the legs. I see carved into the floor tiles, an uppercase W with a small cross made into it, I wipe away the dust on it and smash straight through the tile with my fist acting as a hammer. I pull away all the shattered pieces and see an old wooden box in rags before I raise it from its grave. I open the box and see two steel gauntlets from my past, time had rusted the steel and covered them with dust but they’ll still perfectly assist me in this matter. As I tie them to my forearms I feel as if I am whole again, and I say out loud, “I said I would never wear these tools of war again, knowing that I they have seen enough blood for ten lifetimes and would only be used in such desperation. May god forgive me,” I rise up from the floor and head to the hallways, I have to find my pack for I’ll need their support. I find them standing around in the gym, when they saw me they glance at me like seeing a ghost. They each say a word, “Jesus,”

“Mary,”

“And,”
“Joseph,” Anthony says like an idiot. Michael speaks up, “John we thought you were dead. There was talk of you being arrested for treason of attacking vampires,” he says with the surprised look still in his eyes.

“That’s a lie, they were humans, and they took Eden and myself back to a building where I saw that they had done terribly horrible things to both vampire and werewolf,”

“Why did they come after you?” Gabriel asks with the very suspicion in his voice.

“That doesn’t matter but we need_”

“Why were they after you, or were they after Eden?” Gabriel dares to ask. He looks down at my arms and appears almost frightened, “Why, why would you don them once more?”

“Eden’s human,” they were shocked, “her dad’s in charge of what’s going on,”

“She part of it,”

“No, she’s not, she’s in trouble and I’m going to get her back,”

“She has been lying to you from the beginning John you’re judgment is still clouded. She’s a ploy,” I grab him by the collar and say, “Iris tried to kill me two nights ago and Eden risked her life to help me, she’s in against her will and I trust her as much as I trust you all. If you don’t trust my judgment you can leave now,” I let go of him and take a breath, “I’m sorry but I have already gone over the mystery of whether she’s with us. And you all are my best friends, and I need your help with this,”

“What’s going on out there John?”

“The company that Eden’s father owns has a poison that they’re going to use on all Morpheum vampires,”

“What horrors lay before us?” Michael asks.

“Once they’re done with the vamps they’re going to exterminate us city by city and they won’t need poison they’ll do us in with silver bullets. These people need to be stopped, I saw a video of them . . . dissecting a werewolf alive just so they learn how to kill us,” their shocked faces turned to furious glares.

“I know how you all feel, were going to round up every werewolf we can, vampires are going to help us and after we help them free the Morpheum vampires we will burn that building to the ground,”

“Were with you,”

“Alright boys, time to gather our soldiers,” we ran into the auditorium and had Anthony wait by the nearest fire alarm. As soon as he pulled it the student poured into the Auditorium wave after wave with all deciding to stand instead of sitting down wondering what was going on. My four friends and I stood on stage; they weren’t public speakers as well as fighters so I had to speak, “Beast of Morpheum!” They begin to look our way, “I know you’re all wondering what had happened to the vampires we have stood beside for years in this same place,” they begin to question amongst each other, “I’m hear to tell you the truth and shine light over whatever cloud of lies they told you. A military funded company has created a virus that kills vampires, now I know it’s hard to believe but it’s true and now there is a group of vampires who are willing to help us free the ones we’ve known for so long!” They begin to disagree. “Now look, I know you still hold your hate for them, but I know there are several of you who call vampires friends even if you don’t want to admit it, football team, baseball, and basketball. For the rest of you, you need to know, that once the company believes it’s strong enough to kill vampires, it will come after us like a plague and I am not going to allow that are you?!” They begin to answer yes but only in small groups until one voice spoke against me, “No, no! Children, do not let this foolish boy lie to you all, nothing bad has been done to my students,” McGibbon yells out as he walks on stage.

“Did you make a deal with them?”

“What did you say boy?”

“Did you betray your own kind to save your own ass?” His fangs sprang out as he clutches my throat, I hear all teens roaring an outrage, and I signal the boys to stay back.

“Make one wrong move and you’re dead,”

“What are you going to do about it Johnny boy?”

“Not me, him,” I nod to show him there is someone behind him. He lets go and turns around to see Dandridge without his glasses, “I’m disappointed in you Mc.Gibbon,” Mc.Gibbon throws a punch only for Dandridge to catch, “very disappointed,” he says before he shoots a punch into his nose. After the hit he let Mc.Gibbon fall to the hungry dogs below stage to restrain him, “Now gentlemen, time to give him a detention,” the wolves take him away.

“So what do we do now Principal Dandridge?” He takes out his glasses and puts them on, “That’s your area of expertise John, not mine,” he walks away. I don’t blame him; god knows how long he’s done this. I look at the wolves in the crowd and yelled, “Who’s with me?!” They all yell back yes. We are all outside and I have my four friends act as lieutenants, “How many do we have?” Gabriel answers, “Twenty from Varsity Football,” then Michael answers, “Seventeen from girl’s basketball,” and last Luke says, “Ten from baseball,”

“Alright, tell the rest if they don’t want to get involved they don’t have to, we have enough, lets go,” the gates of Morpheum were open for us to walk out, they thought we were a gang before, but now were an unstoppable legion.

We all run in step, one quick speed across country to Danton’s club. As nightfall came upon us we stood in front of his doorway. He walks out and looks upon us, “How did you summon so many?” He asks with the amazement reflected in his eyes.

“All of them have dwellers as friends, and they are willing to die for their friends,”

“Well done,” he steps a side and a line of their vampires came out in a straight line, several have silver daggers on their belts. I remember them using those on us. Others carry flintlock pistols with a silver round for us. Danton himself carries a U.S cavalry sword with a gold hilt and pearl handle.

“Your weapons won’t do well against guns,”

“My men prefer more honorable weapons than guns and they have used these weapons in the days they were human so I do not question that,”

“Where’d you receive the honorary sword?”

“I saved a colonel at the last night of Gettysburg, he could I wasn’t human but I spared him and he gave me his sword as gratitude,”

“You know I’m sorry for the way things were between us. I was different person then,”

“As was I. Quite odd how finding love is all it takes to change you. I was the warrior you remember until I found my Francesca. When you have someone who cares about you, you end up finding reason to care about yourself,”

“That’s why I need to get my Eden back,” he extends his hand and we shake on it, “we get our people,” Danton promises me.

“Alright, I _” I already am interrupted by the two kinds voicing their nature to be at each of others throats. I can also hear the sounds of the fearful. Right now I’m tired I’m on edge and I’m without Eden, all I can feel is hate and fire in my heart and I feel like only fighting will sate it so I yell out, “Listen!!!!!!” Like a dragon I breathe out all the fire in my gut before I calmly say, “My brothers and sisters, I can tell some of you are still scared but fear can’t stop you, fear does not control you. Believe me I have lived in fear of these humans my entire life, I’ve hid from them, fought for them, bled for them and for what? So years later I can find out that my kind are being captured and tested on like animals. WE ARE NOT ANIMALS! And warrior vampires, I remember a time when humans knew to fear and respect you, only with our strength could they even fight you and now they turn on us?! I don’t think so, and its, its not all humans but it’s the prejudicial, the arrogant and charlatans who think we have no place in this world so its time to make them remember why they feared us, why they feared the dark!” All cheer and now are ready for a battle. This ends tonight, I will not have a world war fueled by bloodshed, I just need to stop them from hurting people, and if I can stop this I can hopefully stop a war with a single battle.
“Now as I was saying we have fifty one counting me and my friends,” I say turning back to the leaders and they are all confounded at my speech before they say, “Well that will do just fine but how many can phase?”

“Just me and my four friends,”

“That is a bit of a worry but we’ll be fine, now my men and I have been watching the roads that lead to the building you spoke of and we have assessed that about half city’s resident are in the building the rest are still being transported in armored trucks, if we attack the caravans that hold them then we ensure a small part of our cause to victory. Then again it would be better than waiting till they reach our enemies’ stronghold,” Danton says all that but with a hint of waiting for our approval.

“You’re right, we’ll attack the caravans and then march to the stronghold,” and we did. But before we begin our march Danton questions my reasons, “Do you really think stopping a few bad humans is going to make the rest leave us alone, they hate us and that won’t change,”

“You’re wrong Danton, there are good people in this world no matter what they are, we are the judged, so don’t become a judge because a few men create a horrible image of man. We all are many things but we all still have a choice, and that choice will define who we are. So I choose not to give up on people,” he was stun silent before smiles and asks, “Anyone ever tell you, you talk a lot? Whether or not you talk a lot, you should be in politics like your old man.”
We all ran at equal but fast speed, through the country side to the dirt roads that Danton spoke of. We would use the hillside by the road for cover and in the dead of night we all could see armored trucks driving as a caravan with their undead cargo. As they drove without a hint of the numbers that so deviously hid in their midst we wait along the hill for them to drive into the line of fire made by the road for the vampires were on one side and the wolves of the other. A single shot pierces the first cars front tire and another shoots out the last cars back tire, causing a trap, all men step out carrying some sort of contraption meant to fire hundreds of arrows. My saints and I commit the phase and start to cut down the men; we sliced along their throats and ran back over the hill for our deception would fuel their fear. The fear, you begin to smell it on them, two groups of soldiers with each man stricken with fear, one team guards the left side and the other team guards the right, my boys and I cut down four men and disappear before the others see us, they look to find only a dead team member. We attack so quickly that the men don’t have time to scream out. One man looks over to our side and finds all his men dead, “Shoot everything!” He screams out hysterically. But you only hear one swift strike of death and then the sound of all the other men falling dead to the ground. My new found soldiers rise from our hillside as does the vampires from their hillside. We all step down and clear the road of the dead, and then we open the armored trucks one by one and help the people out, my students see several surprised faces, some from themselves even, no one could have predicted times becoming so hard that the two races would ban together. We told them that there was too much to explain but that they should return to their homes in Morpheum while we deal with the rest. You see their faces and you think of them not as vampire but as good people, in the trucks were good working class people, not monsters nor killers.

“Now time to go for the others,” we run most of the way, but when we get close, we realize we must be more subtle, so we slowly travel into the north and south side of the building, using the crop field for our cover. Danton and his men form a block formation with their archers and begin to prep for when they make the first shot. I had to bring upon a fate I never wished for my fellow students to turn full werewolf but that is what I had to ask of them, “I need you all to turn full werewolf, but with every amount of control you have, you must not attack the vampires, let us show these humans how wrong they are when they think we are animals,” they all take off their letterman jackets and bite down to stop themselves from screaming in the pain caused by the change. By the time all were done half of them had bitten and tore their jackets with werewolf teeth. My saints and I commit the phase as I watch Danton drop his arm and all his vampires’ fire their muskets and a small rain of musket rounds penetrated the fortress from above. The guards by the gates are the first to fall just as the alarm sounded, and the lights began to flash, and soon others began to dash to their post and all almost raise a gun and I say, “Time to fight to the last man,” the towers lied on the vertexes of the hexagon made by the gate, the men there carried turrets that fired hundreds of poison tipped arrows into the crop field. I roar out as the wolves rush the tower. The wolves move quickly and attack as one, with some climbing the tower and attacking the guards with their massive jaws and claws. The intercom sounded,

“Code red, code red, werewolves detected in the area, armed guards is to move to the outer perimeter!” Waves of soldiers carrying assault rifles came out they march in step and spread out and opened fire on us, “Get down!” Several werewolves fell off the walls and died inside the towers they overtook. I whistle out and all the vampires jump the gate with their daggers drawn ready for battle. With their speed they attack the group causing their lines to break. The soldiers were well trained, defending themselves against the dwellers, using their rifles to block and their bayonets to strike back. The men were ready for vampires making cuts to the throat and stabbings to the heart. In the dark battle I watch, I realize how I didn’t see what made these sadistic men more human than us. As I look upon the vampires falling I roar and leap down into the battlefield and almost certain death. I first started saving vampires who had been knocked down. One man fought me and almost stabbed my heart but I catch his gun and picked him up by his vest and threw him aside. I help up a vampire just before he pushes me out of the way of a silver bullet. In the fight I use my speed to catch their strikes and slash at them before they could fire on me. An echoing howl shook the complex just before my wolves join the fight by leaping down from the towers they hid in. As they rush the crowd several are flung out of their way as they cut through the field like locust in a plague. At their feet you could see men’s bodies hit the ground dead with claw marks on their flesh. The smell of blood fills the air as the real blood drenches the soil; I look at my friends and their destruction just before I see a man aim his rifle at them, I sprint forward and grab his rifle and break it in half. He lets go and pulls a knife from his vest, as he swings out I catch his arm with one hand and break it with my forearm, at the same time I heard another soldier about to fire and I pull the one I held onto in front of me and the man was hit with three bullets that were meant for me. The man died in front of my eyes as Michael attacks the man who shot at me. I run the field cutting down any enemy in my path but in the fight I find myself running right toward Danton’s blade. As we were close he swings his sword at me but as I duck and dodge he cuts down soldiers behind me. I stand up and see the soldiers fall; I smile in amazement before I stab at Danton’s face, and as he moves I stab out the throat of soldier behind him. From there you would see us as if we were fighting each other but as we would miss our hits we would both strike dead another random soldier. I would dodge the blade and he would dodge a claw, I swing my claws downward on his left and right side as he moves I cut down two more men. He grips the handle of his sword with one hand and the blade with the other; he rams the sword handle’s end into my chest. As I fall I down on my back I look up and see Danton block a rifle and slice outward at the soldiers gut. He hands me a hand up and as I reach my feet I move passed him and kick back another killer behind him. In the fight a random but dangerously skilled soldier swings his rifles’ butt across my jaw knocking me to the ground before two more men seize me and hold me long enough for a man to aim his crossbow at me.

“O’Brian!” I hear Danton’s voice as I look back at him looking at me in my dilemma. I lay a victim to a quick death as he fires and as I am unable to evade it, I see the arrow about to pierce my heart until Danton jumps in front of me. I am shocked at what I had just saw before I plunge my claws into my captors and I catch him as he falls from the blow but before he dies, he yells out and flings his sword into the killer’s chest.

“You saved me?”

“It appears that this old immortal still has some humanity left in him,” the whole battle went silent as I saw my newest friend die from a strike meant for me.

“Don’t worry Danton, you’ll be fine, you’re going to make it,”

“I’m too old for false promises John, but you were right, you were right John don’t give up on people and bring me my sword,” I do so without question and place his sword back in his hand, “when this is over, take it back to my wife,”

“No, you need to live, they need you,” my eyes begin to fill with tears.

“No,” he grabs my arm and says, “for as long as I have lived, I have fought and survived, but now I have done something meaningful, for both our kinds,” his voice is dying out and his skin is beginning to wither, “I don’t need to survive, the fate of both our kinds lies with you. Let this new world be yours as the old one was mine,” he died and his body fell to ash before my eyes. I roar out into the night sky, and raise myself from the ground, I look around and only our forces stand victorious.

I look to the Lunaris and point at the steel door that leads into the building and stands in our way. The beast begin to ram the door causing it to break inward, when they did their part I made the final ram that broke right through the door and into the science lab behind it. As I stand up the whole room full of scientist in white staring at me with Anthony, Michael, Gabriel, and Luke standing behind me. They all run and try and escape deeper into the building.

“Don’t they know by now they can’t outrun us?” Anthony asks rhetorically. I run up to one of the scientists and push him against the wall, “Where are you people keeping the vampires in this building?”

“Seventh floor, that’s where the holding cells are,”

“What are the floors beneath that?”

“All are scientist’s quarters,”

“Then what are the floors above it?”

“That’s where we conduct the experiments,” A shotgun shell hits my leg and I rush behind a table where the guys were sitting for cover.

“Thanks for the heads up guys!” I yell as I grip my leg and it begins to regenerate.

“Sorry,” there were several laboratory tables that the scientist in white suits worked on, we all took cover, sitting behind a table that had cabinets to hold their supplies. Loud thunderclaps sounded as junks of wood splinters shot past us. Most would begin to cry and scream but my friends and I are not strangers to gunfire.

“Gentlemen would any of you have any suggestions?” I see them beginning to ponder with Anthony tapping his werewolf claws on the floor, Luke playing with his lighter and Michael scratching his skull.

“Feel free to speak,” they’re thinkers but they don’t chose anything. Another shot at my side knocked a door loose letting a can of flammable liquid fall out. I may have forgotten but Luke is one for explosives, “Luke! Molotov my friend,” I slide the can to him and he says, “I’m on it,” he tears a piece off of his sleeve and places inside of the lid, then he stabs four holes into can so the liquid can leak out.

“Hey guys, didn’t your mothers ever tell you not to play with guns,” Luke asks. The men who shot at us didn’t answer but only shot at us more.

“Well my mom never told me not to play with fire,” he lit the torn sleeve and tosses the Molotov cocktail at a table near them. As the table lit on fire and as they were distracted, I say, “Move now,” we all charge knocking out the guards before they could fire another shot. We ran past them and made it to the seventh floor when the elevator was stopped. We step out and see the array of cells and closed booths full of vampires, the cells contained the Morpheum, men women, and children. The booths held vampires restrained, waiting to be tested on, “Ram the booths, break them open,” we all did, impacting the glass wall and forcing it to crack. I kick the glass open and release a family as did my friends one after another. When the glass was broken I say, “We’re here to free you, come on,” I offer my hand the husband and wife raise their child then the wife in a black dress and the father in a suit and hat. As I help him out he says, “Thank you for saving my family,” and I tell him, “We’re here to save all families, now go,” we look to the cells filled with all the rest of the Morpheum vampires. You can here them all crying out for help as they see us as the heroes.

“John! John! Over here,” I here Rachel yelling out from inside one of the cells, “help us,” I run over to her and she asks, “What the hell is going on?”

“It’s a long story but we’re here get everybody out, is there a key to any of the cells?”

“None that I saw,”

“Guys we’re going to have to pry open the doors,”

“We already tried that,” she says as her scared face lies in the bars.

“Not with us, alright everybody, we are going to get you all out but we get to your cell we need several of your strongest to pull on your side of the door at the same time we do. Alright guys,” we all stand next to each other as we grab hold of the bars and several men on the other side do the same, “On three, one, two, three,” we all pull and we hear the sound of the lock beginning to break and the door lets free, we let the people out and tell them, “Head to the elevator and take it to the bottom floor there will people waiting for you, go,” we all ran to each cell and pried them open and before it took long we had searched the entire floor and released anyone trapped.

“Alright that’s everyone, you guys better run back with the rest of them,”

“What do you mean?” Michael asks.

“We got everyone back, now I think you and everyone else has risked their lives enough for one night, the rest is up to me,”

“No way John, we’re the pack remember, if one of us is in trouble we’re all in trouble,” Michael says aloud.

“We all look out for each other, plus if Eden’s with you, then she’s one of us,” Anthony adds.

“Remember what you always tell us, if we left now we would be ordinary, and you say forget ordinary be extraordinary, and if we go through this to the end we’ll be extraordinary,” Luke tells me.

“The point we’re all trying to make is, we’re not letting you do this alone and you’re not getting rid of us,” Gabriel finishes.

“You guys throw a lot of guilt for lunaris, but the hell with it, let’s get to the next floor,” we used the elevator that was free after everyone used them to escape. I step out and see an ax flying into my face and I duck just before the saints grab the guard and smash him against the wall.

“Where have you monsters been keeping Eden Sinclair?” He doesn’t answer me but he spits in my face. I wipe my face and I say, “Boys, show him how we feel about that,” they pull from the wall and bash him against it once more.

“Go to hell,” my eyes turn gold, my teeth to canines and my voice deepens as I yells, “Where is she?!”

“End of the hall, to the right, the security booth,” as the boys was still holding him off his feet against the wall his eyes fill with fear as he wonders what I would say to do him. I punch him out and the boys drop his unconscious body on the floor. We sprint down the hall and find Eden pacing back and forth. The booth had glass window panes I could see her through. When I bashed my forearm against the door I realized it was reinforced to keep people out. Eden must have been locked in here since all the holding cells were full of the dwellers, “Michael, I may need your help kicking in the door, Gabriel try and tell her to step back,” we kick together causing a greater impact on the door, “Again,” after three more kicks the hinges and door handle gave way causing the door to fall down. I walk in and Eden rushes to hug me and whispers, “You came back for me?”

“I would never leave you,”

“We have to go, if my father wasn’t angry before he’ll be furious now,” we walk out and the boys stare at her like puppy dogs, before I could say anything she decided to say, “Down dogs don’t make me get the spray bottle,” they shake their stupid looks off and we all start walking. When heading to the nearest stairway when we all hear the sound of footsteps heading our way, the boys stood in front of me and Eden as if we needed protecting, we all expected to meet more guards but we were met by a group of gruesome creatures.

“Oh no,” Eden says with a quiet tone of fear.

“What are they?” I ask her.

“Father let them out; they’re the test subjects, the vampires that have put under the test the longest, and they’ve been the most oppressed,” there are six vampires, three of them are scarred with half of their faces burned, most likely by sunlight. The other three have blood shot eyes and faces full of rage.

“What happened to them?”

“They were put under experimentation, testing their limits of regeneration, but that’s my best guess,” Eden says as she stands behind us.

“We can handle them, you two get going,”

“But guys,”

“We can handle ourselves, go,” we ran past a room to get around them.

“No we stay together, John go now, get her out of here,” Gabriel says.

“We’ll catch up; this is what you’ve trained us for,” Michael ads. Only later on in the aftermath of this battle did my brothers in arms tell me of there fight. It is high noon in that hallway for my friends; the four vampires stared at them with their charred and mangled faces with their blood shot eyes staring at them with emotionless and deadly looks. According to Gabriel all four of the saints grew out their claws as I had taught them, but the fight had begun with a burned vampire leaping to Luke but he was quick enough to catch the creature and fling him back to the ground. The whole event imploded in seconds, for at that same moment a scarred vampire jumped Gabriel trying to bite at his neck, luckily Gabriel was able to pry him off and bash him against the wall then punctured its gut, before he cut across the right side of its neck. As Luke tried to strike down on the fallen vampire another jumped him, the vampire was strong enough to hold back Luke’s claws as it cut across Luke’s face with its overgrown nails, leaving small cuts against his cheek. Anthony sprung into action; he plunged his claws into the beast shoulders and flung it towards the wall. As the creature bounced back Anthony caught one of the vampire’s arms and pulled it with vamp along with it before he stabbed it before he head butted it away. Before he could bask in his victory one of the last vamps run up the wall halfway before he swung his leg across Anthony’s jaw. As he Anthony was on his knees he throws out his arm in his dazed moment trying to defend himself. But in his weakened state the vampire easily caught his arm and threw a right punch across his cheek then wrapped his forearm around his throat choking the life out of Anthony. Michael ran to his aid and wounded the vampire with both his claws into its back. As the creature screamed out in pain Anthony broke free and pierced its ribcage with his right claw. The very last of the experimented and tormented lay atop the walls staring down on the meal that fought back. He leaped to the saints and they all caught the poor creature before they put it out of its misery.
Even with the deadly and gruesome that engulfed the saints Eden and I had to face horrors of our own. When we ran back into another hallway, we see a grim and ominous view, the hallway was pitch black, the lights had been shattered and the floor was drenched in blood. I turned my vision to see in black and white and as I hold Eden’s hand we walk down the hall slowly. Following the trail of blood we found a pile of chewed up dead bodies lying on top of each other.

“Isn’t that your security?” I ask Eden.

“What’s left of them,” A body fell from the ceiling right behind us just as she said that. Then we both hear the unsettling sound of a creature crawling along the walls. The sound itself makes you cringe.

“What the_” Eden hand slips from my grasp as she yells, “John!” when I look to her she is being raised up to the ceiling and pulled away. I leap up and cut across the arm of whatever was trying to carry her away. It let go of Eden and I catch her as she falls from the ceiling and I turn my back as I lay her on the ground, “Are you o.k.?” A swift cut slid across my shoulder before she could answer. I grab the wound on my shoulder and look where I turned my back. Even with my eyes I couldn’t see what’s attacking us. A loud stomp was made as the creature lands from the ceiling onto the floor, and it lands right behind Eden and me. Once I turn my back to her it charges toward Eden, I leap to jump the beast but it was fanatical, as he hit the ground he head butted me three times before he slices my side and knocks me off. He stood to move toward Eden but I caught his back and bash his head against the wall. This creature didn’t care of what I did; it just kept pulling toward her. I plunge my claws into its shoulders and fling it away from her; I flung onto the ground sliding across the tiles. He jolts back up and disappears into the darkness. I walk back to Eden on the ground still with an eye fixed on where the thing disappeared. Somehow it appears on the right end of the hall sprinting to us. I ran to it trying to punch him in the jaw yet with his great speed and he ducks under my fist, luckily I was able to knee the creature and stop him in his tracks just as punch the creature in the face and across the jaw. He fell back onto to the wall behind him and as I try and keep him there he cuts across my cheek and reaches out for Eden but I catch him again and a send my right fist into his gut before I grab the thing’s head and head butt it, he fights back by grabbing my neck and bashing my head against the fire extinguisher case breaking the glass. I grab his skull and bash it against the wall behind making a crater in the plaster. He stabbed his overgrown nails into my gut and I grab his forearm stopping him from piercing my organs, in my anger I seize his throat and pull him off one wall to ram against the other. He kicks me in the diaphragm before he punches me hard enough to fall to the ground and see the creature walk to her. I rush to my feet and stab my right claw through his back out his stomach, “Forgive me sufferer,” I whisper in his ear. I pulled my arm back as he falls dead to the ground. I take a deep breath and ask, “He didn’t hurt you, did he Eden?”

“No, I’m fine,” I give her a hand up and as I turn I feel her touch my shoulder wound, “You’re hurt,”
“I’ll heal,”
“What could have done such a thing that would turn a vampire so animalistic?” She asks as we both look to the poor creature.
“They didn’t give him any blood to drink; he had gone mad with the thirst. Poor soul, it takes months of starvation before you become such a creature,” I say with sadness in my voice. The building is in ruins, the enforcement is dead, the scientists are running scared, and the test subjects are either been freed or had their suffering ended. I believe it’s over as we walk to a door marked exit, but in an instant a blunt object knocks me unconscious. When I woke up, I found Eden’s father with his arm around her throat and a gun to her head. I stand up slowly and ask, “You would kill your own daughter?”

“She stopped being my daughter the moment she let herself be tainted by an animal like you,” he says with so much hate in his voice.

“You know your daughter once told me that being a monster is a based more on who you are rather than what you are. And I can tell, over the past twenty years you’ve have not changed and you amongst all of us is a monster. Planning the genocide of two races that have been around since before your ancestors were born, taking pride in torturing innocent people to the brink of madness! I’d be doing this world a favor by killing you, but what angers me the most is, after you have already taken my brother, now you want to take someone else I love from me,”

“It can’t be you; I made sure you were killed,” he faces expression turns to a fearful surprised look.

“Look into my eyes and see your worst fear,”

“No, it can’t be you your dead, we killed you,” my eyes turn gold.

“You tried to kill me but you failed. Now let her go,” his arm was shaking with rage just before he swings out and tries to shoot at me when Eden knocks his hand away to where the bullet skid across my arm. He tosses her aside when I sprint forward bull rushing her father to the ground making him drop the gun. Yet somehow as I stand I reach to grab him by his tie he backhands me with a strength I never could have imagined him to posses. I flew back and landed into a slide on the floor, when I looked; Anderson took off his suit’s jacket and began to roll up his sleeves.

“What have you done to yourself?”

“What I was assigned to do. I created a new way to kill your kinds, and in the process I have created a better, stronger human being off the ashes of vampire and werewolf,” he looks out a window and says, “How dare you, how dare you come here, try and destroy everything we’ve created. Hoe dare you come here with these immortal teenagers and try and bring down an empire created by the work and hardship of man,” he slowly walks up to me as I lay on the ground. He shoots a punch downward on me that I had to evade by rolling out of the way. You can hear his hits echoing throughout the hall as one made a crater into the tiles that left dust on his knuckles. I stood up just before I had to dodge more of Anderson’s wide punches. Each shot to my face that I dodged broke into the wall. I tried to fight as best as I could punching him where I could, a left to the face, a right to the ribs, but all my hits seemed to have little effect on him. With one of his wide swings I plunge my claws into his side only for him to pull my hand back and say, “That kind of tickled,” he pulled back his fist and struck me with a fist made of stone. The first hit was to end it, I was dazed and my noise was bleeding from it, he was given enough time to carefully place his hits, with each knocking my face from one side to the other. When he paused for a second I could feel my lip busted, one of my temples bruised, my mouth bleeding, and I just spit out blood and ask, “Is that the best you can do,” he pulls back his fist as he held me up but before he could punch me again I beat him to it and shot a punch right into his throat. He was shocked just long enough for me to knock loose his grip and grab his shoulders so I could swing my knee under his chin hammering him hard enough to fall back. As he is on the ground I swing my boot against the side of his cheek, as his face was down I get closer and throw a few right hooks not stopping until he catches my hand and throws a hard hit into my torso throwing me off of him at the same time.


“Well it appears you haven’t lost you touch or your immutable will to fight, but you are still no match for me,” I get back up and using the walls I leap off of I am able to kick my heel into his face. When I land I run up to him and throw my right fist into his gut and when his face falls forward I throw a left hook into his jaw. He fell against a wall and as his skull lies against it I try and elbow it, but I wasn’t fast enough for he ducks under it causing me to break the wall against my elbow. He grabs my t-shirt and tosses me through a door leading into another lab. When he walks in he looks at a lab station just before he raises it above his head and throws it at me. As soon as I ducked under it I ran to in waiting for me and as I try and ram him he catches me and throws me into the wall nearly breaking threw it. I fall onto the ground after the hit and he stands above me as he kicks into my side. The kicks impact my ribs but on the last I catch his leg and push forward knocking him off balance, I force a punch right across his face just before he grabs my arm and smash my face against the floor. He stands up and when I try he slams his forearm on my back sending me back to the ground. The second time he let me rise to my feet only to grab me and throw his fist into my gut twice, yet I fight back by twisting his wrist putting pressure on the bones just before I kick his stomach and then the back of his knee forcing him to drop to a knee. As he was on a knee I raise my claw and slash against his back making him cry out. He pulls loose my grip and takes hold of my throat as he raises me above the ground and charges me to the wall. Once my body hit the wall causing it to weaken and partially shatter, he saw I wasn’t dead like a human would be if they endured it. As he sees I am not broken he pries me out of the wall to only inflict the pain again, yet I use his attack against him. Once my back hit the wall I kick him away with both feet and plunge my claws into it, I turn over and begin to climb to the top onto the ceiling. From the ceiling I could hear him laughing as he says, “Is this your new way John, fight who you can but when someone’s stronger, you run away,”

“I’m not running away anymore, not when I’m here to kill the man responsible for my brother’s death!” He grins an evil grin with his eyes gleaming with hate as he ask, “You don’t know do you?” He crosses his arms as his villainous grin only grows more wide, “June 12, 2015 vampire solution finally cleared signatures of Senators, O’Brian, McCollum, and Johnson have been acquired on werewolf position. The solution was to kill vampires and your old man signed off on it,”

“I remember, the government wiped most of the vampires in America out, so what,”

“My employers had to tell at least one of the senators that clearance also included werewolves, and that one was your father, he made it possible for me to have your brother killed,”
“You lie!” I yell out. I jump down and rush to him yet when I ram into him he catches me and flings me away. I hit a wall and then the ground.
“ I believe he said let the barking dogs be put down and let the loyal ones live on, so how does it feel John, to truly be alone, to not be able to rely on even family?”

“I have brothers in arms that I trust my life to, I have my friends, and you only have your hate, I may have to deal with my father later but no matter what, you die tonight!” I rush to him and knock his feet from under him and shoot my heel into his face once he hit the ground and send my fist into face without stop until I cut a gash across his cheek.

“Get up, on your feet!” I yell at him, I felt the need to fight him at his full strength. We were at a bare knuckle brawl, exchanging hits one after the other, when he would hit my gut I would use the force and send my forehead into his chin. We inflict as much pain as we can on each other but we don’t care. At one point he got the upper hand and had my throat in his two hands choking the life out of me.

“You’ll never see Eden again,” he said with a silent malevolence. My humanity’s rage infused my werewolf’s fury and I summon all my strength to slowly pry his hands off my neck. We were both trying so hard to where our arms were shaking in the pressure. At the right moment I let my right hand let go of his wrist and stab my claw into his chest. Just as I pull it back I bull rush him, charging forward with my shoulder in his gut I push so hard that I ram us both right through the wall. We free fall a few stories, you don’t really know what you feel for the descent is too fast, but we both feel a harsh and brutally abrupt stop as our bodies hit the top of the gate knocking us over it. I begin to rise up from the ground; I am forced to pop my arm back into its socket, as I see Anderson about twelve feet from me pulling a piece of barbed wire from his leg. We both were on our feet as I notice the remaining lunaris standing all around us moving in closer to kill him. I see he smiles because he thinks I won’t kill him. I look to them and I roar at all of them as a command. They stand their ground making a circle around us and watch, and the wolves begin to bark together in one loud beat of a thunderous roar.

“Are you ready?!” I ask.

“Yes!” We step closer and closer till we can fight one last time. I grow my claws and we run at each. We fight again throwing punches and slash and kick all to the thunderous roars of my brethren. It began to thunder as lightning strikes the sky. He delivers a punch that made me slide across the wet grass and I run back and leap to deliver a downward punch right back at him. He shot his knee up to my chin, I almost fall when I catch his shirt and throw two hits one to his rib another to his face. He punches me in the throat and when he tries again I catch his wrist and I punch his elbow breaking it. I jump up and kick his face flipping him over onto the ground, he was down . . . for now.

Its pouring rain and I turn over Anderson’s limp body, with my left hand I grab his tattered and torn tie and raise my right claw, everyone chants kill him kill him. He awakes and looks me in the eyes waiting for his eyes to forever haunt me for killing him; in all the noises I hear the soft voice of her, my Eden. She’s scared and crying, even in this rain I can see her tears.

“Do it,” I look back at her father, “prove that I’m right, that you’re just a monster. Do it!” My rage is building up inside me, every ounce wants to kill every thought is to kill every want is to kill. My very claws want their insatiable thirst for blood to be quenched with his, all this fills my ears with a deafening ring until I say, “No,” I let him go and stand up, I yell out to all that went silent, “We are not monsters, and I will not become a murderer . . . I am not a murderer,” I see Eden as the light with her glow illuminating the way back from darkness. As I take two steps to her, I over her father’s voice, “To bad that I am,” he raises a silver bladed knife as he’s about to plunge it into my back.

No!” Eden yells as she runs in front of me. I turn around and see Eden about to fall with the blade stabbed into her breast. I catch her and see her beginning to fade, I lay her down and see her father shocked at what he had just done, I stab my claws into his chest piercing his heart. “I am fortunes fool,” I whisper in his ear as he fell down and died on that field in the rain, I hold Eden and say, “I can’t lose you again, tell me what to do, please tell me what to do,” I ask of her with the tears filling my eyes and she answers faintly, “Love me,”

“I do love you, now and forever,”

The battle is won and company is defeated, I walk the field and find the Danton’s ashes with his sword lying on top of them. I pick up his cavalry sword and sheath it in his scabbard. The vampires have all gone, the citizens of Morpheum have run back to the city and the warriors have scattered to the four winds. The sun begins to rise after the long night of death, as its rays reach the field our eyes are stung by its light and the vampires’ bodies begin to burn; we all bow our heads in respect as the sunlight purges our fallen comrades. I tell the wolves to return to their homes, but I need to make one trip before I could retire to my home. I decide to walk for being exhausted of all the fighting but by the time the day ended I was in front of the vamp club and as I walk to it I see Francesca walk out with tears in her eyes, I walk up to her and hand her Danton’s sword.

“You were with him, in the end?” She asks as she holds the sword tight in her grasp.

“Yes, he saved my life,” I say sad and contrite to tell her.

“That was just like him,” she says with a smile.

“He was the oldest of us, but he was the best and greatest of us,”

“Thank you, thank you John,” I turn and walk away. The walk back is harder for me for I know that I am to see my father and all we will have to talk about is the truth. I find myself afraid to walk into my own home, there is now way to avoid this, I have to know the truth. The rain had stopped that night, the sky was clear and the stars were shining bright. I take some of the hardest steps ever up the porch in through the front door. My hand was steady but my heart was racing, and the pound was loud enough to be in my ears. I turn my wrist and open the doorway to a dark and pitch black house. I find one light and that’s where I found my father sitting at his desk with pictures of Eric in his hands.

“Alas the prodigal son returns,”

“I thought the prodigal son was the younger one?”

“He was but this time it’s you,” I take a seat in front of his desk.

“I know everything now,”

“What do you mean?” He asks still looking at the pictures.

“Commander Anderson, now known as Executive Anderson, you might remember him, he carried out the vampire solution act you signed off on,”

“They were only vampires,” the words lied dead in my heart, “they were vermin we use to fight in the trenches and in the fields; they are a disease that’s meant to be cleansed,”

“What of the dogs who are to be put down, what of us?”

“Those gangs of wolves were charlatans believing they fought for a cause that settled nothing,” he says still looking down, averting his eyes of me.

“What about Eric, did he die for nothing?” He knocks away the lamp and says, “I told you two to leave it alone, to stay home and let the war end it but no, he followed you right into battle and you caused his death! I was trying to protect you boys, from yourselves, from the misdeeds you planned to do,”

“Misdeeds, you betrayed all of us when you let them murder our kind!” He takes hold of my throat and as he looks into my eyes he realizes, “What have you done?” He lets go.

“Well, let’s see, last night I destroyed the root of all evil, that building where they conducted their experiments on us. But father before you accredit me with the slaughter of all them,” my eyes tear up with the harsh belief that my father thinks me that horrible. “I did it all with the help of immortal teens just like me. I fought and spilled blood with both vampire and werewolf alike. Think about that father not only did our kinds work together as one entity but an old vampire saved me, think of that father not you but an old enemy saved me! He gave his life for mine just like Eric, because he knew what the difference between right and wrong were and he stood for what was right,” I lose some stability but still say, “And tonight I was like you, sins of the father, I reported you to the authorities. You will be arrested for conspiracy to commit murder and treason against your own kind,”
“You think you know the truth. A young rebel with a taste for blood,”
“You never saw me as anything more than that?”
“Killing will only bring you so far John! Blood begets blood John, killing will only bring about more death it never solves anything!”
“Then why did you order us to be killed, we weren’t fighting humans father we were fighting for what was right and just in this world! In that war everyone told me about how great man you were what would make you do such a thing to us,”
“Everything I did I did for you,” he rushes to the door but I beat him to it and stand in his way.

“Get out of my way boy,”

“No father,”

“You can’t beat me,”

“I don’t want to, but I won’t let you go, you have to answer for what you’ve done,”

“You should think about what you have to answer to, you were the rebellious son and you took your brother away from me,”

“You . . . signed us away; Eric’s . . . Eric’s death warrant and my release papers, all with one signature,” red and blue lights begin to flash in the window, “It’s over traitor, you’re no longer worthy to be called thy father,” I turn my back to him and he appears right in front of me.

“You’re right,” I hear the metallic click of a gun hammer, “forgive me John,” a thunderous bang echoed in the night and I feel death, my whole world goes black once more, “forgive me my son.”

A man in black walks in a cemetery, he looks upon a grave stone marked O’Brian, he drops a single white rose at the grave. A cell phone rings, “John O’Brian listening, she’s awake, I’ll be there as soon as I can,” I hang up the phone and say “Goodbye father,” I find myself with a tear to shed for him. As I reach the hospital I buy a single red rose for her and walk to her hospital room, and ask a nurse leaving if she was alright.

“I’m perfectly fine John,” I look in as she stretches her arms out, I look upon her dark red hair as it has grown long as if she was a new woman.

“I’m feeling so much better,” she says provocatively as my jaw drops and hits the floor.

“Close your mouth love you’re beginning to drool,” I walk up to her and give her a long hug just before I tell her, “I love you and I am so sorry I did this to you, I just couldn’t lose you,”

“Shhh,” she says as she places her finger over my lips, “It’s still me John and I have no problem being a she-wolf, now we can be together for as long as we want, and I love you to,” I hand her the rose and we both smile, for once this gray looking world seems brighter to me. “Let’s go,”
“Where are we going?”
“Anywhere we want,” We both run into the night, into the peaceful and indifferent night that welcomes us as its children. I look at her as she shows her happiness, her joy and her peace all in her one elegant smile. I smile back at her as the world seems fly pass us but I don’t care, for once I feel whole, and I feel at peace. My love, for now and ever we shall be together.