“Ma, I’m home!”

“My goodness, Leila, come give your father a proper greeting.”

“Hey, Dad!  Where’s Tim?  I need to talk to him.”

“He’s up in his room.  He said no visitors.”

“Got it.  I’ll be down in a few.”

“Okay, honey.  Are you alright?  You sound out of breath.”

“I’m fine.  Dancing can get tiring quickly.”

“Okay.  Just tell me if you need anything.”

“Got it, Ma.”  Leila trudged her weary body up the stairs.  She hadn’t adjusted to the returning-to-human-form concept of things yet.  She still got exhausted just from changing from a wolf back into a woman.

She pulled open the door to her excessively cluttered room, and shut the door.  Quickly, she tugged on a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants.  She wilted against the wall and dropped her head to her knees.  I can just wish this all away, and I never did go clubbing, and I never killed Owen.  I’m going to go to school and see my boyfriend and my best friend, and nothing will be wrong.  Her pep talk was so good, she convinced herself.  She walked five paces across her room and jerked open her door.



“She can open the door whenever,” Victoria muttered.  And just like that, the door to Leila’s room popped open.  “Wow, Tori.  Hi.  Nice to see you.”  Victoria’s eyes narrowed.  Suddenly, her hand shot out and grabbed Leila by the neck.  Accusations started pouring out of her.  “Why did you kill Owen?  He never did anything to you except be a good boyfriend.  And you’re a … a … werewolf!”  She spit the word out.

Leila reached up and pried Victoria’s fingers away from her neck.  “I wouldn’t be talking.  You are a vampyre.  Unless those fangs are fake.  But only poseurs do that.  You aren’t a poseur, are you, Tori?” she asked with a condescending tone.  “My own best friend.  Pity, really.  I thought we had a good connection.  I guess I was wrong.

“Now, I hate to have to cut this party short, but if you stay here one minute longer … let’s just say that: one vampyre versus four wolves?  Someone definitely has the lower hand.  Goodbye, Victoria.”

“Goodbye, Leila.”  Seconds after she choked out the words to her newfound enemy, she was already out of the house and onto the street.  She hit her head on the nearest streetlamp and shed two bloody tears.



The four werewolves sat around the empty dining room table.  “Geez, Leila.  I was in my room listening to music, and I could still hear you and Victoria chewing each other out.  That sounded like the fight to end all fights!”

“Tim, shut up.”

“Leila, be nice.”

“But, Ma! He’s talking about a sensitive subject that I don’t want to talk about.”

“Leila, will you still ask Victoria out for me?”

“Good luck.  Could you put up with a vampyre?”

The entire room silenced.  Finally, Leila and Tim’s dad spoke up.  “The girl you’ve spent all your time with is … What we’ve always feared?”

“Sadly, yes.”

“This is horrible.  How many are we up against?” her mother asked with her brows furrowed.

“I don’t know.  And she has the power to change more people.  She could have a whole vampyre army”

Her father reached over and touched her hand.  “Don’t do anything too hasty, yet, dear.”

“Don’t do anything hasty?  I’m sorry, but vampyres are out there!  And they know where we live!  Where is the line between logical and HASTY?!”  And with that, Leila got up and ran upstairs, wishing none of this had ever happened.



Victoria lay on the cool granite floor of her kitchen.  She was maybe there ten minutes, maybe two hours.  She had eaten the rouge cake she dreamt about earlier and was in a reverie.  Even she wasn’t sure if she was conscious or not.  She coughed, and vomited again.  She didn’t ever want to move, and she wanted to see the sun.  Maybe it could take away some of the pain and confusion.  I hate Vamp, I hate being a vampyre, I hate me, I hate werewolves, I hate immortality, I hate it all!  She clutched her stomach and moaned.  There had never been a time that it took her this long to recover from eating “real” food.  What went wrong?

Alphonse’s little head peeked in.  “Older sister, how are you feeling?”

“I’m in pain.  Never let me eat cake again.”

“Of course.  You need rest.  I’ll get father, and I’ll get you something to eat.”

Food, she moaned in her head.  It’s a damned creation, and it shouldn’t exist.  She tried telling Alphonse that, but nothing came out.  She heaved again, and as her head touched the floor, she blacked out.