Hunger

The day they came barging into our school was in the middle of a fall storm. It was one of the nights where the darkness hangs too early in the air and it surrounds you, making you feel like there is something you left undone; a dead darkness. That day it started to creep in around four in the afternoon, I knew what it was at once. I could sense it, could sense them, but I said nothing. There was no reason for them to come here.

We were in our dorm rooms when we heard them. There were several loud bangs, as if someone was knocking very hard. At first, I dismissed it for the wind and the rain that was pelting the walls of our castle-like school, but then I heard the front door forced open and several yells and screams from below.

The girls in my dorm all stood up at once. Our room was small with six iron beds and white cotton sheets. There were trunks at the end of each bed containing the girls' clothes, books, and personal items. Other than that the room was bare, though there was a window built into the stone wall and a fireplace opposite it.

Six tall twelfth year girls filled the room easily, the crackling fire sending our shadows onto the walls behind us. I reached out and switched on the light. Perhaps something would come out of this night after all.

Hurried footsteps echoed down the halls outside the room, obviously belonging to several over-zealous girls trying to see what was going on. I grabbed a house coat and, along with the other girls in my room, joined them.

We ran down the small halls that connected the dorm rooms to the rest of the school like rats fleeing a cave-in, then emptied ourselves into the large upstairs hallway which, unlike the dorm rooms, was lavishly decorated with antique furniture, tapestries, and rugs. I hated this part of the school; it always smelled like the fabric version of formaldehyde.

The upstairs hallway was wide and had several doors lining it, leading to class rooms, studies, and other wings of the school. We ran past all of them, stopping at the balcony that looked over the downstairs hall and front door.

The hallway below was marble. Its wooden paneled walls, which were covered with large portraits of previous deans, stretched to the ceiling, a full five stories up, and from each floor girls were looking from their balconies, eager to see what had caused the racket.

The answer was pouring into our school, soaking wet and carrying guns and swords sheathed at their sides: the army.

There was no mistaking their green pants and jackets and their black combat boots. A man dressed in similar attire, though perhaps with more badges than the rest, was talking-or yelling-at Ms. Pruduch, the dean of Buchart College, our school. She obviously had been caught of guard like the rest of us, and was dressed in a house coat, her long gray hair was hanging loosely down to her waist. Their argument ended, however, when the man pulled out a pistol and rested in calmly on her temple. I heard several screams from the floors above.

"I'm sorry dean," the man said firmly, "but this school is under military control now."

The dean was silent, her dark eyes widening with shock from behind her half-moon bifocals.

"I...well...I can't-"

"I'm afraid what you can and cannot do is of no matter, ma'am," the officer said, still holding the gun. "Whether you like it or not, they are coming."

This caused even more of an uproar than pointing the gun had. Who was coming?

But I knew who was coming which turned my attention to what was being done to stop them. As the officer lowered his gun and started instructing Ms. Pruduch in what she was to do, I watched man after man run through the door until suddenly it was slammed shut. The hall was full with soaking wet soldiers, making me suddenly conscience of how naked I was under my thin nightgown. They wasted no time in assessing their surroundings. The officers were talking to the staff, asking about weapons, food, water, and potential weaknesses in the building's defenses, while the other men quickly found places to hide and prepare their weapons.

"They are very close and they are very strong. At least one hundred of them...they destroyed the Western Post already," the officer said to Ms. Pruduch. The Western Post was one of the four guard towers set up to protect the valley. "Get the girls to the highest tower in the school and barricade yourselves there; the beasts will not get past our defenses."

As if in conspiracy, the wind beat harshly upon the walls and the large wooden door, sending an icy shiver down my spine.

Ms. Pruduch looked up at girls huddled around the white marble railings.

"Well?" she yelled, "Prefects, gather up the students!"

I was a prefect, and yet I hesitated, something I do not often do. A deep itching rose up inside me. I had no intension of barricading myself in the highest tower; I wanted to be here for the battle-a realization that both shocked and frightened me.

But Ms. Pruduch came running up the marble staircase, grabbing girls left and right, myself included, and pulled them along with her to North Tower.

I had no choice but to comply.

The night was long and tedious. We all knew what was happening below, and being stuffed like sardines into the cramped circular room on top of the North Tower was not what many of us had in mind.

The professors barred the door and windows with charms and spells. I knew none of them, they were too complex for me to have learnt in class. They focused their attention on the door, not a wise choice, but I said nothing. We sat there, crouched cramped, for several hours, the professors silent and grim. By the second or third hour of the siege the room began to smell strongly of sweat and the constant whimpering began to irritate me. But still, I watched the window.

The professors would not let us near the window, they didn't want us to see what was below, but I already knew. I could feel them, smell them, almost taste the-

My stomach jerked. My throat started to feel dry. Hunger raged inside me, tearing at my gut. There was an unfathomable wanting inside me, a wanting for something I didn't understand or know. I did nothing but wait, hoping it would pass. Then I felt one coming close, climbing the stone walls of the school with his fingers grasping into the cracks in the rock. He was moving quickly; obviously he could sense our fresh blood.

I stood up. Finally some action. Just as the professors opened their mouths to yell there was a crinkle of breaking glass and a hiss of excitement from the window. Everyone's head snapped to see what had made the noise. They gasped, screamed, cried, even wailed at the sight, but I did not stir.

There, perched on the windowsill just outside the protective spells crouching amid shards of glass, was what appeared to be a man. He had pale skin, dark hair, and a strong chin. His hands were resting on the invisible wall the spells had created, scanning the room, drooling at the sight of so much prey. He looked relatively human, but the blood smeared around his mouth and fangs protruding from his grinning lips gave him away. He was a vampire.

He smiled ever so cruelly as he began to break the spells blocking his passage into the North Tower, digging his yellow nails into the invisible shield. His eyes were completely black, shadowed by a thick brow, and danced madly in anticipation as the spells began to degrade. I grabbed a chair one of the professors (now standing) had been sitting on. She didn't even notice. I broke off one of the legs so that it was jagged and threw the chair back down. Jumping over several people I positioned myself by the window. The professors were fighting to get to me.

"No, Bronwyn! What are you doing? Stop!"

Then, with a faint whisper and glow of unnatural light the spells broke. Cool air and the smell of rain filled the stuffy tower. I waited till I saw the vampire's black eyes peer into the room before I lunged.

"No!"

Several screams tore the air, but none as disturbing and horrible as the vampire's when I drove the wooden chair leg into his chest. He looked at me with terrified, pained eyes that filled with confusion.

"But you're one of-" Death let him say no more. His face began to turn even whiter as his skin began to die. It started from where the wooden leg had entered his heart and spread like a disease. It extended from his neck to his mouth, then to the rest of his face, his flesh rotting and cracking; then, without warning, he suddenly exploded into a million tiny particles of dust. There were more screams and more wails behind me. I did not wail; instead I simply dropped the leg and preformed a spell that would ward off other vampires, using a handful of the one I had destroyed to complete the enchantment, then rested back on the ground. My hands trembled slightly, but I silenced them. What had he been trying to say?

The lack of bloodshed in the North Tower was more than made up for on the floors below. Eventually we slept and the next morning I woke up to find everyone else still asleep, their heads drooping on their closest companions. I looked out the window quickly to see if the dead fog that had surrounded Buchart College the previous night was still there. The sun appeared to be shining brightly, but there were several suspicious-looking clouds still lingering on the horizon. Maybe some of the vampires still lived, though it was unlikely. My stomach twisted at the thought, but I stood up all the same, leaving my roommates huddled together on the ground as they snored.

I should maybe warn them, I thought to myself. I knew the professors would think they were safe from the vampires now that it was daytime, but they didn't know enough. Of course they would assume that it would be safe, it was written in all the texts across the land that vampires couldn't survive in the light of day and could be killed by a stake though the heart. The stake through the heart was fatal enough, but vampires were tricky; they'd be lurking in dark corners, waiting for night to fall again.

I crept past my snoring classmates and opened the door the slightest bit, then slipped through. Little was really known about vampires at all. People thought they had fangs and could turn into bats. But the truth was vampires' fangs were lodged in their gums, only protruding a little, so they could look like normal teeth. The vampire could release these fangs whenever he or she wanted to. Vampires were naturally immortal (unable of dying from common illness). Usually they became vampires by being bitten by a vampire that had released venom during the bite. However, they could also be born as a vampire by the breeding of two vampires. In this case the child would not gain its immortality, true hunger for blood, fear of sunlight, and fangs until a few (it depends on the vampire in question) years after puberty. Usually they would be in their twenties when the full vampire nature took over.

I worked my way through the school's high-ceilinged corridors hurriedly, my footsteps echoing off the stone walls.

I stopped. The smell was overwhelming; it felt like I had been slapped in the face there was a roaring pain that cut through my torso. I crumpled to the ground, clutching my stomach and gut. They convulsed inside me and refused to be satisfied. They yearned, beckoned, begged-

And I could not stop them. I could not control the hunger within me. It snarled as if to cut through my insides. I gasped, confused-even scared-and then it subsided, but it still lingered in the back of my mind.

As I reached the stairs to the front hall I saw the source of the smell. Men and vampires covered the once clean floors of the great hall. Blood was everywhere, and in it the bodies lay, vampire and man alike, dead. There was dust amid the blood of the vampires who had been staked. It hung in the air, filtering the light.

I staggered at the sight, clutching my stomach again. But I was not as frightened or disturbed as I thought I would be. In fact, after a minute of wooziness it passed.

Men were moving through the dead, collecting those who were only injured, and carrying them off to our infirmary. I watched the process for several minutes before the room was empty of the living.

Carefully, I started to walk down the stairs, my bare feet making no sound on the cold, white marble. Finally I reached the bottom step. Gingerly I put one foot onto the hall floor. I looked up to see the front door open and the rolling Highlands of Beryl beyond it. The sweet smell of a glorious day drifted in on a calm breeze. Light was pouring through the open door as well, and birds were singing from the forest near the school grounds.

A spasm of pain shot through my skull. I stumbled forward, my eyes stinging unbearably. There was an ache right behind my eyes, as if someone was drilling into them from the inside. I wanted to claw them out, to make it stop. I began to reach for my eyes, my hands shaking, trying to find my face. My head was burning and I feared it would explode if I didn't do something soon.

A faint realization came over me as my hands and body shook violently with fear and pain: I was blind. Somehow I had gone blind and now I couldn't see, and would never see again. More fear took hold of me and I began to tremble and even cry. I stumbled forward, my feet falling into a sickeningly warm liquid.

Then just like the other inexplicable spasms I had had previously, the blindness stopped. I looked up, confused, my head still buzzing, and felt a familiar presence behind me.

I turned cautiously, still very unsure of what had just happened to me, and saw a man in the shadows standing there, watching me with intense blue eyes. Something strange stirred inside me. This soldier struck me as odd in his bloody green uniform. I looked him up and down trying to put a finger on what was so odd about him and his messy brown hair when he spoke.

"What are you doing here?"

He sounded like a solider, even had the body and muscles of a solider but I was not convinced.

"I'm here to help," I said strongly still squinting slightly. Whatever had happened to me had passed. It was over. I shoved it back into my mind. Besides, it had probably just been a headache.

"Help?" asked the man, laughing. He didn't look very old, either. He couldn't be a day past twenty. My face burned at his mockery.

"Yes, help," I snapped.

"How so?"

"I am a very able healer," I replied, "And I know a good deal about vampires."

The man seemed to find this even funnier. His light blue eyes sparkled with amusement. Or was it water? I suddenly realized that his eyes seemed to be watering ever so slightly.

"You know a lot about vampires?" he asked skeptically.

"Yes," I replied huffily.

"And you're a healer? Well then, perhaps you could help me with this," he said pulling back his sleeve and revealing a festering wound.

I was taken aback at first. "A vampire made that?" I asked, curiously gazing at the wound, which was still bleeding slightly.

"Nah, it was one of my buddies, bit careless with his sword," the man replied calmly.

"I can heal it," I said stepping forward and examining his pale skin. "We just have to get to the infirmary."

"The infirmary is full," the man said. "Isn't there somewhere else?"

"Yes," I said, looking up at him guardedly, "We can go to the science classroom..."

"Okay," he said, straightening up, "Where is this science room?"

"Up the stairs and to the right, first door-" I started to say, but he was already bounding up the stairs. As he reached the top I felt a momentary headache, but then it was gone and I followed him up, and ducked into the science lab, where he was waiting.

"Let me see your arm," I said as I flicked on the lights.

He came towards me, holding out his arm.

"Ooookay," I said, then turned to the cupboards and began grabbing several jars of power and various liquids. I took them to one of the black tables and then pulled a Bunsen burner out of the cabinet below the sinks in the back. Carefully I lit it with the flint, not wanting to expose to this stranger that I possessed magical abilities. Something inside me told me not to. The burner lit quickly and I positioned a beaker in a holder above it, mindful of the flames.

"So, it was an enchanted blade?" I asked, my voice echoing around the large science room whose walls were granite, like all the other walls in the school.

"Yes." The man positioned himself on a lab bench, watching me closely.

I started to add liquids and herbs into the beaker. Slowly it began to boil. I stirred it twice clockwise, then three times counterclockwise. As more bubbles began to rise from the bottom of the thick black liquid a warm smell began to fill the air. It was sweet and pleasant, and I suddenly found myself feeling dizzy.

Reaching out I steadied myself on the desk. I removed the beaker from the Bunsen burner with beaker tongs and placed it on a circular cork mat that I had gotten from the cabinet below the desk.

The man gazed at me intently. I glared at him before resting back onto a desk behind me.

"It will need to cool," I said.

The man watched me for a second, then said, "It's bright in here."

I noticed again his eyes still seemed full of water. I felt my own eyes sting suddenly and a sharp pain blared through the back of my skull. He watched me again, with what was unmistakable curiosity.

I blinked several times to clear my head. My vision returned slowly to clarity and I saw that the potion had stopped boiling.

"Almost ready," I said, choosing to ignore his previous comment.

"So how is it you know so much about vampires?" the man asked, still watching me.

"My father studied them. I used to read his books when he wasn't looking."

"What'd your mother do?"

I thought for several seconds. "I can't remember my mother."

The man looked at me strangely. "What's your name?" he asked.

I blushed slightly, but I held my head high. "Bronwyn," I replied. It was a stupid name.

"Ah..." the man said smiling, "I'm Keiran."

I blinked. I knew that name-but it was impossible, I had never heard it before...

"I think its cool enough," I said, standing up and going over to the beaker, "Hold out you arm."

Keiran did so. I lifted the beaker and slowly began to pour the thick solution onto his arm. He clenched his teeth and looked away as the wound began to sizzle.

Slowly it healed, and when the beaker was empty there was no sign that a wound had been there at all. I replaced the beaker on the desk and grabbed a cloth from its hook on the wall to clean up the liquid that had spilled onto the floor.

"I got it," Keiran said. He grabbed the cloth out of my hand and our fingers touched for a spilt second-but it was long enough. Fire went burning through my entire body, my heart started to beat five times faster and my head started to pound. I knew.

The lights-it was too bright, far too bright-

My eyes were watering. They were burning, my head was throbbing, I had to get out, had to turn the lights off-

Suddenly I found myself on the ground. I started to crawl across the floor, not sure where I was going. I was writhing in pain. My skin started to prickle. But at the same time I was trying to put as much space in between Keiran and me as possible.

I couldn't see anything, only this stinging brightness. Finally I closed my eyes and some of the pain subsided.

I heard a door slam. My heart skipped a beat; my stomach churned. I was locked in the room with him.

Then there was a faint click as someone turned off the lights. I opened my eyes and found that I could see. Instead of being met with darkness, I saw the lab bench in front of me. My head stopped pounding; in fact, except for the pain in my fingers, I felt nothing at all. The faint smell of the potion I had made was still in the air and I felt myself drifting off, relaxing into a deep sleep.

No. I snapped my head back up. I had to get out of the room. Reaching out my hand to grab the top of the lab bench I pulled myself up and gasped. My fingers were bleeding and my nails were missing. I looked down at the floor and saw blood where I had been dragging myself. My skin started to tingle and I felt hot all over. I had ripped my fingernails out.

But there was still the problem of Keiran being in the same room as me...

I looked up at saw him standing by the door, his hand still on the light switch. My fear dissipated and suddenly I was full with extreme hate. Vampires had killed my father.

I could hear him hissing softly. My blood began to boil.

"So..." I said coldly, "You thought you'd bring me up here so you could suck my blood, huh?"

"No," he answered in a soft hiss.

"A lie," I said angrily, "How'd you get that uniform, anyway? Steal it from a dead soldier?"

I could see him smile cruelly in the dark. "No. I stole it from a live one, right before I killed him."

"You're disgusting," I said. "And to think I helped you, but it doesn't matter now. I know a lot about vampires. You will not be leaving this room alive."

"You know more than you think," he said, smiling viciously. Then he flicked on the lights and my head exploded into a roar of pain. I heard the door open, but there was nothing I could do to stop him; there was nothing I could do at all but cry out in pain.

I don't know how I made it to the wall, but after several minutes of staggering blindly I felt its cold, smooth surface. I almost cried for joy, but the tears stung my eyes terribly and I tried to stop. I felt around in agony, my bloody fingers screaming in protest when they met the wall, but eventually I found the switch and was thrown back into darkness.

I sighed with relief, keeping my eyes closed tightly and slid down the wall. I pulled my knees in to my chest and cried softly.

I'm not sure how long I stayed there, but eventually the infirmary really did become full and they started bringing injured men into the science room. When the door opened, I stood up at once, my heart hammering. I could see several people being brought into the room on stretchers, many of them covered in blood.

My stomach heaved. Suddenly it felt like my gut was no longer there. My mouth went dry and there was this clawing sensation traveling up my throat. I grabbed at my abdomen in pain and fell back to the ground gasping.

"What's this?" asked a solider coming through the door, helping another one who was limping. "It's one of the school girls!" he called out.

"Bloody hell, what's she doing here? Somebody turn on the lights!" came the reply of another man.

No. Not the lights. I scrambled to my feet, my heart pounding against my chest. I ran out into the hall, knocking into a couple of unsuspecting people, light pelting my face and hands, my eyes burning. What was wrong with me? Why had my eyes become so sensitive to light?

I ran into a wall and then I stumbled along it until I found a door. My fingers were shaking and it took me several panicked seconds to grasp the doorknob. When the door was open I hurled myself into the stagnant darkness, slamming the door quickly behind me. I immediately smelled leather and yellowing paper.

Memories came flooding into my head: my father, who always smelled of tobacco, dead, his neck bleeding freely. I had screamed when I saw him lying there on the floor in his study. I hadn't understood why they would do something like that, why the vampires would kill him. It was because they were monsters.

My heartbeats started to become more calm and controlled.

All my father did was study vampires. What was so wrong about that? But then what he learned would help to create weapons to destroy them...

I thought about the facts. So, it would make sense to kill someone if, indirectly, in the future they would kill you.

I didn't want to think about it, and I didn't have to because it was just then that I heard guns going off. They were outside the school, but still my heart jerked unpleasantly. I ran to the only window of the study I had found myself in, dodging the green, felt topped desk that was placed right in the middle of the room, and pressed my face against the cold glass.

A lone figure dressed in a bloody green uniform was sprinting off the property. Even at this distance I could tell that it was Keiran; he had probably been hiding in the school waiting for night, which I realized it now was. Bullets followed him, shooting through the chilly night air.

Suddenly he jerked. My heartbeat quickened. He was only steps from the forest, and freedom, but then he fell, his body splashing into the mud created by the previous night's rain. There were no more bullets.

I removed my face from the glass and turned to face the door. If it was night the lights would be turning off soon, people would be going to bed...

Then I heard voices.

"She ran into the study. Was hiding in the science lab, she was," came the drawl of a man from the hallway.

"This is no place for a child," replied another man, "Get her out and back up to the tower."

"Affirmative," the first man said.

My heart stopped. They would find me and bring me into the light... No. I had to stop them. I would not let them take me.

Several seconds later the door creaked open. I was standing by the light switch, ready to hit the man on the head with an incredibly large book that I had taken off the shelf when I smelled it.

It was like poison, corroding my nostrils, burning my throat, my stomach...

The officer came in the room carefully.

"Girl?" he called kindly, looking around.

My eyes were glued onto him, my heart racing. He was covered in blood. His hands were red with it, his jacket was flecked with it-blood.

Without thinking, without even knowing what I was doing I lunged. The man turned around too late to see me coming at him, his dark eyes widened with shock as I landed on him, driving him to the ground. He started to fumble for his pistol, his body shaking. He was much stronger than me but my hunger empowered me.

I felt a burning sensation in my mouth and my eyes tingled curiously. I wasted no time. Grabbing his tousled blonde hair I jerked his head to the left, exposing his tanned neck. I bent forward, pressing my knee on his torso to still him, and bit into his neck, sweet warm blood spilling onto the floor.

I licked it up, wanting more and more. I wanted it to never stop. The man shook violently for some time, but eventually he was still. I closed my eyes and drank until the man was dry, then I stood up and wiped my mouth off with my sleeve.

Then, I realized what I had done, what I was. A vampire. I raised my bloody fingers to my mouth and felt my teeth, sure enough, there were two fangs sticking proudly of from my gums.

A vampire. I was a vampire. But how? My dad was human.

But my mother. I had never known my mother...

I gazed at the dead male. He looked to be about twenty. He was a broad man with strong arms and a soft face. Someone would come looking for him any minute now, and I would be caught, I would be killed, shot, tortured...

My mind raced, and landed on a lingering soul far off on the school grounds, not yet dead, but dying.

Yes.

I locked the door with a faint click that seemed odd in the deathly silent room, then approached the dead man. I felt slightly embarrassed, but I proceeded all the same. After all, this was my life we were talking about, and all I was wearing was a very thin nightgown and house coat.

I quickly began to pull off the man's uniform. I paused at his boxers. I would have to go without underwear-or a bra-for a while. I replaced my nightgown with his pants, shirt, and jacket. Hurriedly I pulled on his socks and large black combat boots. Everything was a bit loose but I would have to deal with that.

I looked down at the half naked man. Poor guy. I grabbed his pistol and his pack, containing gunpowder, a map, a compass, and bullets. I shoved my nightgown and house coat inside it and then looked out the window. It was the only way out. It had grown darker as I had fed so hopefully they would not see me.

But what if they did?

I tried not to think about it. I went over to the desk and grabbed a chair, still licking my lips, hoping for another taste of blood. I took the wooden swivel chair to the window and held it high over my head, holding my breath.

Then I let it fall. The glass shattered created a doorway to the outside world. Now I just had to jump.

"What was that?!" Someone was yelling outside the hall; they had heard the glass break.

I swore under my breath.

"Behind this door!" Footsteps were coming closer...

I grabbed the windowsill and jumped up, kicking several shards of glass out of my way. I looked down.

There was banging behind me. "Open up in there!"

I took a deep breath and focused on the shrubs in the garden below.

A loud bang sounded as the lock was shot from the opposite side. The door swung open and I jumped.

The air was cool against my cheeks. I was weightless, falling. My stomach churned. I thought I might throw up-and then I landed. The bushes crumpled below me but I was unscathed. I stood up dizzily and couldn't quite get my balance for several seconds, but then I steadied myself and began to run for the distant trees.

"There, look!" cried someone from above, "Someone's running!"

I started to run faster, my legs working mechanically, my heart pounding, my chest heaving. There were several gunshots from behind me but they just made me run faster, all the time wondering if I would be dead the next second.

Finally I reached the trees, and collapsed into the damp grass. My muscles burned. I lay there breathing heavily for several minutes before I rose. They would be sending people after me soon.

The smell of blood was everywhere. Finding Keiran's body was not hard; he was laying face down in a pool of mud and blood, and did not appear to be breathing, but I knew better.

I came over to him and dragged him out of the puddle into the cover of the trees. Carefully, I flipped him over. Vampires could go for much longer than humans without oxygen. I checked for a pulse...it was very faint. I smiled.

His face was covered in mud. I opened up my pack and pulled out my nightgown. It had been expensive, costing me most of my allowance saved previous to my father's death, but I tore off a piece all the same and began to wipe his face.

After most the mud was gone I began to check for the bullet; if it was in his head he was useless... But inspection of his now somewhat clean face proved my fears false. Upon further examination of his body I found the bullet lodged in his back. I pulled off his jacket and shirt so that I could see the hole, then took a deep breath and plunged my index finger and thumb into the wound.

Keiran moaned but I was not deterred. I needed him alive so he could take me to safety, to the place where the vampires lived.

I felt around for several seconds before I found the bullet. Carefully, I pinched it with my finger and thumb then pulled it out. Keiran let out a cry of pain but I ignored it. I threw the bullet onto the ground and licked my fingers.

Then I rested my hands on Keiran's back, feeling fire shoot up my arms and started to whisper a simple healing spell. His wound was mended within seconds. I replaced his jacket and turned him back over. He groaned again. When I was sure he was lying comfortably on his back, I picked up the ripped section of my nightgown and finished wiping off his face.

"Told you I was an able healer," I said proudly. Keiran looked up at me and grinned faintly, his vibrant blue eyes dancing.

"But not a very good vampire," he said quietly.

"Not yet," I replied, smiling to myself, for now that I had tasted blood there was no going back.

The End