I sighed, my breath fogging in the cold air. It was dark, the stars shone through the clouded night sky. I was walking home, the exhibit had gone well. In the three days leading up to my showcase I had done exactly as I had said, I sat around, watched movies with my brother, ate unhealthy food, and painted. 

I completed two new paintings that I gave to my agent. I wanted them submitted for my next exhibit, on tuesday. She dutifully complained about my last minute submissions, but I knew she was secretly glad. Heather liked putting in at least one or two new pieces for each showcase. 

I had done as I said I would, and one of my paintings was of the pretty girl. Painting her was fun. She was beautiful and I made sure her eyes glinted that golden glow of her wolf. My paintings were always realistic, though the humans would probably disagree. I painted supernatural people, bringing a bit of my world to the mundane. 

I worked under a false name: Leviathan. It worked for me, I didn’t want to be famous and there were plenty of creatures that would rather not be painted and showcased. This way, they couldn’t find me easily. 

The second painting I submitted was harder. It took me days to get it right and I still wasn’t thrilled. I had been right, painting his eyes was impossible. I made six different canvases of his features, just trying to get it right. It was the seventh piece that I liked best. I focused less on his eyes and more on his presence. He was the forest, he was the wolf, and something else, something… all consuming. I didn’t need to make his eyes glow, it was obvious he was supernatural. 

I sighed again. I shouldn’t have submitted it. Even Heather had given me an asumming look. It was obvious, even in the picture, that I thought he was beautiful. 

I heard a low sound from behind me and had to force myself to not look back. Someone was following me, I had known someone was following me. I decided to ignore them, I figured they would either make their presence known or leave me be. 

However I was almost home and my tail had yet to do anything interesting. Honestly it was boring. They were the entire reason I was walking in this frigid weather and I was beginning to think it was unnecessary. At this point I just wanted them to attack me, the exercise would do me good. 

I chuckled mirthlessly under my breath. It was truly a cold day in hell if I wanted my stalker to attack me, just so I could warm up. 

Another of my senses went off and this time I froze. 

It’s hard to explain the senses of supernatural beings. For banshees it feels like a hand grabbing the back of my neck. I call that hand Death, Echo calls him Fred. All banshees can sense when someone dies, the more powerful the banshee the farther the range for death detection is. Banshees can also sense the Undead, though we’re not as infamous for it. Mostly because you don’t feel it, until they’re right behind you.

So when I turned around, I came face to face with the vampire. 

Vampires, in my professional opinion, are gross. They smell like death and look like death. Their skin has rottened and sagged off their bones, their hair has fallen out until there's just thin wisps dangling from their scalp. Vampires mouths are wider than any normal human and stock full of needle sharp teeth, thousands of them. Their eyes have lost all pigmentation and are just a milky white, it’s understandable eerie. 

I didn’t scream though when the vampire opened its jaws and screeched in my face. Spraying me with bloody vampire spit. Yes, gross was an apt description. 

I didn’t panic at all. It was just one measly vampire after all. I just grabbed both sides of its head and broke its neck. The crack resounded through the silent night. Vampires have fragile bones, as fragile as any human being. 

I was about to turn away when I felt it again. The hand on the back of my neck. I looked up and swore. This time I panicked. There had to be at least twenty vampires. They were all swarming on the top of the building, jumping down the fire escape. Coming towards me. 

I didn’t have any weapons. I had left my sword at home because I figured I wouldn’t need it at an art exhibit. Damn me and my sensible decisions. 

The twenty odd vampires surrounded me. Vampires attack one at a time, they only all converge when their prey is incompacitated. I had that going for me at the very least. 

One of them started to speak. Which was odd, but not unheard of. It spoke, it’s voice grating and rasping. Gross.

“She will take your heart.” It hissed, head clicking back and forth. “Her prize. The Mistress of Love.” A piece of flesh slid down it’s cheek, like a slab of melted butter. “She will eat your heart. She gets your heart.” It smiled, flashing bloody needle teeth, over thin stretched lips. “We get the rest.” Right. I pulled out my phone, deciding to take the rational course of action and call my brother. It attacked, the other vampires taking up it’s chant. They repeated the nifty speech, completely out of sync. They would make horrible cheerleaders. However the chaos of their ranting did make it creepier. 

The vampire went for my phone, crushing it in it’s hand. Rude. 

I plunged my hand into it’s chest, ignoring the snapping of it’s ribcage and crushed his heart in my hand. It was only fair. The vampire fell to the floor and then the next one lunged.

☽◐⬤◑☾

I killed them, over and over and over. We had moved, due mostly to my maneuvering, down an empty alleyway. The night was still dark and cold. Though the exercise was warming me up. 

They died one by one. But using nothing but brute force was exhausting. I was tired and bruised and scraped in a few places. I had lost count of how many I had killed. More than ten, I think. There were only a few left.

I was panting, waiting for the next vampire to attack. It snuck up behind me, silently. Wrapping its arms around me, locking my hands down and sank its teeth into my shoulder. It’s needle-teeth sank deep, and then I felt the venom. It ran through my blood like termites chewing through my veins. And right on my shoulder, where it’s teeth dug in, it felt like a red hot iron was branding my flesh. I screamed. 

And a banshee’s scream is nothing to sneeze at. The windows on the surrounding buildings shuddered, some cracked. The street lights nearby went out. My scream died as the vampire gnawed on my shoulder, tearing at my flesh. I fought against it, trying to free myself of the parasite but it held fast. Another vampire attacked, lunging at my feet and hugging my calf. It drew back like a viper angling to attack and then it chomped down on my thigh. A new wave of venom added to the pain, another brand pressed against my skin. This time I was braced for it and didn’t scream. 

My knees gave out as the venom over rode my system. They weren’t draining me, just incapacitating me with the pain of their poison. If I were human the processes would likely Change me. 

The monster under my flesh protested at it’s disuse. I calmed him. The situation just wasn’t that perilous, yet. The venom wouldn’t kill me, I was immune. I just needed to-

I screamed, less impressive than the first, when the vampire dug its claws into my collar bone. I thrashed against it as the pointed fingertips sank in further, breaking the bone. The teeth and talons of vampires are not as fragile as human bones, I could hear my bones splintering.

The monster inside roared at me, begging to be realised. But the roar in my head was met with a roar cutting through the night, drowning out my sounds of pain. 

The vampire was ripped away from my shoulder and thrown against a concrete wall. I heard the vampire break, a wave of immense satisfaction hit me with the sound. With my arms free I grabbed the vampire attached to my thigh and tore off it’s head. I was really pissed off. 

I tossed the head of the vampire at the limp form of the other. It bounced, thumping hallowly, and rolled to a stop. 

The anger left quickly enough and I became acutely aware of the rumbling growl and the warm breath on my back. I turned around and came face to face with the giant maw of a wolf. He snarled at me once, flashing his fangs, and then took a step back. I looked around and realized all the other vampires were dead. 

I turned back to the wolf, he was beautiful. His coat was pure white and his eyes glowed a golden amber. He whined once and dipped his head, motioning to my thigh. I looked down, I was covered in blood. 

“It’ll heal.” I said, or at least I think I did, I definitely tried. The wolf huffed and I smiled. There were three things abundantly clear to me about this wolf. One he was a werewolf, two he was the one who had been following me, and three he was most definitely not Lupin. 

I reached out to touch him. He just looked so soft. He lunged towards me as the world went crawling sideways and then black.

☽◐⬤◑☾

I woke up to pain. Coursing, raging pain. My shoulder and my thigh, burning like a hot  poker embedded in my flesh. That fire ran through my veins, purging and ripping away the blight. I was on fire. I had to be. 

I opened my eyes expecting flames and smoke. But the room was dim and large, the bed piled with pillows and massive. I was sunk into its softness and rolling in sweat. The world spun and my stomach flipped. I must’ve said something because soon hands were grabbing my shoulders, lifting me up. I slumped in a sitting position, draped across a man. He cooed in my ear, brushing back my hair as I hurled into the bucket he had brought up to my face.

When I was done, smaller hands gentled me back on the bed. My head sinking into the pile of pillows. The small hands brushed away the hair sticking to my sweat coated face. The girl loomed over me, smiling and saying something comforting. I recognized her, the pretty one, with the nice laugh, the girl who had stood too close to Lupin. I growled at her and she nodded. 

“I know.” She was comforting me, she couldn’t possibly know. I closed my eyes, groaning as the fire started up again. This time my stomach stayed up right and the pain cleared away the fog in my head, just for a moment. I turned to the man at my right. 

“Phone.” I demanded, rather weakly, but he complied. He handed me his unlocked phone, sharing a concerned glance with the pretty girl. I quickly typed in the number and put the cool metal to my ear. It rang twice and then picked up. 

“Who is this?” He’s voice was high, worried and hopeful. 

“It’s me.” My voice was raspy and broken by pain, but he sighed and I could feel his relief. 

“Where are you? Are you ok? Arrow’s been tracking you but-”

“I’m alive, ok? I love you.” The world spun and I hung up. I almost dropped the phone but the man caught it. He stared at the phone and then at me. 

“Who was that?” But before I could even contemplate answering, the world went black.