The rock which had come through the window rolled to a stop in the middle of the floor. It shook off dirt as it moved. The curtains swayed in the wind. Whenever they moved, they let in a bit more of the moonlight. Mrs Greene crept from the kitchen. She had become a rigid animal in the stance of hunting. She stalked up to the window. James made to follow her, but she held up her hand to tell him to stay back. She came up on the window from the left. James got more tense the closer she got to it. Human howling was heard from outside, then laughter. Mrs Greene put her head within the frame of the window to look out. Another rock flew through. It was only her lightning vampire reflexes that prevented Mrs Greene from being struck by it. The second stone landed near the first.

"That's it," James snarled. No one threw stones at his family and lived to do it again. He ran to the window and vaulted out. The glass cut into the palms of his hands, but it quickly fell out and the skin healed. He heard the people in the room yell at him not to. Their words rolled off his fuming skin.

Once outside, James could smell the wolf scent. It stank so it wasn't hard to pinpoint. He threw his flaming glare into the trees where they were hiding and snickering at him. If only they knew, he thought. If they knew how he was going to hurt them they wouldn't have come in the first place.

The front door swung open behind him and Orlando was by his side in a tick. James looked sideways at him. "I wont stop. They threatened us."

Orlando looked unsure as he scanned the moon stained woods. "We don't even know who they are."

"They are going to be history when I'm done." James hissed into the trees and the laughing ceased. A large man with a bald head emerged from where the sound had been coming from. He had three scars over his left ear. They disfigured his skull horribly. His eyes were wild, and he didn't focus on one spot for long.

He stomped up to James followed by two others, one of which was a small enough girl with tiny shoulders and waist. The large leader jerked his head up and down then spat at James's feet.

"Filthy-" the large guy began with venom in his voice.

"Let me guess," James interrupted, "you are about to call me a leech. Wolves really can't think for themselves."

Orlando cringed. "Now don't wind them up. We can resolve this without killing them."

The large wolf's eyes shot to Orlando. "Oh so you think you could kill us huh?" He started to square up to Orlando.

"Hey man great job not pissing them off." James shoved the large wolf away from his friend and he and Orlando prepared for the backlash by standing near each other.

"Don't!" Ella screamed from behind them. James turned his head to see her dashing towards them. Her hair was streamers out behind her. The moon made her pale. The colour was made more potent by the horror he saw etched in her features.

While he and Orlando had turned to face her, the wolves took their chance. The big guy took Orlando to the ground. Then the smaller guy and the girl rushed James. The world was on a merry go round as James plummeted to the ground. The soil gave his face a wet slap and the wolves were on top of him. The thought did cross James's mind that they were possibly the stupidest wolves he had ever met. In human form, the wolves did not stand a chance against a vampire. They needed to be able to turn or have a full moon. James assumed that these wolves were not pure of blood because they hadn't turned to try and devour him.

James waited under the assault. If Ella knew these wolves she had seconds to call them off. James vaguely heard her screaming. The attack was starting to hurt and one of his ears was receiving quiet the beating. His patience ran out.

Using his extra strength, he flung the wolves off him. Ella howled, asking him not to. He blocked her out as the two attackers came back for more. James spread his arms out, daring them to strike him. They took the bait. The girl was the first to reach him. He wrapped an arm around her throat and tossed her to the ground. Her friend tried to change his mind but as far as James was concerned the damage was already done. He caught the fleeing boy by his floppy hair. Yanking him back, James drove his fingernails into the front of the guys skull. The wolf boy wailed like a baby. Blood trickled like red rain from the top of his skull.

Ella started to pull on James's arm. She was chattering about not needing to do this. James shrugged her off and crushed the front of the guys head. The sound that came from Ella at this moment was something James had heard before, the sound of grief. Not really a scream but a roar with something else in there that made it sting in the recesses of his chest. James turned to explain to her that he had no choice. But the other girl, the vicious one, was on her feet and clawing at him. James grabbed her round the throat. one flick and she would be dead. She struggled like a fish. James began to choke her she flailed and bulged. She didn't look like a threat anymore. She was scared. He loosened his grip.

At that moment a weight hit him. It was hot, like he was singed by it. There was fur attached to this thing that had rammed him. As he flew sideways he felt the frail neck of his victim snap. He had been holding too tight and the sudden force had not helped to save her. She flew a bit with him but was left behind.

The force that had hit him was a large black wolf. The size of the thing would have been enough to tell James that it was a pure blood. The fact that it had turned with no full moon said this as well.

It had rows of white teeth that looked grey in the dark. James tried to focus on something other than the teeth. They were bared at him, drool creeping down them like slugs. The wolf ducked its head and circled James. James waited for the pounce. He had his hands raised and he felt the power in his limbs waiting to crush this new intruder. The wolf didn't pounce on him, although it remained ready to. It looked to Orlando who had restrained the big guy but not killed him. Orlando let go of his captive and stepped back. He put his hands well within view. The big guy grinned at the wolf. The wolf didn't seem to pay attention. It turned its massive head then its ears pricked up to the sound of Ella's tears. She choked on each one and tried to breath past her closing throat.

It watched her for at least a minute. Its eyes looked softer now. The snarl relaxed and it whimpered at her. The big guy, meanwhile, having realised that the newcomer was not going to help him to kill the vampires, had lifted his male friend's body.

"Ella, get her. Pick her up," the guy snarled.

James didn't like the tone he used. He moved to stand before Ella and opened his mouth to unleash his wit. Ella shoved him out of the way. She had the limp girl in her arms. Her face was puffy from tears. The strange wolf followed her a few steps, keeping its eyes on James.

"Ella?" James reached out to touch her. She recoiled and glared at him. The wolf behind her growled as James made contact with her.

James narrowed his eyes at the new wolf. "Go hump a leg."

The wolf growled again.

Orlando came and took James by the arm. "Come on man. Not now."

James shook him off. He locked eyes with the new wolf. He wanted to imprint those eyes in his memory so when he saw them on a human face he could pluck them out. The wolf didn't break the eye contact.

James and Orlando returned to the house where Mrs Greene was standing. She had her arms folded across her chest. Orlando patted James on the shoulder, shaking his head.

Orlando strode into the house. James tried to follow him, but Mrs Greene stopped him with a hand on his chest. She was gentle about it but James stopped none the less.

Her expression was stern and worried. "You should have let them go." That was all she said. Then she moved to the kitchen where she got a brush to start sweeping up the glass shards.

When the morning came James was exhausted. He always felt tired when the sun first rose. His phone showed the time as half eight and James wondered if he had given Ella enough time yet. He was sure she would see that he hadn't had a choice and they would go back to the way things were before.

These thoughts raved around in his head. The bedroom curtains were gold and glowing. The bed on which he sat was new. He got it when he took the house. The room was his childhood room. There were still scratches on the wall from where he had draw his family with a knife. Carved their cartoon and inaccurate faces into the wall. He had labelled them all. Robert, Eddie, daddy, but there was a woman standing beside daddy who was nameless. Her stick arms stood out in a joyous embrace and her triangle dress was lovingly drawn. But she had no name. James had known that her name was mammy. He had heard his brothers mention her a thousand times. He could remember hovering over the space above the drawings head. He could remember being proud that he could spell her name. He remembers deciding not to write it but not knowing why. The one thing he doesn't remember is mammy's face.

James shook his head. It was always early in the morning when he got sappy and nostalgic. The house was just a house and he needed to escape it. He needed to find Ella and make things right.

He left the chilly bedroom and came out and down the hallway to the living room. Here he saw a vampire sitting in one of the big armchairs. She was a wide hipped girl with red hair falling halfway down her back. She smelt like Mrs. Greene, so James concluded that this was the daughter that his housekeeper had requested to stay. She was wearing a denim jacket and black jeans. She lifted her head from the book she had on her lap when James came in.

"Hi." She smiled, and her ivy eyes creased at the sides.

"You're up late." James got his shoes from by the door and sat on the sofa to put them on.

"So are you."

James finished fastening his shoes before he spoke again. "Its my house. I am aloud to be mysterious here."

The girl looked down at the book again. "I suppose that's true. I'm Bonnie."

"I thought you might be. I remember we met once before."

Bonnie smiled. "Are you going to ask to play with my dolls again?"

"Do you still have dolls?" James moved to the door and got his coat.

"No. But I can get you some if you like." Bonnie looked at him again. Her round cheeks were soft and made her face very welcoming. "The sun is out."

James nodded. "I know, but I have something I have to do. Besides, I am not going to burst into flames."

Bonnie rolled her eyes and continued reading. "It will be uncomfortable. If you want to protect your eyes then there are sunglasses in the kitchen."

"I would know that with this being my house and all." James left the sunglasses behind and stepped out into the day. The sun made his skin feel like it was covered in ants. His eyes watered a bit and he had to close them to get a bit of relief. He started trekking into the woods. The human town was nearby, and it had been a while since he had eaten so he headed that way.

The human town was small and quiet. Those were the only words which James could use to describe the place. Boring may be another one. In all of the years he had lived near this place not one thing had happened apart from wolves killing some sheep. James came up on the town through the trees. It was a scene of short buildings and tall cows. Some children laughed in the park. A baby wailed through an open window. All around was the metallic smell of human blood. As much as James could sustain himself on wolf blood or that of witches, human blood was by far his favourite. The smell of it made drool push against the backs of his teeth.

The wind carried the smells of the forest into his nose and suddenly the wolf stench had ruined the moment. The smell of the wolf reminded him of the large black monster and its blue eyes. He sniffed again but could not smell the particular scent of that wolf. When he did, or saw the blue eyes again, there would be war.