It was a night so dark and treacherous, filled with the shadows of the monstrous creatures born of nightmares. I could hear the wind howling at my back like the sound of an animal left to die in the woods. It sent chills along my spine as it glided over the grass like a snake in the water, moving flawlessly. My great lion paws padding the earth leaving barley a mark as I shifted back to my human form. My tail was always the last bit to go back to place as I walked upright on my two human legs.

I swept my strawberry blond hair from my face as I used the back of my hand to wipe the still warm blood from my mouth from the kill I had just made deep within the dark forest. I walked to my car, parked just to the side of the road in the edge of the shadows just as I was about to open my door a figure swooped from the darkness much faster than a normal human, or even animal that I was aware of.

Before I even knew what was happening I was on the ground and I felt fangs sinking into me. Fangs were the only way to really describe them. Teeth are flat and dull and they rip into you, these were sharp and piercing, I could feel them puncture rather than tear at my skin. I could feel the life force being sucked from me. I was weak and helpless as I felt the flow of thick warm liquid parting my lips, I knew in an instant that it was blood, I didn’t care who or what it came from I only knew that I needed to feed or I would surely die.

The blood that flowed between my lips was far better than any I had ever had before from any animal, it held the taste of power and life. I fed on that power on that very essence of life. As I opened my eyes I quickly realized that I was alone again, my phantom attacker nowhere in sight.

I still felt weak yet somehow very much alive at the same time, I remember passing out but I was still aware. Its like they always say when you are dying you see your life flashing before your eyes, only this was very vivid. It was like flashing back upon my past.

I had just turned 16, I remember it well it was the night I learned that I was in fact not a normal teenage girl after all. It was the night of the full moon. I can remember it like it was yesterday, it was the most frightening night of my life. I can remember watching the moon slowly rise in the sky and all of a sudden there was a burst of pain so great, my body felt as though it was ripping apart. I screamed for my mother, and as she walked to me not looking frightened at all but a sparkle in her eye and a smile on her face.

How could she be smiling while I was in so much pain, couldn’t she see the pain in my eyes? I was so mad at her at that moment I wanted to lash out and hit her! I could feel my bones breaking, my skin stretching, it was the worst pain imaginable. Finally the pain stopped and it was as if it had never been there at all, I was me again yet I felt different somehow. As I turned looking for my mother I saw a huge beautiful lion standing where she had been, I can remember screaming with horror and running across the yard.

I stopped suddenly, how could I have ran so fast, no human can run like that. It was then that I heard my mother voice coming from behind me, “Gabrielle ma fille, it is ok it’s me.” I turned to look at her then and still did not see mother all I saw was the lion walking towards me. I remember whimpering, “Mamma? Mamma where are you?” I had started to cry then yelling to my mother “Mamma please I’m scared don’t let the lion eat me mamma!”

I heard mother chuckle and then I saw the lions mouth move with her voice coming from it. “The Lion is me ma fille.” I stood in complete shock as I realized that my mother had turned into a lion. I couldn’t believe it I didn’t want to believe it. It was then that I looked down at my own body just to realize that I myself had four legs and paws, and a tail.

Suddenly the flashes changed, I was 18 now it was the first time I met Him. He was a vampire, I was dazzled by him at first glance, dazzled yet quite leery at the same time I could tell from his scent that he was not human, although he tried to pull it off and almost did. Anthony DeMarco was over 400 years old hailing from Italy. I could tell at first glance Anthony was a playboy, he couldn’t help it, it was his nature.

I had never really thought about sex before, but the first time I saw him things stirred inside me that at the time I had no clue what it meant. It was to him that I lost my virginity to, his bed that I slept in that night, looking back now I regret it with every fiber of my being, knowing him the way that I now do I wish I could take it all back, but what’s done is done.

I was blinking my eyes I could feel the beast within me stirring wanting to rip from my body with a power not its own. I could feel a new surge of power; it was like darkness inside me wanting to emerge with my beast. AS I struggled to contain the bursting power within me my heightened senses flared I could smell fresh blood in the air, I could hear the beating of a heart strong and loud, as my vision cleared I saw her standing over me.