“Huh-” Michael murmured sleepily as he his hand touched my wet cold clothes. His eyes opened and looked into mine. I was shivering, my teeth were chattering. Michael swore under his breath and sat up dragging me into his arms.

“What happened?” He demanded.

I lay my head against his warm bare chest and closed my eyes. I didn’t want to answer that question. I just wanted to be next to Michael. His hands swept over my body checking for any signs of injuries,

“Are you hurt?” He asked urgently.

I didn’t respond.

“Are you injured?” He asked again.

I didn’t respond.

“Answer me!” Michael gave me a little shake and finally gave an answer.

“No.”

Michael heaved a breath of relief and wrapped his arms around me pulling me close against his body.

“Then what the hell happened?” He asked.

“Micah.” I said softly.

Michael tensed then looked down at me gently framing my face with his hands.

“Did he hurt you?” He asked.

I shook my head,

“No, he took me for coffee.”

Michael raised his eyebrows, “Coffee?”

I know it didn’t sound sinister and maybe I was over reacting but the way Micah just knew where I was and casually strolled up to me really shook me up. Micah was a murderer. What was to stop him from waltzing into here and killing me or worse Michael? I buried my face back into Michael’s chest agonizing over what could happen to the pair of us. Calmly Michael tries to reassure me and patiently extracts an account of the whole ordeal. By the time I have finished Michael’s face has hardened completely, his eyes brewing with hate towards the man who threatened me. Struggling to suppress his rage he gets out of bed,

“Stay here and take those wet clothes off.” He orders.

I jump up with supernatural speed grabbing his arm, “Michael, please, stay here, stay with me.” I begged.

Michael forces a smile and lightly kisses my lips, “I’m not going anywhere far.”

“I know you’re mad but please don’t go running after Micah and his pack of monsters. If you got hurt I don’t think I could…” my voice began to crack as tears ran down my face.

“I’m not going to go running after Micah.” Michael said.

I knew he was lying, I could sense it in his voice. He wanted to have it out with Micah and I was afraid he would lose because he was blinded by emotion. The all-consuming feeling of protectiveness towards our mate sometimes interfered with our better judgement and I feared that if I were to let Michael leave this room then I may never see him again. There was only one other instinct that rivalled the desire to protect our mate, and that was to be with our mate. As Keira had once told me we can use our bodies to control and manipulate our lover.

Still holding firmly onto Michael’s arm I lowered my lashes and bit my lip. I caught his gaze with mine and held it. I could feel the tension between us like a flame flickering and all I had to do was make that flame explode. Inching closer I allowed my grip on his arm to slacken, I knew he wouldn’t bolt, to put it simply- he couldn’t. I was holding him with my eyes and he stared transfixed on me like a snake being charmed. Holding his eyes with mine I allowed my fingers to trace the contours of muscles on his arms, letting my finger nails lightly scratch against his skin. Michael’s attention was diverting away from Micah on to me- wet, cold, shivering and vulnerable me.

“Please, stay with me.” I whispered through chattering teeth.

Michael’s eyes softened, he lowered his head to mine. I bit his lower lip teasingly running my fingers through his hair. Michael responded with a great sense of urgency he roughly crushed me against him kissing me hard. I wrapped my hand around his neck and he picked me up carrying me towards the bed. My wet clothes were really starting to irritate me now. Michael read my mind and grabbed the hem of my top and pulled it up over my head and throwing it to one side. He lay me down on the bed and soon we were making urgent passionate love and the drama of Micah was a million miles away.

Later as I lay in Michael’s arms, my head resting against his chest he asked me, “What would you have done if you hadn’t become a vampire?”

A smile and laugh bubbled up inside me, “I don’t know? I wanted to go to college and get job I guess.”

“No big super star dreams?”

“No- definitely not.”

“I always imagined you as a teacher.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, something sweet and caring and cute.” Michael said then he suddenly caught my lips with his and kissed me breathless. After finishing he looked into my eyes and said. “I know you fooled me so that I would stay with you.”

“Are you angry with me?” I asked.

“No. To be honest I’m too hungry to be mad at you.” He said sitting up throwing the blanket back.

I sat up too pulling on his shirt. “What are we going to do about blood?”

“I’ll go and get something then I’ll come back and feed you. You look tired so stay here and have a nap.” Michael said getting up.

“You’re not going after Micah?”

“No he’s long gone.” Michael replied.

I lay back against the pillows and watched Michael pull on jeans and a t-shirt. He crawled back on the bed once more to kiss me goodbye then left to go and find some blood. Closing my eyes I fell asleep happily drifting into pleasant dreams about Michael and I. My sleep was really peaceful until I heard the door of my bedroom opening. Groggily I opened my eyes expecting to see Michael but instead I saw a dishevelled woman was looming over me.

“Please, I think I need a doctor.” A cold clammy hand tugged at my blankets.

I dug my heels into the air bed and pushed myself back up the bed while releasing a short scream.  The woman’s eyes were two black discs staring back at me. She pointed to her arm as the bones began to crack and elongate.

“Please help, something is wrong with me.” She whimpered.

Like the other monster she didn’t know what was happening was happened to her, nor did she know that this was not the first time she had changed into this monster. She grabbed at my t-shirt’s hem clawing a massive hole. My vampire adrenaline kicked in and with a burst of supernatural speed I tore across the room in absolute panic. A few seconds must have passed in reality from the moment I saw the woman crawling across the bed to the moment I up and standing at the other size of the room. With my back against the wall I watched the woman on the bed start to convulse and contort as the change took hold of her. A high pitch cry escaped her mouth and she looked at me desperately then to the phone which lay a few feet away on the floor. ‘Help me’ she mouthed. Tears burned in my eyes, I’d never felt so helpless before. I wanted to help her but I knew in a few moments she would be beyond help and I would be in real danger. Forcing my feet to move I grabbed a pair of jeans and some shoes and ran to the door. The woman cried in anguish as I abandoned her to the monster that lay inside her.

I ran out that door so fast I literally fell into the corridor. My feet had caught on something large and heavy which didn’t surprise me because Skull’s gang were not exactly house proud when it came to their derelict pub, furniture and trash were often laid piled up in the middle of the floor waiting for someone to take a tumble over it. I lay on the floor for a few seconds listening- it sounded weird but something in my gut told me to shut up and listen before screaming and running out of the pub- so I listened. Music was playing loudly and the base permeated through the floor boards so that I could feel its heavy beat hammering in my chest. But there was no chatter or fighting. The only sign of life was the faint sound of movement above, a kind of shuffling noise that sounded like the footsteps of an animal on all fours. My intuition was screaming at me to hide. Softly  I got to feet trying to be quiet as possible, manoeuvring steadily I turned my head downwards for a moment intending to identify what was the heavy object I had fallen over. As soon as I made eye contact with the thing in question I stumbled back in revulsion and horror. The vampire with a large Mohican who had once gretted me at the door of this pub lay unevenly on the floor in pool of black tar like blood which had clotted and congealed around him. His jaw hung from his head from a thread of tendon and there was a gaping hole in his chest where his heart had once lay. I had to clamp my hand over my mouth to stop me screaming or crying. I tip-toed backwards away from the body until I had entered the junk filled storage room, as I crossed the threshold I heard movement from my room across the hallway. Quickly I dived behind a heap of trash and crouched down, seconds later the woman who was in my bedroom emerged from my room fully transformed into a monster. She sniffed the air and walked a few steps towards my hiding place, I froze, my heart thundering in my chest, but then the monster inclined its head towards the mutilated corpse that lay in the hallway. Salvia flowed over its jowls as it stalked towards the dead flesh and out view.

Shit, I was stuck in a room at the bottom of a pub at the dead end of corridor. I was completely trapped. Outside I could hear sounds of tearing flesh and smacking lips. My stomach rolled as the smell of rotting blood hit my senses. I shuffled backwards deeper into the room abandoning my jeans and shoes.  I hit the back wall and accidently found a small cupboard which I promptly opened. To my amazement and elation as I opened it I saw steps going up. Slipping into the hidden staircase I moved up the stairs and opened the door. The door led up to another disused storeroom on the upper floor. I crept out keeping in the shadows. The smell of blood was even stronger up here. There was no time to analyse or speculate what had happened before I had woken up, I had to stay alive. Moving slowly across the room I listened to the distant sound of scratching and shuffling. I waited until I was sure then opened the door a crack. The fluorescent light blinked erratically plunging the bloody scene in and out of darkness. The bodies lay like lifeless ragdolls across the floor half broken and half devoured. The stench of vampire blood made me recoil, vampire blood did not smell like human blood. The smell was stale, rotten and acrid, I struggled not to breathe it in. There was no immediate sign of the monster so I left the storage room and crossed the hall intending to make a run to the front door. I moved carefully trying not to step in entrails but as I edged along there was a sudden loud crashing sound followed by an unearthly cry. I dived into what was Skull’s office and slammed the door shut. Outside the door I could hear movement. Ducking low I crawled underneath Skull’s desk and curled into a tight ball. The office door opened and I closed my eyes tightly. The monster was in the room with me. I held my breath refusing not to open my eyes just in case I did look and found myself face to face with the monster. The footsteps dashed over to the desk and something grabbed my arm, I almost screamed but a hand clamped over my mouth.

I looked up. Michael. Tears were burning in my eyes. He quickly dragged me to my feet and glanced over my body checking for injuries and then pressed his finger to his lips. He treaded softly across the floorboards holding my hand and guiding me out of the office. He glanced about and then ran through the pub out the front door. Shrugging off his coat he wrapped it around me, the rain was still pouring and I was wearing nothing but his oversize t-shirt and panties. I looked over Michael’s shoulder and saw Keira staggering towards me covered in blood with Skull. Skull had his arm looped around her waist and was walking slowly towards the pub. Michael nodded at Skull and said,

“Burn it.”

Skull reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a bottle which I recognised as a petrol bomb. He lit the rag and then threw it through the window. The pub went up in flames in seconds to my amazement. From inside I could hear the screams of the monsters trapped in the flames.

“Can they get out?” I asked Michael.

He shook his head but offered no explanation.

Turning to Skull I asked, “How many apart from us escaped.”

Skull raised his hand and pressed his thumb against his index finger to make an o shape, and thus Skull’s gang the ‘renegades’ were no more.