Music drifted softly through the thick, alcoholic air that was laced with the smell of ales, beers and whisky. The murmur of voices talking lowly in private conversations echoed; entwining with the song as the young bartender sloppily pour into a chipped glass. A young woman who sat at the bar stool alone, her hood from the black zip up pulled over her long chocolate brown hair. Her head hung low as her brown eyes watched the deep amber liquid slip around the glass.

" You call that a fucking glass of whisky?" She asked him and rolled her eyes at the glass in front of her. The bartender had poured it into the wrong glass and had pour it so careless the it had splashed over the sides. She handed over the money for it and took the glass into her right hand.

" How many of those have you had?" A deep voice sounded next to her, she turned her head to look at the man next to her and boy was he eye candy. Her black hair framed his strong jawline that was cover with a black stubble. His unnaturally blue eyes sent shivers down her back causing goosebumps to rise all over.

" Em, I uh. I have no idea." She stuttered to him as he smirked with a low chuckle. He moved to sit on the bar stool to the left of her, fixing his black dress suit coat. Underneath he wore a white shirt with black skinny jeans and shinny formal black shoes.

" Richard." He said extending his right hand to shake her hand. She eyed his hand as if it was cover with spikes she they then looked to his blue eyes with caution. After a few moments she reached out and shook his hand hand with her right; never taking her eyes from his.

" Grace." She told him and went back to take a swallow of burning liquid. She looked to the bartender who was no longer the young naïve one who cannot even pour a simple pint of beers. It was an old fellow who had grey hair and soft calming brown experienced eyes with heavy eyelids.

" Ken! About time! Who's the newbie?" Grace asked the old man who laughed and leaned against the bar facing her.

" You noticed? He is the new guy I am training." Ken told her with a gentle smile.

" He needs a lot of training." Grace mumbled as she drank her whisky causing Richard to laugh at her left.

" Give the boy a break, Grace! It's only his first shift." Ken said with a smile and Grace nodded.

" Fair enough, maybe I was a bit harsh. But you know I don't like it when people pour my whisky wrong." Grace said and then lifted her glass and pointed to it with raised eyebrows.

" And in the wrong glass! Ken can I have my glass with another please." Grace begged like a child with a pout who's parents where keeping there Easter egg from them. Ken and Richard laughed softly at Ken nodded.

" Of course sweetheart." Ken told her throwing the White towel over his black dress shirt. He reached for the best crystal glass he keeps hidden so only she could use.

" Put it on my tab." Richard had told Ken who laughed with a nod.

" Huh." Ken smirked to Grace knowingly who just rolled her eyes and took the glass taking a large drink from it as Ken walked away to serve another customer.

" So Richard, that accent. It ain't from around here!" Grace said pronouncing her Scottish accent more than normal. Richard laughed and looked at his drink of a local ale.

" Yes, I am for England actually. London to be exact." Richard said with a smile as he remembered his home.

" You must be wealthy by the sounds of it. What with your posh British accent." Grace tried to copy but ended up failing with her head held high and her shoulders back swinging softly. Richard let out a full laugh as he looked from her then down to his drink.

" Yes well, I do unfortunately." Richard said as his smile fell causing Grace to raise an eyebrow.

" What? You don't like having money?" Grace asked taking a drink from her glass.

" I do it's just. With money come pain and greed." Richard said finishing his drink.

" Trust me, I would love to have some money." Grace said finishing her drink and putting the glass gently onto the bar.

" And why is that?" Richard asked and Grace slipped off the bar stool and held tightly to the bar top. She reached over to her right side and grabbed a set of crutches to hold her up. Richard fused his eyebrows together and saw her limp in her right leg. He watched her limp to turn to face him; feeling a ping of guilt and hurt in his heart and began second guessing his plans.

" Not everyone can live a happy and comfortable life." Grace simply put it with a sad look on her face.

" How?" Was all Richard could ask her as she smiled weakly and shook her head.

" Would you open the door. I will tell you outside." Grace smiled gently to him as he nodded and stood up from the bar, quickly leaving a ten pound note on the counter and walked forward opening the heavy wooden door. Grace then limped out using the two crutches on either side of her to keep balance.

" Thanks." She smiled to him as they walked out into the cold Scottish air of Edinburgh. They turned and began walking down the street slowly so Grace did not get to tired.

" So how did that happen?" Richard asked slowly not wanting to offend her.

" I was in Afghan working as a medic on a patrol. We came under contact and a soldier in my section was hit, but no one could get to him without risking themselves. But he was bleeding out and if I never got to him he would have died." She explained remember the scenes of horror she had witnessed.

" So I ran to him, what we did not know was that there was a sniper. He caught me in the leg." She said stopping and pointing to her right thigh muscle.

" It was a through and through on the outside part of my leg thankfully. But even though I was wounded I managed to get to the soldier and was able to save his life. Once we had him in the chopper we were waiting for my hitch up. They had thought they had neutralised the sniper. But we were mistaken when this happened." She side lifting up her shirt to show a nasty large scar on the left of her abdomen. Richard felt something well up inside him; his finger seemed to have a mind of their own when they reached out a touched the large scar.

" I should have died. A sniper round is hard to survive as it basically rips you apart, but some who; by some magic I survived." She told him putting her shirt down as moving again as Richard followed keeping his eyes to the ground as if he was thinking hard.

" After that I fell into dispear. I was diagnosed with PTSD and given an honourable discharge and I was awards the military cross. Fat lot o' good that done though." Grace snickered and she looked down to the ground.

" Here I am living in a flat by myself, crippled with no way of making money. All that by the rip old age of twenty." Grace chuckled before stopping and looking up at the flat on the top floor of a five floored building that was clearly falling apart.

" You live up there?" Richard asked her as she nodded.

" I can just barely afford it." She whispered disgusted at herself as a tear formed in her eyes and softly slipped down her cheek.

" Do you not have any family?" Richard asked her as Grace chuckled and shook her eyes.

" Family? No the only family I have left is my mother, who disowned me when I joined the army." Grace muttered to the ground as a silence echoed into between them, screaming and biting for them to interact.

" I'm sorry." Richard said as he looked to Grace as she sucked in a deep breath and straighten her posture.

" Life goes on mercilessly. Ain't nothing we can do about it." Grace spoke as she stepped forward only to have her crutch catch on something sending her completely off balance and falling to the ground. She collided with the ground hard as Richard stood inhumanly still next to her. Grace held her breath in sheer pain from her wounds as she landed, but she also felt a slice on her hand dripping no doubt from a shard of glass. She looked at it with a painful grunt before a growled pinged in her ears. She looked up to see Richard who's eyes were no longer their unnatural blue shade, but completely black with a few gains around them. His jaw tensed so tightly it made it stick out at least a centimetre. Grace stared at him with a feeling welling up inside of her. She has only ever felt this feeling once before through her entire life and career within the most dangerous occupation in the world.

" What? What? Richard!" She whispered loudly with fear sticking her every atom and fibre.

" I tried. I am so sorry I had changed my mind." Richard growled in a deep voice that did not belong to him; it sent a horrid feeling ripping through her as the hairs stood on their ends.

" What?" She asked before Richard and lifted her from the ground and held her at his level in an instant. Grace looked at him with fear pleadingly.

" Richard." She whispered as she eyes brimmed with tears.

" I am so sorry." He growled as if he was in pain himself, and he was as inside he was fighting himself. One part of him felt the need protect her and care for her while the tiger wanted nothing more than to feed off her.

" Richard please..." She cried silently to him as his lips found her neck where it meets the shoulder.

" Sorry, I can't. I can't stop, the smell..." Richard whispered as his hand went to her neck and pressed cutting the air supply stopping her breathing, while also tilting her head to give him more room and he bite into her neck. She tried to scream but was unable to as his grip tightened around her neck. She could feel him taken her blood from the wounded he had created. Slowly she began to weaken and her legs gave out no longer able to hold themselves up as her hands dropped from gripping onto his wrists. Richard then pulled back with a hurt expression as his lips were tainted by red as his eyes went back to normal.

" I want you to forget everything to do with me. I want you to forget what I have done and how and know that I am truly sorry. You will be happy with your life." He told her looking straight into her eyes just before she passed out.