This is Chapter 7 in my book called Honour. Hope you enjoy it!
I had no idea what he was going to say to me, although I knew it would be something extraordinary by the sound of his tone.
Although I could tell it was chilly tonight, I didn't feel the cold, even though I was wearing nothing but my pyjamas. Neither could Skye, by the looks of his T-shirt. His hair was very slightly glittering; scattering the light in different directions. It wasn't too noticeable; I just noticed it because it was the same way mine glittered in any kind of light. It was probably glittering now.
“You're not going to believe me, and I'm not going to force you to. Yet,” he added, evilly.
“Spit it out, Skye, you're starting to freak me out. By the way, you don't happen to know how I woke up in the middle of my favourite place?” I asked, more confused than scared.
“As a matter of fact, I do. Not that you're going to believe me.” I waited for him to say more.
“And?” I prompted when he didn't.
He chuckled at my impatience, “Tess...” he bit his lip, reluctant to say any more.
“For God's sake,” I mumbled, looking out towards the trees.
He laughed once, “I'm not worried about your reaction, it's the thought of how stupid it's going to sound.”
“Try me. I'm into a lot of weird stuff.”
“Fine.” He narrowed his eyes and hesitated. He wasn't anxious any more, he was judging my reaction. “Try this. I'm a vampire.” His grin was still in place, and he seemed genuinely amused by my reaction.
My face was neutral. My eyes blank, not blinking, just staring.
“Very funny,” I said without humour after a few minutes.
“Thought not,” he chuckled to himself.
“Skye, no offence, but I've woken up from a recurring nightmare in a wood, and you're trying to convince me that you're a vampire?” I spoke each word slowly and carefully, thinking them through before speaking them.
“Yep,” he grinned, showing his teeth. There were no signs of sharp fangs there. They were exactly like mine; white, straight, and glistening.
“Very funny,” I repeated with a chuckle.
“Why the hell would I lie about something like this?” he asked.
“I don't know, Skye, you tell me,” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
“That's fair enough, I'll have to prove myself eventually,” he shrugged, not put out at all.
“That's likely,” I said, coolly.
“You will believe me, I've got loads of tricks up my sleeve.” He just kept grinning. It was getting on my nerves.
“Like what?” The snarl didn't quite cover the curiosity in my voice. He laughed.
“Let's see.” He looked up at the moon, and pretended to think. “I change when I take this off.” He pulled the charm of the chain around his neck and showed it to me. It was a silver prowling tiger. It's eyes were yellow, and every stripe had been engraved with minute detail. He slipped it back under his shirt.
“How do you change?” I asked, my voice still acidic.
“They're not big changes, I still look like me. In a way. But they're noticeable enough that I can't go out without it in public. Well, human public, anyway.”
“Why do talk like we're a different species?” I asked, voice still cool.
“Who's we?” he asked.
“You, and then the rest of the world's population, including me,” I shot back.
“Tess...We, aren't different.” He indicated between him and me. “That's why I turned up out the blue at school yesterday. I was meant to tell you earlier, but I thought you'd react like this, and so put it off. I didn't plan to tell you tonight.”
“Hold up.” I held a hand up. I hadn't heard the second part of the speech. That one phrase had my head reeling, “Did you say we aren't different, right after you claimed you were a vampire?”
“Yes,” he said. I turned to look at him, very slowly.
“You are trying to claim,” My voice was dangerous now, “that both you and I, are vampires?”
“Not yet,” he allowed. “But we will be. In two weeks.”
“What?” I almost shrieked, making a few roosting birds scarper. “I'm sorry, but that's just sick, Skye!” I was on my feet and shouting at him. “You've known me, what? One day? And you're already playing tricks with my mind!”
“You done?” he asked, eyebrows raised. “I don't think they quite heard you in Scotland.”
“Shut up! Just shut up!” I strode a few paces away from him, pressing my fingertips into my temples, trying to clear my head.
“I'll get you home,” he said after a long silence. “You can sleep on it.” I heard him get to his feet.
“I'm perfectly capable to get myself home thanks,” I snarled, slapping his arm away.
“You're already strong, no one's been able to do that to me before,” he mused to himself.
“Okay, enough with the vampire talk. It's ridiculous, and I'm still not over my tantrum.” I was calmer, but had no intention of leaving this argument like it was.
“Would you rather I proved it now?” he asked, answering my thoughts.
“If you could.” I sat back on the fallen log, arms and legs crossed.
“Fine,” he said cheerfully. “What do you want me to do? Morph? Run? Push a tree over? Remove my charm?” he offered, staying on his feet.
“What do you mean by morph?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
“I mean I can take the form of either a bat or mist,” he replied, grinning.
“Leave that for last, then,” I said. That would be the most likely thing to convince me. “Try controlling the weather.” I was morbidly curious, now, and my voice wasn't hiding it.
“Fair enough. It may not work, my will power isn't fool-proof.”
“Sunny?” I asked.
“No,” he replied at once. “I can't do anything that would attract attention.”
“Oh yeah,” I said.
“Snow storm?” he suggested.
“Okay,” I said after a pause of thought.
He nodded, and came to sit next to me. He watched the sky with intense concentration, like he was trying to read a sign in the clouds.
A few flakes fell onto my bare arm, then several more. It was snowing heavily within seconds, but Skye didn't let up until it was whirling around us, drifting up the tree trunks and the covering the ground in a thick blanket.
“You could've seen the weather forecast,” I muttered, not wanting to be defeated.
“What then?” he asked, turning back to me. “What will convince you?”
“I'd rather you didn't set the forest on fire, so I want you to morph,” I replied.
“A bat or mist?” he asked casually as if he was buying me a pet.
“Do a bat,” I decided.
He nodded again and stood up, facing away from me. He wandered to the far edge, ran across, back towards me, an leapt over the log.
It was almost as if he'd passed through an invisible portal. On the other side, a small black bat flew and dived around my head. My eyed were wide, and unblinking, watching the bat as it turned and hovered in front of me.
It grinned at me!
Then it flew a few meters away and the human Skye was back on his feet in front of me.
“Believe me, now?” he asked.
“Yes.” My voice was barely a breath.
“You'll be able to do that too, you know.” He came and sat back next to me.
“Yeah...” I nodded, still dazed. I had to blink several times before I could recover a rational head. “You know that charm?” I looked down at it, resting on his T-shirt.
“What about it?” he asked.
“Take it off, I want to see what you meant.”
He bit his lip and hesitated.
“Okay...but you mustn't scream,” he agreed finally. “I'm not worried about people hearing you, you've probably already woken up half the village,” he grinned at the thought. “It just won't help my ego.”
“You're worried about your ego? You're a flaming vampire, and you're worried about your ego?” I asked, incredulously.
“Yes,” he replied. “I'm not human, I know, but I was once.”
“Fine. I won't scream,” I promised.
He nodded and stood up, turning his back to me.
“Don't scream,” he reminded me. He lifted the chain from his neck, and, immediately, the creamy pallor of his skin disappeared, turning the back of his neck whiter than white. In fact, he looked dead.
He turned to me, very slowly, and looked me right in the eyes. His eyes were flat black, no white in them at all. I was reminded of horse's eyes; you shouldn't see any white unless they were scared. I could see the bright reflection of the moon in them. The nails on his hands had grown and sharpened, just like a cat's claws. They were as clear as glass, but still looked incredibly strong.
But it wasn't the dead-looking skin, or the black eyes, or the clawed fingers; it was the pair of small fangs protruding from the corners of his mouth. They were curved inwards very slightly, and they looked sword-point sharp. They stopped just below his lower lip.
“This is what I should look like.” He grinned, showing the rest of his teeth. He didn't look like Skye at all.
I realised that my features were neutral. I hadn't shown any response to this transformation.
“Will I look like that?” was all I could ask.
“At first.” He put the chain back around his neck, and his features turned back to normal. “But I'll make you a charm. You won't ever have to take it off if you don't want.”
“Can't you make me one early, so I won't ever have to look like that?” I knew I was being quite rude, but I was scared at that point.
“Uh...no.” He looked nervous again. “I can't make you a charm if I don't know what form your spirit takes.”
“What?” I asked.
“Yeah, your spirit kind of...emerges from your body when you remove the charm.” I looked pointedly at him.
“I didn't have mine off long enough,” he explained.
I could see light on the horizon, and frowned. It couldn't be Saturday morning already, could it?
I froze then, not quite understanding what had made me think the thought.
“Skye,” I asked slowly, turning back to him. “What do we eat?”
“I think you can guess that,” he said lightly. He wasn't ashamed at all.
I made a noise that sounded a bit like a squeak. That scared him.
“Tess?” he asked warily.
“I'm fine. Just taken by surprise.” My voice was too high to be fine, and he knew it. He stood up and offered his arm to me. I took it and let him lead me to the edge of the forest.
I dug my heels in at the edge, realising what I was wearing.
“I can't go wandering the streets in pyjamas.” I said through my teeth.
“No one's going to see you.” he grinned evilly, and the fangs came flashing into my mind. I pushed the thought away.
“How?” I asked.
He just grinned and disappeared from view for a split second before I found myself cradled in his arms, frowning up at him.
“Put me down,” I growled. And then I choked; I didn't sound human then, I sounded like an animal.
He laughed and walked forwards, “No chance.”
“How's this going to stop people seeing me?” I challenged.
He grinned again and broke into a full-out sprint. Although it wasn't a sprint, it was way too fast for that. The world was blurring past my eyes, and the wind was whipping my hair away from my face.
I wasn't afraid.
I was exhilarated.
I found myself laughing as he ran. I understood immediately why no one would see us; this was way too fast.
We didn't stop until we were round the back of my house, he was looking up at my window with narrowed eyes, judging the distance, before hopping onto the raised lawn and running up and leaping through the window. How he got it open with me occupying his hands, I did not know.
He put me down silently on the wooden floor, and grinned at me.
“Thanks.” I nodded, perching on the edge of my bed, “Hey, how'd you know where my room was? How'd you know where I lived?” I frowned at him.
“Urm...” He ran a hand through his hair, and turned to go.
“Hey!” I jumped up and grabbed his arm.
“You'll really think bad of me if I tell you the truth,” he said, still smiling. Did he ever stop?
“Why?” I was playfully suspicious. “Have you been stalking me?” I joked.
“Sort of?” the smile turned into a grimace and he was still playing with his hair. His tone made the statement a question.
“Huh?” there was no way he was joking. “You've been following me?”
“I was just checking how far along you were. I only made an appearance because I thought it was best if you had some sort of warning.” He sat beside me.
I narrowed my eyes at him, “You're lying.” I didn't know how I knew, I just did.
His eyes widened in surprise, “You're getting there quick.” He smiled again.
“Getting where?” I asked.
“Your intuition's already sharp.” His grin widened. “It was my siblings that pushed me to speak to you.”
“There's more of you? Us?” I added on the last bit as an afterthought.
“Of course,” he said. “Tamsyn and Felix are vampires, too. We're not really blood-related, they kind of adopted me when Tamsyn slipped.”
“Slipped?”
“Bit me.”
“Oh.” was all I could say.
“Don't sound so shocked,” he chuckled. “How d'you think I was made? By something I ate?”
“No, it's just different to hear it out loud,” I said truthfully.
“I'll tell you more later,” he promised, getting up. “Your dad's woken up.”
I glanced at the clock, and then back at him.
“Later?” I asked.
“It's Saturday. I'll see you at at ten.” he winked and disappeared below the window.
Copyright 2010
Below is the Prologue to the second book in the series, Mist.
Here was the problem; I felt nothing for her. She was just a toy to play with, and now I'd made her into one of my kind, it was even more fun. I could tell her anything, and she'd believe me. No longer human, yes, but she still had an ignorant human mind.
I'd already convinced her that her little 'good' vampire friends were nothing but brainwashed saps with not much longer to live. Jesus, it'd been scary when she'd cried...
With one final flap of my bat-like wings, I swooped into the tree canopy and landed neatly on the hard soil. I sat on a nearby tree stump whilst I waited for Grace to catch me up, folding my wings behind my back..
She didn't land 'grace'fully. She landed too quickly, too heavily, her legs gave out, she stumbled and fell over.
“James, look out!” she squealed looking in horror at something over my shoulder. I saw a snapping of teeth, and that was all.
Copyright 2010
Below is Chapter 3 of the third book in the series, Enigma.
Wolf-hood was a relief, though I hated saying good-bye to Elsa without as much as an acceptable excuse. I did have to admit that her sister was sweet in a weird way.
My wolf eyes were adapted to the dark now with ease. I could see every little detail of everything nearby. I was snuffling at the ferns, trying to find the exact spot of my repetitive sketch. Bizarrely, it was a thrill of excitement when I acted my own imaginative portrait.
It was true, I was always meant to be a wolf. Not a lycan, a wolf. I wasn't born this way, and it wasn't a life I would have chosen, given the choice. No wolf would.
I would stick to my little patch of trees tonight. I didn't want to be seen again. If it was being shown all over the village, especially. I found the spot; it was the place where my scent was strongest. I pulled my lips back in a wolfy grin. Part of me was still human. Maybe not consciously, but still partly instinctively.
I looked up at the little clear patch of sky through a break in the branches and saw the little sliver of moon amidst the clouds. I sat back on my haunches, my black tail sweeping old leaves from last autumn into piles, threw my head back, and howled.
“Omigod, it's the wolf!” a voice shrieked through my ears. I stopped abruptly, and peered through the sea of bracken and tree trunks, ear pricked, ready to snatch any given sound.
When no more came, I scampered through the under brush and to the outer trees, where two girls about my age were staring wide-eyed into the wood, clinging to each other. It was Sarah and Elsa.
What on Earth were they doing here? I was at least two miles out from the village and the school. I pushed it to the back of my mind; I'd worry over it later.
My human instincts told me to scare them for a bit of fun, but wolf instincts told me to flee, though I knew deep down that they couldn't harm me.
The human part of me won out and I stepped cautiously from the trees, knowing my eyes would give me away soon enough. I paused sniffing the air every now and again, as a curious wolf usually did.
When I came into view, Sarah screamed so high pitched that I winced and cringed back a few steps, back into the shadows. Sarah darted behind Elsa like she was some sort of shield, and that made me angry for a reason I could not fathom.
I growled, baring my teeth, stepped back into view, my mood no longer tormenting. Just angry.
“Now you did it,” Elsa whispered shakily. I stopped abruptly. I didn't want to scare her, just her idiotic friend.
I glanced as meaningfully as I could to Elsa, then tried to circle her to Sarah, who was now moaning and tugging on Elsa's sleeve.
I'd never noticed the girls' scents before, I'd never been near them as a wolf. My nose wrinkled against Sarah's overpowering sickeningly sweet perfume, whereas Elsa's smell reminded me of the nearby beach.
“Please, can we go?” Sarah moaned, forcing Elsa back a bit.
“Shush!” Elsa hissed, her eyes not leaving me. She was staring at me in fascination. Had she never seen a wolf before?
I could answer my own question; I was being stupid. There were no more native wolves in Britain. And yet here I was, happy as Larry, to go and reveal myself to two human girls, one of which, may be able to fit two and two together. My drawing earlier, and then me, now.
I thought this through in quick timing, before backing off into the trees, where I could run back to my little clearing and self-deprecate myself.
As I stepped back, Elsa foolishly stepped forwards. I stopped, and refrained from frowning. She took another step and reached a hand out to me. I watched it warily, and took another step back.
“Don't go...” she murmured, as if she thought I could understand her. I could, but she wasn't to know that.
With a wolfy sigh, I did the only thing I could think of doing. I bared my teeth, flattened my ears and lowered my head in a vicious snarl. A bit of sense hitting her, she stepped back, hands up, palms towards me, head low, eyes on the floor at my paws.
She was being submissive, speaking my language. I respected her for that, and tilted my head to the side, my ears flopping over. I looked slightly more domesticated like this.
She didn't chance it again. She backed off slowly, eyes on the floor. When she was far enough away, I pivoted on one hind paw and bounded back into my wood, ready to scold myself.
I flopped onto my stomach, head on paws, in the little clearing underneath the shimmer of moonlight. I scolded myself over and over again;
Could have recognised me...not daft...smart...knows me inside out...saw my sketch... over and over again.
Then I remembered I hadn't eaten that day. I scrambled heavily to my paws and sniffed the leaves. There was a badger family nearby. I picked up the trail and followed it thoroughly, just to keep my wolfy mind occupied.
Once I'd found the den, I hid downwind from it, waiting patiently for the animals to appear.
One eventually poked it's head out of the hole, sniffed the air, and jumped out. It snuffled a few steps, and then turned and spotted me, lying in wait.
As swift as a bolt of lightening, I leapt from my hiding place and dived at the badger, jaws at the ready. It'd only managed a few bounds before I caught up with it, snapped it's neck, and scampered back to my little clearing with it.
I'd had nicer meals, it had to be said, but I'd eat kittens at the rate I was starving myself. I never ate during my human daylight hours. After six years, I still hadn't got my head around knives and forks and hot food.
I buried the remains of the animal at the foot of my hollow oak tree, filled with leaves. And my stolen stuff, like clothes and the laptop.
How long till morning? I jumped up, putting my front paws on the bottom of a large hole in my hollow tree, looking inside. There was a plain silver watch on top of the leaves – which were covering the stolen stuff. The watch showed it was three o-clock in the morning.
I huffed and went to a shadowed spot under a pine tree. I turned several circles, trampling a little soft patch amongst the ferns and curled up, bushy tail over my muzzle. With a wolfy sigh, I closed my eyes and slept.
I woke up – still as a wolf – scrambled up and shook myself down, fluffing up my fur. I could see a few streaks of red over the clouds as the sun was nearing it's rise. I turned my wolfy body facing East, and bowed my head, waiting for the sun to steal my wolf form.
I was on my human hands and knees when I next opened my eyes. The sun was half above the horizon, and my fringe was in my eyes. I bounded to my feet and went to pull on my school stuff – stolen, of course – and sat back against the pine tree where I'd slept.
I fished the only photograph I had of me. I was three months old, before all this lycan business. I was a puppy version of my wolf-self now, minus the white flash, which was actually a scar. My eyes had been ice blue before.
A human had gotten close enough to me when I was this age, taken a photo, and then dropped it when my mother chased them off. I hadn't known what it was, of course, but I kept it. I was always a slightly odd animal.
I sat remembering for several hours, not thinking about the time. Wolves had no concept of time. However, when the sun was high enough so I could estimate that it was nearly time for me to leave, I fished the watch from the hollow tree and strapped it to my wrist. It was half past eight. I was late.
My school bag, which had not been touched since last lesson yesterday, still lay at the foot of a willow tree. I picked it up, and swung it over my shoulder, before trampling through the undergrowth in the general direction of school.
Then I remembered the girls last night.
I stopped at the edge of the wood where I was fairly certain they'd been. I frowned, looking every which way, trying to spot some reason why they'd been here. There was nothing but other small woods and then just fallow fields.
Frustrated because I couldn't ask her, I picked my way completely out the wood and then ran at the speed of the wind to the school's back field, where I'd be forced to walk.
I sighed as the several small buildings came into view, and slowed to an irritating walk.
Copyright 2010
