I could feel the aches within my body slowly melting away as I swam through the cool dark water. The transformation happens very quickly, but all the running I ended up doing had left me feeling slightly frazzled. I surfaced and took a deep breath of fresh air. The moon shone brilliantly through the spindly trees and the dappled light rippled across the stream which I was currently wading in. The stream was fairly deep, as my tippy toes brushed against the slippery leaves at the bottom.

Being a werewolf required much adjustment and patience, because the heightened senses were sometimes a pain. Which was why I preferred to roam about in places that weren't frequented by many people. As I slowly thread through the water, I listened intently around the woods. Apart from a distant bark from someplace very far away in the town, there was nothing around me except for the slow rhythm of crickets creaking away.

My body had been tensed up until this moment, and I found myself relaxing as I realised that I didn't want to leave the stream.

I could heard footsteps. Soft steps walking swiftly over grass. I turned around to notice a hill and a distant house, something I didn't notice before in the dark, maybe because it was hidden behind a large array of old trees, but also because I only noticed the mansion had its lights turned on now.

A heavy shadow from the trees had been cast over the hill, so all I could make out was a lean masculine figure walking towards the stream. I suddenly gasped, as I realised I was dressed in nothing and only had my long hair for cover, which was heavy and wet from my swim. I considered making a run for it, as my clothes were not too far alongside the stream, but I couldn't risk it, not with the figure so close to the bottom of the hill. I sank deep into the water.

With his arms swaying slightly, the figure reached the bottom and had stepped into the moonlight, making his face, and a smile, clearly visible.

I had no idea what the hell to do.

But that had quickly disappeared from my mind when something else consumed my attention. This man had a queer smell. He was definitely not human, I suddenly realised. There was no heartbeat, but I smelt a faint icy sweet scent. Vampire, definitely. But there was something else I was picking up on… Werewolf.

Wolves have quite a strong deep scent, like woody spice. That's how I always noticed it. But this scent was dominated by the sweetness of a vampire as well as that musky wood smell. Something was up with this guy. When vamps attack a wolf, or vice versa, they always have both scents on them in that moment, but it eventually becomes dominated by what supernatural they really are. Not this, though.

"Skinny dipping, are we?"

After a long silence, I managed to say "Uh huh…"

I narrowed my eyes slightly. This vamp-wolf was English. And what an accent it was. He had sandy brown hair and these steely grey blue eyes. But what I instantly got drawn to, was his mouth. It was in a constant state of playful smiling. He looked like a guy in his late 20's early 30's. Tall. Lean. He looked like someone capable of much destruction for a man so lithe and agile.

"Well this is private property, sweetheart." He smiled.

"I wasn't aware." My English accent hinted very slightly, but I could tell he picked up on it. His smile broadened.

He pointed up to the house.

"I didn't see the lights earlier on." I declared.

"You should get dressed, werewolf." He smiled at me again.

I gasped. I was wading in a deep stream yet he somehow managed to pick up my scent. I felt foolish as I realised that werewolves have a unique ability to sense another's presence. Was this man a werewolf? I felt adrenaline slowly entering my system. I could take a werewolf, or a vampire.. but both?

"What are you? You're not entirely vampire, nor are you just a werewolf…" I blurted.

His face became smooth and blank. Eyes narrowed, he peered at me. "All in good time. Get dressed. I want to have a little chat with you."

And alarmingly, his playful smile returned before he turned and walked off. I watched as he made it to the top of the hill and immediately darted for my clothes. I had never dressed so fast in my life. I hadn't dried myself properly, so my clothes clung to me, which was slightly uncomfortable and I felt a few bits of twigs and grass in my shoes . My van was parked way too far to go and return my towel, so I ended up wrapping it around my hair as I walked up towards the vamp-wolfs dwelling.

When I reached the top, I took off my shoe to quickly dust out the twigs and crap that was in it and pulled my clothes down neatly. I sighed as I looked up at the house.

It was a mansion. And beautiful, at that. The lights that I'd seen from afar twinkled in the night and with the house facing a full moon, it looked glorious.

I quickly unwrapped the towel on my head and brushed the curly damp hair with my fingers. It wasn't entirely wet, which was good. I didn't want to drip on ANY vampires carpet.

For some strange reason, I would never had considered talking to this strange, interesting looking man, because some kind of danger instinct would have warned me. But the weird thing was, I didn't sense anything bad from the guy. Walking up the few stairs at the front, I listened intently for any sign of others within the house.

Nothing.

There could be vampires in here. Old vampires.

But I can take them. Tonight's the full moon. If it was anyone's night, it was my night. And I would be able to take anything and everything I wanted with it.

The towel in my left hand, I knocked four times on the mahogany wooden door.

Hearing footsteps on a wooden floor, the door swung open. There stood vamp-wolf, all smiles.

"Hi…" I said brightly, smiling sarcastically.

He laughed. The smartass. Smiling, he stepped out and closed the door behind him. I watched as he walked past me and lingered on the stairs, his back facing me.

"It is quite rare to find a female werewolf… All by herself, nowadays…" He began.

I wasn't going to hear this. Female werewolves are very rare, indeed. I knew that. I was one. It was also a rare thing to find one alone. Like myself. The male Weres I've come across over the years have gone crazy over the mere scent of me walking into a food store/gas station/bar. I'm a fairly average looking girl, but my scent alone is a curse. I've had to go to very extreme measures to get many of them off my trail because female werewolves are often taken into packs and are needed to create new werewolves. There is always this constant irritating need to have pure bred werewolves, particularly from many of the larger wolf packs. I've been a wolf for a while, 11 years to say the least, so I'm very aware about what alpha male wolves want. I was even in a pack once, but I eventually left because it felt like being part of a coven. A secret wolf tribe.

I can't believe I didn't see this coming. I was such an idiot. Before vamp-wolf could go any further, I cut him off. "I can take care of myself, thanks." I walked swiftly, bounded down the few stairs and walked right past him.

"Wait."

I turned around. "What for?" I questioned. I could feel heat creep into my head. I was starting to get irritated.

He was peering at me strangely, his arms folded. Was I jumping to conclusions? I sighed. "Look. I'm sorry about swimming around in your stream. I didn't know… and it won't happen again."

He began walking towards me and stopped in front of me. I didn't know where to look as I found his gaze suddenly focused on me. My eyes darted to his hair, which was wavy and curly, his jacket, which was black leather I might add, but not like a gangster mafia sort of leather jacket, but like a biker jacket. He also wore these really interesting looking chains around his neck made from leather. I also noticed 2 beauty spots on his neck.

"I'm not worried about that…" He said quietly. I eventually looked at his eyes, as intensely questioning they were. It was as though he wanted to ask me 'What are you?' when he already knew exactly what I was. His eyes moved to my left cheek and I felt the hairs raise at the back of my neck. His hand touched my face as he picked a twig out of my hair.

"Thank you…" I breathed

"Niklaus" He said.

"Niklaus." I said, absorbing this strange name into my memory.

My eyes narrowed. "That sounds like a German name."

"It is. And you are?"

"Oh. I'm Jade."

Smartass vamp-wolf, oh wait, Niklaus, smiled slightly. But it was a different smile. Not teasing. Not playful. A small, sort of sweet smile. He was losing his touch.

Anxious as I was getting, I quickly took a step back and nodded. "Anyway, Goodnight."

As quick as my legs could pretend they were not trying to hurry, I walked briskly out the yard, down the hill and stepped across the rocks of the stream and searched for the scent of cornbread I left to direct me to my van. I turned around and saw the lights winking through the darkened branches on those old oak trees.

I had a feeling that Niklaus had been a different man when I'd seen him at the stream and had suddenly become someone mysterious and somewhat intriguingly silent now. Whatever he was, he certainly put me on edge. There was a part of me that secretly felt drawn in, but another part that felt detached, cautious and weary.

My inner Wolf Bitch.

Behind me the full moon hovered, luminous and beautiful. The beholder of power, and a curse.