The fog lay thick around the green undergrowth and singlehandedly rendered eyes useless. Any animal shorter than six foot may as well have been born blind as the dense mist swirled around their heads. Life was slow when the clouds clung to the soil like this, enticed out by the cover from predators but innately scared by the dampening of their senses. Dew gathered not only on the bright green leaves of the underbrush but on the fur and skin of the animals brave enough to venture into the billowy white world reminiscent of a dream.

Dull morning light filtered in through the clustered trees and danced around the trembling ferns. Shafts of ivory light pierced the blanket of fog and painted tiny rainbows in the icy droplets that teetered at the edges of leaves. The cautious movements of the smallest mammals set the leaves quivering and the beads of water flying to the moss coated forest floor, creating fine rivulets of pure water.

A chirping screech sounded amongst the canopy. Hidden from sight, a pair of osprey soared between the swaying tree tops. A small mouse paused in its hurried journey across the misty forest floor, fear evident in the way it stopped mid-step as if caught in a three dimensional photo. After a few frozen moments the screech sounded again, further away this time, and the mouse didn't hesitate to move on.

I watched the mouse as its dark shadow disappeared into the glittering mist. My tail was draped over my nose to insulate the heat sensitive organ from the icy grip off the morning fog. I was grateful for the thick fur that made up my pale coat; even though I was damp with the night's watery remnants, I was warm and had been since the sun had set yesterday.

Despite the warmth that I felt, my legs were stiff as I stood up and shook the water from my fur. I could feel the thick air as it tried to resist the flow of my long fur. My muscles yearned to rid themselves of the dreary feeling of sleep and I dropped my chest to the moist forest floor to stretch my legs. With a yawn I reached my head up to inspect what little of my surroundings I could see.

My mind was set on getting out of the fog, so I wasn't concerned with how many animals I spooked with my blatant movements. Once I was away from the lifeless mist I would turn my attention to satiating the emptiness between my lower ribs. It had been almost four days since I'd eaten and the thought of gorging myself again had me salivating in a rather undignified way.

The dense cloud cover thinned as it approached the gentle river and I decided that this was as good a place as any to start my hunt. But first things first, I leant down to lap at the river's icy water. My tongue prickled as the frigid liquid encased it and dribbled out of my mouth; I had always been a lackadaisical drinker, preferring to take my time to drink a little rather than rush to drink a lot.

I was still facing the water when I opened my eyes and instantly wished that I'd kept them closed until I'd finished. My dense fur was cracked and broken by the scars that snaked across my face, like fissures breaking through dry earth. The old scars left the skin around my eyes and nose barren and empty before they disappeared into the overgrown fur of my cheeks, like morbid little crop circles burnt into my skin.

My ears were as scarred as my face and notched where the cartilage and muscle had been severed and had never managed to fuse back together. These were my most obvious scars but they were far from the only ones. My body was littered with bald flesh where scars held my fur at bay, though these were less defined due to the sheer length of my coat. My ruff was thick and long, almost like a lion's mane, and the fur behind it was equally thick although not as long. The thickness of my fur made the bare patches on my skin more noticeable but the majority of the scars were on my belly and so hidden by their position alone.

Far off screams crept into existence, I knew them to be imagined but that knowledge did not diminish the fear they evoked in me. My heart thudded in my chest and my blood surged in my ears. With limbs like jelly and joints like concrete, I was surprised that I hadn't fallen into a crumpled heap already. Waves of cold washed down my back, eliciting goose bumps and an uncomfortable clammy feeling all over my body.

After what felt like an hour of numb prickling, my skin exploded with the sensation of thousands of cuts splitting the surface. Invisibly teeth sunk into my muscles, hard and warm in comparison to the feel of their owner's soft but frozen tongues. Hands gripped so tight that their nails punctured skin and veins and pulled on my limbs to make my joints burn. Venom coursed through my body, stabbing at my heart from inside and biting at the weeping wounds, as they tried to heal with helpless futility.

The sickening smell of smouldering lolly-induced vomit wafted around me as the sound of tumbling buildings echoed through nonexistent streets. Trapped in the darkness of my mind, I couldn't see the destruction as it happened but I heard the screams and the creaks and breaks as houses and families were torn apart. The vibrations of sections of wall hitting manicured lawns and the roads of packed earth rattled my bones.

Finally my legs moved. I scurried backwards, losing my footing on the silty soil and toppling back over my haunches. My breath could not be controlled as I sat on the side of my hip, with my feet tangled in front of me and my head almost too heavy to hold up. I was blind to the world around me despite my sight being free of the nightmare. My paw ached with the memory of long healed injuries, as I lifted it to my face to try and scratch the stench of vampire from my nose.

But no matter how hard I scratched the scent was entrenched in my sensitive nostrils. It had weaselled its way out of the imaginary realm of my nightmare and into my current reality, where it had embedded itself like a bird nesting in a chimney. The smell was almost physically painful and the fear that it would reach that level had me scraping fur off my nose.

It wasn't possible for something fake to become so real, not unless I was going crazy. That wasn't so farfetched, after everything it would be just my luck that I'd drink from the one river in the world that had the power to send me to the loony bin. But I wouldn't resign myself to that irrational situation, if I were losing my mind then there would have been signs before now.

My hackles prickled as the familiar feeling of being watched rolled over me. The instinctive knowledge of being spied on had saved me from many tricky situations. From the attention of prey to the presence of humans, it was a vital piece of information that I relied upon on every day, thanks to my nomadic lifestyle. Life as a giant wolf might sound easy but it was more of a pain then most people would think.

The freedom was second to none but the persistent anxiety that I'd be spotted by a not so friendly human armed with a powerful shotgun was not something that you ever get used to. I could hunt down one tonne bison and defend myself from lion prides and grizzly bears, without fear of anything. But put me within a ten kilometres of a human settlement and I couldn't turn my senses off. Fear took a hold of me when humans were so near and the only way to alleviate it was to move as far away as possible.

As I sat there, allowing myself to adjust to my surroundings again, the feeling of being watched grew. My ears were pricked for the slightest sound, because my eyes were still unfocused and my nose was blocked by the horrendous smell. It wasn't an ideal situation, my hearing was far from impressive and my anxiety had me worried that I would miss some crucial sound. In fact, my senses in general were borderline useless on their own and I required all of them to feel safe.

There she was; perched high on the thin branches of a tall pine tree, staring down at me with unnaturally dark eyes. She was fairy-like in stature, with pale glittering skin. It didn't matter how sweet or innocent she looked, I knew that she was the biggest threat around. Her and her despicable thirst.

I growled up at her and she looked taken aback. When I was younger I would have backed away from her until I was a safe distance to turn around and run. But I was a mature Shifter, I knew my body and my limits better than any Shifter I'd met before and I was sure that I could take on this one tiny little Vein Junky.

The tree was old and behind the scent of leech was the subtle smell of rotten wood. Scuttling to my feet and tearing towards the pine tree, I splashed through the cold river in my head on assault. I hit the tree with so much force that it shook, tilted and creaked. The vampire was rattled by the attack and she slipped from her roost. I grinned as I watched her flustered attempt to climb back onto her branch and backed up to get another run at the tree.

This time when I impacted the old plant a resounding snap echoed around me and the tree started its slow decent to the forest floor. Desperation and panic washed over the monster's face and she rushed to adjust her position and save herself from the certain death that awaited her once she got within my reach. She sprung from the falling tree into its deep-rooted neighbour; I wasn't sure if she expected me to give up but if she did then she was sorely mistaken.

I followed her through the forest. My feet slipped and slid along the rock and needle strewn ground as I tried to keep up with the petite monster. She was unburdened by felled trees, loose rocks and slimy moss, and her agile movements pushed her further ahead of me. I'd never been fast and that was always a hindrance in catching these beasts.

But what I lacked in speed I made up for in combat skills. Unlike most Shifters, I didn't need numbers to take down a leech. My teeth were sharper. My body a bizarre combination of sturdy and sleek. My pain threshold higher than anyone else I'd ever known. I was built to have the shit beat out of me and still continue to fight back. And this minuscule leech was nothing compared to the monsters that I'd taken on in Brazil.

There was a chunk of fur missing from my tail as a reminder that one had come close to ending it all for me. But this leech was nowhere near as large or fearsome as the Brazilian beast. I knew it and she knew it, that was why she was running and not standing her ground. If she had the slightest ounce of faith in her physicality then she'd be trying to tear my throat out at this very moment.

I smelt the pack before I reached their border. It was a good sized pack for America, I guessed it to be about ten members strong and from the potency of their scents they were close to their boundary. I slowed down, staring into their land like there was an invisible fence holding me back. The vampire that I'd been following had entered their territory and I figured that that was my cue to leave it well enough alone.

Wolves were not tolerant of strangers. Lone wolves were often killed on sight and if not, they still never got the time to establish a place in the pack, I had never heard of an occasion when an adult wolf was accepted; either by wild wolves or by Shifters. I may have been going against nature by being on my own but I was not suicidal, so I would give this territory a wide berth.

As I stopped at the edge of their territory I saw the vampire slow down and drop from the treetops. She looked back at me, her eyes wide and apprehensive; she was still worried that I was going to attack her. I growled at her and she flinched away from me, even though there was a good hundred metres between us. She was safe from me within the territory of this pack but I wondered if she knew that she was running from one wolf straight into a group of them.

Two more vampires skidded to a stop in line with the tiny one. One was monstrous, with hard, dark features. While the other was tall and lanky with a mop of light brown hair, highlighted by a golden sheen. Of the three vampires two had the black eyes of hunger but the third, the light haired male, had disturbing gold eyes. I'd never seen such eyes on a vampire before and it had me worried about what he'd done to get them like that.

I heard them before I saw them; the wolf pack that had so heavily marked their territory. There were too many for me to differentiate between all their pounding feet and caution gripped me as fear blossomed in the back of my mind. These wolves would have a choice to make when they got here; who was the bigger threat between the three bloodsuckers or the lone Shifter? I hoped that they'd recognise that I wasn't encroaching on their land and would therefore focus on the threat that had no regard for their borders.

As it was, I was probably the most unlucky Shifter in the world. The pack of some seven wolves blew past the three vampires. It was almost as if they hadn't seen them at all and I wondered if one of the vampires had an ability to shield themselves from the prying eyes of their enemies. Not that that made much sense because I had spied the short one without much difficulty.

The wolves scrambled to a standstill at the very edge of their territory, their noses grazing the wall of smells as they fought the urge to cross over. They were a rather mismatched group of wolves, being mostly brown in colour but with some members varying to the lightest shade of grey. One of them, a large brunette beast stepped over the invisible line and I stepped back again. Fighting with myself to get away without looking like I was cowering from this pack.

I'd spent years avoiding other packs; this wouldn't be the first time that I had to tuck my tail and run in order to save my own skin. But I'd learnt long ago that there was a fine line between respectful caution and apparent weakness. And I did not want to look weak, because weak meant that there was a good chance they'd hunt me down, just because they could.

A deep American voice sounded in my head, 'Who are you? And what are you doing here?'

I didn't bother with an answer. I simply lowered my head, while maintaining eye contact, and backed away. Letting the fog and the shadows embrace me like a warm, comforting blanket. It would be a cold day in hell before I let myself get mixed up with another pack.

Author's Note:

So, I'm starting at a different point then last time but hopefully it works.

What do you think?