My mother was deep into breaking me down when I heard it. Through the soft brushing sound of the midnight wind, came a voice, I'd kill never to have heard again. A voice that made me think of every sick, twisted act its owner could possibly do to a weak seven year old boy.
"My prey has finally arrived."
My mother almost fell as she stumbled to look behind us. And as she did, I was frozen with fear.
The sound of claws ripping into human flesh seemed to stop time. Blank and afraid, I tried to blot out the sound of my mother, trying to gasp through the blood filling her lungs. And even though every part of my being wanted to run, my body began to turn around.
The site was sickening to the point of brutal. My mother lay inches from me, her throat gouged out in a single swipe, and blood pouring out of her like she was toppled over bucket. The salty smell hit my nostrils and I could feel the bile rising from my fear.
There stood the man from the bar. His face spattered with the blood of my mother wore a sick smile full of sharp, jagged teeth. Blood covered his black clothes, though you wouldn't know at a first glance. And his hands... by God... his hands weren't hands at all. But thick paws with razor sharp claws.
"So when are you going to run?" He said smiling and stepping over my dying mother. "Huh?"
"I-I uh..."
Fear turned my sight blurry as he approached me. Those thick claws grasped my shoulders with such a force that I could barely breath.
"Not even going to struggle." He said, disappointment was absent though. It felt like he knew I would react this way, but I knew I didn't stand a chance.
"Arrre y-you going t-t-to k-k--"
"Kill you!" He said, shrieking in laughter. "It's not like it hadn't crossed my mind."
My skin crawled at every syllable. My lungs felt trapped within me. My heart skipped a beat, and my teeth started to clench tighter than ever.
"But, no. You see boy, I've gotten my meal for the night."
My eyes shot over to my mother, she wasn't moving anymore. Blood pooled around her torso and seeped into her grey shirt. Tears flooded my eyes as his words became more and more horrifying.
"You're going to eat her?" I whimpered, trying to hold back the tears of what had recently become apparent.
"It's in my nature... as is the instinct to multiply."
Time stopped completely. The wind didn't blow. The air was neither warm nor cold. There was only him. Only me. Only danger.
And without warning, he reared back, and a dozen sharp teeth dug into my neck and shoulder. I could feel my shirt moisten, and the saliva covering the wound seared like acid.
After only a second, he retracted his fangs from me and dropped me on the side-walk. "Hopefully she'll make it here before you start your first change. She has been following quite close behind me... maybe you'll get lucky boy."
And with that he left, gouging his clawed hands into his victim's neck and dragging her away like a fresh kill.
I was left there. Lying across the cold concrete, praying it was just a dream... a nightmare. My vision was fading to black quickly and my muscles felt like pounded meat. I couldn't stand, I couldn't save my mother. I couldn't save myself. And as I lay there aghast with shock slowly setting in, I heard the screeching of a car coming to an immediate halt. I heard a door open and shut, and then felt the softest hands across my head.
I moaned something incoherent and then... I was asleep.