Life is a series of choices. As it turns out, death is the same. Not for the ones who are ready. They embrace their fate, move on. For the rest of us, we linger. After our survivors pray and throw dirt on our coffins, we're still waiting, because for some of us, there's a bigger question…What am I now? Where do I go from here? We find ourselves in an eternal nowhere, between human…and thing. Monsters. Some of these monsters choose to simply accept what they've become. Some don't. Which leaves us with the most important choice. Do you accept what you are? Or do you refuse? And which is the true curse?

-Sally Malik

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I pulled out my phone and dialed Aidan's number. Voicemail. I dialed it again. Voicemail. I angrily dialed it again.

"Hello?"

"Bout damn time, Aidan! Where the hell are you?"

"Out and about."

"Well, your out and about adventure better be somewhere near wherever the hell Josh turns on full moons because his sister is locked inside with him and if she doesn't get out then it's bye bye little sister."

"I'm on my way over there."

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I sat on the kitchen table, chin in hand. I sipped the blood through the straw slowly as I stared blankly at the empty word document on my laptop. Aidan sat on the other side of the table, reading the newspaper. The front door opened and closed and the scent of dog hit my nose.

"How are you?" I heard Sally ask from the living room.

"What's another word for need?" I muttered to Aidan.

"Need is a good word." He murmured.

"Too needy." I went back to sipping my blood.

"Danny's coming over." Sally said.

"And there goes the bomb."

"What?" Josh exclaimed.

"And I'm really, really glad you didn't kill your sister."

"You got there in time?" I questioned Aidan.

"Yep." Aidan answered, clicking his tongue.

"What?" Josh repeated. "Aidan! Glaceon!" Josh stormed into the kitchen with Sally behind him. "Aidan, why—why is Danny coming over?" I pointed to the sink that was filled with black, murky sewage water.

"Sally really, really wanted to see him. Poh!"

"Sorry." Sally muttered.

"Ok, am I the only one who thinks that Danny coming over is a tremendously bad idea?" I took another slurp from my straw and it made a sucking sound. I peered down into my mug and saw it empty. Josh pierced me with his brown eyes. I dropped the straw from my mouth.

"Oh, I'm sorry." I said. "Did I interrupt you?"

"Yeah, you did."

"I'm so sorry." I bit the straw again and sucked on it. Aidan cocked his head to the side and frowned at me. I sighed and got up to put my mug in the sink but stopped. "I would put my mug in the sink and wash it but then I remember that one, I hate Josh, so why would I do such a thing? And two, the sink is filled with sewage water."

"Sorry." Sally repeated. I set the mug on the counter and sat back down in my seat and began to type.

"Back to important matters here." Josh said. "What if Danny sees you?"

"I'll crap rainbows, I swear to God!"

"She's a ghost." Aidan said. "He ain't gonna see her."

"Isn't." I muttered, correcting Aidan's grammar as I almost typed ain't.

"Well, wait, sometimes they do see them, normal people." Josh threw his hands up into the air in defeat. "But he would have to be, you know, open, mentally."

"Fragment." I murmured, almost typing Aidan's sentence.

"Danny's pretty open." Sally declared. "He voted for Hillary." Josh didn't look convinced.

"It's fine." Aiden reassured him. Josh rubbed his eyes with his fists.

"Ok, if he sees you, if he senses you, do you have any idea what that would do to him? What would do to us?" Josh shouted a little too near to Aidan's face causing Aidan to move away.

"Aidan, you have my full permission to just tear Josh's face off." I said. "I'll probably even join in."

"Enough, Glaceon." Aidan muttered, returning to the paper.

"He could sell the place!" Josh continued his ranting. "He could raise it! He could sell tickets like that guy who saw Jesus on a taco shell!"

"Jesus?" I questioned him. "Like Jesus Christ?"

"Yeah, you didn't hear the story?"

"No. No, I didn't."

"Yeah, the guy made like a ton of money."

"Interesting."

"It was. Stop distracting me, Glaceon!" Aidan frowned at me again and I opened my mouth to protest but he held up a finger to silence me and I hung my head in defeat. "Listen, if he comes, I think Sally should stay upstairs."

"And I think that you don't get a say." Sally retorted.

"Yeah, I've been trying to tell Aidan that but Aidan always lets Josh speak." I mumbled.

"Glaceon." Aidan said my name so sweet in a sing song voice to make me be quiet.

"Well, it's true." Sally said as we all looked at her. "I don't think that's fair." Aidan put down the paper and crossed his arms over his chest, his arm muscles flexing, making me want him so badly. Josh threw his arms up into the air, happy that Aidan agreed with him. "On the stairs. At least!" Rapping sounded on the door. Sally looked towards the door then back at us, clutching her hands together and making a pleading face.

"Top of the stairs." Josh said. Sally turned and ran up the steps. "And no peeking!" Aidan got up from his seat and followed Josh to the door, closing my laptop as he went. I growled in frustration and followed them. Aidan stopped and turned to us.

"Oh, just…don't be weird, ok?" Aidan said.

"Yeah, I got it."

"You too, Amityville. Top of the stairs." Sally groaned and moved further up the steps. "No comments towards Josh, Glaceon." I got wide eyed and my mouth dropped open.

"Aidan, saying nothing smart ass to Josh for five minutes is like going a…week without blood." I whined.

"No comments, Glacey. Everyone just be…normal." I scoffed.

"Got it." Josh agreed. Aidan reached for the doorknob but I stopped him.

"Wait, wait, wait." I said.

"What?" Aidan questioned me. I gave him my puppy dog eyes and pointed to Josh. "One last one." I jumped with joy and turned to Josh.

"Josh, you just sounded like a total bitch there. Don't—don't—don't do that, man." I turned to Aidan. "Ok, I'm done." Aidan pointed a warning finger at me as he opened the door. I exhaled as Danny came in.

"Hey." Danny greeted us.

"Top of the morning to you, captain!" Josh said to Danny in an Irish accent. I closed my eyes and bit lips so hard, blood dripped into my mouth. Not going to say anything, not going to say anything, not going to say anything. Light bulbs exploded in the silence. Sally.

"So, do you want to check out the sink first, or…" Aidan's voice trailed off.

"I'm just gonna go check on the..." Josh started for the stairs but Danny stopped him. I turned my back to him and walked over to Aidan's side.

"Wait, upstairs?" Danny questioned him. "But the breakers are in the basement.

"Yeah, right, it's in the basement. Sure, but I've got a lot of stuff. There's stuff plugged in upstairs that I've got for work. A lava lamp, radio. Probably too many things. A power strip plugged into another power strip…"

"So, the sink…" Aidan interrupted Josh and led Danny into the kitchen. As soon as they were out of sight, I turned on Josh. He got wide eyed and ran up the steps.

"I'm going to go out and about!" I called to the household. I grabbed my jacket and sunglasses and walked out the door.

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I was about to turn down the shortcut when I smelt something and stopped.

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty." I taunted Glameow. A gray and white cat dropped onto a trash can and licked her paw before running it down her face. "No pep talk today?"

"She won't be the one talking today." A man's voice said from the shadows. I sighed and hung my head in disappointment as I recognized the voice from the past.

"Bobby, how are you today?"

"It's Lord King now."

"Oh, leader of the pack, huh? Interesting, interesting. I'm surprised that Annie would put you in charge of the pack when she died. I mean, you've been through a lot. Lot of enemies, lot of scars. She usually doesn't do that. You're real lucky, Bobby."

"It's Lord King."

"Yeah, to your pack it is. But with me it's still Bobby. You want to tell me why you're here, Bob?"

"The pack needs your help."

"I have no interest of rejoining the pack."

"Then don't join. But we still need your help. You're the best fighter that ever was in the pack. And you're the only witch that we know who understands our laws and our needs. We need to be able to fee—"

"Feed off of vampires. I know. Well, guess you're in luck because Boston is crawling with vampires. I'm not sure I can help you, Bobby, considering I am a vampire."

"But you never dared to harm one of us when you were with us and that's why we trust you."

"Let's get off of trust and back onto the problem."

"The vampires are planning on taking over Boston. They're teaming up. They want to drive out every familiar in the city. Kill them all. You're a vampire. You can help us."

"Bishop has been nice enough to give you and your pack downtown Boston and the outskirts to live. I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Glaceon,"

"You'll be fine, Bobby." I turned and headed the long way home.

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I trotted down the last alleyway where the house laid at the end. My paws soaked as I splashed through the puddles. I also liked to hear the echo of the splashing in the alley so I stopped to listen. Only I heard one too many echoes. I turned around and looked in the darkness. Air swirled together in the shadows of hell. I flattened my ears against my head and bared my teeth and glared in the spot that I heard the noise. Only I looked in the wrong spot. A hand wrapped around my muzzle, snapping it shut, and another hand grabbed my front paws so I couldn't claw my way out of the person's grip. Her grip. The person was a female. I kicked with my back feet but I couldn't propel myself forward. The woman held me firmly still.

"Never knew what a dog tastes like." The woman sneered. "Guess I'll find out." Pain injected my neck and blood spilled down, caking my fur. I frantically pulled and kicked and pushed but it was no use, I tried everything but my energy was fading. Fast. Just when I thought the fire of hell within me could burn any hotter, it stopped. The girl let of me, letting me collapse to the ground. "Hmm. Not as good as human but thick like a milkshake. Yum." She began to walk away. "Tell Aidan I said hi." I placed my paw on firmly on the ground and tried to push my way up right but I fell back down. I'm dying. I'm dying. Voices sounded at the end of the tunnel. At the end of the darkness that was clouded around my eyes. I know those voices. Josh. Aidan. I sniffed the air. They were going into the house. They could help. I just had to pull my weight and get there. I tried to get up again and failed. I tried again. I quickly pulled my back legs up and evenly balanced myself out. I swayed and dragged my paws forward. I got to the steps and it felt like I was trying to lift a sixteen ton as I lifted a paw onto the first step. I dragged myself up on the rest of the steps and walked up to the door. I ran my claws down the door and let out a painful, gurgling howl as I collapsed onto the doormat. I could hear footsteps inside the house and I let out a whimper to let them know that I was out here, in need of their help. The door opened.

"Glaceon!" Josh and Aidan exclaimed. Aidan bent down next to me and I closed my eyes as I took in his sweet scent. He gingerly scooped me up and carried me inside. Three different voices echoed in the distant as I faded out. Faded out into nothingness. I'm dying. I'm dying…I'm dying in Aidan's arms…