I should not be updating, I should be studying...but what better way to procrastinate, right? xD

Enjoy ^.^ Please review :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Vampire Academy. All rights belong to Richelle Mead. The plot of this story however belongs to me and cannot be used without written consent from it's author.

Chapter 7

It was only after a couple of minutes of freaking out that my shock finally began to wear away. Instead, excitement replaced it and began pumping through my veins. Had this really just happened?

I held my arm out in front of me, turning my hand over to study it more closely. Yes, I really did have fingers!There wasn't a doubt in my mind that I was human.

I was human.

Of course upon realising that this profound, amazing transformation had just happened to me, worry began to creep in. What would I do now? I had a big decision to make:

Leave now and set off to live my new life, effectively leaving behind my loved ones? Or phase back into my wolf form and go on like nothing happened? I could do that, and possibly live the rest of my life happily with the satisfaction from the knowledge that I had managed to reach my human form…

But could I even phase back?

Feeling panicked, I quickly shut my eyes and did what I usually did when I practiced, only this time I envisioned myself returning into my wolf form – the fur growing back on my bare skin, my tail re-emerging from the end of my spine. My heart beat frantically when nothing happened.

Oh god, oh god, oh god…I chanted, sitting up and gripping my hair. What was I going to do now? I couldn't go back to my pack looking like this! But I couldn't just leave without saying goodbye to them…

Or could I?

After thinking through my options, that was the only one that actually seemed manageable. And it wouldn't be as if I was leaving forever. Once I managed to gain enough control to phase back, I could return to my family and friends…and phasing back shouldn't take long now that I had already done it once – a day at the most.

A shiver wracked through me and I folded my arms around my legs. I may not have thought about all the details just yet, but one thing was for sure – I needed to get somewhere warm and dry. My heart felt heavy as I push myself – unsteadily – to my new feet and began walking in the opposite direction to my pack. Dimitri and I had followed this trail – long ago when he had first taught me about humans and about phasing. Had I been in my wolf form, the journey would have taken me a lot less time; by the time I reached the outskirts to the town, I sensed that dawn was not far away.

Despite the fact that I was freaking freezing, I was thankful for the time the journey gave me – it allowed me to get accustomed to walking on two feet and by the time I reached my destination, I had managed to limit my stumbling. It was an odd sensation – walking on two feet instead of four. Not to mention being taller…these two new characteristics of mine made keeping myself upright a real challenge; but I had expected that.

What I hadn't thought of in advance, was what I was going to do now that I had arrived in the city. I had thought of asking someone for help, but the dark sky had all of the other humans sleeping in their warm beds. I envied them.

Carefully, I stepped out of the cover of the trees and glanced around me constantly. I had never opened myself up to this much potential dangers before, but I would surely freeze to death if I didn't go someplace warm soon. I managed to crawl under a fence that lay between me and the town; once that obstacle had been cleared, it was a straight route forward…or it would've been if I wasn't so wobbly. Instead, I made my way – in a somewhat zigzagged manner – to the wall of the nearest building. The concrete was damp and cold, but I didn't really care. The wall provided me with some support, and I used it to skirt along the pavement. I was just reaching the corner of the building when every hair on my body shot up. Panicked, I span around and in the blink of an eye had my back pressed up against the wall. I couldn't tell if my goose bumps were from the cold wall brushing across my bare skin, or the weird feeling I had deep within me. I wasn't sure that I had taken my wolf-senses with me when I was human, or if I was merely just frightened and paranoid, but I was almost certain that there was someone watching me.

More cautiously than before, I moved slowly along the edge and peeked around the corner. There was nobody there. My head continued to whip around in every direction; I was unable to shake off the strange feeling that I was not alone. I stood still for a little while, waiting for the person to show themselves…but they didn't, and so I decided that I was just being paranoid and continued making my way into the town.

I reached an alleyway where I took some solace from the merciless cold. The wind wasn't catching my skin as much in between the walls located close beside each other and I sank to the ground. Glancing around me into the dark, desolate streets, I felt a seed of loneliness start to germinate within me. I had never really been alone before – truly alone. Although I had told myself that I had every intention of returning to my pack, some part of me felt that I had run away from my home and from my people.

I squeezed my eyes shut, wondering if I had made a huge mistake. Taking a deep breath, I relaxed my exhausted muscles and tried to phase back into my wolf form. It wasn't the smartest thing to do, considering I was in a human-populated area, but it was so late at night that I was positive no one was around.

Or I had been until I thought I heard footsteps and my paranoia was ignited once again. With my fear creeping back in, I crawled to hide behind some large tin containers – which I soon realised reeked – and peaked out from behind them. Everything around me was still and quiet, and it wasn't long until the stench being emitted from the large cans beside me began to make me feel nauseated.

Disgusted, I backed away from them and came into contact with some plastic bags. I lowered my face to one and sniffed it warily. I was pleasantly surprised to find that whatever was in them smelled nothing like the tin cans on my left. Curious, I ripped open the first bag to find it full with coloured materials, all looking and feeling different. I was struck with an idea then, and pulled a couple of the larger pieces out to cover my body up. My skin thanked me almost immediately as I began to warm up, although my back still protested to the cold wall.

Deciding that I probably wasn't going to find a much better place to sleep tonight, I stood and made a den of sorts out of the remaining material. Laying down, I pulled the large cloths over me once more and closed my eyes. My goose bumps never went away completely, even when I curled up into a ball to conserve some warmth. I had never appreciated how warm my fur coat had kept me before and I wished desperately to phase back. I had gotten my first impression of life as a human, and so far? I wasn't too impressed. In fact, I wanted nothing more than to return home.

"Hello, beautiful."

Somewhere in the middle of my wallowing, I had actually began to fall asleep. However, a voice very close to me startled me awake. My eyes shot open as soon as the male voice spoke, alerting me to his presence.

"What happened to you?"

He was standing about ten feet away with two friends – all were fully clothed, unlike myself. Suddenly, I felt very exposed and vulnerable…something I, of course, covered up with false boldness.

"I don't know what you mean," I shot back, the words rolling off my much-shorter tongue easily, despite the fear that I was starting to feel again. I wasn't quite sure why; I had met strange wolves before…but something about these guys was putting me on edge.

"We don't get a lot of homeless people around here," the leader spoke, his voice had an almost-slimy quality to it. "Much less homeless people who are as pretty as you are."

I said nothing; instead choosing to size them up. I hated having to stay seated on the ground – it was like I was surrendering to them by showing them my submissiveness. But if I stood, then the material laying on top of me would fall off…and I had a feeling that action wouldn't work well in my favour.

"Leave me alone," I growled at them, retreating back as far as I could go.

"Don't worry, baby," one of them cooed. I shivered…and not in a good way. "You can stay with me."

I told myself I wouldn't attack them – I didn't imagine three against one would be an advantage to me in the slightest. Not to mention the fact that I wasn't quite used to manoeuvring this new body of mine yet. So no, I would not attack them…unless they touched me first.

As a wolf, I had always been taught to trust my instincts...and right now? These guys had me on high alert. There was something very wrong with this situation, and so I was being wary. I didn't care how cold or how desperate I was for some warmth and shelter, I would not be going anywhere with these slimy assholes.

"Come on, sweetie, don't be shy." He took a step towards me, and I tensed before snarling at him. The guy just stared at me for a moment, before turning to look at his friends. Simultaneously, they all burst out into laughter and I took the brief chance I had to manoeuver myself into a better defensive position. When the males turned their attention back to me, they didn't notice anything different. But beneath the material that I had draped over me, I was on my feet and ready to defend should I need to…and I had a feeling that I would need to.

Sure enough, after a couple more minutes of sleezy, sexual jokes, the men grew frustrated by my lack of response and began to get a little rougher. It was when one of them crouched down right beside me and tried to slip his hand under the material covering me that I lunged at him.

I didn't really have an intention of killing him; that's not what my attack was about. My entire life I had been told to follow my instincts; the second I felt he was a threat, my wolf instincts kicked in and I defended myself. What this man didn't know, was that I was always the predator – never the prey.

I didn't really think about how I would fight as a human…and as it turned out, I didn't have to; the moment my body landed on top of his, I felt my fangs begin to elongate and I tried to sink them into his flesh. However his fellows grabbed at me, effectively pulling me off the man. I thought the shaking I was feeling was due to my adrenaline, but I soon recognised that burning sensation that I had felt earlier. I let it consume me; the fire rushing through every nerve in my body, igniting me with power and strength.

As I phased back to my wolf form, the men were staring at me in shock and fear. I smirked and growled menacingly at them, before taking a step closer. All three of them stumbled backwards, falling over one another in the process. Amusement spiked through my anger; these idiots would be easy targets…clumsy, slow, scared…

Just as my instincts to eliminate the threat before me began to grow powerful, a new figure appeared on the other end of the alley, blocking the sleazy men's escape. I couldn't decide if this new human was another threat or not, and so I remained wary of him. I was a powerful wolf – I could take on four humans easily, particularly the frightened, quivering ones before me…

However this newcomer was not afraid. He stood tall – much taller than the other three – and confident. He moved closer – his manner menacing and dangerous. I was suddenly glad that the men cowered before me were there, acting as a barrier between me and this mysterious stranger.

Upon hearing the footsteps however, the idiots spun around to see who was approaching. I could see now that the man was glaring at them with disdain and anger, but would spare a glance for me every couple of seconds. I wasn't surprised, considering there was a chance that he had just seen me turn into a wolf…not such a common thing to occur in the human world it seemed…

The man reached them, not stopping until he was looming directly over them. Nobody said anything, and the silence hung around us, louder than any sound I'd heard before. Slowly, he leant down and grabbed one of the guys – the one who had tried to touch me – by the collar and yanked him to his feet. The man swayed, looking a little worse for wear as he was placed on his unsteady feet.

Fortunately for him, he didn't stay on them for very long, for the new guy suddenly yanked back his fist and swung it with force into his face. He hadn't even hit the ground when the second guy was pulled up and shoved into the concrete wall; he collapsed in a heap as my saviour turned to deal with the third man…who had already taken off down the alley. My guest turned to chase him, but while I was thankful for his help, I wanted to prove that I wasn't a damsel in distress. I could've handled these fools just fine on my own. And so I took off at a fast pace, bypassing my unknown rescuer and quickly closing the distance between myself and the last creep standing.

His fear alone as I growled at him was enough to satisfy me, but I decided to go one step further…

The man yelled out in fright and pain as I reached him and sunk my fangs into his butt. I let him go then; smiling to myself in pure satisfaction as he ran (limped) away, yelling out incoherently.

It was bad form on my part, but I was so caught up in what had just happened, that I'd almost forgotten about my uninvited but welcome guest.

"Are you alright?" I jumped and spun around, not realising how close he had become. We had moved just out of the alleyway and now, in the presence of the streetlight, I could study him properly.

He was your typical example of "tall, dark, and handsome". With his good looks, dark hair and deep, soulful eyes, there was a familiarity about him; a power and strength about his presence, but all the while he looked at me with a fondness and concern. I was sure this man was not going to hurt me, and lowered my hackles. He crouched then, lowering himself to my level. I started as he reached out towards me.

"They didn't hurt you, did they?" That voice. It struck something within me. I felt as though I had been winded. No. No, it couldn't possibly be…

The shock that was obviously displayed on my face made him chuckle slightly before reaching out to tilt my chin up.

"Yes, Roza. It's me."