I am not Stephenie Meyer. I do not own the rights to the Twilight Saga.

I didn't know what the time was, I didn't care. I had to find Crane.

I weaved through the claustrophobic hallways, trying to remember where the mess hall was but my thoughts were too clouded with a single word. Thirsty.

I must have taken a wrong turn, or perhaps several as I ended up in a harshly lit corridor lined with massive steel doors I had never seen before. They all had large yellow signs on them saying: Authorized Entry Only!

As I turned to retrace my steps, one of the doors slid open and a plain looking man with large glasses and a bright white lab coat emerged. He was staring at some sort of hand held device and didn't notice me.

His scent wafted in my direction and I drank it in. Soap with the faintest underlying whiff of body odour. He smelled like food. I heard the thump, thump of his heart. I heard the whooshing of blood as it travelled through his veins and my mouth filled with saliva.

Everything else went black, there was only me and this man in the whole world. The huntress and her prey.

He turned and began to walk towards me, still engrossed in whatever secrets his little device held. My muscles tensed as I pinpointed the sweet spot where I would place my razor sharp teeth. I could almost taste the skin part like butter where I would apply the pressure, almost feel his sweet life trickle over my tongue, awakening taste buds and slaking my painful thirst.

I would act quickly, taking advantage of my lighting-fast movement. He would never know what hit him. I would make it quick.

He came closer, still oblivious.

I darted forwards.

"Vanessa?"

It all happened at once.

I stopped abruptly with my hands held, claw-like before me. The man in the coat finally looked up from the gadget in his hands. He looked straight into my eyes and paled. I literally saw the blood drain from his face as the stench of his fear invaded my nostrils.

I must have looked truly monstrous as I noticed a dark patch appear and slowly widen at the crotch of his pants. His trembling hands dropped his shiny device.

My senses, or should I say, my sense came back to me. I became aware of my surroundings once more and simultaneously realised with true horror what I had been about to do.

Turning from him, I planned to run but I came face to face with Mr Crane.

"Are you alright?" He asked, concern clouding his voice.

I tried to form the words to respond but they would not come. Only ragged breath came.

He wrapped an arm around me and steered me down the hallway. Leaving my poor would-be victim standing alone, trembling in a puddle of his own urine.

***

I was guided into a lavishly furnished room. Crane sat me in a large, squashy armchair then placed a glass half full of amber liquid into my pale hands.

"Drink this" He commanded gently.

I followed his instructions without thought and placed the cool glass to my lips, swallowing the liquid. It burned as it travelled down, then continued to burn white hot as it sat in my empty stomach. I coughed harshly trying and placed the glass between my feet on the floor, eyeing it with contempt.

"What happened?"

"I....I....I almost. I would have..." I couldn't form a sentence. I could only contemplate what I had been about to do. If Crane hadn't broken me out of my trance I would have drained that poor lab nerd dry without batting an eyelid. I would have murdered him, stolen away his life for no other reason than to satisfy my own thirst. I truly am a monster, was all I could think.

Crane was kneeling before me now, looking directly into my eyes. "Please Nessie, I know you are finding this difficult but you must tell me what almost happened back there."

His sickly smell was bringing me out of one stupor and sending me into another. I found myself suddenly compelled to spill all my secrets to him. I wondered vaguely about why he had that effect on me before being overcome with an urge to answer his question. It somehow seemed incredibly rude to keep him hanging.

"Whatever you think I am. I'm not. I almost killed that man. I would have killed that man if you hadn't called out to me. I am a danger to this facility and everyone in it. I should leave before I do something unforgivable." I spoke to the glass, unable to meet the eyes of the man who I had no doubt was looking at me with disgust – which is how I felt about myself, disgusted.

He placed a hand on my knee and squeezed gently. I slowly looked up into his eyes and was met with tender concern. "I think you are a very special young woman. You have extraordinary abilities but perhaps they come at a small price. Gifts like yours often do."

I opened my mouth to respond but he cut me off.

"I happen to trust my own judgement impeccably and I'll not be arguing about this with you. I will tell you, however, that you are missing the bigger picture here.

You say that you are a danger to this facility and everyone in it but I say you are in the perfect place for someone so....unique. You forget that there is someone out there looking for you Nessie. What do you think would happen if he found you?"

I closed my mouth and swallowed. He was right. It was safer for everyone, including myself if I stayed in The Hub. If Humber found me again I had no idea what he was capable of, but I had an idea of what I was capable of.

"Do you think Humber took me because he wanted to turn me into some sort of weapon?" I asked

"He wanted it for every other gifted individual in this facility. I have no doubt he had the same intentions for you. That he still does."

"But I can't stay locked up down here. I still need to get out. Maybe if I could just get a little fresh air, it might help with these.....urges."

Neither of us had mentioned my thirst for blood. I was reluctant to voice it out loud and Crane seemed to already know what I was talking about anyway.

"I know. That's why I had Tobin create this."

Crane walked over to a large ornate wooden desk on the other side of the room and pulled something out of one of the drawers.

He made his way back over to me and held out a strange metallic looking cuff.

"You are not a prisoner here Nessie, but I want you to be safe. This device contains a tracker so that if you are taken you can be found. It is also programmed to alert yourself and I if you travel more than two miles of this complex."

I took it from him and examined it. The cuff seemed to be made up of hundreds of tiny wires all melded together. It shone with a dull metallic hue.

"It cannot be removed by anyone except myself or Tobin. So if you are captured, Humber will not be able to remove it and we will still be able to find you."

Alarm bells were ringing faintly in my head as I had an internal conflict with myself. If I put on the cuff I would be able to go outside, feel the air on my skin and expel this claustrophobia that had been plaguing me. Perhaps find a way to better control this bloodlust. But something didn't feel completely right about placing something on my body which I couldn't remove. I felt as though it would be giving away a vestige of control over myself and I needed all the control I cold muster at the moment. I frowned, biting on the inside of my lip as I considered my options, of which there weren't really any.

Crane placed his hand on my knee again, leaning towards me and imploring me with his eyes. "I promise you that the cuff is safe. I only have your best interests at heart and as I said before you are not a prisoner here, but I do feel as though you are my responsibility and if you wish to go out alone I cannot let you do it without some sort of safety net in place."

Knowing it was the truth he spoke, I placed the cuff on my wrist. The tiny wire tendrils came to life and sealed themselves around me. It felt alien, unnatural but with Crane's assurances I felt safe.

"The cuff will also monitor your vital signs. If you get into trouble – your body will tell us and I will dispatch help immediately."

I gave him a small smile "Thank you."

He smiled warmly back, making me feel safe and wanted with a single look.

"Would you like to go outside now?"

***

As I stepped away from the steel trapdoor I had exited through, a massive tree literally got up and shuffled over to cover it. I gaped at it, still unable to fully come to terms with Maya's gift.

I looked down at the contraption strapped to my wrist, I hated how it felt against my skin – like it was alive somehow.

All musings were forgotten, however when the wind picked up and danced around my body as though it were pleased to see me.

I took great lungfuls of clean, fresh air into my lungs and savoured it like fine wine. I could taste the trees around me. I could smell that it had rained not long ago and I could hear a small brook gurgling in the distance.

I also noticed that the wind carried the hint of something I knew, something achingly familiar to me. I was about to follow when then wind suddenly changed direction and a new scent was blown my way.

The new scent was vaguely appetizing in a savoury, woodsy kind of way. I strained my ears towards it and was rewarded by the wet thump of a beating heart along with an odd sort of ripping noise.

The burn in my throat was so painful now, the flesh felt so parched and dry.

Unconciously I ran towards the scent, only vaguely noticing that I was almost flying through the woods on inhumanly fast legs. It was the thirst directing my movement now and the part of me that didn't feel insane from the bloodlust sighed in relief that I had not been overcome whilst in a room full of people.

When the beating heart and ripping sounds were loud enough for me to realise that the creature was very near by, my body once again overrode my mind and I dropped into a crouch, mouth filling with saliva and muscles tensing.

I climbed up the nearest tree to get a birds eye view of whatever it was I was tracking. My ascension was silent and quick, I looked down with Eagle eyes to see a massive stag methodically stripping bark from a tree.

I maneovered myself into place before dropping silently on top of the creature and sinking my teeth into the throbbing artery on it's neck.

Hot blood coursed down my throat, beginning at once to appease the maddening burn that had so nearly claimed my sanity. I drank until there was no more but knew vaguely that the thirst had not dissipated completely.

Blood sloshed around in my stomach but I did not feel fully sated and, with more control over myself this time I tentatively sniffed the air in the hopes of picking up another deer.

I saw and heard it at the same time and once again adopted my crouching pose. I moved stealthily through the woods listening intently. The wind had changed direction so I was now hunting using my hearing alone. Once again I could hear the wet heartbeat, but there was another close by – this one was much bigger.

I altered my course with the thrill of going after new and bigger prey.

I reached a small clearing where an even larger stag than before was bent, lapping water from the brook I had heard earlier. My body thrilled with the anticipation of more blood.

I was hyper-aware of everything around me. I felt stronger and healthier now I had gotten onside me what my body had craved so badly.

I checked the surrounding area, making sure all was clear for my intended pounce and was met by a pair of very large brown eyes staring at me from the opposite side of the clearing. It appeared that I had competition for my second course.

A low growl crept from my chest, challenging my competition and staking my claim on my meal. I was in hunting mode and I would defend my meal with tooth and claw if necessary.

I expected the pair of eyes to disappear. After the scare I gave that poor man earlier I knew I would appear as a formidable opponent to any lesser predator than I and in that moment, in the glory of my hunt I didn't think there was a greater predator on this unknown planet than I.

However, instead of retreating, the competitor for my meal stepped forward into the clearing with heavy footfalls.

The footfalls immediately alerted the stag, sending it sprinting off into the trees beyond.

OK, now I was pissed.

I gave another warning growl as I stepped forward to meet the beast. My teeth were bared and I had lowered my body into a crouch, like a coiled spring ready to explode into action at any given moment.

It was a large bear. I had no doubt it's shoulder could rub against my own if it got close enough, not that it was going to get the chance. The wind had changed direction once again and was blowing away from me, stealing my ability to scent him.

The bear had obviously decided that I would be a tastier treat than the stag it had just scared away. I felt faint amusement at it's assumption, coming to the same conclusion myself. I was sure that bear blood was tastier than stag's and I was about to find out.

I expected a growl in return but instead I was met by a whine. The bear had it's ears lowered and was edging towards me.

I frowned, something seemed wrong about it's stance, as though it was submissive and not aggressive. Why was he moving towards me if he was scared?

The bear suddenly exploded into motion and leapt towards me with speed to match my own.

In that moment I realised my mistake.

Not Bear, I thought. Wolf.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know it's a bit shorter than my previous ones but I thought this was a good ending point.

If you're enjoying what I have written so far, please take just a couple of minutes to review – it really would mean the world to me.