Darcy sprinted from the hospital all the way home, all the while feeling eyes piercing into her back. Her breath came out like fog in the freeze of the evening. She looked over her shoulder periodically expecting to see the vampire's tall form leaping after her. She looked up into the trees, just to make sure no one in particular was hiding up in them. Could vampires even jump from tree to tree? Like monkeys . . . or bats. She wasn't even sure if vampires really could turn into bats. She had failed to ask Mr. Crepsley that, but now it was too late to ask him anything. The run home really gave her a chance to think about her situation.

She was a half-vampire now.

She didn't feel it, but he said so himself it would become apparent eventually. He also said half-vampires didn't need to feed on as much blood. There was no way she was going to drink a humans blood. Disgusting! Feeding on human's blood would make her a monster, she just couldn't do that. She wasn't a monster. Not yet. So as she forced her legs to pump faster at her sides, she decided, whole-heartedly, she was never going to feed from a human. In the meantime, she was just going to act like nothing has happened. She will get on with her life, go home, go to school, and Mr. Crepsley will just have to go on with the Cirque and leave town. She could do this.

When Darcy came home, her bedroom window was still open, so she scaled the side of her house and jumped inside. None of the other window lights were on so she knew everyone was asleep, leading their normal lives. Now she will go to sleep, and wake up tomorrow to try to lead her own normal life.


Darcy woke up the next morning to the best news she ever heard in a long time.

"I just got a call from Steve's mom! His condition has changed for the better; he's going to be alright!" Dad wrapped his arms around Darcy, picked her up and swung her in circles.

"It's a miracle!" Mom said, beaming. She promised Darcy they could all go to the hospital after breakfast that morning.

When Darcy and her family arrived at the hospital, a grinning doctor in a white coat waved Darcy over and they all let her have a moment alone with her friend. She poked her head inside the door and saw Steve sitting up in bed with a controller in his hand, watching TV. His color had improved dramatically since last night, and the welt where Madam Octa had bit him was reduced in swelling. Darcy knocked on the hospital room door and Steve looked over from the TV set to her. His face broke out in a beaming smile.

"Hey, D," he said, "What's up?"

"What's up with me?" She asked, thinking, you don't want to know, but said, "What about you? How're you doing?" She walked over to him and sat on the edge of his bed.

He shrugged, glancing at the TV, "Never been better; I woke up this morning and could've ate a whole horse, I was starving."

"Well, you're eating, that's good."

"Yeah," he sniffed, "but apart from that, I think I'm coming down with a cold."

Darcy flinched; she remembered what Mr. Crepsley said last night after he gave Steve the antidote; it was something about him catching illnesses more easily.

She focused back on Steve and replied, her eye twitching, "Oh, that's weird."

"Yeah," Steve remained silent a moment, like he was deep in thought, or was too hesitant to share his thoughts.

"What's up?" She asked.

He blinked and looked at her, "Oh, I just remembered something else that was kind of weird." He laughed curtly, and shook his head, "But it's kind of crazy, it must've been a dream."

Darcy inched toward him on the bed, and she asked innocently, "W-what's weird?" Did he know something about her change? Her hands began to sweat and she rubbed them on her jeans.

"Well, it happened late last night, at least I think it was late, because it was really dark in here, and I heard voices talking." He stared hard at her. "I heard your voice. I opened my eyes and I saw what I thought looked kind of like you, with the long brown hair, and the other figure was tall, with shocking orange hair, just like Mr. Crepsley." He narrowed his eyes, "So I was just wondering if maybe you stopped by last night, and if he happened to be here with you."

Darcy gaped. He had been in a coma, how could he possibly remember that? It must've been the cure the vampire gave him; it must've worked faster than she thought. She bunched the edge of her jacket with restless hands, staring at the floor. She couldn't meet his eyes.

Before she would say anything Steve said, laughing, "Nah, that would be crazy; I'm sure it was just a dream." He sighed, "Anyway, if you two had been there, he would have totally killed you, right? For taking his things." He shrugged, and looked back at the TV. "But it had to be a dream. Oh, and you know the other thing? I heard rumors from the nurses they heard some young girl screaming last night near my room, saying she was being attacked, creepy huh?"

Darcy nodded slowly, looking at Steve out of the corner of her eye, "Yeah, really creepy."


When Mr. Crepsley said the changes in her would become apparent eventually, she didn't know he meant so soon! She noticed differences in her body by Monday at Mettlesome high. First it was her hearing; she was walking down the busy hallway, getting to class when she glanced at two girls talking all the way at the other end of the hall. One was crying about some boy, her friend was telling her she didn't need some stupid guy to make her happy. She heard their whole conversation while surrounded by hundreds of other voices that filled her head. If she concentrated on one person, the volume of their voices would rise, when she looked away, it faded. Her body also became physically stronger. Her muscles didn't grow or anything, she just felt a flowing energy throughout her, allowing her to do hundreds of push-ups or sit-ups, or run a mile in five minutes.

She was suddenly getting noticed by people in her peer group that never knew she existed before. The popular crowd of jocks were impressed with her new athletic skills, and one guy even asked for her number. She liked this new attention, but she knew it was for all the wrong reasons.

Monsters don't deserve to be liked. If everyone knew who she really was, it would be a "Grab your torch and pitchforks!" party. She would be the freak of Mettlesome high school, no, of the whole town!

While getting noticed by more guys was really fun, Darcy knew that while she is at the top, the only way to go is down, and by Thursday, down was exactly where it went. Her whole world came crashing down by the ears.