I get scared sometimes.

Not just for my life. Not just for my future. Not just for my Raven.

I get scared when my memory problems act up, and the next day I find out something terrible has happened. I get scared when I see a tragedy in a less-fortunate country happening on the news, and I laugh. I get scared when my delusional haze weakens and I almost come to terms with the reality that Raven might really love Sterling, and not me.

Almost. . .

Now a new fear is rising for me, and I'm going to have to face it, and destroy it. But that will be a challenge I will have to face unprepared no matter what. Trust me, I would never be prepared for it, ever. Why? Because. . .

I really am starting to become what I hate most. . .

. . . A monster. . .

When my vision finally returns to normal, I'm looking at my hands. They're covered in red - blood. Whose blood though? I look up. Sterling is kneeling across from me, eyes dilated and red as he's tearing bits and pieces off the cop that was driving the patrol car - which feels like it was only moments ago - devouring them. I look back down and see the blood on my hands dripping into the giant hole in the the chest of the cop that was riding in the passenger seat.

. . . Well, shit.

I must have attacked the two cops in my (what I'm assuming, was a) rampage and caused them to bleed, which made me start feeding on them. Alexander must have smelled the delicious coppery scent of blood, and came back in a hungry, delusional state.

My hand unconsciously dips into the officer's open chest cavity and lifts itself back up to my mouth.

I don't try to stop it though, I have been absolutely starving since I woke up earlier this evening. And Alexander! I doubt he's eaten since they put Jameson put in holding, which was about over a week ago!

Anyway, I duck my head into the hole and start sucking as hard as possible on the biggest vain I can see. But just then, I hear a scream. I lift my head and turn around to see a woman wearing jogging clothes and holding grocery bags in both hands, frozen, staring horrified at what she's seeing. Before I can even react, a flash of black goes past me - Sterling. He tackles her ferociously, and I just sit there and watch him tear away at her clothes while she struggles to push him off. Suddenly, an explosion of blood shoots into the air. Looking just past Sterling's slouched-over form, I can see that the woman's head is no longer present.

That's when I notice something, the woman's cellphone. I crawl like an animal over to it and accidentally press 'enter.' I nearly jump back. The screen shows a running phone call, to 911.

I scramble to my feet as fast as possible and push Sterling off of the woman's body. He looks at me with his still-dilated, red eyes and growls. I grab his shoulders tightly and shake him a bit. "Hey," I start, "Listen to me. We have to go, got it? The police are going to come!"

It takes a few more good shakes to get him to stop growling and a hard slap to get him back to himself. "W-Wha?" He says as he recovers from his predacious haze.

"Listen, we just fed on three people. Two of them are cops, well, were cops. I'm going to take you to my house, okay? But you have to promise not to tell Raven about it."

". . . V-Vladi. . . N-no, Trevor. Trevor, what. . .? Why are you. . .?"

I sigh in annoyance. "Just come on!" I yell and start pulling him down the the street. At first, it feels as if he's trying to pull away from me, but he ultimately ends up alongside me.

I can just barely hear the sounds of sirens by the time we hop the fence into my backyard. He nearly runs into the glass sliding door, but I stop him just in time, sort of. . . We hardly have the focus to pull ourselves up the stairs and into my room. I let him go into my bathroom and take a shower first while I take the time to sit and rest.

"What the hell did I just do?" I ask myself at one point. And really, what did I just do? Well, let's sum it up; I just took part in the killing of two cops that were escorting me from the police station - which will definitely be noted by investigators - I brought Sterling into my house, my sanctuary, and let him use my shower. . . And Matt! I have to go back and feed him soon!

God. Dammit.

"Trevor, are you back already?" My mother asks through the door.

"Y-Yeah mom, don't come in!"

"Did you get someone to drive you? I didn't see any car in the driveway." I see the knob turn.

"No mom, don't come in!"

Too late.

The door begins to open, and all I can think to do is stand there. "Trevor, really, how did you-" The door is finally wide open and leaving me exposed to my mother. She stares at my bloodied body, mouth hanging open, arms limp. I can practically see her spirit dying through her eyes. After a while, she starts to laugh quietly. It's a hollow, empty laugh; A kind of laugh you'd expect a corpse to have, if it could. The volume of her laughter rises slowly as seconds go by. Then she reaches for the doorknob, still laughing, and closes the door.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, then go to lock the door.

Five minutes pass before the shower turns off. Alexander steps out in a towel and holding his dirty clothes in his arms. "Um, what do I do about these?" He says quietly.

"Just put on some of my clothes and throw those in the washer in my basement." I say. As he walks over to my closet, I step into my bathroom and restart the shower, putting it on the highest setting. I lean stiffly against the tile wall and let the boiling water hit my face as I drift off into my thoughts, my thoughts on my very certain arrest. My certain. . . death.

It's no doubt that if I get arrested that I'm going to get exposed to the sun and die. I should call my dearest and say my farewell after my shower. Oh, my poor Raven! How will she be able to go on without her other half? How will she be able to take Sterling forcing her to be with him for eternity?!

I sigh solemnly. 'This will ruin her. . .'

The faucets squeak when I turn them off. I wrap a towel around myself and walk out of my bathroom to see my bedroom door wide open. That is. . . suspicious, because I'm sure that I saw Alexander close it. . . No matter, I'll just close it now in case someone passes by. I slip on some clothes that are lying around.

After waiting in my room for a few minutes for Alexander to come back, I finally decide to go out and look for him. I make sure to lock my door behind me before I leave. The first place i check is obviously the basement. He isn't here, but the washer is about to stop, so I'll go ahead and switch his clothes to the dryer. Next, I check the kitchen. The only thing different is that one of the steaks in the fridge are gone.

When I walk through the living room, I catch the glass sliding door from my peripheral vision, which makes me stop for some reason. My body turns to face the door, and I realize I can see my tree house from this spot. My feet suddenly begin walking me towards it against my will. My hands push the glass out, yes, out of the frame. Cracks form in the glass as it bends outwards like it's a strip of foam paper. The glass shatters on the patio and I can feel the little shards getting wedged into my feet. My hands then grab the lighter and lighter fluid off the grill as it passes by. I'm only a few feet away from my tree house before my feet stop.

They soon start up again as the hand holding the lighter fluid lifts and tilts the can making the contents pour out onto the trunk of the tree. I cycle around the tree three times before it's empty, and I watch my hands release it. Then my other hand starts up the lighter and holds it close to the back of the tree. My heart rate starts to quicken. . . 'Why? Why am I going to burn down my tree house?'

My question goes unanswered as the light falls and lands on one of the exposed roots of the tree, igniting it instantly.

I shut my eyes tightly as the flames spread to the rest of the tree - I never could stand the sight of fire. 'Why is my body doing this? What the hell is this accomplishing? What could be inside of my tree house that would need to be destroyed in such a way? Where the hell is Sterling while all of this is happening?'

Suddenly, everything around me stills. Then an image emerges from the darkness of my shut eyes. It's. . . It's my shrine? 'Why am I picturing my. . .? Wait. . .' A gasp fails to escape my mouth when I realize that I don't feel my eyelids over my eyes anymore. Wait a minute, another realization comes over me; the smell of smoke is fainter than it was a few seconds ago. I can understand visual illusions, but the thought of my sense of smell going haywire is just absurd!

The vision of my shrine suddenly pans quickly off to the side and through the secret door, then out my closet door into my room. But then, it suddenly looks out the window to my tree house now fully engulfed in flames. . . and myself, standing in front of it. And this makes me realize something; I'm not hallucinating. I'm seeing things not only through Alexander's eyes, but all of his senses.

Then a thought infiltrates my mind, "What the hell is he doing?!" Undoubtedly his thoughts.

I see my body twitch slightly, then my head snaps toward my bedroom window, toward Alexander. His vision shrinks quickly away from the window, then creeps back up a few seconds later. He let's out a terrified yelp,

I'm gone. . . Where the hell did I go?

He whips around and makes a run for the door. But as soon as he opens it, my heart - his heart - sinks when I - He - is met with my stone dead eyes. I see myself step closer, which causes Sterling to back further and further away until his back hits the wall on the other side of the room.

Then, I hear myself say in a menacing tone, "Where. Were. You."

Another thought forces its way into my mind, "I need to get out of here before things get violent!" Then He says, "I-I was, uh, I was in the basement!"

"I checked the basement." I respond. . . disturbingly. . .

"W-Well, I wasn't there the whole time. I came back here."

"Obviously. . ." There's a moment of silence. "Just tell me the truth, it'll be easier for the both of us."

"Uh. . ."

"Tell me, you were in my closet."

I feel a spark of anxiety shoot up Sterling's spine. ". . . I-"

"You were in my closet, in my secret place between the walls! You were looking at my. . . memorial. . . Question is, did you see who it was for?"

"No! No! Absolutely not! I didn't see who it was for, I swear!" Another one of his thoughts breaks into my mind, "Thank God I really didn't see. I swear, it's like he's going through my mind!"

I see a knowing smirk cross my face. "I see. . . Well, so long as you don't do that again, we won't have much problems in the future." The smirk on my face seems to become more confident and prideful.

. . . I hate it.

I hate the look on my face. I shouldn't be smiling. In fact, I shouldn't be able to see my smile. This isn't natural, this shouldn't be possible!. . . Then again, becoming a vampire shouldn't be possible, yet I wasn't complaining about that. . . But I digress! I. . . I digress much too much. . . I want out of here. I want to get out of His body! I want out! I need to get out of his head! This is too much for me! I don't like this! I hate it, hate it, hate it! I HATE IT!

Suddenly, I see Him cringe and clutch his head in pain - from the perspective of my own body, to my relief. His knees buckle and he crumbles to floor, still clutching his head. His fingernails punctures the thin flesh of his scalp and draws blood. The tiny droplets of blood becomes a heavy flow of red before long, I wouldn't be surprised if he manages to dig through his skull at this point. He eventually releases his head, but in exchange, falls unconscious.

Then I notice the very faint sound of sirens once again. Had I not been bitten by the monster, I definitely wouldn't have heard it. Looks like the police are finally putting the pieces together and heading to my house. Ah, fuck. How am I going to do this. . .?

". . . Okay," I whisper to myself. I scoop Sterling up into my arms and carry back into my closet, and throw his body sloppily into my secret space. I make absolutely sure that the passage is totally concealed. Another sigh escapes my mouth. "Alright," I start, "The sirens still sound a kind of far. They're probably far away enough for me to call 911 like I don't know what's going on and create the illusion that I've been here longer than I really have. Then I'm gonna need to pack up some food and go feed Matt as soon as possible. . . Okay!"

I immediately go for my cellphone for the call. I manage to sound so convincing with my act of fake panic, I nearly deceive myself. Then I run to my parent's room and wake them. My 'father' at first is angry at me and hits me, hard. I admit, I do get dizzy and stumble backwards for a few seconds, and aching caused by the blow might linger for a while. But otherwise, I'm fine. His attitude from being awoken in the middle of the night does adjust when he notices the flames outside the window. We all go out to the front of our house and wait there fire the fired department to show up. When they do show up, however, I have to mask my surprise at them arriving before the police. Thankfully, though, they manage to put out the fire before it could can spread to the house.

At some point, I manage to slip back into the house unnoticed and I make quick work of putting on my Vladimir get-up before going into my secret space. Oddly enough, Sterling is still out.

I shake him roughly until I see his eyes crack open. He grabs my abusing hands tightly and pushes me through the secret room door and into my closet wall, causing a huge crack. "Vladimir?! How did you find me?!" He in a disbelieving excitement.

"Uh. . ." I start. Fuck! I didn't think that through! Let's see, what can I possibly come up with. . .? I got nothing. Shit!

". . . Oh! Oh, I see! You must be developing you special abilities!" He says with a smile.

"Wha?" I say, "'Special abilities?'" Vampires have special abilities aside from turning into a bat? I should've made the little shit bite me sooner!

"Yeah, special abilities. Everyone gets their own unique set of special abilities. Yours must have something to do with tracking. . . But what happened to Trevor?"

A-ha! There's something I can work with! "Who? Blonde kid?" I ask, "My guess is outside with his family, there was a tree burning in the backyard when I got here."

He nods. "Hm. . . I should thank him for helping me before we go."

"No!" I yell, "There are people all over the outside of the house and the police will be coming soon. You fly out to the factory and I'll meet you there, got it?"

He stares at me for a few seconds, but he soon nods in agreement and stands up. I wait until I hear the window open before I go into action. It only takes me a few minutes to pack up my shrine into the suitcase it was displayed on top of, and a few more to pack a change of clothes and my secret stash of snacks.

I'm just about to walk out of my bedroom door when I hear a voice down the hallway. I instinctively slam the door and back away from it. Loud footstep soon approach my door and whoever's on the other side starts banging on the door. "Trevor! Come out young man, we've got some more questions for ya." The voice doesn't belong to my mother of 'father', so it has to be another fucking cop. A smirk crosses my lips, this is the perfect opportunity to put my 'Vladimir for a while' idea into effect.

I unlock the door and allow the cop to throw it open. He stares at me with a confused look on his face, obviously unable to identify me. With a cryptic tone in my warped voice, I say, "Trevor's gone." His eyes barely have the time to widen before I push him down to the floor and make a run for the stairs. The speed I'm running at surprises me - just another complimentary gift from the bite of death, I suppose. I make it to my garage faster than I ever have. Quicker than the speed I was just running at, I snatch both of the keys on the rack and transfer everything in my Kia to the strange Mercedes. Finally, I hit the garage door button on the wall and start up the Mercedes. The very moment the door is open enough for me to drive through, I stomp on the gas and the car lunges in reverse.

I nearly crash into a parked cop car, but that doesn't stop me from speeding off down the street. I don't know how fast I'm driving, and I don't care. I just need to get to the factory quickly. Every turn I make is sharp, every obstacle in front of me, I avoid. Thankfully, by the time I hear the sirens, I'm already on the dirt road leading to the factory. Upon pulling up to the factory, I see Sterling pacing near the entrance. When he sees me pull up, he immediately approaches me.

"Is. . . Is this my Mercedes?!" He asks in disbelief.

Oh. . . Oh yeah, that's right! That's where this Mercedes came from! How did I forget? "Uh," I start, "Yeah. Sorry about the paint."

He lets out a sigh. "It's. . . It's okay." I can sense the disgust he tries to hide. "I-It's just paint. Besides. . . We don't want the cops to immediately recognize it if thy ever come by."

"If it'll make you feel any better, I can try scraping off the paint and redoing it so that it's not as bright."

"No, no. It's alright. Just come inside, we need to talk."

I shut off the car and follow him inside. We each take a seat on the dusty stairs leading up to the second floor. "Listen Vladimir," He starts, "I know that we don't know each other all that much, but you've helped me so much for the past week or so, weather it was your initial intention or not. So, I really want help you back, yet every chance I try to take, you seem to reject. If you keep rejecting me, how am I supposed to pay you back?" A friendly smile crosses his face.

"I don't want anything from you." I say, "I'm just. . . hAppY to help." I nearly cringe at how forced the word 'happy' comes out my mouth. God I'm awful.

"Vladimir," He says sternly, "I'm not taking no for an answer! I have to give you something!" He crosses his arms and looks away with a pout. We sit in a somewhat tense silence for a few minutes, looking at everything except each other. Finally, he looks back at me and asks, "So. . . I'm guessing that you've completely turned by now, right?" I nod. "And. . . You never got a coffin, did you?" I nod once again.

He lets out a loud, excited 'Yes!' and throws quite the offensive arm around me. "Then it's settled! As soon as I can find a time frame where the police are thinned out throughout the town, I'll go get my coffin, and a fresh one for you!"

I groan and try to push his disgusting arm away from me, but he's holding on too tight. "Whatever." I say, "Just get off of me and go do. . . whatever, I need to go do something really quick."

"Do something? What could you possibly do? And what could I possibly do while you're doing it?"

"Fuck yourself."

The arm that he had wrapped around me tenses, then retracts. He looks at me with a hurt expression, but of course, I'm not going to apologize. No, not at all. "Just give me my space, you little shit. I'll be back in a minute." I say harshly, then turn around and start up the stairs.

It doesn't take me long for me to get to the door with the metal folding chair propped under the knob. I move the chair away from the door and prop it up against a wall before entering the stairwell. A smile crosses my face at the sight of Matt tied up at the bottom of the stairs. "Matt," I whisper.

His eyes flutter open at the sound of my voice. Immediately after locking his eyes on me, he starts struggling and trying to back away. I snicker at his futile attempts, it's cute to see that he still has a will to escape. I close the door behind me and pull his body to me by his foot. He instantly tenses up and ends his struggle. I kneel in between his legs and lean in really close to his ear. "Calm down, I'm just here to feed you."

He whimpers pathetically in response. I untie the rope around his mouth. . . But something goes wrong. Blood begins to trickle down his mouth and I lips appear to be swollen. "Matt!" I breath, "What happened?!"

"Siiers!" He cries, trying desperately not to touch his lips together.

"Splinters?" I ask for conformation. He nods. "Shit, I'm gonna need to find a cloth to replace the rope. . ." I take a closer look at his throbbing wounds. His lips are bright red and i can see a few of the splinters sticking out. However, I also see some seemingly vacant holes which indicate that, A; they fell out on their own, B; they're smaller and have been engulfed in swollen skin, or C; The tops have broken off. I'm definitely not going to be able to pull them out. I'm without a doubt not going to be able to cut them out. Hmm. . . Maybe I can. . .?

I let out a sigh. The things I go through to make life less difficult!

"Don't freak out." I say as I lean in close to his face. "I have to suck them out."

He moans in protest, but does nothing to stop me from leaning in closer to him. My lips engulf his bottom lip and I suck hard on it. After a few seconds, I feel the tiny pieces of wood fly into my mouth. I pull my lips away from his to spit them out, then move them back in place.

More splinters fly into my mouth as Matt's body becomes less and less tense. He let's out tiny yelps of pain and discomfort when I switch to his top lip. It doesn't take quite as long for me to clear out as the bottom lip did, but it was equally as uncomfortable.

When his lips are finally clear, I fall back and lean against the closed door. "There, better."

But he shakes his head wildly. "What? I could've sworn I got all of them out!" He shakes his head harder. A desperate moan escapes from his mouth as he frantically sticks his tongue out his mouth, careful not to touch his still tender lips. ". . . Ah, fuck. Really?" I say with a growl, then i sigh. "Fine."

I get back into position between his legs and lean forward once again. As my lip close over his tongue, my eyes dart over to the wall, the ceiling, anywhere where I can't see Matt's face in this. . . painfully awkward situation. He lets out more strangled moans as each tiny prick of wood flies out of his muscle.

After a time, I pull away and spit out the real last bit of splinters.

I look back at him and open my mouth to say something, but then I notice the red tinging his face. A friendly smile creeps across my face. "Okay Matt, you don't have to make this gay." I say with a laugh lacing my voice.

Now I might be mistaken, but the noise that comes out of his mouth sounds like a laugh. But I can't be sure.

"Here. " I say, reaching into the bag I brought. "Rinse your mouth out with water, just in case." I hold the water bottle up to his lips and tip it up. He takes a few seconds to swish it about his mouth, then spits. I put the bottle back up to his mouth so he can drink some, then I go back through my bag and fish out a honey oatmeal bar and some beef jerky.

After I feed him, we sit in dark silence - he's too afraid to speak to me, and I don't know what I should say to him.

Finally, though, I say, "I originally intended to bring you more to eat. But some. . . things happened." He just hums in response.

More silence.

"Are you cold up here?" I ask. He nods solemnly. "Okay, I'll bring you something. Eventually. . . Uh. . . Do you need to. . . go?" I ask. His eyes light up and he nods desperately. I sigh. "You're lucky I'm a nice guy, Matt. Otherwise, you'd be going in your jeans."

I scoop him up into my arms and kick open the door leading back into the darkness of the warehouse. I jump through a nearby broken window. After falling for what had to be at least fifty feet, I land on my feet making the ground around me tremor in displeasure. Untying Matt from his binds, I tell him to go behind a tree. But I also remind him not to run from me - something I shouldn't need to remind him, but was glad to do anyway.

After a few minutes, he returns to me with his down and his eyes dark with fear. He stops right in front of me and allows me to wrap my arms around his waist. I ready my legs, and in an instant, I'm crouched on my toes on the sill of the window I jumped out of. I make quick work of retying Matt and putting him back on his spot at the stairs.

But before I leave, I give him a parting 'gift'. A swift kiss on the cheek - nothing special, obviously. Just a friendly poke in the ribs. . . Heheh. . . Fan service. . .

After closing and blocking the door leading to Matt, I return to the first floor to find Sterling sitting on a big rock. . . and someone standing in front of him. He doesn't look like anyone I've seen, recently at least. He has blonde dread locks tied behind his head with a rubber band and he's wearing something close to what that Jagger prick was wearing the first time I met him. I slowly walk up behind him and, instead of doing anything to him, I simply point at him from the side so that the monster can see.

"Oh! Vladimir!" He says, standing up. The dread lock guy turns his head and immediately jumps away when he sees me. Sterling walks over to and places his dirty hand on my shoulder. "This is Sebastian. Sebastian, this is Vladimir, he's the one that's been helping me since this thing started. Vladimir, Sebastian is my friend from Romania."

Sebastian held his hand out for me to shake it. "Why are you here?" I say. He frowns and slowly lowers his hand. Hm. . . I'm getting a strong sense of deja-vu.

"Yeah, well, uh. . . Alex called a me few nights back to come out and try to help out over here, but he didn't tell me much else."

"Really?" I say, glancing over at the monster. "You did not tell him?"

He looks away and laughs uncomfortably. "I-I didn't want to uh. . ."

"He's been accused of murder." I say with a smile.

The color drains from Sebastian's face and he stumbles backward, nearly tripping over the rock that Sterling was sitting on. He starts to hyperventilate. "A-Alexander!" He yells, "But, but why? How? I-I thought you were sticking to the cow blood! You now what happened the last time someone in your family fed from a human! The humans hunted, not only your family, but all of our families! Everyone was moving from country to country for years! No one could even send telegrams, TELEGRAMS, to each other without being discovered! Oh, curse your goddamn great grandfather for doing such a thing to us, that fucking bastard."

"I didn't! I didn't do it! Somebody framed me! I wasn't even there when it happened!" The monster yelled.

"Let's not worry about it now." I say, "The situation has gotten way out of hand. Since it started: Jameson was put in holding; we've had to move his coffin; a friend of mine has gone missing; someone's house almost got caught on fire; and we killed two cops and a lady and. . . Oh. . . Right. . ."

Fury ignited in Sebastian's eyes and launched himself at Sterling. He tackled him, then rammed him up against a wall, pieces of it chipping away in the process. "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU?! YOU KILL NOT ONE, BUT FOUR PEOPLE?! TWO COPS INCLUDED! WHO ARE YOU?!"

"I-I didn't mean to!" The monster replies. Tears start to form at the rims of his eyes and pour out. Sobs and sniffles escape his mouth as his face becomes drenched in tears and anxiety sweat.

Fucking pussy.

"I was trying to go to Raven to talk to her again, but then they saw me and attacked me! One of them shot me, and it just sort of made me lose control!" By the time he finishes speaking, his words are barely distinguishable and almost completely replaced with choked sobs. Sebastian unhands him and he drops to his knees. "I. . . I-I didn't want hurt anyone. . . I didn't want any of this to happen. . . Whoever framed me. . . I hope he burns in Hell! That bastard, whoever he is! He ruined my life! I swear, if I find out whoever did this to me, I'll kill him myself. I'LL KILL HIM MYSELF!"

Dread Locks gives him a hard punch in his stomach. "Shut it! There's nothing we can do about it right now. Let's just. . ." He sighs. "Let's just try to come up with a plan."

"No." I say, "For now, we must wait. Sebastian, you came here in your own car, right?"

He gives me a strange look. "Uh, no."

"Fuck. . . Okay, there's a house back in town. it's where we just came from. The address is 11629 Upperton Road, there's a red Kia Optima in the garage and the keys are hanging on the wall. Drive it to the graveyard to get Ster- Alexander's coffin and bring it here. In fact, while you're at it, bring me a coffin."

Sebastian cocks his head to the side. "A coffin?" He says.

I tighten my lips. "Right," I whisper, "We didn't bring that part up. . ."

His eyes sharpen and he looks back down at the monster. "What part?"

Sterling bites his lip and buries his face into his hands. A few choked sobs escapes his mouth, and he says, "V-Vladimir was human when we met. . . but he was bleeding heavily." I notice Blonde-Locks' - yeah, I went there, deal with it - eyes go dark. "I lost control. I-I. . . I bit him. . . And he just completed turning today. . ."

Sebastian starts breathing heavily, thought, I can't imagine why. "You. . ." He starts, "What the hell happened to you? You were the one with the most control, the most promise. But now. . . All of this has happened because you've come to lack just that. . . I don't even know you anymore."

Sterling's head snaps up, his red, puffy eyes shaking with worry. "I-I'm sorry. I-I don't know myself anymore. . . But. . . But you'll still help me right?" A pathetic smile crosses his face and he latches onto Sebastian's leg. "R-Right?"

Dread-Head - heh, I'm on a roll with these names - delivers a hard kick to the little bitch's side, making him clutch it and curl into a ball. "Yeah, I'll help you. But don't expect me to be your shoulder to cry on through all of this. . ."

. . .

This entire scene. . . It's just. . . So hard. . .

. . . To not laugh.

Here is Sterling, the monster, my enemy, the bane of my existence. . . crying and sniffling in physical, emotional, and mental pain. His social status in the town that once embraced him has dropped to a negative integer. The control he had over what once was a sentient being is beginning to vanish. His ability to twist and turn his way out of these ludicrous situations he seems to find himself in has thinned. His friend has beaten him in a fit of anger and seems to have no remorse for it, signifying a slowly diminishing relationship.

And I? I. . . I am getting closer and closer to reclaiming the stolen heart of my beloved. Closer to destroying the evil that's kept her away from me. Closer to living my dreams and fulfilling the deepest wishes and desires my darling has ever had. Closer to eternal love and happiness. And while I watch the friendship between this fiend and Sebastian melt before my very eyes, my friendship will grow stronger. Matt will depend on me for his life and his experiences. No longer will I have to feel so troubled by the useless ovaries of my mother, and I will have the brother that was always with me, but never there.

I'm reaping all the benefits.

. . . But it's not the time to celebrate yet, he still breaths. I know, I could just attack him now while he's a quivering mess, but I don't know the full extension of his capabilities yet. I know what you're thinking; 'You didn't have any problems with trying to kill him when you were human!' Well, simpleton, I was reckless as a human, and look what happened then, I almost got sucked dry.

No, no fights yet. . . For now, just savor it. Savor the sweet, delicious taste like it's a slice of the richest chocolate cake.

After Sebastian calms down, he leaves to do as I told him. Sterling slowly stops his blubbering after a few minutes and settles himself down on the floor.

". . .What's the point?" He says. "Why are we even trying at this point? Even though I didn't kill Claire, I did kill those two cops and that woman. I'm a murderer now."

". . . Yeah. But what are you gonna do about it?"

He immediately sits up and stare at me. "What?!" He says.

"What are you gonna do about it? Are you gonna give up and let the humans drag you into the sun, or are you going out on your own terms?" I smirk at his disbelieving face.

"W-Well, I-I. . . I. . . I could never kill myself!"

"Why not? You had a perfectly fine time killing those two cops and that lady."

He stands up. "But, I wasn't under control when that happened! I would never kill someone willingly. . ."

"What are you, bipolar?" I scoff at him, "You just gave up on life a few moments ago, but now you're defending your case. You just don't know what to do with yourself, do you?"

He gasps as if he's surprised I'd say such things to him. But then he scowls at me. "Well, you're one to talk about being bipolar! You've been helping me, and now you scrutinizing me?! Just what are you up to?"

My smirk fades from my face. I walk up to him and grab a fistful of his shirt. "Listen, you little bitch, I got dragged into this by you, I didn't join on my own accord! You don't know what my original intentions were, and you haven't known me long enough to know how I act! Maybe if you paid more attention to the people around you, you'd at least understand me a little bit by now! So how about you sort yourself out before you jump on me?"

"Well, I didn't break into your house, hold a knife in your face and make you bite me because I apparently don't know when I'm bleeding out! So how about you take your own fucking advice?!" Immediately after he speaks, I feel a blunt pain in my stomach, and I'm flying across the room. The wall barely stops me upon impact.

I stare across the room, right into Sterling's eyes, and I say, ". . . There's no life left for you here. You need to get out of town, out of the state, maybe even out of the country - that is if you've regained what little balls you've had to live on. But for the sake of pure principle, I'll still help you. When Sebastian gets here with the coffins, I'm gonna go upstairs and go to sleep early. We'll figure out what to do tomorrow evening." I slide down onto the floor. "And if you love Raven as much as you say, you better decide if you want her to run away with you or not. 'Cause, if 'not', you might never see her again, you Monster."

He bares his teeth and growls at hearing the long-running name I've been using for him for the first time.

Like a monster. . .

. . .

Like I said to Sterling, as soon as Sebastian gets back with the coffins, I grab mine and take it upstairs.

I open the door leading to Matt quickly and throw my coffin right beside him, the loud crashing noise forcing him to wake violently. He shuffles away quickly, possibly thinking I'm about to hurt him, and makes an attempted to crawl his way up the stairs. I smile and allow myself to laugh a bit.

"Quit fussing, stupid, I've just decided to let you sleep in a warmer place than the stairs." I say. I grab his ankle and yank him down the stairs. I hear three loud thumps, then the sudden burst of the coppery stench of blood. A sigh escapes my mouth, but my smile doesn't go away when I see a heavily bleeding gash across his forehead - It's deep but he'll live. His body is limp in my arms as I pick him up and lay him gently into the coffin, then I squeeze in beside him and shut the lid.

Before closing my eyes to sleep, I hug him close and lick at the blood seeping from his head, then I whisper, "Goodnight."

When I awake, my eyes immediately adjust in the darkness of my coffin and I see Matt. He's completely pale and the gash on his head looks grotesquely mangled and I see multiple bite marks all over his face. I look down to see his neck and stomach torn open. Upon further inspection, I realize that his organs are all gone; liver, kidneys, intestines and all. All that's left is the heart and a single lunge.

His body convulses violently and I snap my eyes up to meet his now-open, utterly terrified ones. His mouth opens and blood seeps out from between his lips as he tries to gasp for air. I smile at him and kiss his hair, as if he were my baby brother. He gurgles for a moment, then I hear air being successfully pushed through. I imagine it takes a lot of effort, but he manages to say, "Why?"

I let out a laugh, and say, "Good morning."

Then I bite him once again.

I gasp loudly as I awaken from my dream. I look at Matt; he's fine.

Sweat falls from my face heavily. 'What the hell was that? Did I dream that because I had some of his blood last night? Dear god.'

I need to work on taming myself, quick. Or my dream could come true. What if I end up doing that to Raven? Or one of our future children? What if I go crazy on another citizen and the police find where we're hiding? Last night was already a huge close call! We barely made it. . .

Wait a minute. . . Sterling is a Vampire. . . .

Why didn't he just fly to Raven's house. . .? Is he trying to. . .?

. . .

I get scared sometimes. . . Very, very scared. . .

Act 1: Transforming and Transferring.

Over.