Her scream cut through the night like a knife. As my teeth broke through her delicate skin, her blood pulsated and rushed out of the wound. Her eyes glazed over and she sank into me. I did not care for her. I did not care if she lived or died. I was numb to all feeling, other than the hunger. It filled my body. Overtook my mind. I was losing control.

Her whisper shook me from my reverie.

"Are you okay?" Her forehead was creased with worry.

I nodded and she danced away, so easily reassured. I scrutinized her every move. I almost felt guilty for choosing her. This was new. Why was she making me feel this way? Her. A mere teenage girl. My favourite prey, for they were always so lively, so willing to believe. I had just pictured myself taking her. But when I tried to think of it again, all I could see were her eyes. The vibrant green was planted into my memory after the first glance.

She looked coyly over her shoulder and beckoned with one finger. I followed reluctantly. I wasn't so sure I could do this anymore. I couldn't very well turn her, but there weren't many options, I mean the coven would be outraged if they found out someone knew about us. Or me at least.

We had been walking for a while and were now heading down a back alley. How cliché. A man forcing a woman down a back alley. Predator stalking prey. Although in this case, it was a woman leading a man down a back alley. Prey baiting predator. This situation was beginning to twist in unpleasant ways.

I would have to tell her that… well I wasn't sure what I would have to tell her. That I was going to kill her because she knew what I was? Ugh. The problems always happened to revolve around me. Not Neil or Dean. Nooo, God forbid they ever had issues.

She leaned against the grimy wall and swept her thick locks over her shoulder, revealing the smooth, succulent skin of her neck.

"Your Jace Davis. I see you around school."

"Your Lily Savage. I see you when you sleep."

Lilly laughed. "Well actually it's Lilith but close enough."

"Lilith… Hmm… Did your mom know what your name meant went she named you?"

"Yes. At least, that's what she tells me. She says she wanted my name to be original, and I guess she thought a name that meant 'of the night' would be sufficient."

"So…" desperate to keep her mind off the topic at hand, I asked a question I really wanted the answer to. "How did you know?"

"Well I admit, you almost had me fooled. I wondered why you could just carry on around humans as if you were just the same as them. It took me months to notice that every time you looked sick or tired, you struck up a conversation with a girl you had probably never even looked twice at before. The next day the girl would end up home sick. I thought and thought, until I realized that you lured the girls into hanging out after school. Which really isn't fair, as I'm sure you could bribe the principal into a dinner date if you liked. You were feeding on them. They became your nourishment. I'm still not sure why the girls didn't turn after you'd bitten them, or why they did not seem to remember what had happened. All I knew was that they ended up at home that night and were to weak, or 'sick', to show up at school.

"By then I knew what you were. The only thing that bothered me was that I was never chosen. Not by you, or your two friends either."

"Ah." I acknowledged. So she did know about Neil and Dean. Crap. This complicated things even more. I avoided tying up the loose ends in her story by asking another question. "Why would I want to take the principal out to dinner?"

"Ha! I just meant that you are really persuasive."

"I don't mean to be." I really was puzzled. I never intentionally swayed people to see things my way. Did I?

"That's just it. You're always so sincere. No one ever thinks twice about doubting you. Oh and one more thing. You see, you're quite breathtaking."

"Breathtaking? How so?"

"Well, your just so unbelievably attractive. Brad Pitt has nothing on you."

"Spoken like a true girl," I chuckled. "So there were many victims of my persuasion."

"Yes. But you never tried to entice me and I must admit. I always wish I had been a victim."

Lily spoke this sentence like every other. Nothing significant about it. Eight innocent words. Eight tiny, little, nothing words. She had no idea that this line had a double meaning.

It was amazing how much eight little words could shake you.