Brianna

I rested my head on the back of the recliner and let out a sigh. It had been such a long day that I forgot that I hadn't fed in quite some time. I willed myself to get up and walked to the kitchen. Creighton was waiting at the table…

"I thought you were out." He spoke without meeting my eyes.

"Yea? Well, I thought you were out stalking my sister." I rolled my eyes and threw open the fridge. Nothing.

I growled. "Go get me something to eat, Creighton." I slammed the door shut and he winced as jars fell off the shelves. I slouched down across from him and raised an eyebrow when he didn't move.

"You are not my master, Brianna." His gaze was cold but not hostile. He took a breath before continuing, "I do not have to listen to anything you tell me. As a matter of fact, it should be you who is listening to me."

I narrowed my eyes as he spoke. It was true that since he made me stronger, I should be forever in his debt. Anyone would agree to those terms. Anyone but me. I wasn't going to swallow my pride for him. I didn't do it for anyone. I could easily kill him if I put my mind to it.

Creighton stood up from his chair and moved, gracefully, out of the room. I watched him exit before returning to my thoughts.

"Brianna! Where are you?" the echo of Cassandra's words ripped through my body like a chilling breeze. My hair stood on end and a shiver ran down my back. I thought of her terrified face as she gazed at our father's beaten body. I thought of the tears that threatened to escape her eyes when I lashed out at her. All these things should have made me upset… and yet, I felt nothing. I couldn't bring myself to care about anyone other than My Creighton.

I scoffed. MY Creighton… How could I possibly call him mine when I treat him the way I do? It's not like he had these feelings for me. He was undoubtedly in love with Cassandra. That lowlife, ungrateful, useless, piece of…

That's when the pain hit… the pain of denying the love I have for my dear sister. That's when the old Brianna took a peek at the real world. My heart began to ache as I thought of the last words I spoke to her. I threatened to take the most precious thing away from her. Why?

The chill of his iron claws crept through my body. I hadn't heard him come in through all my internal babble. I knew he could read my mind. I knew that he had heard what I was thinking and that he realized I was who I used to be.

"Oh, my sweet, why do you think like this? You know it's not what you want." His shark-like teeth nipped at my neck and I began to lose my thoughts. He kissed the small amount of blood that lingered there and everything was forgotten: who I used to be, why I was so upset, and my feelings for Cassandra.

"You know, you shouldn't scold me as you did earlier. You know my love for your sister is true." He tried to seduce me but I was strong enough to resist it.

"Don't you start, Creighton. You know as well as I do that there's no such thing as 'true love'. You're just stalking Cassandra because you're a creep." The pain in his eyes hurt me and I had to fight to take back my insult. It was so hard for me to be hateful toward him.

His arms wrapped around my waist, reminding me of the way he embraced Cassandra.

"Brianna, my dear, what will it take to make you understand my feelings? Maybe with a few years you'll begin to realize my passion for your dear, sweet sister." His eyes began to glaze over as he spoke about her. It was something that I had learned to get used to. I wasn't fond of the fact that he cared for her so much but I couldn't do anything to stop it.

He kissed my forehead and vanished. Most likely, he was going to see Cassandra. The rage that was building up inside me was all too familiar. The mere thought of her made my blood boil.

But she's your sister...

The little voice in the back of my head whispered through my rage and into my heart. I could feel the sting of the pain I had just moments before Creighton brought me to my senses.

Without thinking, I began walking out the door of Creighton's mansion. The sun was bright and the heat of it warmed my body and cleared my thoughts. The only thing I could think of is how beautiful the sun made everything look. All of my worries were put aside as I marveled at the rose bushes that had been planted on both sides of the street.

I started to lose myself in a distant memory…

"Sissy! Sissy, it hurts!" I cried out, holding my scraped knee to my chest. Cassandra had been helping me ride my first bike with only two wheels. I was going down a hill when the brakes failed and I toppled onto the hot gravel.

Cassandra, of course, started to panic because mother and father were in town and we were too far from the house for her to leave me there alone. She held me in her lap and attempted to distract me with tricks that father had taught her.

"It's alright, Brianna! See? It's not even…" She paused. I watched as the colour seemed to drain from her face. I glanced down and finally realized what shocked her so much. There was no blood. There wasn't anything. The huge scrape that had been there minutes ago had vanished. No bruise was visible, either.

That night, I learned about what I was becoming.

Cassandra simply stared in disbelief as my father explained where we came from and who exactly we were. I had been so fascinated by my newfound powers that I requested my father teach me everything there was to know.

At first, it didn't occur to me that I was the only one who was changing. Cassie was still Cassie. I watched as she stared at the paper cut she had gotten two days before. It hadn't faded in the least. Disappointment washed over her as she replaced the band-aid and sauntered up the stairs.

"Cassie?" I slowly pushed open the door and saw her curled up on her bed. She looked up at me but didn't say a word. All she did was stare. I didn't like it…

"Cassie, don't look at me like that." I firmly placed my hands on my hips and waited for her response.

"I can't help it… Daddy said that I was supposed to be first." I could sense the small amount of hostility in her voice.

"Don't blame me because I matured faster than you! Maybe that's YOUR fault!"

Her next words are what pushed me all the way. They're what gave me my ultimate power and strength.

"I don't want you in my room. No freaks allowed." Her glare shot a frozen dagger through my heart and sent me over the edge.

That was the night I shifted. I didn't know what was going on; all I knew was that something was happening. The look in Cassie's eyes changed from anger to pure fear.

My striped paw fell to the ground with a crash that shook the entire house. I raised my head and looked at her through my new eyes. I could see her heartbeat. I could see her blood pulsating.

I lunged and that's when father jumped in between the two of us. He easily knocked me down with one swipe and ordered Cassandra to leave the room.

The rest of the memory was too fuzzy for me to remember. Probably because my father knocked me out. The rage began to build again and this time, I fed off it.

I leaned back against the tree I had perched myself in and rested my eyes. I managed to make it all the way to the mall without noticing. Something Cassandra would do. I chuckled to myself when I realized this.

"Alright, Cass. I'll bite. What exactly are you?" Scott's voice shook something in me as I registered what he was asking.

The next voice was from Cassandra. I watched them from the tree and noticed her hands…

"Uhm... well... My entire family... We're something known in the magick world as..." My screech interrupted her as I realized what she was grasping in her filthy hands.

My diary.