Chapter 3! Here you go :) Please enjoy, and review. I'd appreciate it like you wouldn't believe. I forgot to say all this in previous chappies… oops… Constructive criticism is very welcome (I like to improve as a writer, but if it isn't possible I'll tell you), as is positive reinforcement, but flames will be used to roast marshmallows (seriously, I have a bag of marshmallows right here). ENJOY!

*PREVIOUSLY*

"Thanks," I murmured, smiling slightly. I was still a little disorientated from the transformation, but felt better than I have in weeks. Not changing when you're supposed to is bad for you; it backs thing up in your body if it goes on too long. I had a feeling that all the supernatural energy and having Ricky here helped me.

"No problem," he said, flashing a dazzling vampire smile my way. Maybe staying here wouldn't be too bad after all.

*NOW*

As Rickie helped me up, noticed the distinctive lack of aches in my bones, and I felt like I'd just deposited a large weight from my shoulders. A smile broke out on my face, unbidden; if pop could see me now… my first change in the company of our enemy race… wow, the magnitude of that is still getting into my head, trying to find a place where it won't be shunned for complete lunacy.

And Rickie… How could I end up mated to a vampire, of all things? Although, Rickie is rather nice… Speaking of Rickie…

"Earth to Charlie!" he said, waving a hand in front of my face. I snapped at it, trying to bite it. With his vampire speed and reflexes, I ended up snapping at nothing.

"Glad to see you landed safely; what's it like on Mars?" he joked, causing me to smile.

I felt so much better now that my change was done. According to all the little book-pamphlet-things hidden up in the attic, the first change is the most painful, since you aren't completely harmonised with your wolf. Once that done, though, wolf instincts become more prominent… oh… not good in a place full of vampires…

"Charlie! Wake up!" he said, slightly more desperate now, snapping his fingers in front of my face.

"I'm awake, just thinking," I replied, hoping for him to stop worrying so much. No point; he's a worrier by nature, apparently… not good.

"Care to share your thoughts?" he asked, hopeful.

"Not a chance, Rickie," I told him, staying in the land of the living (it's an expression; inappropriate at this point in time, but whatever) this time.

"Ya know," he started ominously. This didn't sound like sunshine and rainbows, I thought as I braced myself of the bad news.

"Sooner or later I'm gonna have to take you to the boss… this room isn't soundproof, and every vampire in the coven heard you… umm…" he didn't know what else to say. I don't blame him; that's pretty much sentencing me to my death, and he was too nice. And he's your mate stated a voice in my head.

Go away, you aren't helping I growled at her. She was my wolf, now synced to my consciousness. She's spoken up when I've needed her before, but she's never been so… forward… ah well.

I can't go away, dimwit, I'm in your head she growled back. Ok, I should probably tell you now; we tend to have… slight issues with multiple personality disorder. An alter ego, if you will. Yes, after the change we're not so polar opposite, but she still doesn't have any… control that's necessary in public. Good for fighting, yes, but not so otherwise.

"Can you stop spacing out on me please? It's kinda creepy," said Rickie, making my wolf shut up and start drooling. Literally, I can see her in my head, just sitting there, drooling over him. Ewww… we might be mutts, but really? Just… ugh.

"Sorry, battling with my MPD," I told him. He looked confused.

"You have multiple personalities?" he asked

"When you have a wolf in your head that talks to you, tells you what to do, and takes control whenever she wants to if I'm not paying attention, yes, that's considered multiple personality disorder.

"Almost every person on the planet with the issue is either a were-something or a close descendant of one. History lesson over, she's currently dribbling over my mum's favourite dress," I said, and it was true. I'd conjured an image of my mother's favourite dress whilst she was drooling, and she'd spoiled it completely. Charlie/Wolf 1, Evil Mother 0.

Rickie made a disgusted face at that mental, and I laughed at him.

A knock at the door startled us. Well, Rickie. I'd smelt the person already. It was brick-boy; I growled.

"What?" asked Rickie, slightly worried by my reaction. I growled again.

"Brick-boy, wondering if you survived the night," I told him. He seemed to note my strong distaste for Antonio. Good, no point in creating false impressions. The she-wolf in my head was already on high alert; she has a very good memory, even when blacked out.

I don't trust this one she told me. I agreed with her. Neither do I, wolf I told her, not maliciously. Child, my name is Ethelwulf she corrected. Can I just call you Ethel? I asked her. The mental image of her nodded, giving a wolfy smile, before it returned to growling. As the door opened and, to protect my dignity, I stopped growling and reduced to giving him an amber glare. He shivered, strangely, as he looked into my eyes.

"You're alive," was the first thing brick-boy said to Rickie.

"No shit, Sherlock," I growled at him, not literally, but close enough. He glanced at me like I was a fly on the wall.

"Yes, I'm alive; she isn't a monster," said Rickie defiantly. Antonio looked at him sternly.

"You think that now; she is of the Sioux clan, a Tala," he said. How did he find out of my heritage? Rickie, how does he know that? I asked, seeing if the beaming of messages still worked. He jumped slightly, eyes flickering briefly to me.

"What makes you say that?" pressed Rickie. Antonio thought he was making progress, so he shrugged in a dismissive fashion.

"I showed a picture of her to Nosferatu; he knew her dad. Apparently, she's a spitting image of him," he said smugly, holding up an image of my dead pop. He was right, though; I was exactly like my dad in every sense, except gender (duh).

"Why is that a bad thing?" asked Rickie innocently. I know why, I thought to myself; Sioux is the Native American settlement from before the white men, and a few variations of the language still exist. My pack is the base of all the tribes, and we still own the base language. We are the Tala, for our red hair. Tala translates to 'red wolf'.

There's another reason for it too. Tala has two translations; 'red wolf' is one of them. 'Stalking wolf' is the other. We're known worldwide for our deceptions and misguiding strategies. Sneak attacks are our specialties.

"Tala translate to 'stalking wolf', don't you think that's a little bit… perturbing? They're known for their sneakiness; for all you know, she's just using you to get out," he said, making it personal. No one talks about us that way growled Ethel. My imaginary me agreed fully, nodding and baring slightly sharper than normal teeth.

"Shows how much you know," I growled, literally this time, at Antonio. He was an asshole, and I wouldn't stand for it. I knew I was stronger than him from when he whacked me with a brick, but he didn't seem to back down this time. He made eye contact with me and held it, signal for a challenge. A low growl reverberated thought my throat and chest. Brick-boy hissed menacingly, and that seemed to be the deciding factor for Rickie. He jumped in between us, hands on both of our shoulders.

"Cut that out," he said sternly. Antonio opened his mouth to protest, but Rickie silenced him with a look. "Now," he said, slowly, in a voice you couldn't say no to. One last growl left my throat before I backed down. You can't keep this up, child said Ethel. My name is Charlie, Ethel I corrected her. She nodded as best as she could, then laid down and started to sleep. The primal aggression towards Antonio disappeared, but I still had a strong distrust and hatred for him. Rickie looked torn, between best friend and new mate. What! Internal me shouted, waking Ethel from her very brief nap. You can't avoid that fact, Charlie; it will keep coming back to you. He knows, he just doesn't know what to do she said sleepily before curling up again. Try to be a little quieter, I'm trying to sleep she grumbled. I almost laughed. Almost.

~:O:~:O:~:O:~:O:~:O:~

The guy on the 'throne' looked nothing like you'd expect. He had short, sandy hair and bright blue eyes that sparkled with intelligence and mischief. A feeling of familiarity drifted across my mind, but I shook it off. I must have been imagining things.

I changed my mind when he started talking. I'd know his voice anywhere.

Nigel, I thought, curious. He smirked, catching my eyes.

Play along, Charlie, he said, I need to know why you're here.

"Charlotte McKenzie, Tala of the Sioux clan," he started, eyes gleaming.

"I am Nosferatu, leader of this coven; what brings you to us?" there's a look in his eye that says he's heard Brick Boy's side of the story. Time to tell mine.

"I ran away from home because my mother fears me, sir," I began. Outwardly, he looked intrigued, but you could tell he was seething.

"I've been exhibiting signs of my first change for months, and she was going to kick me out anyway, so I left. Couple of nights later, I ran into what I thought was a hobo," cue glare in Antonio's direction. Nigel obviously hadn't heard this, because his eyes flickered dangerously to brick-boy as well.

"He offered me some silver spoons, and when I didn't answer he attempted to push one into my hand. I backed up, and he laughed at me," again, I glared at brick-boy, whose eyes were widening. Guess he lied to the boss, I thought smugly,

"He threw off his stinky robes and stood taller. I ran, because my dad always told me to run if I was threatened, and he chased. When he caught me, he couldn't hold me, so he hit me on the head with a brick. I woke up to him and Rickie arguing over whether or not it would have killed me to be hit that hard.

"Then I started changing and the brick-boy ran away, scared of me, and Rickie stayed. You heard my first complete change. That's why I'm kinda permanently borrowing some of your clothes," I finished. He looked ready to commit murder.

"Who was this 'brick-boy'?" he asked, a slight hiss of animosity in his voice, although he definitely knew who it was from the way he was glaring.

"It was Antonio," I said, also glaring at said vampire who was standing to my right. He had… paled, if that was even physically possible.

"You told me you found her passed out on the sidewalk and smelled the wolf on her," he hissed angrily. Apparently, Nigel didn't like being lied to. Antonio opened his mouth like a cod fish. Closed it then opened it again.

"Go pack your belongings," he hissed, "you're a lone vampire now; no coven will take you," he glared at Antonio, those blue eyes glittering with anger. Antonio fled the room as quickly as he could.

… Oh, I kinda forgot to explain how I got there, didn't I? Oops. Anyway, after arguing with brick-boy for a bit, we arrived in the main hall.

A huge bell rang, sound resonating through the whole place and making me collapse to the floor because of my sensitive hearing. Ouch. Rickie helped me to my feet when it finally stopped.

Looking around, I noticed doors opening on all sides. The red room was filling with vampires. The giant hall was soon full of every leech in the coven. The very VERY large coven. Then, as one they silenced the chatting and parted, making way for aforementioned Nigel, who I hadn't recognised.

Soon, he was seated on the throne, staring me down with an unreadable expression. Then something flashed in his eyes. It was so quick I almost missed it, but it looked like… affection… that got me thinking, and Ethel prowling, since we didn't recognise him.

You know the rest from there.

"I apologise that you were treated so roughly, Charlotte; I wish to introduce myself as you know me," he said. The rest of the coven looked so confused it would have been adorable if they weren't blood-sucking canibals.

"Nigel Smith," I said out loud. He laughed a laugh that I'd never forgotten.

"You've got a good nose, Charlie," he said, smiling; he had smile wrinkles in the corners of his eyes.

"I thought you were one of pop's wolf friends?" I said, confused. He'd always smelt like a wolf, even though it was strange… a wolf not quite right. Pop had always said to just ignore it whenever I asked.

"I spent time with the pack; why do you think there isn't a war?" he asked, smile dropping at the murmurs from the crowds behind me.

"Crackpot old fool," someone muttered.

"So that's where he spent all those days…" said someone else under their breath.

"Enough!" boomed Nigel, angry again. "Her dad spent time here too you know; Alec Kensington. Remember? He was your friend," now the murmurs had ceased. There had been a were among them and they hadn't known? Maybe the wolves weren't as bad as they were rumoured to be.

"There was a reason I spent time with your family specifically though, Charlie," he said quietly. Every head in the room flicked to me, and mine snapped to him. He beckoned me forward, standing and walking around and behind his giant chair. I followed slowly, hurrying when he called out

"Hurry up, Charlotte!"

"You haven't changed," I grumbled as I followed a little faster, "just as impatient as before."

Happy? I hope so. Sorry these are taking a while longer than I expected, but it's 55 pages worth of writing that's being edited. Hope you are enjoying :) Review Please!

~PiptheSnake