A Twisted Fate

Part II: The Threshold

She approached the mansion, moving so quietly that even the dogs couldn’t hear her steps. As light as a feather, one might say she was floating. Her skills were becoming very sharp and her abilities improving at a very fast rate. After all, she had a very good teacher: the one who turned her into this monster and with whom she swore to live through eternity. However, despite having to feed on what used to be her own kind and the constant hiding from the sun, she did not consider this as a curse. Instead, it was a blessing.

As a human, she was never satisfied with what life had to offer. She was always looking at the cats, envying their independent nature, bearing no limits or any restrictions. She used to stare at the well-built men around her not because of their sex appeal or looks, but because of the dominance they seem to impose on the others around them. She used to read online posts about scientific discoveries not because of what she was learning from them but because of the idea that there are people out there so intelligent to be actually able to discover such things. Living in a family that descended from a noble lineage, as a girl, she always felt like a second-class citizen compared to the males. Now the tables did turn. She was free to go wherever she wanted; she was stronger and smarter than any human being and was now feeling important, especially in his eyes.

She chose her night well. Born on a full moon as a human, she decided that another full moon would be the perfect night to end her old life to completely enter her new world. She looked behind her. Outside of the vast yard, several miles away, he was standing, his face wearing a playful grin. She froze when a thought occurred to her. Despite his vain attempts to hide it, he was actually feeling very lonely before she came into his life. And the sight of him standing alone, in the shadow of that old oak tree did make him look miserable. She gestured at him to join her which he quickly declined, shaking his head like a little boy, his smile broadening. “Cute...” she thought and looked back at the mansion. She had to stop getting distracted now. She jumped onto what used to be her old balcony, which was situated on the second floor of the building.

She giggled quietly, knowing that a few weeks back, she would have certainly crashed into something if she had tried executing the same move. She looked around and noticed stains of her own human blood on the floor. She sniffed at it and was surprised how delicious she used to smell before. No wonder he was not able to resist drinking nearly all of her blood three months ago. It was now a sacred place for her. Good thing her parents did not clean up the mess but the presence of the yellow police lines around her balcony sure was an eye sore. She broke the door knob to be able to enter inside her old room but her clumsiness of letting the massive silvery ball fall onto the wooden floor inside caused a noticeable sound to the human ears. Panicked when she noticed a light being switched on at the end of the corridor, she went back to hide on the balcony. She tried to look for him where he was standing earlier but the growing fog was too thick, even for her eyes. As she heard footsteps approaching, she had no other choice than to experiment with her latest acquired talent.

“Imagine if you were born an animal, which one would it be?” he asked her two nights ago. Before she was able to give any answer, he ordered her not to reply and close her eyes instead. He then told her to think carefully and gather all her concentration into the thought of actually being that animal. After a dozen unsuccessful trials, when she opened her eyes, she was shocked on seeing that he, together with her surroundings had grown bigger. He approached and picked her up. “A black cat? Nice,” he laughed. Remembering those lessons, she followed the same steps and in a matter of seconds, was now standing on four legs. She puffed up her tail, her back arched instinctively and she let go of a loud frightened hiss when she saw a pair of legs right in front of her. “What a cute animal” the man said. He bent down and on seeing it was her uncle, she relaxed a bit and let him pick her up. He brought her down to the living room found on the ground floor, saying as he entered to her parents: “James, Bridget. Look what I found.” He let her down and as she walked towards her mother, she purred at the thought that this might actually work.

Her father, strangely, kept his distance. All of a sudden, it occurred to her that they were still awake at a very late hour. On realizing her mistake, she froze midway, her orange eyes widening with horror. A gunshot rang out and the bullet landed straight into the right side of her little body. Injured, she looked back and saw her uncle with a gun pointed at her. A loud roar from outside crashed into the room through the large window panes near the fireplace. All the lights automatically switched off. They all looked at the intruder. The rays of the full moon hitting on his back, crouched right in front of the broken panes, only she could notice his blackened eyeballs, his face disfigured by an oppressive rage and his teeth bared out. Another gunshot came from behind but it was way too slow for him. As he moved swiftly across the room, she saw him breaking the neck of the shooter and wrapping his arms around her father, paralysing the latter on the spot. He was now looking at her and through his eyes, commanding her to attack the unattended human left.

She shifted back to her human form and with her fingers, took out the wooded bullet from her right hip. She graciously walked towards her mother who was frozen in a corner of the living room. The latter, now noticing her identity, stared at her with curious and saddened eyes. Her canines sank into Bridget’s neck and she started drinking the succulent fluid. The taste of the blood on her tongue was as appealing as in the first time. She thought after getting used to it, the flavour would have lost its luster. But she could not complain. She was happy of the result. “Drinking human blood does speed up the healing rate of the body” she thought, remembering what her mate once told her. Another neck-breaking sound was heard; he approached and crouched right beside her. With his right hand, he caressed her cheek as she was feeding, his eyes back to their usual colour and his face as beautiful as she could remember. She smiled at him. It was over.

As they both emptied all the three bodies of their blood, the dogs kept barking outside, louder than ever. But when the alerted police officers arrived at the doomed mansion, all they could see in the living room were three dried-out corpses, lying in a room full of blood stains and shattered pieces of glass on the floor.