1
~ Beginning ~

Me and my best friend, Leo, both work at the same dumb pizza, bánh pizza cửa hàng mostly every night of the week, we both get paid the same amount and work the same number of hours. The only difference – I do the deliveries.
I ride this crappy little flat-tyred around the neighbourhood – which, bởi the way, is so small I memorised it bởi the age of seven – delivering pizza, bánh pizza after pizza. Sometimes I wonder how such a small town can order so many pizzas. I deliver about twenty each Thursday night… to the same houses. Still, they know me so well the tips are considerably higher.
But moving on from that, “Louie’s” – original, I know – was in the centre of town and most of the houses were a short way away near the dark forest at the back of our neighbourhood. I didn’t like that forest. One time, when Leo and I were bored, we decided to play hide-and-seek in there. I didn’t find Leo for hours because he’d knocked himself out on a rock. In the meantime, I’d gotten myself Mất tích looking for him. When I finally did find him, it was dark and we spent the night out there – alone – until the local police found us. So, no, it was not one of my favourite places. But that’s exactly where I was headed.

I pedalled my annoying bike as fast as it would go along the loose gravel driveway, trying not to look around at the tall trees because I knew that if I did, I’d imagine all kinds of glowing eyes peering out at me from amongst the trees. I just stared straight ahead, watching the bouncing light of my torch on the driveway. The clouds were so thick in sky above that the full moon didn’t even shine down through the canopy.
Finally, I saw the lights of the house through the trees. Wondering who on earth would live out here, I got off my bike, grabbed the pizza, and rushed up to the door – still without looking behind me. It wouldn’t serve me well to start screaming in public.
Ages after I’d knocked – well, it felt like ages – the door opened and a young woman stood in the hall, glowing lights from behind her made her hair shine golden. Her lips were rosy red, upturned in a secret smile. Her eyelids fluttered dangerously and I was suddenly conscious that I probably stunk like sweat and pizza.
“Gabriella?” I asked in surprise. She was most definitely the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. She was in the năm above me at school, but I saw her all the time at lunch… from a distance… behind glass windows. Still, I thought she’d recognise me.
She frowned. “Um… do I know you?”
I nodded. It could’ve been a bit enthusiastic. “Yeah. Zeke Harley.” Still no recognition. “Oh, come on, I sit three tables across from bạn at lunch time.”
Her eyes appraised me in a kind of this-guy-is-crazy way. She reached for the pizza. “Yeah… stalker.”
“That’s 22.90,” I told her, holding out my hand expectantly.
She gave me an as-if smile and turned.
“Hey, bạn need to pay–!” I stopped, mid-sentence, for a really tall guy had just appeared behind her with muscles the size of my head on his arms. “Oh, hi.”
He thrust a twenty dollar note and a coin in to my fist, then waited, hand outstretched, for the ten cents change.
“What about a healthy tip?” I asked weakly. I didn’t think I had ten cents, I fished around nevertheless. “No?” I found one and gave it to Mr. Muscle. “Enjoy your pizza.”
The door slammed shut in my face.
“…Ow.”
I turned and stomped back to my bike – to see that it wasn’t there on the driveway where I’d left it. It wasn’t anywhere.
Well, if they wanted to steal my bike, they could keep it for all I cared. I probably would’ve ended up killing myself riding it sooner hoặc later, they were doing me a bloody favour. I jumped down the veranda steps, kicked a rock that went smashing against the side of the shed… and set off running at double-speed.
Only when I realised that I was not being pursued, did I slow, still amongst the dark trees. I wanted to keep running, to get out as quickly as possible, but I wasn’t that fit – Leo was the fit one – and it was really dark. So I walked, trying to ignore the darkness and the prickly feeling on the back of my neck. I decided to forget about breathing properly and started running again.
My footsteps crunched loudly in the dark silence of the forest as I sprinted, now torchless, back towards down. I could barely see thêm than three paces in front of me, which is probably why I tripped.
I threw my hands out to break my fall and they slid along the gravel, stinging like they’d been burnt. My knees weren’t much better off, I could feel them burning, too, as I lay there, groaning. I rolled onto my back and sat up, holding my hands in front of me. I couldn’t see anything, which was lucky, since blood made me queasy. Well, my own blood, anyway.
I got gingerly to my feet, feeling my jeans brush across my grazed knees and I winced. I turned to go – and froze.
Yellow eyes, staring at me through the darkness. There was no way I was imagining them. No way at all.
I stumbled back a few steps, panicking, my tim, trái tim throbbing wildly in my chest. A low growling came from the direction of the eyes, a snap of a twig.
“Oh, god,” I whispered.
A dark shape stepped out of the shadows, the size of a German Shepard… hoặc a wolf. It took a few steps towards me and the clouds finally parted in the sky above.
The light of the full moon rained down on a huge dog. It was completely black, with yellow eyes and a snarling face. Its furry body hung low to the ground as its tail swished silently. Its eyes studied me, it stalked closer.
I swallowed noisily. “Nice doggie…”
The thing tipped back its head and howled, its cry made me clamp my grazed hands over my ears and stagger backward until I tripped over again. There was a chó sói, sói in front of me – an actual wolf. As far I knew, there had never been a chó sói, sói in the area. But I didn’t really stop to think about that, because the chó sói, sói lunged towards me.
I threw up my hands with a yelp just before its snarling jaw could bite my head off. I felt its claws digging into my sides and raking across my arms. Foam dribbled from its snapping mouth and onto my face. I could hear the sound of my tim, trái tim beating over the growling that echoed in my ears and I vaguely wondered if I was going to die.
Then the chó sói, sói was gone, like it had been ripped off me.
There was a yelping sound and a thud, but I didn’t stop to investigate. I scrambled backwards, spinning on my hands and knees as I pushed myself to my feet to run cái tát, đánh đập, smack bang into black clad figure.
I fell back to the ground as the chó sói, sói growled again from somewhere behind me. There was the crunching of gravel, a dark shape flew over my head, directly at the black figure. The man didn’t di chuyển until the chó sói, sói was almost at him, then with lightning speed he brought up his arm punched the chó sói, sói square in the jaw.
It dropped to the ground with a whine before it picked itself up and went staggering off in the opposite direction to where I lay on the ground, breathing hard. Though my vision was blurring due to blood loss hoặc terror hoặc both, I saw the tall man hurry towards me. He bent down and touched my wrist gently.
“Your pulse is double the average speed,” he said, speaking in a distant and slurred voice… hoặc maybe that was just my hearing. “We need to get bạn to the hospital.” He half rose to his feet, then froze, staring down at me. “Oh, god, you’ve Mất tích a lot of blood. Were bạn bitten?”
I couldn’t answer him. My tim, trái tim was throbbing painfully in my chest, which meant I was still alive… at least, for now.
The black-cloaked man shook me, not to gently. “Were bạn bitten?” he asked me again, thêm urgently this time.
I managed to shake my head.
He leant really close to me, his breath was ice cold on my neck. “We have no time. I’m going to help, but this might hurt a little.”
My eyes grew wide and I tried to shove him away – he was creeping me out nearly as much as the chó sói, sói had – but he was too strong. The tiếp theo thing, I felt sharp pain jabbing in my neck worse than what the chó sói, sói had made me feel. I tried to get away, my tim, trái tim beat increasing even more, but the stranger held me down.
“Here, drink this.”
I stirred. I didn’t want to drink it. But I felt something warm and wet trickling over my tongue. It tasted bad, but that didn’t last long. I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness.

I woke up, confused and in the dark.
The moon had long since disappeared back behind the clouds, hoặc it had set. I staggered to my feet, groaning.
“What the hell just happened?” I muttered to myself. I put one hand to the side of my neck where it was throbbing dully. I groaned again, brushed the gravel and dirt off me, before trudging back towards town. My mum was going to kill me.
I was feeling weird, like my balance was off, but I didn’t trip over. It didn’t seem as dark amongst the trees anymore, but I knew it was still nowhere near morning. I checked my watch to make sure. It was just past one AM and I’d delivered the pizza, bánh pizza at nine… I was seriously going to be in trouble, Mum would probably never forgive me.
I buried my face in my hands as I walked along the gravel driveway back towards town. My footsteps sounded really loud in my head, which didn’t help because a massive headache was beginning to form in my skull. I massaged my forehead, watching the ground beneath my feet seem to shimmer and glow as it changed from gravel to tar. I looked up. The first streetlight blinded me for a moment. Squinting in its glare, I stopped to assess my injuries.
Taking a deep breath, I looked down at my blood stained shirt. Tears had been ripped across it from my right shoulder all the way down to the left side of my waist. Three, long tears. But when I lifted my shirt, there was nothing. My skin was perfect, save for the dried blood. I ran my hands where the gashes from the wolf’s claws should have been. Nothing.
Slightly freaking out, I inspected my hands. I could’ve sworn I’d grazed them when I’d tripped over. But the skin was as unblemished as anything, if a little pale. And now that I thought about it, I didn’t hurt anywhere except for my headache and the weird, dull throbbing in my neck…
I looked up.
…No…
“Stop it, Zeke,” I told myself. “You’re crazy. There’s no way… bạn probably just tripped and knocked yourself out and dreamt up the rest…”
So, how to explain the blood, then? a voice inside my mind asked me. I smacked my head, not helping the ache at all.
“Leo,” I muttered. “Leo will know.”
I set off up the road, running as fast as I could for Leo’s house. The few lights that were along the đường phố, street seemed to gleam brighter in my eyes than usual, but I kept on going.
As I sprinted passed my house, I noticed that the lights were still on. Mum was still up, probably worried sick about me. I slowed a little when I thought about that, but then I went faster again. After I talked to Leo, I’d go trang chủ and explain how I’d tripped and fallen unconscious. Besides, I could change into some of Leo’s clothes so she wouldn’t get freaked out when she saw the blood. Everything would be okay.
Leo’s house was only a few down the đường phố, street from mine. None of his lights were on – figures. I skidded to a stop, jumped the low fence and snuck round the back to where I knew his window was. It was on the một giây floor, but there was this old cây that grew just outside it. We’d used it thêm than once to get in and out of the house – not that there was anywhere to sneak off to in this town. Still, it had its uses.
I pulled myself onto the lowest branches with thêm ease that usual. I clambered up the rest of the thân cây until I was right outside Leo’s window. I peered in, cupping my hands over my eyes so I could see better. Sure enough, he was fast asleep in his bed, half-on and half-off the mattress. His cá tank glowed through the darkness and I could see his door was shut. Good.
I heaved the old window open, wincing as it creaked – I didn’t want his parents to wake up. I slipped through, catching my leg on the ledge as I did, and ended up doing a full front flip and thumping onto the door.
Leo sat bolt right up in bed, his hair a mess atop his head. “Mind the battlefields!” he shouted. “Intruder alert!”
I jumped to my feet. “Leo – shut up. It’s me.”
His eyes focussed as he woke up. “Zeke? What happened to you, man? bạn didn’t come back to work. Your mum’s so w–”
There was a muffled shout from across the hall. “You all right, Leo, honey?” his mum called out, worried.
“Yeah,” he yelled back. “Just… rolled onto the floor.”
I fell onto his giường with a groan.
“Dude, get off my pillow.”
I sat back up. “Dude,” I đã đưa ý kiến sarcastically. “You will not believe the night I’ve had.”
“Oh? Ohhhh.” He winked. “Get invited in to share the pizza, eh?”
“No!” I shook my head, frowning at him. “No, it was Gabriella and her boyfriend’s, anyway. Remember Gabriella?”
“Hmm… Do I remember the girl bạn practically have stared at 24/7 since starting high school? Uh, no, can’t say I can.”
“All right, be sarcastic with me.”
“It is one o’clock in the morning!”
“I was attacked bởi a wolf.”
“You were attacked bởi a…?” He raised an eyebrow and stared at me. That was Leo. Such a loyal friend. “I think bạn must’ve knocked that big head of yours against a rock. Here’s a little bout of trivia – there are no Người sói here, there never has been.”
“I know… But I was attacked bởi one. Still, that’s not the weirdest thing. I think I was bitten bởi a vampire.”
Silence.
Leo stared at me. “Okay, fess up. What did bạn take?”
“What do bạn mean? Nothing!”
“Zeke, c’mon, man, I’m your best friend. bạn can tell me. Where’d bạn get it? From Paul? hoặc was it Ra–”
“I didn’t get anything from anyone. My mum would have a fit. Besides, if bạn don’t believe me.” I jumped up and flicked on the light, blinking to get the sudden glare from my eyes. “See?” I gestured at my bloody, torn clothes. “Tell me a chó sói, sói didn’t do that.”
Leo gaped at me. “What happened to you?”
I went back over to him. “And look…” I pulled my áo sơ mi away from my neck where there was still some dull pain. “Well?” Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Leo’s face for any sign that he thought I was going insane.
His eyes grew wide. “There’s… It looks like you’ve been bitten.”
“Oh, god, really?” I shot to my feet. “Where the hell is your mirr–? Why are bạn smiling?”
He shook his head, laughing. “There’s nothing there, not a mark. You’re getting all delusional. Did bạn steal something from your mum’s work?”
“I would never take drugs from Mum. bạn know that. Jeez, Leo, I thought bạn were my friend.”
He got to his feet, too. “I am your friend. And as your friend, I have to tell you… you’re crazy. Whatever this… thing that’s going on with bạn all of a sudden is, it’s not funny. ma sói and vampires. Honestly.”
“I didn’t say werewolves.”
“What?”
“I didn’t say werewolves… Oh no, what if it was actually a werewolf that attacked me? That would explain why there was a wolf–”
“No, no, no! That doesn’t explain anything, Zeke.” He looked at me with an incredulous expression. “Seriously, what’s gotten into you?”
I shook my head. “I… I don’t know. Do bạn think… Can I borrow some clothes? I don’t want to go trang chủ like this.”
“Yeah,” he said, looking a bit thêm like the caring friend he should be. “Sure. bạn know where they are.”
I pulled a fresh áo sơ mi and pair of jeans out of the cupboard and changed quickly, chucking the blood and torn clothes in the bin. Leo’s clothes mùi, nấu chảy ra overwhelmingly like him. The scent got up my nose and made my head spin. I went over to the window and climbed onto the ledge.
“See bạn at school,” I muttered, not looking back.
“Zeke–”
“Don’t worry,” I đã đưa ý kiến shortly. “It’s not like I’d believe you.” I shrugged and stepped carefully onto the branch of the tree, before clambering back down.
Feeling incredibly let down and unsure of everything – I was half wondering if I was crazy, too – I walked slowly back to my house.

“Mum?” I called when I opened the door. “Mum, are bạn here?”
There was a cry from the phòng bếp, nhà bếp and my mum, hair tangles and eyes watery, came rushing into the hall to clasp me tightly in her arms. I could feel her pulse in her neck beating against my cheek and I could smell the sweet scent of her skin. My brain whirred.
“Oh, you’re so cold,” she whispered, then she stepped back and smacked me not too gently on the cheek.
“Ow. Jeez, Mum.”
“What time is this?” Her eyes flashed dangerously. “I’ve been worried sick since bạn didn’t come trang chủ at ten, like bạn said. I called your work, but they đã đưa ý kiến you’d gone on a delivery and hadn’t returned. What was I meant to think? How–?”
“Mum… I just… My bike broke and I had to walk back. It was dark and I tripped and… I must’ve gotten knocked out hoặc fallen unconscious because I didn’t wake up for ages.” I looked down. “I’m sorry.”
Her eyes looked deep into mine. “There’s something else, isn’t there? There’s something you’re not telling me.”
“That’s it,” I said, edging away and towards the stairs. “Really. I just want to have a hot vòi hoa sen and then go to sleep. bạn should go to bed, too, bạn looked awful.”
“Thank you, son,” she said, shaking her head with a sigh. She walked passed me and up the stairs. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, but bạn are a hard one to look after. Falling unconscious my foot…” She continued to mutter to herself as she went into her room.
I leant back against the wall, banging my head gently on the wood, breathing deeply. I didn’t care what Leo thought, hoặc whether my mum believed my pathetic tale, something was wrong with me and I was going to find out what.