December 11 - Settling Down (I think)

Another cycle or so for she-bitch. Or was that She-Beast? Heh, can't remember. Mona's been through another lunar cycle, and I think she's getting the hang of it. She spends the day or so before hand in a state. Not quite panic, more like anguished anticipation of what she cannot stop.

She got overly depressed after the last cycle. I confess, I did toss a human into her feeding cycle. Remember my little experiment? Well, I was at least partially correct. I took Mona outside of town for that full moon. Jackie was fit to be tied, since it meant we'd have to leave her behind. Mona's pretty fast now, even in human form. And there was no way for Jackie to keep up with us, short of being carried. Mona was too embarrassed about what she's become to take Jackie along, and I sure wasn't offering. So we left her behind.

Suited my purpose well. Because I'd determined that night that Mona would drink human blood. We traveled about an hour out of Boston, as the vamp/mongrel fly. So that put is in the snowy White Mountains. To the untrained eye, I took us into the middle of nowhere. Well, it was the middle of nowhere actually. But I managed to coordinate a little snack-food with a vamp friend of mine in the area. So neatly wrapped up in the forest were two tasty bits, one for Mona, and one for me. Hey, a vamp's gotta eat ya know?

So we trudged around in the snow after sunset, waiting for the moon to rise. Mona was looking very pale as we waited. Not sure if it was lack of real nurishment or fear taking over. Mona was so agitated about the upcoming events that she didn't realize I'd been walking us in circles. Nor did she smell the fresh blood that was tied up, no more that a hundred yards north of us. I'm not sure she can even smell human blood. It was an experiment that Jackie wouldn't let us try, and Mona's never mentioned it. Yeah, she's a piss-poor fledgling as far as that goes, but anyway.

The change came relatively smoothly this time, for a ragged, dimension-hopping event. Maybe Mona's learning not to fight it? She settled into mongrel form after only two hops into neverland and was off in an instant, heading north. In human form, she can't smell worth a damn, but obviously, her wolfie senses don't suffer a similar lack of sensitivity.

I raced ahead of her. Partly because I wanted to be sure to get my fair share of dinner, and partly to untie the poor bastards before she got there. My vamp-friend made sure they were my typical low-life entree, but I don't like stationary food. Part of the fun is the chase, ya know? And I'm not sure even she-beast Mona would dig into a whimpering tied up package. So I dropped down on dinner and cut the ropes just as She-Beast emerged from the woods. I jumped back into a tree to watch.

Mona slowed down and eyed up her potential victims. At this point, neither jerk had moved yet. With them stationary, Mona seemed unsure what to do. And had they both stayed that way, it's possible the evening's festivities would be a total bust. But then the taller, more athletic of the two decided to make a run for it. Poor bastard didn't get twenty feet before Mona was on him. She batted him around a bit first, kind of like a cat plays with a mouse. Slap with the paw, slap with the other paw. Bite down on the midsection and toss in the air for a laugh. But when he came down with a silent thud, and the snow around him hissed and melted in a red puddle, the blood-thirst took over. Mona's fangs emerged, and she clamped down on his jugular.

Well, maybe clamped down isn't the right phrase. More like tore a hole in his neck and guzzled what came squirting out. Messy business really. While she devoured, I trapped my own meal and brought him back to snack on while I kept an eye on Mona. Half way through our shared dinner, she transformed from wolf back to full human. Vamp human really, because the fangs and glowy eyes stayed. She stared at me over the lifeless form of her victim, then tossed him to the side.

Finishing my own meal, I stood up and dabbed at the blood that dripped out of the corner of my mouth. Mona hadn't bothered to wipe the blood and gore off her rosey cheeks.

"You promised you wouldn't let me take a human life," said Mona.

I shrugged. "I lied."

"Why?" she asked. She finally realized the mess she was and scooped up some clean snow to wipe her face in.

"Look at yourself, and then tell me you don't know why."

Mona looked at her hands, her fully human hands. Then she glanced up at the partly cloudy night sky. The full moon hung in the east. "I'm human again." She turned back to me. "I'm cured?" she asked.

"No. More like you're in remission," I said. "And you'll never be human again."

She sank down into the snow, her head in her hands. "So this is the choice you give me? I can be a half wolf beast three nights a month, or I can be a blood-sucking demon like you?"

I laughed. "You could never be like me." She looked up at me as I continued. "I don't know what you are, or what you might become. But I'm getting a little tired of this," I waved my hand around the trampled, gory landscape. "I never signed up for pet-sitting duties."

Mona took in the landscape around us. The scene repulsed her, and she stood up. "No one said you had to babysit me," she said.

I shrugged and started to walk away.

She trotted up beside me. "You do it for her, don't you? For Jackie."

"Yes."

"Do you love her?" Mona's words were more an accusation than a question. Was my little fledgling getting jealous?

I turned to her, staring up into her vamp eyes. "I care about her, which is more than you seem capable of."

Mona turned away. "You have no idea how I feel."

"Yeah. Because you are so deep and complex," I jibed. "Hate to be the one to tell you girlie, but you have the emotional depth of moldy bread most of the time."

Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. She wiped them away with a bloody hand, leaving a red streak behind. "So now what, miss perfect?"

"Now, you make a few decisions. First decision - do you tell Jackie that you just had your first human slurpee. Second decision - will you take another slurpee each night for the next two nights to keep from turning into a wolf."

Mona leaned against a tree, contemplating her options. It didn't take long. "No, and...yes." She turned to me. "You are sure this will keep me from being a wolf?"

"Don't know," I said. "But it worked tonight. The moon rises an hour later tomorrow. If we head out early for a hunt, maybe we can avoid the change entirely."

And so, Mona and I cleaned ourselves up and headed back to Jackie. Neither of us would tell her about the human victims. And that we had a way to keep Mona from being a pain in the ass mongrel.

Well, no, just a way to keep her from being a mongrel. She's always gonna be a pain in the ass.