I sat at the fire, eyes squeezed shut, desperately trying to get my lust under control. Since Francesco joined our little group I was fighting the urge to throw myself upon him. I breathed in slowly, only to take in his scent, a mixture of sunbathed pines and distant rain. Shit, this wasn't helping. I tried concentrating on the sounds of the night instead. A small stone shifted in the shadows just beyond the circle of light from our fire. I decided I should investigate – I needed any kind of distraction.

"I think we need to talk, huntress," Lily spoke softly from the darkness, but there was some urgency in her voice. Damn bloodsucker. Of course I already knew we had to talk. There was something important that was coming with her, I felt that since the last night. A headache was building in my temples the whole day. Not everything is moonlight and roses when you're the seeing one. I nodded.

"He's special," she said pointing to Tomek. "He doesn't awake your lust."

Yes, that was strange, but I didn't have time to really think it through. Was it that obvious though?

"He might be... very useful," she said carefully, searching my face for any signs of emotions. "We have laboratories. I mean my kind," her voice had traces of sadness, that seemed so out of context here.

"What are you proposing exactly? Just spit it out, I'm not into riddles," I almost barked. I instantly felt angry at the thought of some scientists experimenting on Tomek. Why? I volunteered myself in the first lab when they were engineering the parasite to combat its deadly relatives. Ah, but I foresaw it was what I had to do.

"We have labs. And scientists. Doctor Milena Affelt works on finding the cure. You know, the one from the first lab," she added, as if I could not know the famous bitch that inadvertently created the parasite. And she thought she was creating a miraculous cure for the drug-resistant epilepsy. There are no miracles. In my peripheral vision I saw Tomek jump at the mention of her name.

"She already fucked up once. What makes you think she won't do it again?" I asked.

She had no time to answer, because the boy ran to me and almost screamed, "Milena is alive? What did you do to her?"

I looked at him in surprise and pulled him back a bit, so he wouldn't break the protective circle.

"Interesting," Lily mused, checking the boy from head to toe.

"Just answer, bloodsucker," Tomek got all riled up. "What did you do to her?"

"Easy now. She said they were working with her," I tried calming him down.

"Why are you so worked up about her anyway?" Lily asked cocking her head to the side.

"She's my sister. I thought she was dead!" Ah, that was something new. Was it going to complicate things or make them easier?

"I can take you to her," Lily offered slyly, ignoring my scowl.

My head hurt as the vision, or rather feeling unfolded before me. Tomek was the key to this whole parasite shit. He had to stay alive. And he wouldn't without my help. Fuck, sometimes being the seeing one sucks.

"You mean you can take us to her," I stated before Tomek could say or do anything. He looked at me in astonishment.

"What?", he babbled.

Lily was taken aback as well, but a glimmer of joy appeared in her red glowing eyes.

"So where are we heading and how do you actually envision our journey together? We can't be going by night, and during the day you'll be dead," I didn't wait for them to recover from the surprise. There was no need to explain my gift (or curse) to them.

"I'm not like others of my kind," Lily said. "I've been... experimented on. Like you," she added timidly. Poor kid. I did what I knew was necessary, fully aware I would become a fucking killing machine with ever present lust – this just had to be done. I was needed. But she – she was probably just forced by the matriarch. "I am weak during the day but I don't die. I can guide you to the lab. To doctor Affelt,"

I nodded in agreement.

"So we meet in the morning. We need to get some rest," I tried to finish the conversation. There was no point in risking the little leech giving away too many of my secrets.

"No, there's something I would need... I haven't drank for days. I won't make it in the morning if I don't feed," Lily seemed a bit ashamed.

"You can drink from me," Tomek offered without a second thought. He really wanted to get to his sister.

"No, I cannot taint your blood. You are too important," she refused sternly. "And I can't drink from the infected either", she added looking at me. As if I was going to offer my blood to her anyway.

I grimaced. "Come here Francesco. Let the girl have a drink," I ordered. He blanched but had to obey. "Lily behave yourself. No funny business or I'll detach that pretty head of yours from your body", I smiled, holding my axe menacingly.

"No funny business. Promise,", she chirped. "Don't worry, I understand he'll be of more use to us alive than dead. To quench both our thirsts", she added playfully.

Francesco approached the barrier, his eyes wide with fear. I knew he was fearing vampires more than anything. The rumor has it, that his whole family got killed by the bloodsuckers and he survived by accident. I felt a pang of guilt. I shouldn't feel sorry for him. Son of a bitch used to be the head of security in the first lab. He went rogue when Iris closed down its facility after the parasite infestation got completely out of control. His gang wiped out whole settlements.

He reached out with his left hand over the barrier and Lily caught it immediately. His face contorted with pain and disgust as the vamp bit his wrist and started sucking. I glanced at Tomek – he was like a bird mesmerized by a snake – watching wide eyed the walking corpse feed. Sure the corpse was pretty – she had svelte figure and fluid motions, like a ballerina. But she was still a corpse none the less.

I was about to stop Lily, when she pushed herself away from her prey. She hissed involuntarily, like an angry cat. Francesco was pale and looked like he was about to faint. My first instinct was to take care of him, but I forced myself to stay where I was. I wouldn't be able to stop myself if I touched him now. Tomek ran to him and helped him sit down near the fire. He poured him a cup of hot, sweet tea and put it to his mouth. This strong man was now a trembling mess.

"Sweet. I hope he's as good for you as he is for me," Lily almost purred. She still had drops of stolen blood in the corners of her mouth. She wasn't a sloppy drinker. She licked them slowly, looking me straight in the eyes. Thanks to the worm I was immune to the hypnotic powers of her kind.

"If the need arises," I answered stiffily, looking back to Francesco, pushing away the thought of taking him then and there. He seemed broken, but that didn't make my lust any weaker.

"Good night", I said and went to sit by the fire, not looking back at the vamp. We would have to renew the conversation in the morning, but there were still some hours of darkness remaining and I needed to rest. I haven't slept since last night and the exhaustion was catching up with me.

"At least allow him to speak. Please," I heard Tomek, his words already distant and muffled by my tired brain.

"All right, you can talk to your heart's content," I mumbled as I floated off into oblivion.

Sun was already high above the horizon when I woke up. The boys were cooking something on the fire, my guess was on the tea. In the cold morning air I quickly shook off the fuzziness of sleep. I felt much better, though the premonitions were nagging at me still.

"She's dangerous as fuck. You should keep away from her," I overheard Francesco's whisper. I wondered if he was warning Tomek about Lily or me. Frankly, we both fit the description.

I drank my cup of tea when the vamp appeared. It was strange seeing one of the leeches in the sunlight. Her long hair was matted, eyes no longer red, but rather hazel and dimmed, skin ashen and dry. She wasn't joking when she said she was weak during the day. Without Francesco's blood she wouldn't have made it, I guess. I was afraid he was going to be her daily supply, if she was going to be our guide. That made me feel like a monster, but I didn't see any choice.

With the bloodsucker in bad shape there was little risk in getting the barrier down. I gathered all the garlic back into my backpack. There was nothing to be done about the spilled salt.

"So where are we heading?" I asked, trying to sound lightheartedly.

"To Warsaw," Lily answered calmly. I heard Francesco catch his breath and Tomek gasp. Poor lads weren't thrilled to get to the epicenter of the fucking apocalypse.

I don't say I'm happy. After all it was Warsaw where the first wave hit the hardest. It is said that the parasite was brought by some foolish scientist from the first lab to the conference. The infection started silently. With its three phases it wasn't noticed until it was too late.

First phase is kind of nice. The parasite makes you alluring as hell, your pheromones making all potential partners lose their mind for you. The lust sets in and in time all you want to do is fuck. I know this but too well – a side effect they were unable to remove when they were modifying my worm. The difference is my parasite can't infect anybody when we have sex.

Second phase is worse, but still you seem just human enough. The lust gives way to irritation, anger and finally rage. In hits werewolves the strongest – they have problems controlling their fury without the damned bug. Muscles and bones get stronger as the control gets weaker. Every bite carries the disease. My parasite gives me the strength without the rage – neat.

The third phase is the last. All traces of humanity are finally lost, all that remains is the ever hungry beast, craving for meat – be it human or animal, alive or not (that's why they don't mind devouring the undead).

When the epidemic started most of the patients were in the first or the second phase. Media called them emotionally unstable persons – people started calling them emojis for short. When the third phase set on, half the population of the capital was already infected. They carried the parasite all over the world.

With it being transferred unnoticed during sex and the first phase being the longest (sometimes even two months), the worm was everywhere in no time. Presidents, monarchs, generals, gurus – all infected and becoming mad, flash eating monsters. Governments started to crumble, society went to hell.

Power plants went down because half of the personnel was eaten by the other half. Some exploded, others just shut down. No electricity meant the end of the world for a big part of the population. You know, those that got lost on the way to the bathroom without a GPS in their phone.

It all went to hell just two years ago, but the world was like in all those post-apocalyptic movies. People fighting for resources, no law, no order, only the strongest and most ruthless survived. As the human world was falling apart the supernaturals came out from hiding. Not that they had much choice. Infected werewolves could no longer control their transformations, changing into wolves in public.

Vamps devoured in their nests by emojis, particularly by the werewolf ones, started hunting openly. As long as there was society and culture they liked to blend in. Always feigning sophistication, keen on presenting themselves as a peak of creation. Without all this many of them reverted to what they truly were – undead monsters plagued with unquenchable thirst.

Yup, Warsaw wasn't the nicest place for a trip. But it made sense, there would still be large enough vampire covens to set up their own labs, trying to find a cure to the infection that destroyed their world as well as that of humans. They would never admit it, but they needed human society to play aristocrats. So, we were going right into hell. Fucking perfect.