Flame had been acting more nervous than ever, and I had no idea why. He seemed a little jumpy whenever someone spoke to him, flinching and looking over his shoulder. Griffin, however, was louder than ever... if that was even possible. We were standing outside during lunch, the winter sun warming my cheek.

"Oh my gods Griffin you're so hot," Kara squealed as Griffin was showing off picking her up with one arm.

Flame rolled his eyes. "They are both so annoying," he growled.

"At least they can be annoying together," I told him and smiled watching them laughing.

He smiled back "You're so cute Victoria," he whispered and hugged me. 

I hugged back. It was nice to feel the familiar warmth from his body. It didn't seem as strong as it used to be for some reason. I've noticed that I'm not as cold anymore which is particularly strange since winter was digging its icy claws in further each day but it seemed I didn't feel the cold so badly this year. So many strange things had been happening to me, ever since that night in the forest. My left eye is pretty much yellow now and it looks even weirder. I have two different coloured eyes and the colours are both inhuman colours. I sighed. As if I didn't have it bad enough before. Though Frank didn't bother me so much now.

"What's wrong Victoria?" Flame asked noticing that I seemed annoyed.

"Nothing," I sighed.

"Ok, but you know I haven't seen the vampires around for a week now, I'm really wondering what they are planning," he told me.

"Maybe they are all dead because you killed them," I suggested.

"I seriously doubt that Victoria," he told me trying to look serious considering the topic though he was smiling.

***

It was maths.... and you know what that means... Kara. She had been complaining that the boy she was flirting with last time had moved to the other side of the classroom. Which made sense to me, she did draw a creepy picture of him.

"What's the date again?" she asked.

I sighed, this was the third time she'd asked, "It's the 6th of June."

"Oh right," she said and smiled then when back to whatever she was doing in her book.

I looked over her shoulder and she was drawing an elaborate landscape including all the numbers and symbols of her textbook.

"I really think I'm getting the hang of this maths," She looked up at me and smiled. 

I didn't reply because I didn't have the heart to hurt her feelings but I'm not actually sure her feelings can be hurt. Everytime someone insults her she just thinks they are jealous or just plainly doesn't understand what they were talking about. Actually, now that I think about she has marvellous resilence. I wished that I had her state of mind when I was being constantly and relentlessly bullied by Frank.

I smiled at her but my smile quickly disappeared.

She was making an origami swan out of her loose-leaf paper, "It's pretty right? Want me to make you one?"

I facepalmed, you know what I take that back, she is just an idiot.

She frowned at me, something dark passed over her usually joyful face like there was some deep-sea monster lurking just beneath the surface of her mind, she then asked, "what's the date again?"

"6th of June Kara," I told her once again. Honestly I don't know why the date was so important to her, especially if she is just going to forget it straight away.

***

"Bye I'm getting ice cream with my hot date," Kara told us then skipped off.

"By hot date, I'm assuming she means a guy who is too nice to say no to her?" Flame questioned.

"That would be the one," I muttered. Flame laughed a little but there was still that nervous edge.

Griffin seemed really angry. "Whoever that guy is I'm going to kill him," he growled.

"Calm down Griffin," Flame said quickly "Don't do anything you'll regret, especially tonight."

Griffin jumped a little at the mention of tonight. The nervousness now even affected him. I watched him both closely. Griffin kept his eyes to the ground and clenched his fist.

"What's so special about tonight?" I asked.

"Nothing don't worry Victoria," Flame said quickly, "we need to go now, bye."

Griffin and Flame quickly walked away before I could even say goodbye.

I could feel curiosity burning inside me. What was so important about tonight? I got my bag and started to walk home. Was it some sort of special night for werewolves? I racked my brain thinking of things about werewolves. Then it hit me, a full moon. It was the full moon tonight. Werewolves are meant to shift into a wolf under the full moon. So Flame and Griffin are meant to shift. So that's why they were acting so weird and Kara was acting normal. Well, Kara normal.

As I kept walking I wondered do other wereanimals shift under the full moon. I guess it really didn't matter though. I didn't know any other wereanimals... Maybe I might meet some later. Anyway it would probably be best that I didn't go into the forest or around Flame's house tonight. I don't want to have to fight wolves, I've heard that werewolves lose control of themselves during the full moon too and they kill everyone. That seems a little scary, a shiver went down my spine and I suddenly felt really scared. I ran the rest of the way to my house. Which didn't take me too long because of my new speed.

When I got home and walked inside I could smell the deliciously warm aroma of vanilla chocolate chip muffins. My favourite! I walked into the kitchen. My mother was in there icing the muffins with a chocolate icing. Her hair was up and her apron dusted with flour.

"Hello," I greeted her smiling.

"Hey Victoria, I made you some vanilla chocolate chip muffins because I noticed you've been a little down recently and maybe these will cheer you up," She told me as she was icing the last muffin.

"Thanks mum," I said smiling. She was always so nice. I picked up one of the muffins and bit into it, so good! The gooeyness of the chocolate chips was so nice and warm and the warm fluffy vanilla cake made it taste so good.

"Any good?" she asked watching my reaction.

"Yeah!" I said covering my mouth because it was full of the deliciousness.

***

I was in my room studying... Or at least I was trying to. For some reason I just couldn't sit still and focus. My mind kept wandering off and I kept moving around in my chair. I just couldn't sit still and I couldn't concentrate. I needed to get this work done. I looked over at the clock, it was already ten-thirty pm and I needed to get to school tomorrow. Just one more paragraph and I would get to bed.

Midway through writing it I feel uncomfortable in my position and shifted to sitting cross-legged in the chair. So much for having good posture, oh well I need to get this done.

Finally done. I looked over at the clock, it was ten forty pm. I needed to get to sleep if I wanted to go to school not looking like a zombie tomorrow. I closed my books and turned off my lamp. Yawning I walked over to my bed and crawled under the thick doona. I could see the statue of the cheetah looking at me. Weird. I closed my eyes to try and get to sleep.

***

It was 12 o'clock and I lay awake in my bed. I still felt restless and I had an awful feeling in my gut like I had forgotten to do something. My mind was too alive to fall asleep. I looked around the room from something that might help me. The moonlight was seeping in through a gap in the curtains. The light shone down in a direct beam and pooled on the floorboards. It looked so beautiful, like a puddle of pure silver. I had a sudden desire to walk into it. It called me to it and I couldn't resist. I got up out of bed and slowly walked towards it. It was like it was calling out to me to touch it, I was compelled. As if it were whispering a secret song in my ear. I got closer and closer, but the closer I got the stronger it's effect was on me.

It was right in front of me. The light nearly grazed my nose. I stared at it for a few seconds, captivated before putting my hand into it.

Suddenly my hand grew fur, claws and cat-like pads grew. I screamed. 

What was happening!!! 

The fur spread up my body and I could feel my bone and muscle changing shape. I screamed as loud as I could but was barely a muffled growl because of the cat-like fangs that had grown in my mouth and the very construct of my throat had changed. My vision was starting to dim. I frantically looked around the room as my body was changing.

I could see the cheetah statue smiling at me and that's the last thing I remembered.

Edit 1 - 12/12/2020

Published - 24/6/2014