I tried to resist the urge to slice his head off and instead grasped at my chest, feeling Collin's pain as is it were my own. "Stop it! You're hurting him!" I cried, tears welling in my eyes as a spike of his terror stabbed through me. "Please, let him go!" I fell to my knees, my hands extended towards him. "Collin!" I wailed, sounding like I was dying. No one had ever dared to touch one of my animal creations before, and it felt like he was killing me. "Collin!"

Collin curled up in his captor's hands, shaking as he peeped through a gap in the boy's fingers. I sent him a telepathic message that he would be fine, I would save him. Then he had a brilliant idea. A risky one, but good.

He raised his decaying face to his captor, showing the boy his skull, and the boy yelled and dropped Collin. I dove, sliding across the floor on my injured stomach, and caught him in my outstretched palms before he could hit the floor. I cuddled him to my chest and whispered reassuring words to him before setting him on my shoulder, my cheeks streaks with tears that had fallen.

The boy's face was ashen. He seemed familiar, but everything before the torture was a blur. "That thing is dead!" he said loudly, pointing at Collin.

"Yeah," I snarled, "just like you're going to be in a few seconds for ever even touching him!" I lunged at the boy and caught him off guard, tackling him to the floor and sitting on his midsection while Collin huddled partially in my puffy sleeve for protection. I raised my hands to his neck, not squeezing, but waiting for the infection to spread. It didn't. I touched his face with my finger, then placed my whole palm on his cheek. "What is wrong with you?! Why won't you turn!" His skin stayed the same pale color, not turning gray. I growled and raised my hand to hit him, but my arm froze in place. I turned my head to glare at the silvery white orb peeking through the branches that made up my roof. "What do you want?" I sneered.

Collin tugged on my hair, drawing my attention, and he chittered in my ear as I tilted my head towards him, my hand unfrozen but still hanging there. I growled and stood over the boy, planting the butt of my scythe on his chest. The Bunny and Jet made a move towards me, but I twirled my scythe around so the blade was at his neck. "One more step and his head comes off." Jet shrugged and took another step, making me raise my eyebrows. "One more step and you'll be overwhelmed by an army of undead critters that cannot be killed." A snarling pack of zombie wolves surrounded him, growling when he moved. "Now leave, never come back, and Lacey doesn't exist." I switched back to skater chic. "Goodbye."

I lifted the boy by the collar of his shirt and kicked him out of the hole with a heavily booted foot, then threw Jet out after him. I started to walk towards the Easter Bunny, hands extended towards his throat, but he scampered out of my way, out the hole and down the side of my tree. I stuck my head out of the opening and cackled, looking down at them, my mouth in a straight line, then climbed out of the top of the hole and up the side of the tree vertically like a squirrel. I reached the roof and swung myself up onto a thick forked branch, settling myself where it branched off, and then moaned in pain as I let the strain of showing off reach my damaged muscles.

I went limp and started sucking my thumb again as I transformed to partial animal. My ears moved to the top of my head, large and soft black furry cat ears, and my teeth sharpened into fangs. Claws grew and I had a long black tail. I licked my free hand and started cleaning my wounds, much like a cat. I let myself become animalistic in manner; it wasn't good to let it bottle up too much, I had learned the hard way that it tended to explode in a moment of anger and completely take over instead of having a small part of my brain remain thinking like a human like when I was relaxed. My tail pressed painfully into my back and I got rid of it, interchanging it with my eyes, my pupils thin vertical black diamonds in seas of crystalline blue.

I calmed down, my nails shrinking but I left my ears, petting them and stroking them, a slight purring noise echoing from the depths of my chest, vibrating Collin from his perch on my stomach. Another squirrel darted over and scratched between my ears, and the purr became louder, a sound of pure delight. Soon I was surrounded by my little critters, and I took turns petting them and reattaching tails, murmuring kind words to them as my mouth stayed in a straight line, as close to smiling as I ever got.

I heard slight murmuring with my oversized ears and froze up, the purring stopping. I gathered all of my animals close in my arms, changing back to my shredded dress so as to give my creations more hiding space. Several hide in the payers of my skirt and in my puffy sleeves, a few in my bow or tucked into my sash, the rest nestled in my arms. I huddled them close for protection as the murmuring grew louder, then gave up on being subtle and hiding. I was tired of being hunted. I set all my animals down and told them to hide, and then I screamed, my scream becoming a roar as I shifted. I grew in size, my skin beginning thick and scaly, my eyes remaining bright blue as I turned into a three-hundred-feet-tall dragon, black as night, complete with wings and blue flame-breath. I flew up, above the tree, and saw two groups of people, on on either side. On my left was Pitch and Jet, on my right were the boy, who was familiar, and the Easter Bunny again. The boy looked oddly similar to Jet...

Oh! Jack, from before, back at the strange place. But why was he hanging around with the Easter Bunny?

Whatever. Back to restoring my peace.

I roared, drawing their attention again, this time above them, and they all did a double-take. A rumble started deep in my throat, in preparation for blasting fire, and I opened my maw wide, cerulean flames starting in the back of my mouth. They scattered as I blew fire at them, careful not to torch my tree or any of my friends. I swooped after them, high in the sky, and I saw Jack raise his staff. Unsure of what he could do, I quickly changed to a raven just as he shot frost at me. I brought back my fire-breathing ability, and I blasted it into water and then steam. It must have been freaky, seeing a dragon transform into a raven that blew fire. I went back to a dragon and started to blast Pitch, turning his pitiful sand defenses into black glass, then shattering them with a wave of spikes from my tail.

Pitch started to retreat as Jet flew straight towards me on a small cloud of black sand, looking scarily determined. I rolled out my neck and turned back into a humanoid, cracking my knuckles and baring my teeth as he charged at me. I flew at him and screamed a war cry, getting him into a headlock with an arm behind him in no time. He grabbed my wrist and started doing something to my skin, but I knocked him out with a pressure point and dropped him. He dropped like a stone and I panicked, freaking out, spinning in circles before diving down to catch him. I got my hands under his arms and heaved up, my wings working overtime. I tossed him onto my back and started back towards my tree, sending waves of darkness against the other who tried to follow.

I half-fell into my home, Jet was really heavy. I pulled him off my back and into my bed, putting him in restraints so he couldn't try to harm me when he woke up and I started tending to him reluctantly. I just put a cool cloth on his forehead to help him wake up faster and left wolverines to watch him. Then I went back to the outdoor battle.

"Stay away from my home!" I shrieked, undulating ripples of inky blackness rolling out from behind me and crashing over my head like ocean waves on the sea shore. Hundreds of birds flew out, poised and ready to strike, their razor-sharp beaks shining in the dim sunlight.

Sunlight.

I hissed and shook out my limbs, trying to get the burning sensation off. My tongue touched a sharpened fang and I realized why I was burning, I was still half vampire. I ducked down, under the trees and away from the light, and watched my flock of Stymphian birds attack them. I had found a whole flock, hundreds of them, a few decades ago, and when they started to attack me I enslaved them. They were evil creatures.

They pecked at every bit of exposed skin, driving them back as my eyes glowed, slicing through the darkness. A bolt of shadow shot towards me as a method of desperate offense, but I dodged and laughed, only to feel a sharp pain in my thigh. I looked down and growled, still flying. The pain made my wings fold, but a large bird caught me as I clutched my leg. A thin shard of ice pierced the skin, and a boomerang shot at me from behind, swooping around and driving it deeper as I keeled over and writhed on the back of the bird. It gently set me down in the ground and dissolved into a million black feathers, floating away in the wind. I swallowed and looked at the blood leaking out of my wound, licking my lips at the thought of feeding.

I hesitantly brought my hand to my leg, melting the ice and letting the blood flow freely. I cupped my palms and brought them to my parched lips, gulping down the thick red substance. My eyes flashed and I felt myself turn completely, my skin paling to the color of milk and my eyes becoming cat eyes, the pupils vertical. My nails sharpened and my teeth became fangs. I cracked my neck and sliced my right wrist with a nail, closing the hole in my leg and standing.

I swung my arm around, then hissed, spreading my wings and lunging for the nearest branch. I boosted myself up into a crouch on the sturdy wood, then leapt into the sky, spreading my wings and covering myself so the sunlight wouldn't hit me. I landed in the nearest superstitious countryside, where the legends of vampires still existed, and the three pursuers plus an escaped Jet landed behind me. I spun and placed a finger to my lips solemnly. "Don't say a word. I'm hunting." I crept up behind the nearest human and tugged on my gloves, about to bite into his wrist. I never bit necks, it was too personal or 'intimate', and sometimes people would remember it and become my slaves.

Once, when I was still experimenting with my powers, I encountered a young man. Handsome, my age, and willing to accept the fact I was a vampire after I fed. I had unknowingly drunk from his neck, creating a bond, and continued to visit him, only to feed. He thought of it as more than what it was, and I had to abandon him after he tried to turn it into something much more. I could describe in detail how it would go, but I'll describe how it had usually went, before him.

I would draw a boy in, usually a teenager, and it would start as if I just wanted to have a little fun, kissing and whatnot. Then I would drain him dry and throw him away, not caring. It was before I realized what a monster I was and stopped drinking. Now I found the thought repulsive.

I came back to my senses and pulled away, drawing back in revulsion at the memory and running away into the forest, morphing into a cheetah.

I curled up under a tree, in a small hollow made underground by the roots. I killed the tree, but all I was worried about was protecting everyone else from me. I didn't care if the tree fell on me and killed me. The world would be better off without me.

I tried to convince myself not to, but I placed my scythe in just the right way so that when I brought it out, it would slice through the tree's roots and crush me. I took a deep breath and my finger hovered over the latch. They four men rushed into the clearing just as I flicked it open, and Jet and Jack yelled "NO!" simultaneously, their respective partners holding them back as they lunged for me.

The tree fell over, smashing me into the ground and splintering my wing bones into tiny fragments. I stayed silent and calm, a serene expressing on my face as it pressed me into the ground, peering through its leafless, skeletal branches as I felt the weight begin to fracture my bones. I was determined not to let out a sound, and I closed my eyes in acceptance. A hiss and slight moan of pain escaped through my teeth as the tree settled, flattering me further. Once I was positive I was trapped, I pillowed my head on my hands and slept.