Prologue

'Only fools strike first.'

I knew it was bad when I started doing my rounds for the heck of it. Most of the time I hated the newspaper round. It was boring, useless and never really did anything except let me fit in with the humans. Bruce gave me the money whether I delivered his damn paper or not, so I never saw the point.

But now it was fun. When the paper round started getting fun, I knew I was in trouble. I was starting to get the itchings, almost cravings, deep in the middle of my stomach, a sign of the beginning of All Hallow's Eve. The newspaper rounds were mind-numbing enough to distract me from the craving deep in my stomach by requiring me to engage my brain in the activity of thought. It was really the only thing which stopped me from pouncing on a passer-by and devouring them right in the middle of the road; the school was delusional if it possibly thought that the work given was possibly scintillating enough to prevent us from carrying out our desires.

The thing was that on my paper rounds, I often found myself concerned with Hera, the only human in my entire school - a rabbit among the wolves. She was tantalisingly delicious, the very thought of her making the craving in my stomach spike in ways that weren't entirely dissatisfying. As much as it prevented me from attacking those we were told were "innocent beings", it made it all the more difficult to stop myself when I saw her at school. Although she was there for the purpose of satisfying our desires, it was stupid for anyone to think of trying to get her at school. Everyone who was aware of her species would try to get a piece, and no self-respecting Horror enjoyed sharing.

With Hera, it was a race to the finish, and I was determined to win.

Act 1

'Salute and bow to the fortunate.'

It was a well-known fact that, although they were meant to be impartial, every teacher in the school favoured those who were more intelligent in the chase for our resident rabbit, Hera. They would purposefully create more openings for those who managed to figure out what Hera was than they would for those who did not. As a result, the rabbit was usually placed in a class with the most intelligent Horror. Unusually, this year, she was placed in mine. This, although it made it easier for me to win the right to her, also made me incredibly confused. After all, as of five weeks with her, I was the only one who had noticed her status. It made me wonder just how inordinately stupid my classmates could manage to be.

I was, however, suspicious of this new approach. It seemed to make it entirely too easy for me to get to her. What made me even more suspicious was the cleaning rota. Every single person had been assigned a day to clean the classroom, three people each day. However, instead of it being three people that day, it was two. One of them was Hera. The other was me. And it was All Hallow's Eve.

There was only one of two conclusions to make. Either I had been specifically chosen as the hunter for the rabbit. Or, more ominously, I was being led down a road which was far too easy, simply to fall into a trap. It was only natural that I would be tense by the end of the day.

The feeling of a hand slapping my back broke me from my thoughts. As the Horror's claws dug into me, I let out a low, warning growl. Although the action itself was friendly among Horrors, we were in school for a reason - they didn't just teach us how to employ our brains. After all, if we didn't fit in with the humans, how else would we survive?

I turned around lazily, hopping off my position on the desk. Blonde hair and guilty blue eyes met mine, offset with a grin which was anything but ashamed. I vaguely recognised him as David, one of the slightly less idiotic members of my class, although still nowhere near interesting enough to be able to engage me in anything but crushingly soulless conversations.

"Good luck with the weirdo," David said, shrugging a shoulder. "You'll need it."

He didn't feel sorry for me, I could tell. Horrors didn't exactly have the capacity for pity. It simply wasn't in their nature. However, I didn't let it get to me. After all, I didn't need pity. I was in a position that most Horrors could only dream of, and I was going to make the most of it. So long as there weren't any obvious traps.

"I will most definitely have fun," I murmured playfully at his back as he walked away, a light smirk playing on my features.

I sensed Hera before I heard her, a slight prickling at the back of my neck alerting me to her presence shortly before her quiet cough. As I turned around to face her, she averted her gaze, staring at her impressively shiny shoes. After a short moment of silence, I decided to break it.

"Well," I started, refusing to lift my own gaze from her. "I guess we should start, shouldn't we, Hera?"

Hera jumped slightly at my words, her gaze flickering to meet mine and then timidly shooting downwards again. I had guessed that I might get an interesting reaction. After all, she wasn't usually called by her actual name - most tended to call her 'weirdo'. And if it made her warm to me more, I was all for it. Plus, from the rush of blood that highlighted her absolutely delectable cheekbones, it was clear that I was doing a pretty good job.

"The cleaning stuff is over there," I told her, pointing to the cleaning cupboard. "Lets get to work!"

Faking an enthusiastic smile, I got the whiteboard cleaner and a couple of cloths out of the cupboard. Handing one to her, I smiled gently, trying to look as comforting as possible. It took all of my willpower not to smell my hand after her's touched mine during the exchange. She just smelled so good and it wasn't fair.

"Why don't I get the top of the board and you get the lower bits?" I suggested.

Hera nodded shyly, meeting my eyes willingly for the first time. A small hand clenched inside my stomach as she did so, both in victory and in hunger. I dug my own claws into the palm of my hand to keep myself from attacking her then and there. I had to control myself.

And so began the tentative dance of predator and prey.

Act 2

'The game is played only with victory in mind.'

Cleaning the classroom with Hera had almost turned into a game for me, as long as I ignored the difficulty of abstaining from attacking the girl. I knew exactly what I had to do to ensure my victory. It was so simple that I often wondered why previous Horrors had never done it. It was, of course, harder with a human girl - you had emotions and timing to consider. However, I was fairly convinced that I could do it without too much difficulty.

Throughout the course of the cleaning, I had enjoyed playing with the boundaries of intimacy. After all, to carry out my plan, I had to make her believe that I was attracted to her - like a human might be. And vaguely hinting the idea to her was surprisingly easy. Not only was it fun in the way I was deceiving her, but it was also very satisfying to see her blush. The blood that rushed to her cheeks looked delicious, and never failed to delight me.

I had stood as close to her as I could without being unseemly. Cleaning the whiteboard had made it all too easy. I had spent most of my time reaching over her to clean, enjoying the fact that after the first few times, she didn't even try to move away. In fact, she seemed to be quite enjoying it. The trend only continued throughout the cleaning process. I would 'accidentally' brush my hand against hers, take any excuse to be near her, and smile at her whatever chance I got. I didn't want to be too obvious about it, but I didn't want it to be tentative enough that it could be translated as something else. I did, however, believe I was accurately travelling along the right side of that thin line based on her reactions. Her constant blushing and shy glances were all signs of things going in a positive direction.

As we were finishing up, I elected to start a conversation with Hera. Amusingly enough, she was only too happy to engage in idle chatter.

"Have you got any plans for the weekend?"

"Not really," Hera mused. "Some of the younger kids at the Home I'm staying at are going away, but I have to stay because they only had enough room to take the younger ones. I'll probably just do work or something. What about you?"

Hiding the glint in my eyes at the accessibility of snatching her from her situation, I placed a polite smile on my face.

"I don't really have any definitive plans," I shrugged. "I'll probably eat some good food though - I like planning big meals for the holidays."

Unaware of the meaning behind my seemingly harmless words, Hera smiled at me, walking over to the cleaning cupboard and put away her dusting cloth.

"That sounds nice," she said rather wistfully, leaning against a desk rather than choosing to leave as soon as the work was done. "We usually have food left for us, and it's never particularly tasty."

I hurriedly plastered fake concern onto my face, despite the fact that her words were filling me with glee. Nobody would miss her - it would be far too easy to let her disappear. Nobody would even notice until, potentially, a few days later, by my reckoning. But I had to pretend that I was sad for her.

"That must be difficult," I said sympathetically, leaning forward and touching her arm in my elaborate display. "You know, I'd be perfectly happy for you to join me for my meal."

Hera's eyes lit up.

"Really?"

"Absolutely," I said firmly, leaning closer and smiling. "After all, who better to keep me company than you?"

Hera blushed yet again, forcing me to move back before I did something I regretted. The craving was getting ever stronger the closer it got to midnight. I had to do something about it before it completely controlled me. Quickly making up my mind, I glanced at the door, making sure that nobody else was around.

"Can I tell you something?" I asked, leaning forward again now that I'd regained control.

Hera's eyes locked onto mine, curiosity shining in them. She nodded wordlessly, also leaning forward, evidently interested as to what I might tell her. A small smile slid onto my lips, and I leaned forward further so that my mouth was closer to her ear.

"You're very beautiful," I whispered in her ear, fighting back a grin as she almost leaned into the hand which touched at her hair.

I moved away from her ear, locking my eyes with hers as I went over my mental checklist, hoping that I had completed everything necessary. Physical contact, polite conversation, compliments, smiling, being gentle - I had gone through all of them, creating the perfect atmosphere for what I was about to do without the human slapping me or something else ridiculous.

Satisfied, I leaned in, pressing my mouth against hers. I had expected to encounter some problems with my plan. After all, humans are ridiculously difficult to read and therefore it is hard to plan their every move. Horrors tend to be much more straightforward. What I hadn't anticipated, however, was Hera's reaction.

I had factored in almost every sequence of events, from her running away, to her deciding that violence was the best way to deal with my action. Despite all of this planning, one outcome I hadn't considered was her being keen about the kiss. It was a different kind of action for humans, I knew. Horrors kissed each other in order to control the other - it was a purely violent action, although occasionally utilised by the more unusual Horrors who themselves enjoyed being controlled and manipulated, and sometimes as a way of adjudicating who did right or wrong based on the emotions and knowledge gained through a Horror's kiss. However, for humans, it was an intimate action.

I had known that. I had tried to set the mood for that very reason. It should have gone perfectly to plan, and it did, except for the fact that I now had a human girl kissing me back with a fervor much greater than mine. It threw me off for a few moments, shocking me into compliance of her intense desires. However, I quickly came back to my senses. Luckily for me, her overzealous kissing had given me the ultimate opportunity to carry out the final, sealing stage of the kiss. Before she could even question my intentions, I bit her lip, ensuring to draw blood. Not only did it seal our connection and give me absolute control over her, a Horror's venom also was slightly toxic to humans.

I pulled back from her as her eyes began to flutter shut, confusion in them. I grinned, giving her a full show of my rather impressive fangs, if I do say so myself. I dipped down towards her ear once more, feeling an intense delight as she tried to squirm away from me in her numb state.

"Welcome to your worst nightmare," I whispered.

Act 3

'Sweet dreams are made of these...who am I to disagree?

She woke up cold and shivering.

I could feel her confusion from my perch on the rafters of the dark attic I held her in. Seeing the world from her eyes was almost as exhilarating as the idea of tearing her flesh from her body. I immediately delved back into her mind, sitting back and relaxing as I enjoyed the spectacle.

She couldn't see a thing. All she could feel was the cold permeating through her bones, and the rough feeling of something scratching against her arms. Closing her eyes, she calmed herself, trying to remember how she got here. She could vaguely remember cleaning a classroom with Samuel, feeling like blushing, and then nothing. She couldn't remember how she got here, and her last memories were too blurry to give her any clue at all.

She froze at the sound of rapid breathing. She whipped her head around, trying to find the source of life, hoping that there might be someone who could help her. She could feel panic rising up in her despite her attempts to quell it. Something brushed up against her arm once more at the same time as a harsh, blood-curdling scream echoed throughout the room she was in. Dead silence followed, making her feel tense and terrified, heart pumping so fast that it felt like it would burst.

I fought back the urge to laugh at her uncontrolled panic. I had barely even prompted it. What was even more amusing was her knowledge of what was happening. Evil delight coursed through me, and I sent a thought her way. I was only helping her, really.

The realisation came to her like a thunderbolt, almost like someone else had told her. Even the thought seemed to have an amusement to it that she herself was definitely not feeling. She had been the one screaming. There was nobody else in the room, nobody to save her from whatever grim fate she was about to face. She finally felt the rawness in her throat, evidence that she had in fact been the one to scream. A mixture of terror and defeat flashed through her, followed by an uncontrollable desire to scream. And, just like that, she let out another horrific, painful scream, almost feeling like someone else had screamed for her.

I resisted the urge to laugh, settling for kicking my legs back and forth silently. My grin widened, a sense of exhilaration rising up inside of me. All Hallow's Eve had always tended to be fairly boring, because I was just given food. Hunting for my own food was much more fun. I had never been more thankful for the rabbit being in my class. Plus, torturing her mind like this was far too much fun.

Her breath caught in her throat, making her gulp in air quickly. The sudden action made her panic, beginning to hyperventilate.

I frowned. Her state was rather fragile. I could hear her heart from where I was without even relying on the bond I'd created. That wasn't good - I didn't want her dying of a heart attack before the real fun began. Sighing, I sprang from my perch, landing on the floor. As much as I enjoyed messing with her mind, I wasn't going to deny my nature just for the fun of that.

My descent, although rather gentle, made her react. She had heard me. A mixture of relief and trepidation seemed to rush through Hera at the sound of my landing. I fought back the urge to laugh. She evidently had no idea what was in stock for her. It was going to be fun. For me, at least.

I turned the light on, knowing exactly where to find it. Hera was almost blinded, to my horror. If she had remained so sensitive to light, I wouldn't have been able to get so much pleasure out of the procedures. Luckily, she recovered quickly enough.

The sudden burst of light shocked her. As she slowly adjusted to it, she began to look around. She seemed to be in either an attic or some sort of stable with no windows. The rafters were quite high above her, and she stared at them, almost in awe. She glanced down at her arms, trying to find what had been brushing against them. However, the only thing around her were a few pieces of limp rope and some scatterings of sawdust. Unless the rope was somehow alive, she didn't know what could have touched her.

Yet more panic gripped her, and she shivered, unwilling to admit that there had to be something, or someone, else in here. After all, if they weren't here to save her, what were they going to do to her? And there had to be someone to turn on the light.

"Did you have a nice rest, Hera?"

She whipped around to face the source of the voice. It had sounded vaguely familiar, but she didn't want to admit that it could be who she thought it was. But only one person had ever called her Hera with that tone of voice. And she had never believed that he could do something like this.

But it was him.

Her breath stopped in its tracks, eyes widening. He was mostly the same as she always saw him - messy brown hair falling over his eyes, tall, pale, and with a gentle, slightly patient, smile on his face. But now, he had fangs. Admittedly, they weren't all that unattractive - they suited his face. What really terrified her were his eyes. They hadn't changed colour or anything. She would have thought that they'd turn red to signify evil or something, but they didn't. Instead, there was a sort of delight in them. He was delighted by her pain, and by her fear. And he wasn't human. There was absolutely no way that he could be human.

A small sob ripped from her throat, and she stumbled backwards a few steps. She should probably be disturbed by the fact that this guy - the only one she'd let herself trust in years - wasn't human, but the pain was too much. She had spent so much time trying to convince herself that there was at least one trustworthy person in the world, and he had been one of them. What was worse was that, despite what he had undoubtedly done to her, she was still drawn to that smile.

I grinned at her rather emotional reaction, walking towards her, matching her tentative backward paces with strides of my own. She would soon be trapped against the wall anyway.

"I look rather handsome through your eyes, Hera," I said smoothly. "I rather approve of myself. And you're right - I'm not human. I'm what's known as a Horror."

"Get away from me," Hera whimpered, almost tripping in her escape from me.

Undeterred, I carried on moving forward.

"Oh, Hera," I said, mock exasperatedly. "I think we both know that's not what you really want."

It was like he could see inside her mind. It was unnerving her. There was no way that he could read minds. Without realising it, she had stopped moving. There was no way that he could read her thoughts. It was preposterous.

"Not so preposterous as you seem to think," Samuel said, his voice sending shivers down her back, both of warning and the desire to hear more of it.

"Stop it!" she squeaked, placing her hands on her head, as though she could physically block him out. "It's not true. It can't be true. There's no way that you can read minds!"

She was aware that she was becoming hysterical, but she couldn't help it. She was having conflicting feelings of safety and danger near Samuel, and it was messing with her ability to stay calm in front of him. She screwed her eyes shut, trying to force herself to calm down.

"Oh, I don't read minds," his voice practically purred, suddenly much closer than she had expected.

She opened her eyes, finding him close, oh so close to her. So close that she almost forgot that he was a kidnapper and not human and might very well kill her.

"If you don't read minds," she began, trying to ignore his proximity. "How can you read mine?"

A glint of amusement reached his eyes. In any other situation, it would have made her heart beat with excitement. Now, it sent a cold shiver through her, even if it still made her want to reach out to him. His very being was just so unfair.

"The answer to your question is rather simple," Samuel whispered, somehow managing to sound evil and gentle at the same time. "Do you remember this?"

He leaned closer to her, so close that his breath misted across her face, but she couldn't move away. She honestly didn't want to. And she could remember all too well. She stood frozen as he leaned ever closer, trying to convince herself that her heart shouldn't be reacting like that to him. She should be scared, not wanting him to move closer.

She gasped quietly as Samuel took her lip, the same one as before, gently between his teeth. It took all of her self control not to try and make it into something more. To her dismay, he moved away almost as quickly as he'd bitten her.

"Well, you definitely remember," he chuckled. "That's known as a Horror's kiss, sweetheart. It has many more implications than a human one. And one of those is that I can control your thoughts, as well as hear them."

He looked slightly proud as he said so, lifting his chin in a way that made her heart melt slightly at the cuteness of it. Almost as soon as she acknowledged that, however, his face darkened slightly.

She was ruining my fun. It was putting me in a bad mood. I enjoyed scaring her, or confusing her, but all of this mushy feeling safe stuff was nowhere near as fun. I cast my eyes at the rope, one of the few inanimate objects I had ever managed to control. With a jerk of my head, it flew across the room, tightening around her arms and torso, locking her in her place.

Fear flew back into her eyes, relaxing me somewhat. I smiled.

"That's much better," I said pleasantly.

As she eventually realised what I was talking about, a mixture of disgust and terror lit in her eyes. That was far more satisfying.

"Y-you monster!" she exclaimed.

"I'm glad you finally realised," I said conversationally. "You really were rather foolish for falling for me. You even thought I wouldn't hurt you. It's laughable, really. There's nothing I'll enjoy better than ripping you limb from limb."

She tried walking backwards, but I sent some more rope to tie around her legs, facing her to fall onto the floor. She let out a strangled sound, beginning to shiver in fear. This was much more like it.

"Why?"

The word was uttered so quietly that I almost missed it. It stopped me in my tracks, and I stared at Hera.

"What do you mean 'why'?" I asked incredulously.

"Why are you doing this to me?" she asked, still trying to move back from me. "What do you get from it?"

I smiled graciously, leaning forward, only too happy to make this clear for her.

"Well, to address your question," I began. "I targeted you because you're the only human in the school. And as to why I'm doing it...well, it's in my nature, isn't it? I survive on human flesh."

Her eyes visibly widened, and she began struggling desperately against her bonds, to my utter delight. I felt in my pocket, feeling something cold against my hand, before entering back into her mind again. After all, this was too much fun to miss.

She was paralysed with fear, unable to move as Samuel pulled something out of his pocket. She felt her face pale as she recognised it as a knife. And a sharp one at that.

"Don't worry," Samuel said brightly. "It'll be over before you know it, and if you don't struggle, it will probably hurt less."

She let out a scream, trying even harder to escape from the ropes in the hope that she could run far, far away from him. He simply watched her struggling, not seeming to care. It was at the point when he clicked his fingers and the ropes tightened that she realised what had been brushing against her arms earlier. A squeak of pain rushed from her lips, and she felt tears brimming in her eyes.

"Please," she whispered. "Please!"

She stared at him pleadingly, begging for her life. In place of an answer, Samuel moved closer to her, placing a hand on her cheek in a sort of romantic gesture. However, she knew it was not, and it was only seconds later that she felt the pain and a groan bordering on a scream loosed from her lips. Her throat felt tight, and she slowly felt it getting more and more difficult to breathe.

She vaguely managed to look down at herself, bile rising as she saw the blood which was soaking into her clothes. She recognised Samuel's hand as it reached forward, fingers splaying across her stomach. She moaned painfully as he did so, tears falling down her cheeks when she saw the blood which remained on his hand.

Slowly, Samuel smiled at her, still eliciting a vague response from her heart. However, that feeling was quickly dampened as he raised his fingers to his mouth, licking them as though he was savouring a delicious cuisine. As soon as he finished, he looked at her, a light of insanity in his eyes.

"Delicious," he murmured, before he pounced.

Act 4

'The aftermath isn't supposed to be easy.'

The enquiry into Hera's disappearance was short, the officers in charge of the investigation not bothering too much. After all, no body had been found. I made sure of that. Once I'd had my fill, I burned the bones and scattered the ashes in the local river. We were taught to be discreet with our kills, and I was only too happy to oblige. I didn't want to bide my time in prison for years, having to settle for dirty inmates every All Hallow's Eve.

My success had been announced in school, making people treat me differently. Most of them had never even suspected Hera of being human, and practically none of them had ever hunted their own food. It was so unusual that anyone who had was treated with new-found respect.

In a way, I felt sorry for them. Everyone else had nothing going for them. They were boring, couldn't even keep up an interesting conversation, and had never even experienced the delight of hunting, or the mouthwatering taste of blood and flesh which one chose themselves.

Even so, I rarely made contact with people. In fact, I found them so extraordinarily boring and avoided other students so much that it made practically no difference to the amount of respect I received. In reality, only one thing had really changed in my life, and that wasn't too concerning.

It was only the paper round getting boring again, after all.