He was the most beautiful man I had ever seen. Even though he was seated, I could tell he was of tall stature. Long black hair flowed down over his shoulders, framing his sharp features. Angular cheekbones, prominent nose, and square chin were symmetry in motion as he sipped his champers.

With a powerful hand, he tapped his silver cane on the parquet floor with a rhythm that even I found hypnotic and sorrowful.

'Tap-tap-t-t-tap-tap'

Even as I stood by Noreen's side in all my prowess, I swayed to its song. Noreen too was caught up in its spell.

She held both hands to her voluptuous chest and tears rolled freely down her ivory cheeks. Tears she would soon no longer be able to shed. With a little willpower of my own, I broke the spell this beautiful man had woven over us. I could not let him hold sway over me or my princess of darkness. I needed to show power of my own. With a click of my fingers, I commanded "Awake!"

As if from a dream, Noreen stumbled a step before regaining her balance. I placed a steadying hand on her shoulder. She looked up at me and with a forlorn smile, said "I, I was drowning in a sea of tears. It was a heartbreakingly sad place"

"Yes, my dear, achingly so, but now it has passed. There is no more need for tears, so dry your eyes"

I took several steps in the stranger's direction and paused. In a clearing among the many stranded bodies, I tapped the heel of my foot sharply, just the once. It echoed and bounced around the ballroom to the same rhythm as the stranger's tune.

'Tap-tap-t-t-tap-tap'

As the echo gently faded away to the sound of Noreen's sobs, the watcher stood up. He was as tall, if not taller than I had expected. With a long slender arm, he raised high into the champagne flute and with a whip-like downward swing, dashed the glass to smithereens. Now leaning, with both his hands on the pommel of his silver cane the watcher nodded with appreciation and smiled at me.

I held out my arms and with a breaststroke swish, I commanded the ballroom cleared. Like the parting of the Red Sea, bodies slid both left and right until the floor was empty. I brought my arms back around and as I clapped my hand, I stamped my feet. A little flamenco goes a long way at these type of occasion.

The watcher strolled into the clearing and lifting his cane to strike the floor again, but hesitated and nodded to me. I nodded acceptance of his invitation and stretched to my full height. With perfect balance, I raised my heels off of the floor until I was fully on tippy-toes. With a flare for the dramatic, I raised my elbows and clasped my hands together as I flicked my head to the side, sending my white blonde locks back over my right shoulder.

The ballroom was deathly silent, the stage was set and the atmosphere electric. The cane dropped!

TAP!

My heels dropped!

TAP-TAP!

The watcher swung the cane to his left and struck the floor as he bent a knee and crossed his feet!

TAP-T-TAP!

I threw my hand into the air, crossed my feet and spun around!

TAP-TAP-T-TAP!

The watcher's eyes sparkled brightly as he grinned. He tapped his cane and tossed it from hand to hand as he tapped.

TAP-TAP-T-TAP-T-TAP-TAP!

The ballroom was echoing furiously now. The pace of the rhythm was up-tempo, past tempo and beyond tempo. Although I hadn't noticed, as I was so engrossed in this titanic battle, both I and this Adonis were dancing faster than humanly possible. Round and round we tapped, he with his cane, I with my feet of fire. Round and round we went, gradually moving closer and closer. Well, I say gradually, to us it was, but to any other, it would have been faster than a blink of an eye.

TAP-TAP-T-T-TAP-TAP...

The spell we were both weaving was magnificent and overwhelming. It ebbed and flowed and at moments cascaded like a waterfall into a vast pool of echoing music. Our feet were a blur, a ribbon of light that trailed behind us. And still, we spun, tapped and grew closer. I could feel my fangs begin to descend over my lower lip. Two needle like ivory teeth ached to bite, to puncture his skin.

TAP-TAP-T-T-TAP-TAP....

As we spun madly around, I noticed a change also taking place in my opponent. At first, I thought I was seeing things, I guess at these speeds everything becomes blurred, even for me. But there, I could definitely see fangs, not like mine, more rounded more robust. Also, hair had begun to sprout and grow upon his perfect face, a lot of hair. Within seconds he sported the most luxurious silken beard. I started to become a little suspicious and now that I could see the same silken hair upon his hands and razor sharp claws elongate from the tips of his fingers, I was doubly suspicious!

TAP-TAP-T-TAP-T-TAP-TAP....

Echo, upon echo, layer upon layer, the sound of our tapping had built up to such a tremendous crescendo, that its rhythmic noise had become a physical entity in its own right. Although I could not see them anymore, I sensed that the ballrooms large windows, one after another began to erupt into showers of broken glass shards. As we spun around each other, more windows erupted into shards and joined the melee.

TAP-TAP-TAP-TAP.....

We were almost nose to nose now and as my hairy opponent raised his cane to tap once again, I grabbed it. First with one hand and then the other. We both spun ridiculously fast holding on to the cane. Even through his long snout, I could hear his joyous laughter. It was infectious and soon I too was laughing uncontrollably. And with that the spell was broken, the echoes slowly faded away and we too slowed until we stood in front of each other at the center of the ballroom, our hands still clasping his cane.

There, before me stood a seven foot tall, fully clothed beast. No longer was he the beauty I had first spied but rather something altogether different. He had become that with which my family had always hated, always despised, always killed. A lupine. I blinked, then looked at him some more, blinked again and eventually as my mind caught up to my draping jaw, I smacked my forehead as I realized,

"He's a bloody werewolf"