(Future Mala.) Buttercup came to a place where homes were close to the sea and the water swept up to the sand dunes. Boats were bubbling on the water with their glass bottoms, waiting to take paying customers on a tour of the deep, blue ocean. The Ferris Wheel continued to spin. There were various hotels around the Island and a handful of corn crops along the houses that were further inland. There were Great Houses with streaming visitors going in and out, having in their excited hands, brochures of the plantations, advertising tractor rides and a tour of Mala's history when it was a corn industry. The Island now was a first-class tourist attraction. Before Buttercup had left Fairyland, she was informed that she would find the Vampire and her mate on an abandoned corn plantation called the Bloomfield Estate. However, when she had located the Bloomfield Estate, Buttercup wondered if she was indeed in Mala. The sign said Bloomfield Estate, but what she encountered were cars pu
(An Interesting Ally.)Doug laid Opal down on the bed and she turned her back to him. She was shutting him out, she needed to shut him out, that was how she healed her heart. She would talk when she was ready and only when she was ready. He just needed to be available to listen. Opal could not be rushed.Opal could be as strong as she was delicate. Sometimes she was a ferocious warrior and at other times she was a child who was amused at everything and often could cry at the drop of a hat. Doug understood this, so he pulled the covers up to her chin, closed the window and left the room.Doug came into the living room.Tonight was a hell of a night, he thought, switching on the lights. He went over to the window that needed fixing, he would fix it tomorrow.As he looked out he saw a figure coming towards the house. It was the curved outline of a woman, silhouetted in the dimness. Doug reached for his gun on a shelf of books and decided he was not going to handle anything else tonight.
(When death knocks at Your Door.)Lucinda Pitters gritted her teeth. Things were quickly spinning out of control and she hated to lose control.Lucinda was a Nurse at the local hospital and thus her services were requested. She worked tirelessly with the Health Team as the virus spread throughout her community.She adorned herself with the plastic gown, gloves and mask, going from house to house of the sick, taking blood samples and giving medical care. Her duty was, however, firstly to her people. What she was really doing undercover, was swapping the wolf's blood specimens with human blood, to keep her pack obscured. She looked around her. Her quiet, tribal community was filled with police, health officials and the whaling of ambulances parked along the sides of the road.She saw bodies in body bags piled on each other near a fire that never seemed to go out, waiting to be burnt.She saw a family huddled together at the front of their house, their posture bent in despair. The Gri
(Lucinda Pitters.) The hotel room door was knocked on twice. Jatray switched the television off and went to answer it. "Lucinda how nice of you to come and visit an old friend. However did you find me?" Her voice was a sweet mockery. "I picked up the scent of mayhem on a trail and followed it Commander." Lucinda answered, coming into the room as Jatray stepped aside. Lucinda had gone on the night of the attack, to see why the wolves she had sent out had not returned to the pack. What she found was their dead bodies lying in the path and a draft of lavender stained to the bark of a tree. Lucinda went up to sniff the tree trunk. "Jatray." She had stated, recognizing the expensive brand that the Commander liked to wear. She sent for wolves to come and take the bodies back to the pack, where they would be buried. Jatray smiled. She knew Lucinda didn't approve of her being in charge and it was a pleasure to see her bow her head to her. Lucinda had always disliked her, bu
(Christmas In Mala.) Moonstruck had snuck away to the Bloomfield's estate, by escaping on the raft at the back of the house, she floated downstream and cut through the meadows. The Vampires were not home. She had sat in the high grass waiting for them to return but before they did, she heard the howls. The cries of death. It came from across the river. Normally it would be numerous wolves coming together to howl the loss of another. Now with the Police watching over the neighbourhood, until the Health Officials return in the mornings, only one wolf was sent out in secret into the woods to carry on the old tradition of howling in that long, sad, raw signal, that made other wolves know that one of their own had died. Moonstruck let her head fall into her hands and cried She was too late. She thought. Philip was dead. She shifted into her wolf and howled her grieving reply. Moonstruck stayed in that position for more than an hour and looked up when she saw a car pulling up to t
(Mother Nature.) The woman wore a short dress. Red with glitters, that was more vibrant than her spirit. As the designer, she was proud of the way the material snuggled into her curves like it was lasered to her silhouette. She left the crowd of people, the celebration in full swing and continued down the road until she could hear nothing more than silence. Her camera was swinging on a string across her breast and she checked her watch. It was two in the morning. Looking up at the sky, it had been a while since she had seen each star shine so distinctly bright. Glowing galaxies of haphazard shapes, with no specific pattern, constellation or design. Each star just up in a spellbinding, black, witches brew sky, being their own individual self. She took out her camera and one after the other she snapped at the sky, creating on rolls of film, a slideshow of heavenly selfies. She smiled at the universe because in the cosmos, legend had it that when a demon and an angel mated, when dark
( I Promise It Won't Bite.)Things settled down in Mala when the New Year came and went.It was the second week in January and school had resumed for Moonstruck, which meant that she had less time to spy on the occupants of the Bloomfield house.Moonstruck had kept a steady eye on the Vampires over the past weeks, sneaking around the property night and day, staying at an undetected distance in quiet observation.Now she had to change her schedule as school would afford her less time to continue this activity. Moonstruck decided that she would do all her spying in the evenings after school.All this undercover work, Moonstruck was doing behind her parent's backs. Her parents had advised her to stay away from the vampires until further instructions were given to them by the Council. Something had gone askew in the Immortal society and the Council had halted all attacks, until the matter had been settled.If Lucinda knew what Moonstruck had been up to, she would have had a heart attack.
(The Winds Of Change.)Moonstruck felt her heart pounding in her mouth. She swallowed it and felt it slamming at her rib cage. She was sure if she attacked, then Buttercup too would have turned against her.Three against one, but no fight was fair. However, Moonstruck had no intention of fighting either.Why did Moonstruck let this fairy convince her, that it would be fine to follow her to meet her friends?Moonstruck had returned from school and she had stopped to do her regular spying. She found the three having a picnic out in the meadows. Taking off her uniform, Moonstruck shifted into a wolf. She sat in the grass, using her ears to fan away a pesky mosquito.She smiled at Buttercup's naivety and her willingness to comprehend an incomprehensible world.It was easier for Moonstruck to eavesdrop in her wolf form, because her sense of hearing was heightened and she could listen to conversations more clearly from a safe distance.She watched Buttercup rise from the quilt and Moonstr