12

Adam had not walked very far into the woods when his body mechanism started to change. His lycan was very much drawn to Sarah's spirit that it wanted to mark her immediately, but Adam kept fighting the urge. He didn't want to. He didn't like her, and didn't want to see himself having any such relationship with her, ever.

Adam was a warrior wolf who could control his shifting as he pleased, but on rare occasions as this, the strength to do so went beyond him. 

Adam's pupils dilated and switched faster than speed of light into a flaming blue colour with yellow glowing orbs radiating from his eye sockets. His human skin had started stretching out, strands of hair sprouted from his pores like the leaves from an old woman's fresh garden. 

The wolf's human skin sheds off in some areas and is replaced with a beastly kind. The hairs rapidly envelope his entire skin like a new born wrapped in swaddling clothes. No one would see this man and say he's Adam. 

His joints snapped, popped and cracked repositioning his skeleton into a different symmetry. Sharp black long claws grew out his fingers, elongating the carpals about three inches longer than their normal size. His toe nails straightened out into a different form as well. 

Adam's muscles grew taut, protruded, thickened and burgeoned ten times the size they were before. His bones contorted, his shape changed gradually. His thistle stretched longer and arched up to his cervical spine, giving him a hunch back. A vibrating sensation started in his ears, they were pulled backwards to get pointy. They both stretch to the sides of his head. 

His skull started to change form. It was pulled forward and split away, consequently causing a snout to form. His jaws were dislodged to create a deadline one. While the snout and jaws find their fitting place in his face, his teeth elongated, his canines growing longer than the rest to form flesh-tearing fangs. 

A rumbling growl escaped his throat like a chorus. Adam, rather than feel strength, was exhausted. He sat on his knees and stared into nothing ahead waiting to transform into his normal self before anyone saw him. 

*****

Sarah found herself at the same clearing in the woods she had just ran past. 

"Holy Vikings! Did I just scuttle around in a ring? Argh! How the blood do I get out of here?"

Sarah looked around in hissy fit and irritation. The dry leaves rustled and crackled beneath her bare foot. She scanned the area for a new path she should go through. While she jaunt around in the east of the woods a sharp branch stabbed her in the foot, going two inches in. She groaned in pain and sat on the floor to remove the branch. Her blackish red blood oozed scarcely from her feet as she nurses herself. 

She tore off the lace that was at the hem of her stolen nightgown and tied it around her foot. 

****

Birds chirped in the distance and moths flew around. The morning sun had become more scorching. The once cool breeze had been replaced with a warmer atmosphere. Adam sat there on the floor decorated with anhydrous leaves from the tall deciduous trees above.

His quick wolf ears picked up a woman's whimpering sound in the distance. For a moment, Adam was sure that it was Sarah. But, he remembered he had left her in the car. That still wasn't a guarantee that she had not ran out already. 

Adam followed the sound farther into the bush. The raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks and galagos scurried around for their safety as soon as they saw the beast moving around their abode. When Adam saw Sarah in the distance, it was not much of a surprise to him. 

Naturally vampires and werewolves are enemies, and lycans in their wolf form, are always prone to try and kill or hurt vampires as soon they see them. The lycan was drawn to Sarah, but it was not the aching to kill but a desire to keep her closer. Adam was somewhere inside of his wolf hating the fact that he can't bring himself to kill the vampire that's right in front of him and this made him furious to his marrows.

Sarah could hear footsteps behind her. Without looking, she knew something she'd hate to see was coming. a rush of cold went up her spine and her throat tingled. Her beady eyes blurred for a second and it seemed like bile was let loose from her insides. It was something she wouldn't be able to fight, not in her weak state. She stood to take this her heels, but was stopped by the claws that wrapped her arm.

On turning, the vampire's black beady eyes met with the wolf's flame blue ones. She tried to free herself from his grip but ended up getting her skin scratched by his claws. Right there Sarah remembered what fear was. She knew that her strength wouldn't match that of the beast's, but she was the type not to show the fear she felt inside.

"What do you want from me?" She asked, looking straight in it's eyes. Adam wanted to rip her apart. For the record, if he killed a vampire right that moment, he would earn nore respect from the pack and other packs as well. But, his lycan's attraction to her wouldn't let him.

Adam was about to transform to his human self, the hairs on his body started to disappear from his skin. Sarah watched and heard his bones snap and pop from all sides. She took a step back, watching with wonder. It was her first time in all the years of her life seeing a werewolf shifting into a human. The whole process she saw in front of her was both fascinating and terrifying to watch. 

In less than two minutes, the man who had kept her in his "box" earlier was standing before her.

"You?"

****

Adam's bungalow was such a beauty to behold both during daytime or nighttime. Each corner of the house was skillfully carved, and the designs were done with care. There was a combination of sky blue and spotless white paint. One could say it looked was looking like a mini palace from tales. The ornamental plants around the house blessed it with more beauty. 

Sarah grooved on the home she remembered the castle she once lived in. It indeed wasn't anything compared to the stunning bungalow right in front of her. Her home usually had a lot of cobwebs and insects which were considered a symbol of life, but she doubted there'd be any such thing here.

"This your home?" Sarah inquired keenly. Adam nodded his head as they claimed on the porch. He used a card to open the front door. Sarah marvels at the sight of it. 

"Did you just open up the house with that? You have no locks or keys?" Her eyes buldged in surprise and fascination. 

"What? You haven't seen anything like this before?" Adam turned to ask her with one of his brows raised.

Sarah shrugged and flipped her hair away from her face. 

"The world has changed so much. I was only put to slumber for an eye's blink. Now it seems like the great flood hit the world the second time without my knowledge."

"What the fuck are you talking about? Did you fall from space or something?" Adam asked rhetorically, entering into the house. Sarah followed closely behind him. 

There was fusion of endearingly peppy colours, that made the living room come to life in a split second. The blue and black colours imposed a lush air of voguish sophistication. The white walls and the carton brown floors were like canvas introducing colour of the furnishings and accessories. 

Asides the sky blue lightweight curtains covering the full length of the wide window, from ceiling to floor, there were a lot of sculptures arranged in an abstract manner. This gave out an artistic vibe that highlighted the owners love for art pieces.

The polished design, married with a couple black scatterer cushions injected vibrant bursts of colour into the living room. A variety of high impact tones were featured on a smaller scale on each of the cushions. The other accessories around helped to balance the colours throughout the space. 

Sarah gaped at the beauty of the living room. She had not seen anything like it. Not in her past years not in her journey around the woods. She walked carefully on the polished wooden floors, touching the the cushions. 

She ran her hands around the art pieces in the living room, the television, the remote and every other fascinating thing she could find around. She sat on the glass ta le in the middle of the room, loving hoenot was so cold. 

Adam was not sure he understood what was going on with the vampire he had brought into his home. She seemed to know nothing, except being a vampire. He watched Sarah climb on the table, jumping into the cushion. 

"Hey you shouldn't be doing that. Are you foolish?"

"I'm not foolish," Sarah snapped, jumping off the cushion from the other side. She was clearly fascinated. looking around. The air-com blew slightly cold air on her skin and sh lived the sensation. She loved everything she saw, not wanting to leave the house again. 

"Hey! Hey!" Adam called loudly, but she was too busy looking around. Although she heard him, but refused to respond. 

Sarah walked to the kitchen and saw a lot of utensils she recognised, but she didn't leave there without breaking a few ceramics. Adam now regretted bringing her home. She was more or less and animal and seemed to know absolutely nothing.

Adam didn't fully understand why Sarah agreed to come with him to his house after she had witnessed him changing from a werewolf to a human. She just didn't make a fuss and went in his car. Adam had no idea what the next step he was to take with her was. He wished their relationship wouldn't go beyond a house owner and the houseless, who had been brought in to prevent her from harming herself or harming others.