Chapter Nine: The Secret's Out

My eyes landed on Isaac first. He lay on a table, arms and legs bound with silver. Blood covered his naked chest. Next to Isaac, on a different table, was Jeremiah. He was also half-naked and bound like his brother. At his side was yet another table and it held a young girl, who I presumed was Isaac's sister, Jezanna, in a flimsy nightgown.

They all looked alike. All weary, worried and bloodied.

My eyes reached Jezanna's and my heart went straight out to her. She looked petrified.

I calmed my own fear. I had to do something -anything.

"Leila, get out." Isaac's voice dripped with fury.

The next I knew, I was being held by my throat up against the wall.

Panic flared as my breath left my body. My wide eyes settled on the older man who'd grabbed me. He had short, red hair, freckles that consumed his face and light brown eyes.

"Who do we have here?" he asked with a deep gravelly voice. He repositioned his hands, moving one forearm against my upper chest so I could breathe. I gasped in lungfuls of air while his other arm pushed my stomach to hold me firmly against the wall.

"Leave her alone," Isaac snarled and struggled against his restraints. A stronger scent of burning flesh filled the room.

Jezanna cried out for him to stop, which calmed him enough for me to hear, "You fool, you shouldn't have come." Jeremiah coughed and spat blood to the side.

"An interest of yours, Isaac?" Freckles asked. "I can see why. What strange eyes. What are you doing here?"

Settling my nerves, I calmly replied, "Just came for a visit."

"Well, sweetness, you came on the wrong day. Lenny," he bellowed.

"Yes, sir?" said the giant coming through the door, which joined onto another hallway. Lenny had to crouch to fit through or he would have hit his bald head. He was the biggest man I had ever seen.

"Finish what you started. I'm sure this pretty thing would love to watch." He took a small step to the left. Still, he had me pinned.

Lenny the giant, walked over to Jeremiah and pulled something from under the table, my eyes widened when I realised what it was.

A long carving knife.

"No," Freckles barked. "Do Isaac, this one feels more for him and I want to hear her scream."

Lenny stepped around Jeremiah to Isaac. He made a show of licking the blood off the knife while he watched me with his dark piercing eyes. I looked on. Shock and fear coiled in my stomach as he slowly placed the knife on the left side of Isaac's stomach - the closest side to me.

"I'm sorry, Leila," Isaac uttered. My eyes found his as Lenny's cut went deep and slow, straight across Isaac's stomach. Isaac's only sign of pain was when he tugged at his restraints. I wanted to cry, to scream, but didn't. I wouldn't let the monsters have satisfaction from it.

I kept my gaze on Isaac, as his own was on me. Lenny brought the knife up a little higher, near Isaac's chest, and started again. Isaac opened his mouth in a silent protest. It opened enough for me to witness Isaac's canine teeth slide down to a point at the end.

Vampire.

"You didn't know." Freckles laughed. "Oh, how dear. Yes, sweetness, I can see it in your eyes the shock. What I don't understand is why you aren't screaming."

Lenny stopped to watch the conversation. He was grinning a toothless grin. I wanted to wipe his smile right off his face.

Maybe I should have been shocked, scared or repulsed with finding out what Isaac was.

But I wasn't. It didn't matter what he was.

Really, I felt at peace with it. I wasn't the only one out there in the world who was different. And that alone brought a smile to my face.

Faking a yawn, I said, "This doesn't interest me." My eyes went to my captor. "Why aren't you doing anything, Freckles? I see Lenny has blood all over him, but you're all clean. Oh, wait, I get it. You don't like to get your hands dirty."

"What the hell are you doing?" Jeremiah yelled.

Freckles ignored Jeremiah and answered, "No, that's not it. I like other things. But what I don't like is to see a human speak to me as such." He pulled me towards him and then thrust me back against the wall, knocking the wind out of me.

That's going to leave a bruise.

"Seriously, that's all you got?" I rasped. God, I hope this works.

"Leila, say no more," Isaac warned.

"No," Freckles said through clenched teeth - fangs. "To answer your question, it's not all I've got. But I'm not going to show you, my dear. Lenny, come here."

Freckles got Lenny to place his hands on me where he'd had them.

I smiled wider. It was exactly what I wanted. I had a feeling Freckles was the strongest out of the two, so Lenny would be an easier target.

Jeremiah and Isaac could put up with being hurt a little longer while I was busy. What I didn't expect was Freckles to bypass both guys and walk to their sister. She started whimpering as he used his left hand to run his fingers from her foot all the way up to her hair.

"Now, I will show you what I've got... what I enjoy." He bent and kissed her on the forehead.

Fuck. What did I do?

"I will kill you myself for doing this, Leila," Jeremiah screamed. Isaac hissed at him. Jeremiah continued ranting, only his rage was addressed at Freckles. "Fucking leave Jezanna alone. She's done nothing but what we've asked."

"Hey, Freckles," I called. "Why don't you leave the girl alone? I'll do whatever you want."

"No," Isaac growled low. "You will leave them both alone. You only came here to end my life, so do it."

"So many decisions." He smiled. "I thank you, sweetness, for the offer, but I prefer them younger." Freckles chuckled while he patted Jezanna's hair.

"Sorry, Freckles." I sighed. "But I can't let that happen."

"Boss, I think she's doin' something." Lenny gasped.

All eyes turned to me.

Indeed, I was doing something. I dropped all of the barriers around my mind.

Now, they can sense what I am.

"Impossible. There are none left." Freckles choked.

Well, I guess that answered one question I'd had for many years. I was the last of my kind.

Without hesitation or thought of how much it was going to hurt, especially from doing it so fast, I changed.

Lenny was good enough to hold me upright, as my body spasmed and shook, then my hands and feet turned into paws.

Goddamn it.

Pain engulfed me as my head grew, my features changed, my teeth lengthened, and fur popped out of nowhere.

That one still amazed me.

My clothes fell from my body, having been torn and stretched, unable to stay together as my body grew.

Lenny let out a strangled sound once he realised he no longer held a girl, but a large cat.

Before he reacted, I pounced.

My strong jaw reached around his neck and my teeth sank in with ease as I ripped half his neck away. He fell to the floor screaming -well, he would have if it weren't for the missing voice box I spat out next to me on the floor.

Looking up to Freckles, I pushed with all my might from Lenny's convulsing form and jumped onto Isaac's table.