The Language of Monster

"-the who?"

"Skinwalkers. They specialise in shape shifting. Animal forms. Some are very good at it. But they're trying to teach people who grew up on werewolf movies. Skinwalking takes patience and focus and utter concentration and they're trying to teach it to people who think they just have to go outdoors under a certain phase of the Moon. And of course they're right, but they end up with a shape they have no control over... this is getting us into the detail of management."

"I want the Blood, can you give it to me?"

"You mean like Dracula letting you suck my blood? I'm afraid it doesn't work like that, you're born with the Blood, or the world would be awash with "vampires", for want of a better word, by now."

"But you said it only works in the thin places."

"And you said you weren't called here. Have you had strange dreams? Have you felt the true sense of difference that most with the Blood report? From birth? Look at you Matthew, you're a clean cut everyday American boy. Go home, live a good life. Live the life you're supposed to live."

Matthew stood up abruptly. He was unsteady. He must have drunk more than Nicholas had realised.

"I want to be Gifted," he said, "I want to change shape. I want to be super strong. I don't want to die and I don't care if I fucking sparkle. Fuck you I want the Blood."

He fell to his knees and started to unbuckle Nicholas' pants. Nicholas frowned. "What are you-" he pushed Matthew's hands away in alarm.

"No, absolutely not, you will not be taking blood from me and you will most certainly not be taking it from me like that."

"Please," Matthew looked up at him. Nicholas released his hands. The boy was strong but no match for Nicholas. "Please. If it's not you then I'll find someone else. There are others. I'll find someone."

"And you will die. Matthew look at me. You will die. This is not safe. This is not a game. People die here every day. For real. If you walk out there looking for death you will find it."

"Then take me. Take me here, take me now. I trust you."

Nicholas sat. Silent. Finally he spoke.

"I can take enough blood to send you into crisis. From there you will have to fight, to draw on the resources of the Blood. If you have it then I will be here to give you all the life force you need to pull yourself back and recover. You will have what you want, reborn into the Blood."

"And if I don't?"

"You know the answer to that already."

"I'll go into cardiac arrest and die."

"Yes, yes you will."

The first traces of dawn were touching the sky. In its faint light Nicholas could see Matthew's face. He looked so young, so very young.

He gripped Nicholas' hand. "Ok let's do it."

Nicholas leaned forward and softly kissed him.

Matthew grinned. "What was that for?"

"Probably goodbye."

Matthew had tried not to struggle. Nicholas had heard his sharp breath, smelled the tang of his fear as he'd shifted his teeth into fangs. He didn't normally drink blood, but he'd drunk deeply of Matthew, swallowed as much as he could. As Matthew had passed into shock he'd struggled, it had actually taken an effort to hold onto him as Nicholas had fed. He'd let go as Matthew passed from consciousness, held his hand as his pulse had weakened and fluttered. As Matthew had gone into arrest he'd considered calling an ambulance but he'd known it was already too late.

He'd sat in the dawn light, on the edge of the dark brown bed, and watched the boy die. Finally, when he'd been quite sure he wasn't coming back, he'd kissed Matthew on the forehead and slipped his hand from his.

He dialled his cell, murmured a few words and the address. By the time the city stirred Matthew would be a tragic statistic, an unfortunate boy dead from.... not from a drug overdose, Nicholas decided. He owed him that. An undiagnosed heart defect. The tragic but inevitable loss of beautiful youth.

The hum of Matthew's recording device had been perfectly audible in the silence of the room. Nicholas retrieved it from its hiding place and turned it off. Digital. Very clever, no doubt it had recorded everything. Nicholas felt a temptation to rewind it, hear Matthew's voice again. He smiled softly and pressed the delete button. Then turning his back on the body he left quietly, out into the beginning day.