Yes, I do, sprang to my mind. Her eyes scanned our path ahead, ears pricked for the sound of prey. My eyes bore into the back of her skull.

With a fatigued acknowledgement of the lightening sky she cooed, so pleased with herself, “Come. Your hunger will wait. Besides, better to have you really gagging for it the first time.” Her icy voice tinkled with laughter, a haughty cheerless strain.

“Where we’re going…” began a half-thought out question.

“It’s safe, and dark. The sun won’t find you there.” Her tone mocked. Her body undulated with each step, a symphony of anatomy.

I shook off the fresh round of novel impulses, “And there are…others? Like you?”

“Like us, my dear,” she teased, casting back a wayward glance and a quick wink.

Though I didn’t really feel the cold I shivered, “They, um, about me, that is…”

“You, whether you’re thrilled about it yet or not, are one of us. They won’t hurt you.”

No. No, they won’t, I thought, mind racing and stilled heart straining to beat.