Nightfall

I felt myself shiver through the night and felt a hot body press itself to mine. I hugged it closer. There was a commotion and then a recognizable giggle. I was too tired to lift my head and focus on it though. The evening got colder and I felt another body grow closer to mine. I hugged the first body and groaned as a flash of light beamed through the tent.

“Okay if I leave him here with you? He’s feral,” said Greg. I heard a feminine yes and felt another weight push me down. I hissed when something small trailed my chest and ultimately met my burn. A dog whine met my ears and my eyes flew open. On one side was my black-haired Spanish angel, on the other the sleek-haired mutt! Betsy licked my face and I shuddered.

“Gross,” I said turning to a chuckling Andromeda. With my hunting senses, I smelled her and she smelled like crisp apples and dog. No wolf! I blamed Betsy for throwing my senses off. Humans didn’t smell like animals. Then again we didn’t go drinking blood either. Did that mean I was not human anymore? I shook my head of nonsense and leaned into Andromeda kissing her. Her hands rose to my cheeks before wrapping around my neck. My own went around her waist and I hissed. She sat up and grabbed the honey pot by the bed.

“Greg told me to lather this in if it started hurting,” she said grabbing the honey pot and upending it over my burn. She lathered it into the burn with soothing circles and I blushed. This was much more stimulating with Andromeda at the helm. I blushed deeper when her hand crawled just a little bit lower each time. Something was rising along with my temperature. I shifted my legs.

Andromeda finished and then she bent over and kissed me again. I returned it just as fervently. She wrapped her arms across my neck and kneeled over top of me. We couldn’t do much, so we kissed for a while. Donny and Greg came back with a few animals. One which was brought alive for me. I smelled its blood and wrinkled my nose. Drinking it would be like eating carrots.

I hated carrots.

Having help from Greg and Andromeda I walked to a little alcove by the tent with my prize and brought it to my mouth. My fangs extended and I interred them into the animal, drinking its blood and watching the life bleed from it. It awoke and its eyes met mine. It gave a weak squawk, flapping its wings, but it was a bit late as I finished it. I wiped my mouth of blood and took the animal back to be cooked. This brought me no pleasure or release instead I felt sick. I had looked an animal in the eye as I drank its blood. It was innocent. The monster had been me.

I shuddered lightly at the cold draft that blew in. Maybe it was trying to tell me something? Maybe it wondered how I was so warmblooded when I could be so cold-hearted? I sighed and limped back to the tent where everyone was waiting for the food to cook. It was cooked within the tent. Several slits for ventilation were open and the roof was also open partway. The dark sky met my eyes. Barely a constellation shone. All the stars were dead or dying in this universe. It still had a good billion years tho.

I turned to face Andromeda and Donny who were quietly chatting with Greg as he pet Betsey. I slung the animal over the fire spit and limped my way to their side.

Greg glanced my way. “Another night and you’ll be good enough to walk to the settlement.”

“What is this settlement like?” I asked coming to rest in my pile of blankets. Andromeda fluffed my pillow for me as I slowly made my way to my knees wincing all the while.

“It’s like every other settlement on Earth except it’s run by a queen,” he said stirring the spit. He took a whiff of the air. “Ah! This is done! Come and we shall eat.”

I scooted closer to the fire and waited for Donny and Andromeda to have their fill before eating. It was a tough meat, made tougher by the way it was cooked. It tasted like turkey. Not my favorite but after days of Hopdings it was welcome. Donny ate with hardly any finesse. Andromeda was cleaner and Greg was along the lines of Andromeda, watching as Donny pulverized his meal in seconds and went for more.

“Slow down kid. You’re gonna choke,” said Andromeda as she wiped her mouth with the rag we were given by Greg for that reason alone. It served as our napkin out in this wilderness. I wiped my mouth and gave Donny a stern look. He slowed down and chewed his food, swallowing slowly like a human being.

Greg watched amused. Dinner wasn’t long and Greg collected the bones of our meal and buried them far from camp. After we sat around regaling stories of our past.

“And so that’s why I’m weary of Hopdings,” said Donny as we laughed.

“Poor you, but you shouldn’t have bothered some mating Hopdings,” chuckled Andromeda. I nodded both animals were vicious when apart and mating. I didn’t want to see them up close and mating. These were the things horror stories were made of. I glanced at Greg who seemed to be thinking.

“Those Hopdings sure put Maddots to shame,” he said.

“Ma what?” asked Donny as he made his own sleeping place. By now all the slits were shut tight.

“Maddots. The animal you just ate.”

“Oh.”

We all lay to bed. Andromeda and I snuggled together, her soft breathing like a nocturnal symphony for my ears. But halfway through the night, a loud howl echoed through the air, waking us up. In but a fraction of a second, Andromeda went from sleeping princess to an alert warrior queen on her feet.

“Don’t move a muscle,” she whispered to us. Donnie was by my side, shuddering, frozen in terror. The languid buzzing of an insect broke the silence in our room. It was soon gone; Donnie seemed to relax.

“That was a Houl,” whispered Greg as he rolled over and fell asleep again. I stayed up listening to the wind howl and the occasional shuffling of the Houl. Eventually, my eyelids became too heavy to hold up, so they closed against my will, and sleep won out.