The Guest & The Change - By M. D. Bowden Page 0,8

though many leaves littered the forest floor.

It must be early morning. He wasn’t cold but his eyes hurt, especially when he looked at the light. His skin felt itchy. He needed something. Water. He listened hard and thought he heard trickling nearby. Jo pushed himself to his feet, stumbling, searching for water.

After about two-hundred meters he found a small stream and scooped up some water to drink. He sucked it up but it tasted cold and foul. It didn’t quench his thirst at all.

He turned, seeing someone approaching; a dark man dragging a mute girl by his side. The man looked familiar. Then, with a jolt Jo realized it was the man by his car last night. The man who had snapped his neck. The man who must have killed him.

However he felt no anger towards him, he actually felt strangely attracted. Jo rose and walked towards him. His hair was long, for a man, and his eyes were black. He was tall, probably 6’4’’, with a lean frame. The girl with him looked small and fragile, with red hair and a dainty neck. It looked exquisite. He could see thin veins exposed as Sebastian pulled her head to the side.

Jo walked forward fascinated, he reached out his hand and stroked her neck, and then he was overtaken by desire to quench his thirst. He grabbed her round the waist, yanked aside her head by the hair and felt his teeth lengthening as he sank them into her fine neck. And he drank. Drank for his life. Or his death.

The girl’s warm blood flowed from her veins down his throat giving him life. He could feel its power rushing into him. Rejuvenating his cells, making his heart race and his senses come alive. His sense of smell came into focus and he breathed in the smell of the girl’s blood as he took her life, then released her and she fell to the floor.

Slumped, dead, pathetic and used.

Wiping his mouth, he staggered back and leant against a tree, new sensations overwhelming him. He could feel every inch of his body come into acute awareness.

He could feel the redheaded girl’s blood travelling to the extremities of his body, rushing through his veins to his internal organs, his brain and even his toes. As it reached his soles he could feel the earth beneath his shoes and his connection to the ground and the trees. As it reached his arms he felt strong and could sense movement in the air, the slightest breeze. Jo whooped. He yelled. He jumped high and swung off tree branches.

He swung into a tree and jumped across to others. It was exhilarating.

Sebastian watched this display with delight. It looked like Jo would take to this life. Once Jo calmed down it seemed he would be quite willing to stalk the town with him and do as Sebastian desired.

Sebastian turned into a bat and flew up to hang off a tree himself. He felt happy as he watched Jo's transformation.

CHAPTER 3

Sarah awoke the following day to no sign of Jo. She was feeling more worried now, although still pretty annoyed. Megan and Bea kept asking after him, but she had no answers to give. She’d even called the police and reported him missing, but they hadn’t been much help.

She had dropped Megan and Bea off at her parents’ to have some time to herself, to think about where Jo could be, and to go looking for him. Alice and Keith had agreed to have them overnight and take Megan to school in the morning, so she had a decent chunk of time in front of her to try and work out what was going on. She had started by calling everyone she could think of who had any connection to Jo. That meant calling his family, his work, anyone he’d ever been friends with.

Jo’s boss said he had been at work on Friday and left about six. His sister said he never turned up at her house for dinner on Friday night. His car was missing. That must mean he’d driven somewhere, he probably wasn’t close. Basically, she had no idea what to do next.

Slumping down on the sofa for what felt like the hundredth time in the last two days, Sarah wondered what to do. She decided there was no point staying in and was just putting on her jacket when the doorbell rang. Puzzled, she walked to the door and pulled it open.

There in the morning