shaking. She found herself scowling back up at him, unable to control her rage.
“Don’t you dare touch my wolf,” Scarlet snarled back at the man.
“I’m…sorry,” the man said, arm shaking in pain, eyes wide with fear.
Finally, Scarlet released her grip, and hurried away from the stand, Ruth by her side. As she hurried to get as far away as she could, she could hear a whistling behind her, then frantic shouts for guards to come.
“Let’s go, Ruth,” Scarlet said, and the two of them hurried off down the alleyway, getting lost in the crowd. At least Ruth had eaten.
But Scarlet’s own hunger was overwhelming, and she didn’t know if she could contain it any longer. She didn’t know what was happening to her, but as they walked down street after street, she found herself examining people’s throats. She zoomed in on their veins, saw the blood pulsing. She found herself licking her lips, wanting—needing—to sink her teeth in. She craved the idea of drinking their blood, and found herself imagining what it would feel like when the blood poured down her throat. She didn’t understand. Was she even human anymore? Was she becoming a wild animal?
Scarlet didn’t want to hurt anyone. Rationally, she tried to think of something else, tried to stop herself.
But physically, something was taking over her. It was rising, from her toes, her legs, through her torso, to the crown of her head and to the tips of her fingers. It was a desire. An unstoppable, unquenchable desire. It was overwhelming her thoughts, telling her what to think, how to act.
Suddenly, Scarlet detected something: in the distance, somewhere behind her, a group of Roman soldiers were chasing after her. Her new, hyper-sensitive hearing alerted her to the sound of their sandals slapping on the stone. She already knew, somehow, that she was their target.
But the sound of their sandals slapping against the stone only irritated her further; the noise mingled in her head with the sound of the vendor’s screaming, the children laughing, the dogs barking…. It was all becoming too much for her. Her hearing was becoming too intense, and she was too annoyed by the cacophony of noise. The sun, too, was feeling stronger, feeling as if it were bearing down just on her, would tear her apart. It was all too much. She felt as if she were under the microscope of the world, and about to explode.
Suddenly, Scarlet leaned back, overflowing with rage, and felt a new sensation in her teeth. She felt her two incisor teeth expand, felt long, sharp fangs growing, protruding from them. She hardly knew what the feeling was, but she knew she was changing, into something she could hardly recognize or control. She suddenly spotted a large, fat, drunk man, stumbling through the alley, towards her. Scarlet couldn’t take one more step. She knew that she either had to feed, or to die herself. And something inside of her wanted to survive.
Scarlet heard herself snarling, then roaring, and was shocked. The noise, so primal, stunned even her. She felt as if she were outside her body as she pounced, leapt through the air, right for the man. She watched in slow motion as he turned to her, eyes open wide in fear. She felt her two front teeth sinking into his flesh, into the veins on his throat. And a moment later, she felt his hot blood pouring into her throat, filling her veins.
She heard the man scream, just for a moment. Because a second later, he was collapsed, on the ground, she on top of him, sucking out all of his blood. Slowly, she began to feel a new life, a new energy, infusing her body. She wanted to stop feeding, to let this man go.
But she couldn’t. She needed this. She needed to survive.
And from that moment on, Scarlet knew that life would never be the same.
CHAPTER SIX
Sam sprinted through the alleys of Jerusalem, snarling, red with rage. He wanted to destroy, to tear apart everything in sight. As he ran past a row of vendors, he reached out and swiped their booths, knocking them over like dominoes. He bumped people deliberately, as hard as he could, sending them flying every which way. He was like a wrecking ball, out of control, hurling down the alley, knocking over everything in his way.
Chaos ensued; cries rose up. People began to take notice and started to flee, to jump out of his way. He was like a freight