I lowered my head, stood on my haunches, and flexed my new, powerful lycanthrope body. My mind was intact. I was me. It was amazing. I was a werewolf!

So many thoughts shot through my head at once; most my own, but some primal and animalistic. Hundreds of questions, like how was I still in my right mind? But one thought prevailed and rose above the rest: rip that fucking vampire to shreds.

I closed in, up on my haunches. The vampire was panicked. He was moving back and forth, trying frantically to decide where to go and what to do next. But no matter the direction he chose, I’d be on him in a heartbeat, and he knew it. I could see myself rending his flesh, ripping that misshapen nose from his face.

I imagined myself tearing into him. I pictured myself eating . . . and then I froze. Where the hell had that idea come from? I wanted to eat him. The mere thought of it made me drool. That was not good.

My hesitation gave the vampire a desperately needed opportunity. He turned and lunged through the window he’d come in. I reacted instantly, instinctively. No fucking way was he escaping. I wanted blood. His blood.

I ran like never before. My new legs pumped along at speeds I could scarcely imagine moments before. I started on my hind legs, but as I chased him into the more populated area around Ventura Boulevard, I went down on all fours and really let loose with some animal speed. Yet somehow I couldn’t bring myself to take Dave down. The chase was too good. The hunt. I didn’t want it to end. The sight of his frantically fleeing form, his face turning in fear to see if I was still there was too much to resist. I wanted it to go on forever.

Unfortunately, we were attracting a lot of attention as we sped through the streets and sidewalks of Studio City, although I was hardly aware of it. People were jumping out of our way, screaming and running indoors. I glimpsed my speeding reflection in a store window and saw just how frightening I looked.

I was huge, bigger than any wolf or dog could possibly be, and muscular like a man with animal-jointed limbs and a thick coat of black and gray hair. My eyes were piercing and alive, gleaming through my dark, furred face and extended snout. I was the perfect blend of animal and human. All these years hunting monsters and here I was a monster myself—and loving it!