The ferocious animal in Adelina cackled at his weak response. Of the two of them, she was the stronger now. She lay down on the grass and watched his house like a bowman waiting for the signal to fire. Telling him to come and play, she let another howl rip through the silent night.

Hearing the howl, Lucian stood, shaking his head. She wouldn't go home until she had her chance, that much was sure to him now. He looked again at her, his vampire instincts of survival were long buried, but he allowed them to rise to the surface and long, dripping fangs extended from his mouth, and he could feel a horrible thirst arrive to the surface, much stronger than any one he'd felt since after the first year of his change, and it was almost as if the newborn had risen again within him. He was no longer Lucian, but something much more beast-like, something much more dangerous, and as he descended the stairs and opened the door, he felt his base instincts answer her call to 'play', letting a low hiss arrive through his lips as he looked at her animalistic form.

That explains the stench, Adelina thought with wonder as she looked at his elongated canines. Vampire…who would’a thought? She bore her teeth at him, letting the low growl erupt in her throat. In Adelina’s mind, she knew what she was doing was wrong, immature, but the wolf part of her was itching for a fight. Nothing had ever attracted her canine instincts more than this creature of the night. She rose to her paws and advanced, ready for whatever attack she would throw at him.

Lucian's survival instincts functioned at high capacity, and deep within him, a fight for control rose. A fight for who he was, this bloodthirsty creature that killed with no care, and the human that still harbored inside of him. For too long had the two co-existed, creating a middle man, the Lucian that he had been at the beginning of the day, the one who would kill without remorse, turning it into a game, but who did not mass murder, one who still had a sense of control, of logic, of truth. Now it was between the weak, fragile human he had once been, and the beast he had become. He easily dodged her advance, catching her back leg with his foot and standing straight.

Adelina howled in frustration as she heard her leg crack. Pain coursed into her brain, and the sane, mundane part of her told her animal side that this was getting dangerous. Her leg healed quickly, one of the only pros she could think of for being a monster. She turned around and sprang again, pouncing onto his back, ripping gashes through his shirt and the soft skin that lay under the feeble protection of cloth. Lucian cried out in pain, knowing that, as a vampire, he never truly healed; that any wound would indeed become a permanent scar. A sense of pride brought her back down into the beast within, and rage set loose within her. He turned quickly, knocking Adelina off his back and onto the hard concrete of the road.

Both of their emotions were raging; both of them knew that they had to stop. Whatever sanity they should stop. They were in too deep, and they both knew it. But that didn’t stop Lucian from kicking the wolf into the road once more, smiling down at the pain he could ensue upon a girl he had barely just met.

Adelina whimpered as she hit the road, but quickly regained herself and  turned over from her back, crouching low, waiting for his next advance. Inside, her head was reeling. One part of her was screaming and begging to stop, the other was cackling triumphantly at the game that was so entertaining to both of them.

The beast within Lucian hissed with delight, a wide, toothless grin spreading across his face. He raised his eyebrows expectantly then lunged at the wolf at top speed. The human fought within to make the fighting stop, and in the beast’s eyes registered a moment of humanity before the lunge was complete, only to be shoved back by an even more evil look.

Adelina couldn’t take it anymore. She wouldn’t move. It pained her tremendously, but she would not let the monster inside shred her humanity down to crumbs. It fought back, and it was ripping her apart internally. She fought against it as hard as she could, but the wolf managed to break free. It lunged forward for one last attack, but Lucian grabbed at its throat, expecting the attack, and flung it to the street once more. Silently, Adelina waited for the last blow. She could see the anger and hatred in Lucian’s eyes as he looked down upon her.

The monster strode forward; he knew he'd won by the look on the face of his victim. One final blow and he would kill her easily. The beast raised Lucian's hand to land the final strike, but the limb shook with resistance. The human inside Lucian looked upon Adelina's vulnerable face and could not let the innocent girl be hurt, and resumed his fight with a new heat, the beast unable to break free of the will underneath. Mind over matter truly took a strong hold and all Lucian had at this point was his mind, and the beast was gone as he looked back. The teeth didn't fade, but in his eyes was the human Lucian had once been, back for mere moments before his normal side took place, the elongated canines that were poking through his lips retracted and he looked at Ad- the wolf. It wasn’t Adelina, not right now, not to him. She wasn’t a human, she was an animal. "Go home," he again commanded, walking off, needing to hunt for the third time in two days; the beast had drained his energy...