• Just then Jeremy bounded through the thick undergrowth, he paused, sniffing the air audaciously and turned in my direction. I gathered myself into a crouching position, ready to pounce at him.

    Jeremy pushed his large, dark-grey head through the hawthorn. I sprang at him sending him tumbling head-over-heels into a patch of briars. He yelped in pain and jumped at me. Landing on my back I yapped in delight and licked him happily.

    Suddenly his entire body tensed, he stepped off me and pulled his lips back into a snarl. Something was not right.

    He moved in front of me, skulked would be a more accurate word, and growled long and hard. This was not the playful growl he used with me, this growl was threatening, one of complete and utter abhorration.

    I sniffed the air tentatively. There was a sickly smell hanging there. It was a smell that my nose was well acquainted with. It was one my nose never got used to, the smell of blood mixed with pine. The smell of cold, malevolent vampire.

    That one whiff was enough for my hair to bristle. I too pulled back my lips into a ferocious snarl, moving out beside Jeremy as I did so. We were equals when we were alone. We worked as one, thought as one.

    I braced myself for the onslaught that would inevitably follow. Footsteps were falling, so quietly that any human ears would not have picked them up. The only indication would have been the very, very occasional rustle of leaves, but to a human that could just have been the wind.

    All of a sudden the footsteps stopped. The atmosphere totally changed. Fear was so thick in the air that I could practically taste it. Our kind had unparalleled senses, unfortunately so did their kind, as well as deadly fangs.

    I could hear the bloodsucker panicking, a single vampire. Easy prey.

    Jeremy and I stopped growling and burst through the bushes simultaneously. The vampire had already turned on its heel and was running erratically through the forest.

    All vampires were extremely agile and fast, this one was exceptionally speedy. We caught up to him before he could make it out of the forest. He turned on us and bared his fangs. I circled him, as Jeremy sprang. The vampire lunged at Jeremy grabbing at him with his long, pale arms. Whilst he was distracted I bit him, tearing off a chunk of cold flesh.

    After that it wasn’t much of a fight. Jeremy saw to it that the last thing the vampire knew was the cruel crunch of canines on bone and the smell of a fire burning.

    I had started a fire after phasing back. This was my favourite part. I loved the struggle of the fight, but the pleasure of hearing the dying screams of a vampire as they were burning. That is what I lived for.

    Jeremy had phased back, and walking over to me he wrapped his arms around me hugging my back to his chest. We stood in that embrace for a few moments, saying nothing. Inhaling the smoke coming from the inferno.

    I turned around to face him. I had to stand on my tiptoes to reach his lips. He bent down and pressed his lips to mine very gently, then brushed them over my nose, my forehead before resting his chin on my head.

    I reached up and ran my fingers through his jet black hair. He sighed quietly and hugged me closer than before.

    I silently traced his throat. Jeremy pulled back for a second, allowing me to inhale his beautiful floral ambrosia, like lavender mixed with fuchsia.