Finally updated a chapter! I have started grad school since I last updated this, but some of you have stuck with me and continue to leave reviews. I figure with a following like that, the story is worth finishing. I'm a bit rusty, but thank you for all of your support up 'til now.

This chapter is written from a slightly different view point. Let me know what you think.


After discovering that Alexander and I could speak telepathically, it became our almost exclusive form of communication. As we drove home from the Coffin Club that night Alexander had explained to me that this was a normal part of the mating process for vampires. Because of our shared blood, we would always be a part of one another. I had sensed his vague embarrassment as he told me that the bond between mates grew each time they were intimate and each time they shared blood. The bond was truly amazing. I could feel when he was near without having to see him. I could sense his emotions, and we could talk if he sent his thoughts in my direction and vice versa. I felt like I had stepped into a new world of possibilities, and whatever we faced I was confident Alexander and I would face them together.


Alexander's eyes burned behind his eyelids. It had been a long day. Raven had been insatiable, and by the time the young couple had fallen asleep it had been well into the daylight hours. She had wanted to know everything about their bond and the powers that she would be gaining in the days and weeks to come, and Alexander had been more than happy to show her all the various applications of such abilities.

The young man suddenly noticed the lack of his bride's now familiar weight against his chest; nor could he feel her body brushing gently against his shoulder as she sometimes did when they slept side by side. Perplexingly he could still feel her presence in his mind as clear as a full harvest moon. He rolled onto his side to open the coffin lid and was met, much to his alarm, by a panicked squeak underneath him. Alexander instinctively jumped away from the thing.

Peering down into the depths of his coffin, Alexander's keen eyes could pick up the uncoordinated shuffling of a small creature wrapped up in his bed sheets. Reaching a finger down, the young painter slowly drew away the satiny cloth to reveal a small black cat with a single white spot framed in the shape of a bat across it's chest. The tiny creature looked drowsy, wobbling slightly on its midnight colored paws and blinking slowly.

Alexander felt an amused smile curl his lips. He sent out a tentative thought to the soft little fluff-ball now trying to make its way around his mattress, "Raven?"

"What?" came a sleepy reply in his own mind, matched by a soft mew from the cat.

Alexander had to fight not to laugh. She was so cute!

The cat mewed drowsily again and suddenly went very still. Raven tried her voice once more with the same result. She tipped her head up at Alexander again, and he saw the first shreds of panic there.

"Alexander…" she thought to him, her words spaced out almost like she was trying to take in deep breathes that her tiny cat lungs couldn't handle. "What… is happening… to me?"

The young vampire set his hand down next to her palm up, inviting her to climb aboard. As funny as the situation was, he was sure she would not take well to him laughing at her. "Don't worry, my dear," he said in his most soothing baritone. "It would seem that you have grown into your shape-shifting abilities earlier than expected."

Cat-Raven gingerly stepped into his hand. She was just big enough that if she sat on his palm her forepaws settled comfortably halfway up his forearm. When he opened the casket lid and sat up, Alexander twisted just slightly, and she had to wrap her arms around him to keep from falling, inadvertently stabbing him with her sharp claws at the same time. He hissed under his breath and had to mentally focus not to throw her off his arm. He slowly stood and walked to the now darkened window sill where he deposited Raven before turning to get dressed. By the time he turned back to her Raven had started pacing the window sill, mewing quietly to herself, and he noticed a slight spring in her step. He was getting used to blocking out her constant stream of emotions, but when he opened himself to them, he saw that she was working through the fact that she could now shape-shift and was getting excited.

When she noticed him looking at her, she turned to face him settling down on the sill again. She sent her thoughts toward him, "How does it work?"

He walked over and started to pet her head gently. It felt so nice, Raven almost missed what he said.

"It's about focusing the mind," he started. "You picture what kind of creature you want to be, and you will your body to take that shape. It usually takes lots of practice to shift into and maintain an unfamiliar form." He started to scratch just under her chin, and Raven started to purr. She could hear the grin in his voice when he said, "Though I suppose with me as your sire you would naturally be good at this." The snark of his tone made her swat his hand away. Immediately she missed it.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she thought at him.

"I turned you into a vampire, so that makes me your sire." Then Alexander paused thoughtfully, "I guess you could say I'm both your husband and you daddy," she said suggestively.

If Raven hadn't been a cat she would have blushed. "This is not the time!" she mentally exclaimed.

Alexander laughed and began to scratch her chin again. "Are you sure?" he coerced.

She almost gave in to being petted before swatting his hand away a second time. "Stop that!" she demanded. "I already knew what a sire was. I mean why does you being my sire make me better at shape-shifting?"

Alexander sighed and settled down on the floor in front of her. "All vampires have basic skills in multiple areas. It's like how people all have the ability to learn math, languages, or art. Naturally though, not everyone has the same skill level. Some are math wizards while others excel in sculpting. In the same way, all vampires are born with certain abilities. Shape-shifting is one of them. So is the ability to hypnotize humans and to read blood. There are others, but let's just focus on those for now.

"Normally your area of talent shows up earlier in life as compared to the rest, and you undergo special training to learn to control the power and maximize it's potential. I am a shape-shifter. I do have the ability to hypnotize humans, but to be honest I am not very good at it. You have met a blood reader before. Do you remember?"
"Valentine," Raven thought.

"Yes, Valentine. He has a rare gift," Alexander paused for a moment. "Anyway, all vampires are born with these abilities, and some people think shape-shifting is not that special because nearly all vampires can transform into bats. However," Alexander's features took on a sly grin, "few others can do what I can."

Suddenly Alexander was gone. He'd disappeared into a pile of clothes. Cat-Raven peered over the edge of the window sill looking for her beloved. From underneath his black sweatshirt, a tarantula the size a shoe emerged, and it seemed to be looking up at her. Before Raven's eyes the spider became a big black wolf that's snout reached just above her little cat head where she sat. She had jumped back in surprise, but the giant canine reached out with its long tongue and licked her tiny cat face. She could swear she heard the creature chuckle as she shook off the slobber.

"It's still me," came Alexander's deep baritone voice in her mind.

Then just as suddenly as he had become a wolf, he was a bat flying around the room. Finally, he settled down beside her and transformed into a black cat with two white socks. He was larger than Raven and had a sleeker look to him. Where she was fluffy, he was silky smooth.

"Most turned vampires don't go through training to develop a special talent even if they do display one, and while turned vampires can have distinct skills of their own, it is more common for them to adopt their sire's best skills."

Cat-Raven nodded. "So for me to change back you said I just have to focus?" she questioned.

"Right," he said. "Since this is your first time consciously doing it, close your eyes and take deep, slow breathes." Raven obeyed, and Alexander continued to instruct her. "Focus on each part of your body, one at a time. In the same way that you would tell your right hand to pick up something, tell it to become human. Then the left, then your shoulders and torso. Breathe."

Alexander demonstrated all the while, gently coaching Raven through her transformation. It took a few minutes, but Raven felt when it worked. She felt her body grow, and when Alexander directed her to open her eyes, she was sitting in her human body on the window sill. Her dark prince stood in front of her smiling. He gently took her face between his hands.

"There's my wife," he said, giving her peck on the lips. "You did wonderfully." She smiled then glanced down.

"We're naked," she observed. "Does it always happen this way?"

Alexander slid his hands down to fondle her breasts as he replied, "No; this is just a happy side effect." He moved to kiss her neck and Raven felt his smile against her skin. "With practice and a drop of blood, you can transform your clothes along with you."

Raven had so many more questions, but for now they would have to wait. Alexander's eyes were red with blood lust, and she was seeing red herself. It was time for breakfast.


Sarah Madison was not surprised to see Henry when she opened the door on Wednesday evening. She was surprised however to see Stormy Sterling.

"Good evening, Mrs. Madison," she said.

"Hello, Stormy. Henry."

Just then Billy came bounding down the stairs. The preteens converged and talked in hushed tones. Sarah almost laughed. It probably had something to do with Billy's latest Star Wars theory. He had been consumed by that since Halloween.

Sarah checked her phone and wondered aloud, "Where is she?"

Suddenly Stormy was at her side. "You mean Raven? I just saw her at my house. She and my brother said they are having dinner with some friends."

With that the tweens disappeared upstairs.

Much later that evening, Sarah was sitting in the living room waiting for Raven to get home. It was 10 o'clock. Paul had gotten home from a late shift two hours prior. He sought her out after finishing his dinner.

"What have you stationed yourself in here for?" he asked.

"Raven still isn't home," said the middle-aged woman. "She came in late last night too and left so early this morning that no one saw her." She sighed heavily. "I realize that being out late is normal for her, but I don't know, Paul. Something just feels off."

Paul settled down next to his wife and patted her leg with a smile. "Well you don't have to worry about her tonight. I got a text from her when I got out of work saying that she was spending the night with Becky again, so they could put the finishing touches on their project. Now let's go to bed."

Sarah allowed her husband to lead her up to there bedroom, but she still couldn't shake the bad feeling she had. Something was not right.