Crack! Gwen’s face stung from where her mother had slapped her face. "Now look Gwendolyn! Why must you be so infuriating." Her mother heaved a great sigh and focused once again on her table where food was being put together for the dinner party that night. She didn’t even remember Gwen being in the room, her mind on seating arrangements and food portions.

Gwen left without a word and headed into the room she shared with her sister, Martha. She threw herself on the bed with a curse causing Martha to look up from her book. "What are you doing here?" Martha asked, "shouldn’t you be playing slut with the boys?" Gwen looked at her and tried to imagine Martha with her mouth sewn shut so she couldn’t make her snide comments anymore. She wished she had never told Martha about John kissing her after church on Sunday. Martha was not only religious but very jealous. "Just because no male is going to go near her. They would try and kiss her and she would faint. Then she would run to church and confess getting everyone in trouble." Gwen almost wanted to spit. "As if God actually cared about either them or their family."

It was nearing eight when the sun began to set outside the house. Gwen got out of bed and walked into the garden with her heart beating in her chest. She knew this was wrong. If her mother caught her she would be locked in the closet for a month. That didn’t stop her though. She had made friends that understood her more than her family ever would. Gwen did not want to be a wife and mother. She wanted to travel and explore the world. She was tired of being coy and having to listen to the boys talk and giggle like she cared. She had found a woman who thought just like her, Helen. Helen lived life and did things that Gwen often found shocking. She was attracted immediately to this wild and outrageous woman. Gwen first met Helen at a party her sister’s friend had hosted. Gwen had been afflicted with a slight fainting spell and lost vision temporally. She decided to take a walk in the night air to help clear the darkness out of her eyes. As she strolled through the garden outside of the house, she saw a lovely lady looking at the flowers planted in one corner.

"Come here girl" the voice commanded. "Not enjoying the party your lovely friend is having?"

Before Gwen could think, she sneered a little and made it quite clear that the pink baby was not her friend. This made the lady laugh out loud while Gwen blushed from her rudeness.

"No girl, don’t let the blood come to your face from that. It is good to see that not every girl child in this country is slow and willing to be ruled by society. I did have high hopes when I first saw you and you have not disappointed me."

From that night on Gwen and Helen would meet in the garden at night. Often just talking of the people in the city and about what would happen if they decided to do what they want. Gwen told Helen about how she wanted to dance and be wild like the women in her stories. Helen was a remarkable woman. She was young, only 28, but obviously an old maid. "No man would marry someone with such a sharp tongue." thought Gwen. Helen dressed in an old fashioned dress but it always had a twist to it. Black gloves on a warm night or lace when there wasn’t a party. Gwen took to dressing in darker colors also. She had always preferred them anyway.

Soon Gwen and Helen could be seen walking the streets at night. The town’s people began to gossip but something kept them from ever telling Gwen’s parents, and so they never knew of her daughter’s strange companion. Helen made it her mission to open Gwen’s eyes to the world. She took Gwen to bars and museums. To grand scale parties for the richest, and then to the lowliest brothels. She made Gwen enjoy herself. Telling her that she needed to enjoy life outside of her parents home, and do the things her heart told her she should. Gwen soon learned to play cards and drink as well as most men. She also grew fond of sharing her body with these men. Helen liked to encourage Gwen and would often join her in her bed play. The man was always very tired after that. Gwen also learned to float in the highest circles. She knew every ball dance and how to flirt with the rich old men until they gave her gifts or promises of money and marriage. She enjoyed breaking young men’s heart and stirring the old men’s loins.

Helen would often laugh and join Gwen when she would perform an especially devious and hurtful scheme. Helen told her often "be free! Let no one hold you back!" then laugh wildly as she swept another man in her arms and nibbled his neck. Gwen moved into Helen’s home. She had left her parent’s house in the middle of the night, never even looking back or leaving a note. She thought of them rarely.

Gwen’s days were filled with reading and learning. She had always enjoyed subjects such as languages and history. She also had a good mind for numbers and soon ran Helen’s house without a flaw. She made sure the servants were fed and that everything was taken care of. During the nights she would roam the streets with Helen and do every depraved act she could think of.

One night, only a few weeks after moving in, Helen called Gwen into her room. Helen sat in her windowless room in the middle of a huge bed with black curtains, she patted the bed telling Gwen to sit next to her, she had something to tell her. Gwen thought that Helen looked slightly paler than usual. And asked if she was sick. "No dear I just want to tell you about your new role in my house." Gwen looked at her quizzedly and crawled into the bed next to her. Helen reached to her and pulling her close kissed her cheek. Gwen looked up, confused. Helen always was physical with her men but not Gwen. Gwen felt a small flutter in her stomach. Helen pulled her in closer and started to caress Gwen body. "Look at me," Helen said. She slipped the dressing own from her body and stood up. She then walked over to a mirror and took the black drape off of it. "Now look at yourself" Gwen walked over to the mirror and saw what she had become in the last year. A tall woman with black hair reaching down her back. Her green eyes glowed with cat like ability and her slender figure was well muscled from nights of fighting and dancing. For a moment Gwen admired herself in the mirror and thought that maybe it was time to find her a handsome rich man to become a mistress to. When her looks faded it would be too late.

Helen motioned Gwen back over to the bed. And kissed her again. Her hand s slipped the dress off of Gwen’s shoulders and grabbed her by the waist. Gwen felt a feeling she had never had felt before and then realized Helen had bitten her neck! She tried to pull away but Helen just looked up and laughed the same laugh she had when Gwen would break another boy’s heart. The fangs shone wetly with the blood coating each one and Gwen felt terror in the depths of her soul. She had been taken by a demon. She pulled away and started for the door, but Helen grabbed her hair and pulled her back. Gwen fought using every trick she had learned from every sailors bar and knife fighter. Helen took a knife and cut through Gwen's hair before grabbing her again. "You think you can leave me now? What about all of our talks and adventures, friend?" she said with a sneer, " I am going to make you powerful. I do this out of love now, but you will need to be taught." She grabbed Gwen again and threw her across the room into the mirror shattering it into thousands of glittering pieces. Cut and bleeding Gwen picked herself up and grabbed a shard lying near her feet. Naked and holding a sliver she look primal and the anger flashed in her. "How dare this demon hurt her!? Her friend!" She leapt after Helen who seemed to use the very shadows to knock Gwen aside as if she were a fly. Gwen fell to the floor as Helen loomed over her with arms of darkness dancing behind her head. Gwen looked into her eyes and knew that this was the end of her life. Helen bit down and drank from Gwen in long drinks. Gwen rolled her head back in ecstasy. "So this is death" she had always wondered. Just as she was dying the last dropped drained from her Helen cut her own stomach just below her navel and put Gwen’s mouth to it. The feeling when that first drop of liquid hit her mouth was shocking. She grabbed at Helen with every once of her feeble strength and, holding to Helen’s hips, became a leech. Helen pulled Gwen off of her and looked down "congratulations Gwen." all Gwen knew next was that a large object had hit her in the head and she was in blackness.

Darkness so dark she couldn’t breathe. Did she need to breathe? It’s not he darkness it is the pressure on her chest. Why is she here? Oh yes she died. Helen had killed her. But she wasn’t dead she could feel the dirt on her. Dirt? She was in a grave! Hunger... so hungry. A need to feed, to kill. Hunger... fear... pain. These all rolled into one emotion and she started to thrash in her grave. Out! Hunger! Hate! These emotions whirled in her head. Did the dirt just give way? Even a little? Dear lord she was going to die here. She was buried and going to die if she didn’t get out! Hunger! She pushed with her chest and her arms. It’s not moving! She thrashed and pushed more and ore not giving herself any time. There is food up there! She moved her hand. Only half an inch, but it moved. She kicked harder and punched making the dirt give its way beyond her. She pounded and screamed letting the dirt fill her mouth and then spitting it back out. Hunger! Anger! Food is out there! Her hand broke through the dirt and she felt it wave without resistance. She started to throw herself against the dirt. Felt it give way before her... Freedom! She fell on the first person she saw. Food.

When she finally was able to regain control of herself she looked down and dropped the boy in her arms. It was a child. She had bitten the neck of a child and it was dead now. She look at the others wandering in the graveyard and saw Helen coming towards her. "Witch!" she shouted, "What did you do to me?"