The bed covers felt too heavy. They were slowly compressing the air from my lungs. I tried to turn and give myself space for movement but the quilt stuck to me like a heavy second skin. I felt sweat beginning to head at the top of my brow and slowly descend down the nape of my neck. My body became uncomfortably damp. I wrestled myself out of the bed cover and opened my eyes.

My bed was next to the widely opened window and the curtains blew slightly. The crisp midnight air did nothing to sooth my sweating figure. I got into my slippers and walked into the small bathroom next to my room. The floorboards groaned slightly and I had winced. I seriously don't want to wake the two old women that I live with.

I entered the bathroom that contradicted the rest of the house. It was clinical looking, too white and there are too many tiles lining the walls. Even the lighting was different. The lighting was too bright and...electrical lightbulbs?

The rest of the house had relied upon candles and fireplace for lighting. Since when did this house have electricity?. I'll ask in the morning. I patted along the white tiles floor and looked at the stretched mirror above a trough like sink. I looked in the reflection and shocked myself. My damp skin gave my uneven complexion a sickly hue. My green feline like eyes were dull and my dark brown hair had transformed from a messy bun to a bird's nest at the back of my head.

I let out a long sigh and washed my hands in cold water. I twisted the tap and let the water flow with my hands ready underneath it. It took a while for the water to be released from the tap, as it usually does, and my eyes began to close. they opened as I felt the water trickle onto my hands. I rubbed my hands together and cupped them. I closed my eyes once more and splashed the cold water on my face. Only it wasn't cold.

It was moderately warm and I opened my eyes again and looked at my hands. they were dirty. the faucet was replaced with a watery muddy puddle. I looked up and saw that the mirror and the wall were still in the same place. I looked at my reflection and saw small clumps of mud speckled across my face. The mirror looked...off. I looked at the length of it and noticed that there were smears of red on it. Weird. I looked back at my reflection and saw another smear of red close to my face. it was a handprint?

I began to panic and couldn't take my eyes off the mirror. Something moved behind me. It began to move closer behind me and then my breathing hitched. A horrifically tall figure was standing behind me and I stared at it through the mirror.

Two hands appeared on my lower abdomen and hot breath blew on my neck and the hands gripped hardly on my body. I looked down at the hands holding me and saw that they were clawed and hairy. A growl emanated from the creature behind me. It mumbled/growled one word.

"Thief"

With that it ripped it's hands into my stomach, which seemed a lot larger than usual. Almost like I was pregnant. With that realisation, that I was pregnant, I shrieked trying to get out of its grip. As I struggled, it laughed and pierced it's claws into my mid section.

And the world went black.

Pepper

"Pepper!!"

"Pepper. Get up. It's the last day of school!"

Nana Joan is up then. I groaned and rolled off the bed onto the floor. "Yeah Nana Joan. I'm up!". I stand up and hesitate going into the bathroom. That nightmare last night had scared the shit out of me. I walk into the bathroom and see the same 60s themed bathroom I had seen for the past 18 years of my life. Which is all of my life, well plus a minus a year. I turn on the bath and go back into myself room to get my clothes for the day. After my bath I set in the bathroom and stand in front of the small mirror. My left shoulder has become sore and red. Jumper today then. I dry off and but lotion on my shoulder to try and help it clear up. I get changed and walk back into my room to put on my shoes.

I look at my reflection in my long mirror and nod slightly. I look alright. my jeans hugged tightly to my toned legs and the curve of my bottom. I have on a flowing vest that has a plunge at the front that shows a healthy amount of cleavage followed with a grey cardigan. My Vans trainers were added to complete the look. I walk out of my room and head downstairs. the stairs are just off of the kitchen and I hear the two women I live with nattering. Nana Joan and aunty Laura. Both women are in their late fifties and early sixties. Not wanting to disturb the pair I wait for their conversation to finish before walking in.

"Damian and Ambrose are coming within the nest week!!" Aunty Laura whisper shouts.

"Calm down Laura dear, Pepper is going to Oxford to live with her Aunt Maddie for a month before attending university. Don't stress yourself out. hopefully be the time she comes home then Damian and Ambrose will be gone." My brow furrows at the sound of the two women talking about me. They usually do but it's always been to my face. "Pepper you should watch what you eat" , "Pepper you are too thin" , "Pepper boys do like girls that have too many muscles". You know the usual. That are brilliant women but always believe that I should look more feminine. Like them.

I walk into the kitchen and the two women. Nana Joan looks at me with slight worry. Weird. Aunty Laura has her back turned to me and is fussing with something on the kitchen side. Probably making a cup of tea. I look at my Nana and look at Laura. They're not related to each other but they are best friends. Which is strange because they are the complete opposite to eachother. For one, Nana Joan is completely English. She had light brown hair with patches of white and soft blue eyes. She is short and pale and loves floral pattern dresses. Which is all she wears. However, Laura has long white hair and tanned skin. As you would expect from a woman born and raised in Greece. A strange thing about Laura was that she always wore posh dresses. It was weird because we lived in Cornwall. I sit at the small table in the middle of the kitchen and Aunty Laura pours me a cup of tea and Nana Joan gives me my breakfast. They only ever do this when they do something wrong.

I take a bite of my breakfast and sip of my tea and simply say, "Who are Damian and Ambrose?"

Pepper

The two women looked at each other before placing a cup of tea and bowl of cereal in front of me. Nana Joan smiled shortly at me whilst I look at my watch and realise the time. I have 3minutes to eat my breakfast and drink my tea. I eat all of my cereal and down as much of the tea as possible trying, but failing, not to burn my throat in the process. Nana Joan gets up and puts on her white flats. As we walk out of the door, Aunty Laura pulls me in for a hug and whispers, "You're a good girl Pepper, always remember that. Your Nana and I are always on your side. Don't you ever forget that." I pull away and look at her quizzically as she strokes my face and kisses my forehead.

Nana Joan drives us to the dense wood in-between the main part of the village and our house. She parks the car and walks with me into the deeper part of the forest. When we get to a darker area, which we know to be farther from town, she hands my a flask containing warmed liquid. I already know what it is. Wolfsbane. With a shaking hand I reach to take it and open the flask. A strong smell of lemon and honey hits me first, soon followed by the sickly sweet smell of the wolfsbane. I closed my eyes and lifted the contents to my mouth. I let out a frustrated sigh and poured half the liquid down my throat.

The burning sensation only lasted a few moments before I drank the other half of the wolfsbane mixture. Nana Joan had quickly given me a cereal bar to go along with the drink. Luckily this was wolfsbane free. Tears stung my eyes and I resisted the urge to throw up. Nana looked at me with a sympathetic look in her eyes before she shed a year herself. " I'm so sorry to do this to you, love. But you know that we have to surpress your wolf. Especially now that you are 19 next week." I gave her a short smile and nodded.

You see, wolfsbane is actually a sort of medicine for Lycan-folk like myself. In the right doses that is. It can cause more harm than good, but then again so can most human medicines. The only reason it burnt my throat was because the 'Wolf Tea' as Nana likes to call it was too hot, and the reason I felt sick was due to the amount of honey she had put in the tea.

I ate the cereal bar and headed back to the car. The reason we didn't do this on the house was because Laura is also a werewolf, unlike Nana, and always berates me about 'damaging my spiritual body.' and I also causes her pain to watch me do it. this is mainly because her wolf has been in hibernation due to an overdose on wolfsbane when a witch doctor had 'healed' her.

Nana drive me to school and was reluctant to let me leave. I kissed her cheek and then walked into the small yet astonishing building. I put my bag in my locker and grabbed my English Lit file when suddenly, and as usual, Katie Walsh tried to slam my locker onto my hand. However me being stronger and faster than her, I simply threw the door back, hitting her in the shoulder. She scowled at me and said her generic phrases. This time it was "Watch it Peepee.". Honestly what a comedic genius. She had a chuckle with her boyfriend and two goons as I smiled and walked off. I can't be bothered with her drama today. No thank you.