I lay in bed for what felt like hours before I got the strength to open the eyelids.

My head spun and my entire body hurt, and I felt the deep and familiar ache down between my legs that reminded me of the night I just had. I smiled to myself with my eyes closed as the fuzzy memory of the night before came flooding back to me. I inhaled deeply and could smell the scent of the man beside me. I could smell the wolf on him stronger now that I had grown familiar with it.

I slowly opened my eyes and turned my head to look at him. His face was plastered in the pillow, his hair was disheveled, and he lay on the bed completely naked with his ass in the air for all to see. I stared at him for a long moment, taking in the chiseled angles of his body and the curves of his back as he lay sprawled out sleeping next me.

My head spun and everything hurt, but I didn’t regret anything from the night before.

At least, I didn’t until he woke up. Suddenly my head screamed in agony, and I could hear the loud chatter pick up in my mind as our mental connection sprung to life again. He was angry, and the smile on my face widened even further. There was something about pissing him off that made me oh so happy. I may not be able to escape completely from his grasp, but I could certainly make our connection a living hell for him. Or, an undead hell. Whatever.

I glanced around the dark room, using what little light that leaked in through the closed curtains to see. My jeans and t-shirt were on the other side of the room, but my panties weren’t anywhere to be found. I slowly crawled out of the bed, careful not to wake James. It would’ve been too complicated to explain why I had to leave, so the best thing I could do was slip out quietly and never see the man again. I grabbed my jeans, t-shirt, and bra off the floor, and quietly got dressed. I looked one last time around the room but couldn’t find my panties anywhere.

Oh, well. A little souvenir of our night together for James, I supposed.

Before I left the room, I took one long last look at the naked man on the bed. He was beautiful, and from what little I remembered of the night before, we had a really amazing time together. The ache I felt between my legs suggested that we had enjoyed each other’s company quite aggressively. I sighed in regret and turned to leave, closing the bedroom door behind me.

It was early morning and the sun had barely risen. The sky was still grey, but there was no rain, thank God. It took me a few minutes to gather my bearings outside of his apartment, but it didn’t take long to figure out where I was. I turned right and walked quickly down the street, away from the sexy wolf man’s apartment.

James lived on the other side of town, and it would take a while for me to get home. I enjoyed walking though since it cleared my head. The fresh air did me good, and I could certainly use the exercise to help clear my raging headache and hangover. A tall glass of water would have been great too. Or a shot of whiskey. Either or.

I tried to ignore the agonizing nagging in my mind as I walked. The mental connection seemed stronger than before for some reason, and I could feel the vampire’s anger. I tried my very best to ignore it as I walked, but it was hard to ignore that which was already in my mind. I focused on my feet as I walked, one foot in front of the other. The only thing that seemed to subside his chatter were the flashes of memory from the night before, no matter how fuzzy they were.

I stopped at a nearby intersection and looked around to gather my bearings again. I had never walked home from this part of town, and it would take a while to make my way down the winding streets back to my tiny Camden apartment. I couldn’t even remember how we had gotten to his place to begin with.

I couldn’t imagine how awful I must have looked. I ran my fingers through my hair to flatten it down, but it seemed to stand on all ends as if I’d been given an electric shock. I walked across the street and rubbed the eyeliner from the corners of my eyes, hoping that I didn’t look too much like a washed up raccoon.

As I reached the other side of the street, I heard a scream. I turned back to look down the far end of the narrow residential street and saw an old woman waving her arms in the air and screaming frantically as a man ran away from her. He appeared to be carrying her purse.

I instantly took off at a fast run towards the direction of the woman. I passed her and shouted, “I’ve got it, don’t worry!” Filled with adrenaline and an instinctual need to help that I had built through my years with the Chicago PD, I ran swiftly down the street and chased the man. He was two blocks ahead of me and he turned his head to look back as he noticed he was being chased. “Just stop where you are, and no one will get hurt,” I shouted through ragged breaths.

Fuck, I was out of shape.

I heard him swear in front of me as he picked up his pace. I sucked in a breath of air and ran faster, trying to remember my training and nearly caught up with him. He turned the corner to the right and I followed, nearly tripping over my feet and falling face first on the concrete. At least the roads were dry, otherwise it would have been disastrous chasing him down the slippery sidewalk. My heart raced and adrenaline coursed through my veins, pushing me forward. Beads of sweat fell down my forehead and stung my eyes as I ran.

I was gaining on him, and he was only a few paces ahead of me. I increased my pace with one final push and sprang forward, leaping onto his back as I grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled onto the ground. We both skidded across the concrete together, and I skinned my shoulder into a bloody mess. The man hit his head on the hard surface and was dazed momentarily, and I used that spare second to grab the purse that he had stolen from the old lady. I pushed myself up, and gave him a swift kick to the nuts as I took three steps backwards to look him up and down.

Okay, it was technically bad form for a police officer to kick someone in the nuts. But I didn’t work for the police anymore, so sue me.

The man pushed himself up and stared angrily at me as he held himself between the legs with both hands. “None of your fucking business, bitch,” he spat at me. “Give me back that purse.”

I strung the purse over my shoulder and raised my eyebrow at him as I crossed my arms. I tapped my foot on the ground and looked at him angrily. “Do you feel like a big man, stealing a purse from an old lady?” I shook my head in disgust.

The man lunged towards me and I screamed when he pulled a gun out and held it pointed towards me.

My heart raced as I tried to process what was happening. I hadn’t expected a gun. I stared at him in silence as we made eye contact for what felt like an eternity. I raised my hand to pull the purse off my shoulder to hand it to him. Whatever contents were in the purse, no matter how much money, it wasn’t worth risking my life over.

Just then a siren sounded in the distance and the man swore loudly. He put the gun back in his back holster and took off at a run down the street.

I let out a breath that I’d been holding and held my hand over my chest. My heart beat like crazy and I struggled to regain a normal breathing rate. I watched as the man disappeared into the distance and thought how close I had just been losing my life over something so stupid. I looked down at the floral patterned purse and couldn’t help but chuckle.

My instincts from being in force had jumped back into full swing and I hadn’t even thought twice about chasing the man down. It was nice to know I hadn’t grown completely useless over these past few months.

The new me never would’ve done such a thing, but the old me would’ve done anything for justice. I shook my head and tried to bring myself back to the present, and swore to myself that I would never do something so stupid again. I turned back to walk towards where I had passed the old lady, and she still stood in the same spot with her arms waving frantically above her.

A cop car had pulled over next to her, and two officers were standing with her asking questions. I walked slowly down the sidewalk back to her and handed her the purse, and when the two officers stepped towards me to begin asking questions, I raised my hand to silence them. “Sorry, don’t want to get involved,” I called back to them as I walked away.

They protested, but I kept walking. They didn’t make an effort to stop me, so I continued on my way as if nothing had happened.

I turned the corner and continued the long journey to my apartment. The sun had barely risen and it had already been an eventful day. My breathing had finally returning to normal and my heart rate slowed, and I wiped the sweat off my forehead as I walked the rest of the way home in silence. The chattering in my mind had grown eerily silent, which was both concerning yet extremely appreciated at the same time. “Thank God,” I said to myself as I walked. I could use the quiet, and it felt nice not having someone else in my mind for once. I wondered if the adrenaline had been enough to break the connection. I doubted it.

I enjoyed it while I could as I knew in my heart that it wouldn’t last long. The connection was always there, no matter how hard I tried to get rid of it. But no matter how many herbs I burned or how many weird incantations I read on the internet, he was always there: the vampire who bit me and claimed me as his own. An angry voice in my head who always followed me everywhere I went. My dark Prince that I couldn’t get away from.

An hour passed before I reached my own street. My apartment was a three story walk-up above an Asian grocery store, and when I finally reached the front steps, I felt relieved. I slowly trudged up the winding stairs to my unit and unlocked the door and stepped inside. I locked it behind me and leaned against the rough wood door, exhausted. I looked around my apartment and couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed with myself.

After the events of the morning, chasing a robber down the street, saving a woman’s purse, finally doing something good for humanity for once in this past year, I felt pretty good. I then glanced around from my tiny single bed to the warped countertop in what was supposed to be my kitchen, and couldn’t believe what my life had become. I was nothing but a mere shadow of my former self, living a pathetic lie in a shitty apartment in a sketchy neighborhood in London.

With my back pressed against the door, I slid down to the ground and sat in silence for a moment, contemplating whether it was even worth it or not to stay. I was nobody. No one knew my name or where I lived. I had no friends, no family, no job. I was nobody who lived in this depressing apartment with absolutely no purpose in life. Not even Jessie at the bar new my address, or my real name, for that matter. I hardly remembered my real name anymore, either.

My past identity was but a blur; an echo of my former self that my mind suppressed out of self-preservation. I couldn’t think back to my life in Chicago as it just made my heart ache for more. I had no choice but to settle into who I was now. My life depended on it. And more importantly, my sanity depended on it.

My head spun violently and my body ached. My muscles were beginning to cramp from both exertion and exhaustion. I hadn’t been to the gym in months. I was beginning to get the shakes, and I knew I had better drink a gallon of water and pop a pain killer or two and lie down if my body had any hope of recovering. The adrenaline had worn off and I was beginning to feel the ill effects of the night before. My body hated me.

I just barely managed to push myself off the ground when a loud knock echoed through my room. I turned and started at the door, confused. Who the hell would be knocking at my door? Nobody knew where I lived. Nobody in the city even knew my name.

A deep voice echoed from the other side of the door. “Charlie Rose. Answer the door.”

I froze.