“Oh?”

“I’m not like other women. I can’t be intimidated or shoved aside. When I want something, I get it… and when I have it, I keep it-until I’m tired of it.”

“So what you’re saying is that Russ hurt your pride and you’re going to try and get him back just so you can… what, return the favor? Do you think I’d let you do that?”

“You don’t have a choice.”

Lily’s voice deepened until it was a growl more menacing than the one Karin had heard the night before.

“Russell belongs to me. I decided that the first moment I saw him. I never expected to find anyone after my husband died, but Russell… managed to fill the void very nicely. We were good together, he’s just forgotten that.”

“But he still left you.”

“No, he ran because he realized what I am.”

“And what is that?”

“Dangerous. Poor Russell, but I forgive him for his weakness and will continue to do so until he finally comes to his senses.”

Lily smiled and ran a hand languidly through her hair while Karin dug her nails into the palms of both hands.

“Meaning,” Karin translated, “when he comes back to you?”

“It’s only a matter of time.”

“And until then, you continue to harass us?”

Lily laughed, tossing her head like a schoolgirl. “I won’t dignify that with an answer.”

“Okay, then,” Karin said, “how about this-from this moment on, you will leave Russ and me alone.”

Lily smoothed down her hair. “No.”

“He doesn’t want you.”

“He doesn’t know what he wants.”

“I’m warning you, Lily-get out of his life.”

She blinked her sad gray eyes. “Oh, I can’t wait to tell Russell. I knew I’d find your weak spot. You’re just like all the others. I only want to be friends and you… and you come into my house and threaten me. He’ll be so disappointed when I tell him.”

If Lily hadn’t started laughing, things might have gone… differently.

Karin opened her hands and watched the blood that had filled the small crescent-shaped cuts in her palms reverse direction as the flesh regenerated. “You know, I had a strange feeling you were going to say something like that.”

She leaned back against the white sofa cushion and Lily gasped.

“Don’t!”

“It’s okay, I’m house-trained. Oh… wait, you’re worried about what you did to my back, all that bloody seepage and stuff like that. Well, you don’t have to be.”

Karin stood up, lifting her shirt as she turned around… and wished she could see the woman’s face. There wasn’t a scratch, or a scar, or the faintest hint of the four jagged wounds that had cut her to the bone. Nothing but solid, healthy, unmarked flesh.

“We heal quickly. It’s part of some inherited survival trait, I guess. People were always trying to kill us.” Turning, she tucked her shirt back into her jeans but remained standing. “What did you use? My guess is a cultivator, right? And I have to say, I admire the restraint you showed, although it could have done some pretty serious damage if I were human.”

“Hu-hu-”

“Yes, me, but we’re talking about you right now. I hate to say it, even though it’s already been established that you’re not a wholly rational, understanding woman, but I can’t leave a body. The trouble is, Russ would think he was responsible for your killing yourself.”

Karin extended her jaw, sighing with pleasure as the canines elongated to their full and deadly length. They made her lisp a little, but she didn’t have any choice.

“He would blame himself until the day he died, and frankly, lady, you’ve already hurt him enough.”

Lily’s mouth kept opening and closing, but fortunately for both of them, she didn’t say anything.

“So, you see, I really have no choice. Hope you understand.”

Karin didn’t have to do it-it was an absolute, unadulterated, and selfish indulgence on her part and she knew it. Over the generations, her kind had learned it was easier, and much safer, to transform after the prey animal was dead… but she’d wanted Lily to see what a real Alpha Bitch looked like.

Right before Karin snapped her neck and dragged her body into the bathroom.

Tile was much easier to clean than carpet… especially white carpet.

While Russ turned the steaks on the firepit’s grill, Karin used the sizzling flames to reread the words that she’d so carefully scripted in Lily’s beautiful forward-slanted handwriting. It had taken her a bit more practice, but once she’d found a sample, she had to admit, she’d done a pretty good job.

Russell… and I hope you noticed I didn’t add “dear” or “dearest” or “my beloved”… because I’m finally tired of this. It’s over. Foolish me, but I thought you were a different sort of man. I need a man who is my equal, and, let’s face it, Russell, you are hardly that. Still, I can’t bear the thought of seeing you with… her, so you’ll be pleased to know, I’m sure, that I won’t be around to witness the charade any longer. There’s a wide world out there, and perhaps, if I’m lucky enough, I’ll find someone truly worthy of me. The best to you and what’s-her-name-

Karin handed him back the note, the scent of Lily’s perfume-lilacs and musk-that she had liberally dabbed onto the paper competing with the aroma of roasting meat.

“Ouch.”

Russ shook his head and, laughing, fed the note to the fire. “Yep, a real bitch to the end.”

Karin smiled. “Well, I know it’s selfish of me… but I’m glad it’s over.”

“Amen, sister.” Russ poked at one of the steaks with a long-handled fork and got quiet for a minute. “Tell me you’re not the… possessive type, are you?”

She thought about telling him how werewolves, like their lupine cousins, mate only once and for life… but it was still too early in their relationship to get into all that family stuff, so she just gave him an “are you kidding” look and sniffed the air.

“Mmmm… steaks smell done to me.”

“Only if you like ’em red and runny.”

“My favorite.”

“Okay then.” He slid the thicker of the two steaks onto her plate and grimaced. “Christ, I’ve seen cows hurt worse than that get better.”

“Oh, ha-ha.”

“Yeah, well, just remember-you are what you eat.”

Karin belched softly and smiled. “Not necessarily.”

The Aarne-Thompson Classification Revue by Holly Black

There is a werewolf girl in the city. She sits by the phone on a Saturday night, waiting for it to ring. She paints her nails purple.

She goes to bed early.

Body curled around a pillow, fingers clawing at the bedspread, she dreams that she’s on a dating show, a reality television one. She’s supposed to pick one boyfriend out of a dozen strangers by eliminating one candidate each week. After eliminations, she eats the guy she’s asked to leave. In her dream, the boys get more and more afraid as they overhear screams, but they can’t quite believe the show is letting them be murdered one by one, so they convince each other to stay until the end. In the reunion episode, the werewolf girl eats the boy who she’s picked to be her boyfriend.

That’s the only way to get to do a second season, after all.

When she wakes up, she’s sorry about the dream. It makes her feel guilty and a little bit hungry, which makes her feel worse. Her real-life boyfriend is a good guy, the son of a dentist from an ancestral line of dentists. Sometimes he takes her to his dad’s office and they sit in the chairs and suck on nitrous oxide while watching the overhead televisions that are supposed to distract patients. When they do that, the werewolf girl feels calmer than she’s felt her whole life.

She’s calling herself Nadia in this city. She’s called herself Laura and Liana and Dana in other places.

Despite having gone to bed early, she’s woken up tired.