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She woke up for what must have been the third time that night, another cold sweat, another nightmare. She laid there in now-soaked sheets, her lungs drawing short raspy breaths that were more like a series of gasps than actual breathing, one nightmare that only seemed to get worse with each repetition had woken her up three times that night alone, and countless times during the week. She got up carefully, still shaking and cold, her fur was matted with sweat. Kathrin thought she might be losing her mind in her new apartment, even with William sleeping in her small living room she felt uneasy during the night. She flicked the light switch and examined herself in the mirror, her heartbeat slowly returning to what would be considered normal for somebody running a race. "Nobody is that sick, it isn't possible to be that sick... Damn it girl, just get a grip!" She thought furiously to herself, watching her brow crease with frustration in the mirror. She looked tiredly at her watch, 05:32, it read. She would have to be up soon anyway, William planned to take her hiking that day, he was always precise and liked things to go exactly according to plan, that was just the way her brother was, especially after the war, after his war. Kathrin reached for what was left of her right ear, she remembered that day as clearly as she remembered asking William to move in with her for the week; They were all saying their goodbyes, her, Wesley and Kelly, they knew William would be gone for some time, they expected to see her brother off, but they didn't count on being attacked. She never knew she'd get her ear half torn off by a bullet. They never expected to see the bullet rip clean through Kelly's skull. Kathrin shivered at the recollection of that thought, even now, so long after the war ended, she would still feel pangs of overwhelming sadness. Strange, she never knew what happened to the canine girl William had returned with either...

She made her way to the kitchen, cautiously opening her door so as not to wake her sleeping brother. The summer sun had already begun beaming its brilliance in through the window of her fourth floor apartment; it was strong even through the curtains draped across the glass sheet, it amazed her, to a small degree, how William could sleep with so much light, mostly she'd convinced herself that he was tired of the darkness that was wrought upon his life during the human invasion, and now this light, those first few rays of hope, in the morning somehow brought a small measure of comfort. It was a silly imagining from a girl that understood almost nothing of what really happened, but a sweet one. A voice from the only really dark part of the room startled the already nervous hyena girl, "You're up a little early, oh sister of mine" William crowed from the brick pillar at the one edge of the window. Kathrin jumped backwards and flattened herself against a wall in surprise, her heart jumping once more to its irregular beat.

"By the moon! Will, you half scared me to death!" She was slightly embarrassed that she hadn't seen him there before, especially after he'd taught her to stay sharp. "I couldn't sleep, I had that nightmare again... It's been more frequent these past few days"

"Still praise the moon? Alright then, anyway, we're still on for today?" He inquired, not particularly wanting to go into the details of her dream. His silhouette slipped in front of the curtains and drew them wide open, spilling vibrant sunshine into the gloomy room.

"You know it, I need the fresh air, and besides, what else would I do with my Saturday?"

"Good, good, and remember we're spending the night in there" He reminded. Kathrin knew he'd want to sleep in the forest the next time they hiked there; they'd spoken of it last time as well.

It didn't take her long to get ready; after all, how much did one need to pack for spending a night in the woods? "Alright, I'm ready when you are" She said proudly, striding up to the front door and waiting patiently for her brother to lead the way.

She and William had hiked all day, and she could feel a sharp pain welling up in her paws and legs, she wasn't a soldier, she wasn't used to the droning mind that kept her twin brother walking on and ignoring his body's needs and cries for mercy. It was well past dark when she decided enough was enough and made mention of her debilitating fatigue, William agreed happily to set up camp for the night, even if he was a little disappointed.

William quickly got to work pitching the tent that would house them for the night, humming an old, somewhat depressing tune that Kathrin didn't recognise while she gathered a few nearby sticks for a fire. "Thanks for coming with, it's been far too long since I... tasted adventure like this with somebody else" William said, tying down a few last stays.

Something was unsettling in the way he'd emphasised the word "tasted." "Anytime, I'm glad to be out of the apartment. When exactly was the last time you camped out for a night with somebody?" She asked, playing with the lighter she held.

"Oh it was quite a while back, about a year after the war maybe. I was with Kineta" He finished up and seated himself next to her, eying her as she flicked the lighter on, and off, and on, and off.

Kathrin shivered as a bone-chilling breeze sliced through the woods, she could feel something watching her... Something powerful, something other worldly. Unnerved, she thrust the lighter forward and set the pile of wood ablaze, Kathrin squinted and reared up slightly as the intense light of the fire stabbed at her eyes. "So that was her name... Whatever happened to her?"

"She went missing... Not long after the camp really"

"Oh shame man! I mean I never really liked her but after Kelly, she was pretty much all you ever cared about" she bellowed, scooting closer to her brother. William chuckled darkly, sending a chill down Kathrin's spine, something about him was off that day... He seemed so different, different even to what he was usually like after the war.

"It's fine, Kat, she's still always with me..." Still always with him... That sentence played itself over and over inside Kathrin's head, sounding more twisted than it did sweet. "You know sis, I have a problem..." William spoke in a low guttural voice now.

"W-well, you'll have to tell me about it, but first I-I have a question, have you seen Wesley lately? I haven't been able to talk to him in ages, he never answers his phone anymore, are you guys still friends?" She stuttered, looking nervously over her shoulder. Something was starting to feel awfully wrong, another cold wind wrapped her in a strange sense of melancholy, seemingly slicing into her bones, her very being.

"Wesley? Oh we're still closer than you think" he crooned, running a powerful paw through his hair. "Now, here's my problem, I was in that war right? The war against the humans and Neutrality and Seraphim. So, being a soldier weighs heavily on people, especially when you have to kill and make the hard decisions. Now naturally, people have their own methods of coping, but some don't have a problem with it."

Kathrin had unknowingly started edging her way away from her twin brother, becoming slightly disturbed by his war story. She hated his stories, they were never happy, they were always so serious, people always died, in her head she wished that William was having problems with a friend perhaps, or even a girl. "H-how did you cope?"

"Where are you going? I haven't even finished my story yet..." William said, flashing a grin, baring his sharp teeth. He looked like something from a horror movie, his dark fur made his white teeth shine like ivory against a black backdrop, the fire menacingly lighting up only half of his face.

"Will you're scaring me..." Kathrin whimpered, gripping her shoulder with one paw, something she only did when she was extremely nervous. "And you still haven't told me what happened to Wesley!"

William uttered a low throaty sound that sounded like both a growl and a chuckle "Don't worry sis, it's almost over" He started crawling toward her slowly, inching his way closer. "Kineta and I were quite close, and we were both after the same thing after the war..."

"No Will, I don't want to hear any more, what h-happened to Wesley?"

"Only one of us could get what we wanted, life is hard like that. We had to test if our theories would work..."

The tears had already begun forming in her eyes, watery crystals that sparkled in the weakening light of a distant fire. "Please"

"Do you want to see Wesley? Kineta too perhaps, for old times' sake?" William reached behind him, producing a cloth that was folded over something.

"No... William, that..." Kathrin stammered dismally. The words thundered in her mind, nobody is that sick, it isn't possible to be that sick. They repeated themselves over and over, forming a chorus.

The menacing hyena that was Kathrin's twin brother unfolded the cloth and much to Kathrin's horror revealed two skulls, one canine, the other feline, much like a leopard's. "Kineta and I had the same ideas, back then- Hey! Get back here!" William yelled, Kathrin had begun sprinting in the opposite direction, crying loudly, terrified and disgusted.

She looked back at the man fading into the distance, her vision blurred by warm tears that rolled down her cheeks. Why? Why did he do it? He was never violent... She was so wrapped up in running away that she didn't take note of where she was going and tripped over a large stump. She yelped as she tumbled helplessly to the ground, her arms flailing and seeking purchase on anything to help her. Nothing. She hit the ground with an audible 'thud' and pain shot through her chest, spreading quickly to the rest of her body, she scrambled desperately to her hind paws, but her haste caused her to fall back down when she was halfway up. "I shouldn't have let him go, I should never have let him leave for England in the first place, he would never have met that damned wolf, or that stupid girl!" Kathrin whined, picking herself up again.

"I thought you'd be happy! I found my place, I found my obsession!" William yelled, he was right there. Kathrin spun around, then jumped back when she realised his face was no more than two inches from hers. He swept her up and slung her over his shoulder, carrying her back to the camp site.

"Let me go!" She cried, tears flowed like rivers from her eyes, she continually battered his back with all the strength she could muster. William quickly reached the fire they'd started and slammed his sister hard on the ground. She was stunned, motionless for a few seconds, just lying there staring up into her twin brother's eyes.

"I never finished my story!" William gave a hearty hyena laugh as he pinned her arms to the ground. She was starting to regain most movement, her limbs springing back to life, she kicked and thrashed and wriggled to try and get free of her brother's grasp but she failed miserably each time. "Kineta and I went camping a year after the war, I remember it like it was just yesterday" William said, pinning Kathrin's arms with his knees and slamming the canine skull down next to her head. "She struggled so much more than you did, oh dear sister of mine!" He began to tear Kathrin's shirt off, removing it and her undergarments, then moving to her pants. "These clumsy things only get in the way. But now let me tell you..."

"Why?!" Kathrin screamed, still struggling under his weight. William smiled a half smile, an evil grin.

"Exactly! We really are twins, you and I, you read my mind" William proclaimed, whispering the last half in her good ear. "You see, during the war I had a bit of an affinity for the blood that polluted the streets and cramped halls of buildings." He drew the knife Wesley had given him and stabbed it harshly into the earth on side of her head that was opposite the skull. "I started letting the blood with a knife first, on humans, because I felt nothing for them!" William raved, trailing his muzzle down his sister's body, then up again.

"You're a monster..." Kathrin cried out dismally. William chuckled as his face came up to hers; he looked her squarely in the eyes.

"But that became bulky, and I got tired of simply stabbing my... prey" he cooed. He snapped his gaze to Kathrin's arm and measured about halfway from her shoulder to her elbow. "I decided to use all the force in my jaws, and oh how sweet the blood of a human was as I first bit into that arm" with that he surged forward and ploughed his teeth into Kathrin's upper arm, letting the blood flow between his teeth, intentionally allowing a few drops to fall to the ground.

Kathrin screamed louder than any time she ever had before, not for the physical pain but rather for the fact that it was her twin brother that was doing this. She cried harder as her arm tensed in the vice like grip of William's powerful jaw, she could almost swear she saw his eyes roll back in pleasure as she howled out her pain to the sky. It was only for a few seconds that William bit into his sister's flesh, but it felt like an eternity for her. "But you are my brother" She snivelled.

William held some of her blood in his mouth, carrying it over to his sister's nose and letting her smell her own scent on his breath. "And you are my sister!" William barked as he spat her blood onto his arm, and then forced it into her mouth "Bite me, sis, bite deep into my flesh." He laughed maniacally, remembering his past experiences in this single moment, swirling what little blood remained inside his mouth. That bittersweet metallic taste, so overpowering... So intoxicating. William used his free arm to jab Kathrin in her side and force her to bite down painfully on his arm. He roared in pleasure as his blood flooded into her mouth, his blood and hers. "But do you know my favourite part? My favourite part is that I know what I'm doing, that I'm sane. And when they fight back and their blood flows faster, when it pulses throughout their bodies and I can almost see the torrents dilate their arteries, when I can hear their heart beating faster and faster, when I can taste their fear. But most of all, when it all stops, once I've bitten down..." William inched closer to her face, making a torturously slow move for her neck "Once the blood flows from their neck, down my throat. When they stop screaming and all there is, is that warmth flowing through me, and the sweet, sweet silence of the darkness around us" Kathrin closed her eyes weakly as William bit into her throat softly, his jaw making no effort to savage her flesh... Those last few seconds, her naked body lying battered and bleeding on the ground, she ceased moving, no more breath was drawn, she felt... cold...

"NOOOOO!" She yelled, sitting up in her bed. Her breath was fast, her heart faster, she raised her left arm to her neck... All fine, no blood, no bruises, no pain. Then she heard it, it was faint but it was there, it was the sound of a weak chuckle, then a sound, something like two plastic containers being repeatedly smashed together came up to her door.

"Are you alright?" William demanded as he smashed the door open.

Kathrin gave a relieved sigh and she was about to answer before she realised the origin of the sound she had heard, it wasn't two plastic containers, but two skulls worn on a chain around her brother's neck. "No" she whispered to herself.