Free Midnight's Choice by Kate Thompson

impossible position; whichever course she took seemed like a submission. She tried to dodge out to the side, but he was quicker. She thumped and pushed at his shoulders and knees, but he was like a statue: cold and immovable. His teeth met her neck; she felt the pressure of their points against her skin, and as they broke through she began to drift down, down, away from consciousness, into a dark oblivion.
    â€˜No!’
    At the moment that she shouted, Tess Switched. Martin drew back and regarded her, his cynical smile tinged now with an element of respect and comradeship. Tess returned it, feeling the new shape of her mouth as it accommodated those deadly teeth. She ran her tongue over them, careful of their sharpness, and lifted a hand to her face. The external change was small. She still fitted into her clothes; if she met someone she knew they would probably recognise her. But the internal change was enormous. Without ever testing it, she knew that she was possessed of fantastic strength and that no living person could stand up to her. And her mental strength was no less: a storehouse of power, just waiting to be used. The only problem was a deep and urgent hunger which could only be satisfied by one thing.
    Without a word, Martin and Tess linked arms with each other. From a distance they were like two young lovers strolling down the street, as innocent as spring.

CHAPTER TEN
    T HE CITY BELONGED TO Tess and Martin. By night, there is nothing under the sky that vampires fear, for nothing can harm them. It is only by day, when they sleep away the hours of daylight, that fear impinges upon their dreams and makes their rest uneasy.
    The two Switchers crossed the road and followed the route the gang of boys had taken, towards the centre of the city. At the next junction they veered to the left, heading for the docks and the darkness. They moved swiftly and silently, but if anyone noticed their strong strides and solemn deportment, they didn’t stop to question them.
    Tess gloried in the dark power she found within herself. She had experienced many kinds of strength in the past, in the different animal forms she had assumed, but she had never imagined that a human shape could make her feel like this. It was wonderful to be able to walk the city streets at night in full view of any watching eyes and know that she was invulnerable. She could do anything, go anywhere she liked; no one could stop her, no one could harm her in any way.
    She turned towards her companion and the two of them exchanged grim smiles of complicity. But even as they did so, Tess knew that she wouldn’t care if she never saw him again. Let them hunt together tonight; let her learn from him whatever she had to know. After that she was on her own, gloriously alone, for ever.
    Literally for ever. For all eternity. Because vampires live for ever, spreading their condition like a disease to everyone they feed upon. Unless they are unlucky, that is. Unless someone discovers their existence and tracks them down to their hiding place and drives a stake through their heart. But who, these days, believes in vampires?
    Tess laughed to herself, quietly, and discovered the new sound of her voice. She liked it; it was dark and husky, as different from her human voice as Martin’s was from his. She knew that it would be as hypnotic to a potential victim as a mongoose’s dance is to a snake. All she needed now was an opportunity to try it out.
    Although it was the early hours of the morning, the streets were not empty. Taxis serviced the nightlife of the city, twisting through the quiet streets. Occasionally a police car cruised past; occasionally a speeding biker, revving hard. Drifters idled their way home from pubs and night-clubs, and homeless people beat the streets to keep themselves warm. Every time they came within a few metres of another human being, Tess felt her hunger gnaw at her, as though she had come in from a long day at school and smelt