I let them go to bed, given that it was now long gone midnight, before I went back out to clear my head. To think that the one monster that apparently wasn't considered a failure was stumped by such simple questions as 'who am I?' Away from Lily's... no, from my family, it was easier to rein in my emotions. I spent some time watching all the little humans milling around below, some areas of the city busy even at this time of night. The sight was... comforting.

The conclusion I came to, after a great amount of mental effort, was actually very simple: Fuck it. I am me. The name people call me by, or that I call myself by, makes no difference. Family are simply those who acknowledge me as such, and who I acknowledge in turn. My home was wherever I was welcomed. The whole debate about whether I was Lily or Leona or both or neither simply wasn't important. I recognised those people as family, and they recognised me, and that was all any of us needed to know.

Such an attitude would probably make my old church minister cough up blood. No doubt he'd end up giving me an hour lecture on my immortal soul or something. Screw that. It was my brain, in my head, mutated or otherwise, and I can be whoever the hell I want. Besides, should he ever meet me, he'd find other more important things to complain about first. Speaking of which, I had revenge to plot.

I decided to go after the mayor first, and considered that the best time for my attack would be to ambush him on his way to the misty woods. He'd told Maximilian that the trip was the day after tomorrow, so I could spend the next day at home. Dad had given me a back door key, so I could let myself back in at some point before dawn. Then I'd get out of there again sometime tomorrow night and hang around waiting for the mayor in the morning.

It would be absolutely imperative that I not be seen before then; if they knew I was back in the city, it would spoil everything. Thankfully, my rediscovered senses of friendliness and sentimentality seemed to be restricted to my family, and I had no trouble stalking deserted industrial estates and other non-overlooked locations for my next meal.

I briefly wondered what it was in fresh meat that actually provided me with nutrition, because it was obvious that regular food did nothing for me. What was it that the original monsters, with no digestive system at all, actually fed on? A world where the atmosphere was so thick with complex organic chemicals that they could get nutrition just by breathing? But wouldn't they still need water? No, or at least I didn't. I hadn't drunk anything since Leona took over from Lily. Or excreted. My biology was weird.

Whatever. I spotted a couple of hooded figures spraying graffiti over a fence, down a deserted alley. There were no windows or cameras, making it perfect. Perhaps graffiti artist wasn't my usual calibre of criminal, but they'd have to do. I dropped down behind the two, slashing their necks, then grabbing a head in each foot and yanking them into the air and onto the roof of a nearby warehouse.

Did they have family too? Well, obviously they did at some point; people didn't just appear spontaneously out of thin air. But would they care? There were alcoholics leaving two-year-olds home alone to go and spend the day in a pub, who probably wouldn't even notice if they vanished. At the other end of the scale, there was my own mum, so overcome by hope that she was willing to run to me immediately, despite my appearance.

A bit late to be thinking about such things, when I was part way through scooping the brains out of one of them and the other was busy suffocating on his own blood, the little of his face that was visible beneath his mask and hood full of pure terror. The bit of me that was Leona enjoyed that look immensely. Those were the eyes that mere humans should look at me with, a look that I deserved and had earned. The bit of me that was Lily did not enjoy it at all, and I ran another claw through his heart, ending his life instantly. My food needed to be fresh, but I didn't need it to suffer.

I left the carcasses on the roof. It would be some time before anyone discovered them. There was some amount of blood in the alleyway, as well as paint cans and a bag of their equipment, but nothing to indicate monster involvement. It would be chalked up as just another mugging, or random murder. They wouldn't solve it tomorrow. They might not even discover the crime scene by tomorrow.

Fully satiated, I returned home. Hopefully, my family would never ask where I'd been, or what I'd been doing. At least not Ben. Dad would know already, and mum should know but was probably in denial, but Ben I intended to keep in the dark for as long as possible. Would he still hug me and call me fluffy if he knew? How long would my parents give me a pass for my behaviour? I can excuse last night, given that they'd just discovered I was alive, but I doubt they would shelter me forever if I kept up my feeding habits... Would I be forced to choose between my two incompatible lives? Which would I pick if I did?

No-one was awake by the time I got back and the sky was still dark, so I made my way back to my old room, unsurprised to see that it hadn't been touched. Even though I no longer needed sleep, I ended up on my bed, wrapping myself up in the duvet, accidentally tearing the headboard with my horns and poking holes in the duvet with my claws. How strange it was, to flip between two such different lives. To simultaneously hold two completely disparate world views. I wasn't any weaker for it though; it only made me stronger. The power of a monster with the intelligence of a human. One more day, and I'd have my revenge on the one responsible for my creation.

Hmm? That's a strange statement too, isn't it? Why do I need revenge on someone for creating me? I'm not going to call myself thankful for being kidnapped, but the fact remains that the current me wouldn't exist if I hadn't, and it wasn't as if I disliked myself. I was perfectly happy with who I currently was, naming complications aside.

Not for my creation then, but for my kidnap and violation, regardless of the eventual outcome. For the enslavement of my kind. For hunting them as prey. For the attempted enslavement of me. For the crime of thinking himself superior. Tomorrow he was intending to hunt me, as sport, not even thinking I was a threat. I grinned a very inhuman smile under the duvet. Tomorrow, he would find out what it meant to be prey.