//------------------------------//
// X. Unchained 
// Story: Love the Costume, Vinyl! 
// by SkyLovesPie 
//------------------------------//

	Our hooves clopped on the street as we circled, feigning and dodging, rolling and slashing. The colt was a good fighter, but he had nothing on my speed and agility. We danced, dashing back and forth. He faked me out, then swiped at me with his hoof. It stung, but only fueled my anger. I sped up, nearing my limits. He spun around as I leapt overhead, he rolled under me, and so it went. As time went by, he slowed down due to weariness. We had been fighting all night, and the sun was rising. Soon, he would gain an edge, and I would be forced to run, cowering in fear from Celestia's Glory. 
I whirled as he rolled to the side and crashed into his own force field. It shattered, shards of magic raining down before dissipating into the void from whence they came. He spun on his hocks, hooves in the air as he reared on me. I dashed underneath and flipped so I landed on his back. We both came crashing down, and I heard the sick crunch of bone as it cracked under our combined weight. He screamed, and it was equal parts rage, pain, and hatred all mixed into one hideous concoction. 
My vampire side was raging wild now, and I could no longer contain or control it in the least. Time slowed down, and I heard each individual heartbeat, saw each wave of new blood flow through his veins. I could feel myself leaning in, going for the kill. The burn was demanding to be extinguished, and I gave in to temptation. The lust for blood, the need, the want-- it all came to me in an instant, and I bit down hard. My venom-coated fangs speared his jugular and blood rushed through the open gap in his neck. He screamed again, crying out for help, for somepony to assist him, to heal him. But nopony would come. 
He was at my mercy, and I gulped mouthfuls of red down my throat. As it flooded my system, I grew stronger by the second, drinking more and more. He screamed until he simply fell limp, and even then I took ever increasing amounts, letting the haze wash over me, letting the predatory instinct come out to play. When I was full, I dropped him on the ground, where his head hit the stone with a disgusting crack. Blood was matted in my fur, on my face and hooves, and it spilled in the streets, flowing through the grooves in the cobble and sinking into every nook and cranny in the general area.
His four friends were watching with widened eyes, one had fainted, and another was trying to run away. I ran after him, catching up in a matter of a few seconds. I quickly disposed of him, snapping his neck with a simple movement of my forelegs. He dropped like a fly, dead on the road where he lay.
Another colt made a break for it while I was dealing with the other two, a pegasus and an earth pony. The pegasus' wings were much too small to carry him through the air and away, but he still tried to liftoff unsuccessfully.  He was gone in an instant, leaving one more. I galloped after the young stallion, and the scent of fresh blood caught me and carried me with it, and I rode on the crimson wings of the wind. Soon, he too was gone, lying in the street. 
Five, I thought. I killed-- no, murdered-- five colts. I'm a monster.
"He-- he was right. We are all the same." I had a good mind to let myself burn in the sun, but clouds obscured its beams of death. My burning would have to wait. The clop of hooves upon the stones made me turn around instinctually. 
"Is this where you've been the whole time, Melody?" Hurricane asked me, eyeing the colts warily. She sniffed the air, and I could tell she was trying to decide whether or not to feed. "What have you been doing?!"
"He tried to kill me," I mumbled. It was partly the truth. But it wasn't all of it. "I could've died..."
"And that justifies killing the others... how, exactly?" I didn't have an answer. Her eyes were a maroon, instead of their normal bright red. She groaned before saying, "I'm getting thirsty... but this makes me a little less enthused about it."
Moonlight's eyes, for the first time I noticed, were in fact not at all red. Not even a pink, but they were still his normal blue. This observation made me wonder if he truly was a vampire, or it was all in his head. I didn't know if that was possible, but he hadn't fed at all since the transformation. Hurricane and I had fed quite a lot, and we hadn't been able to go for two days without a drink. But Moonlight wasn't even complaining about the thirst. This worried me, but I shrugged it off.

I slouched as we walked around the city. The clouds were still out, so we could mingle amongst the normal ponies without dying. Some still glanced up and happened to see our red eyes, but they just edged away. Some turned their heads in the other direction as we passed. Others thought nothing of it. Most didn't notice anything supernatural about our group. The occasional filly or colt would hide behind their dam's leg, but that was the most reaction we got from nearly everypony. 

We walked in the general direction of  the hospital, and eventually made our way there. It was very empty, the only pony there was the nurse at the reception desk. 
"May I help you?" she asked. Her nameplate read Little Joy. Her mane was a beautiful pale pink. Her coat was exceptionally soft-looking, and a very lovely cream colour. She had a red star on the bridge of her muzzle. Her eyes were the same color as her star.
"How is the Princess?" I asked, hesitating at first. I wasn't sure who had seen what, and I decided to err on the side of caution. She blinked.
"The Princess?" she questioned. 
"Yeah, Princess Luna? She was admitted to this hospital yesterday evening."
"Princess Luna has never visited this hospital for anything." She looked me straight in the eyes as she spoke, and I could see she believed her words, even if they weren't true.
"I know she's here," I said. "I'm the one who brought her in." Little Joy just rolled her eyes at me. With a dull sigh, like she'd been doing this all day, she said, "There's no Princess here, Luna, Celestia, or otherwise." Hurricane, who was to my right, shrugged and turned around and walked straight out of the lobby. Moonlight followed suit, and I trotted after them.

"Why do you suppose she would lie about Princess Luna being there?" I asked Moonlight and Hurricane after checking, double-checking, and triple-checking that we were at the right hospital. Indeed we were, and this just made it even more confusing.
"Security reasons? Maybe it's against regulations to say that a princess is at your hospital or something. Assassins could use that information, and reporters would bug you nonstop," Hurricane said without looking at me. "Who knows."
"I guess so." Something still bugged me, but it wasn't my place to interfere with the Princess' business anymore. As long she was safe, it didn't concern me.

I hadn't noticed where we were heading, but when we stopped I slammed into Hurricane after getting lost in my own thoughts.
"Sorry!" I mumbled. A grunt was my only response.