HI!...I'm a maniac!

The fog filled the corner of Broadway and Twenty-first completely, all but silencing the poorly maintained streetlight. A young, blond woman walked along briskly, full of confidence and purpose, secure in the knowledge that she was packing. Her eyes were alert, scanning the clouded street ahead of her. She'd be damned if she was going to let those street punks keep her away from the drunken young doctors attending the medical convention downtown. She had seen enough "Cops" to know that the streets weren't always safe but fuck 'em, she was ready for whatever the city had to throw at her.

A loud clang rang out as someone tripped over a USA Today news-rack made invisible by the fog. In a single fluid motion she whirled and drew the .357 from her purse, best birth control on the market baby. Flicking the safety off the orange she assumed her firing position picturing herself as a young Sean Conery. "Show yourself or you'll be breathing through your balls!" she challenged. After a moment of silence she sent three shots in quick sucession in the general direction of the disturbance, completely obliterating the innocent paper-machine.

Through the mist a shadow streaked towards her unsuspecting and unprotected back. The creature materialized inches from her, throwing open its neon green cape to reveal its tye-dyed shrouded form. Head turned; mouth open to reveal the two small, glimmering pointed trademark teeth that extended beyond the rest. It poised in mid-strike as she turned to it. A shudder passed through her as it continued to stare at the nape of her neck. It could hear her life-giving fluids as they coursed through her body.

"I just can't do it!" he screamed in agony as she shot him at point blank range.

"God damn it Jonathan. Don't be such a fucking wimp. Just do it!" commanded a voice from somewhere in the fog.

"I'm sorry Walter. You're right, I know you're right. It's just that well.. you know how much I hate violence. Just the thought of putting flesh in my mouth makes my stomach churn. Isn't there another way? I mean is there anything else." The young woman let the hand holding the still smoking gun fall to her side as she stared at the bullet hole in Jonathan. s chest in disbelief. With a puzzled look she raised the gun and fired again directly into the heart of her attacker. Nothing.

"Jonathan we've been over this a thousand times." She raised the gun to his forehead. Faster than the human eye could follow the gun was wrenched from her hand and smashed against the concrete. Her look of surprise was answered by an innocent shrug from the thing before her.

"Sorry, the face takes a while to heal."

"Don't apologize to her you nitwit. She's the food, don't play with your food. Now eat up so we can get on to more interesting things."

"You're right of course Walter. Hey maybe if you did it for me..You know just got me started then I could take over.."

"Damn it, you know your first one has to be solo otherwise you're not completely turned. You're going to love the feeling of full force, but you're just a fucking zombie until you make your first kill. Come on, you know this will only work if we're equals."

"Walter, you know I want to. I need to be with you. It's just that this conflicts with everything I've lived for. I'm a pacifist for gosh sakes." Its shoulders shrugged and for a moment she almost felt sorry for it as she kneed it in what she hoped was its groin. It was. The velvet cape closed around the figure as it crumpled to the ground. Having grown up with three older brothers she knew now was the time to run.

Jonathan raised his face from the concrete with a new look in his eyes one filled with pain and anger. Still crouched he scanned the fog for her scent. With a cry he sprang, landing a step in front of her. With her head still turned to the spot of their original encounter she ran headlong into him. This time there was nothing gentle about his touch. Her struggles were brought to an end by a quick backhand that connected solidly with her forehead. Her head snapped back so that she could no longer see the face of her attacker or the hand that clutched her blouse refusing to let her fall. A single finger extended from the hand still airborne after the first strike. She heard the laughter as the fingers struck snake like, ripping flesh from bone. She felt pain and then it was on her sucking her stomach out through the gash in her neck. Her feet left the ground as a veil of gauze came down across her vision. At least the sucking had stopped.

"Walter!" face smeared with the blood of the woman it was holding before it. Jonathan reeled from the new sensations that flowed through him, "You were right. The way to a woman's heart is through her chest!" His free hand shot forward, shattering her ribs and causing a final gush of fluids to exit through her gasping mouth. Jonathan lowered the human husk and proudly displayed the still beating heart to its hosts clouding eyes. A hand appeared on Jonathan's shoulder, a second grasped his, crushing the organ trapped between their fingers.

After a lingering kiss the two forms melted back into the fog, leaving the crushed remains of Ms. Virginia Stallworth amongst the other forgotten fast food containers.