Late night snacks.

Stepping out of the lab an hour after his wife, and yawning into his hand, Reed rubbed the soreness out of his eyes, heading down the hallway of his home to his shared bedroom with his wife. Making his way there he noticed the kitchen light still on, hearing the rummaging of plastic packaging on the counter. Curios, the man turned the corner to find his wife at the counter making a sandwich for herself and using all the sliced turkey in the packaging to do it.

“Hey sweetie, feeling hungry?”

Taking a bite out of her sandwich and making a face while chewing that looked like she had been starving this whole time, Susan turned her attention to Reed and smiled, licking the mustard from her lips with a blush and combing her fingers through her hair out of reflex. “Yeah, hmm, sorry Reed, just getting a late-night snack before bed.” Biting into her sandwich again, the woman hummed to herself finishing off her meal and passing her husband at the kitchen doorway, kissing his cheek, and making her way to bed. Shrugging, Reed followed her to their room. Getting changed and buttoning up to sleep, Reed leaned over to see his wife in the adjacent bathroom, giving herself a look over and comb her hair.

“Huh… Reed, do I look pale to you?”

Seeing her poke her head out of the bathroom in a night gown and her long blonde hair draping down her shoulder, Reed tilted his head, shrugging as the light from the bathroom may have illuminated her, it didn’t show her complexion had changed. “You look as beautiful as always Suzie, maybe you’re just seeing things.”

“Yeah… Maybe…” Yawning into her own hand, Susan joined her husband in bed and curled up to sleep.

*

It was at night…

The sky was so dark, overhead all the stars could be seen like streams of sparkling lights just out of reach splayed over the canvas of the night, with the sickle thin outline of the crescent moon. Not a cloud in the sky, it was crystal clear as far as the horizon could show which finally ended with the obscurity of the pine trees, she darted past. Susan was running, running faster than she ever imagined in her life. Breathing hard, she could feel the icy wind through her long hair, the stark, brisk cold of the winter biting at her skin. But she never felt cold, even in the freezing foot deep snow she was running barefoot in. No, she was not cold, or tired, or scared…

She was hungry!

She was RAVENOUS!!!

She never KNEW such hunger, like an abyss demanding to be filled but so vast no effort could be made to fill it. She could not think or feel anything other than the gnawing hunger driving her forward.

Stalking through the snow, Susan breathed hard with her pace, her hot breath escaping her black lips like smoke from a furnace. Looking down at her feet she noticed footprints in the ankle-deep snow, dragging into a trail ahead of her further into the pines. Hearing a cry ahead of her, her speed increased, carving a wake through the snow until she was to leap into the air to hide her presence, grabbing hold of a tree trunk 15 feet above the ground and vaulting herself to the next one, then the next. Picking up speed she heard the cry echo out into the darkness again, practically salivating, she leapt across the forest and landed on her feet on a rocky outcrop, running on all fours with her lips pulled back to reveal her fanged teeth. Leaping off the outcrop, she found her prey stumbling in the snow, his clothes torn and marred with caked blood that was not his and his face frozen in terror. He had been running for his life for so long he no longer had the breath to scream when he turned and looked up at her lunging for him with her claws brandished and her maw open to bite into his neck.

The taste of blood on her lips made her eyes roll back, her nostril flaring from the taste even as she ignored the gurgling cries of the man she sunk her teeth into, her claws digging into his ribcage with enough that bones crumbled in her grip. Feeling him limply struggling in her grip, his hands grabbing at the fur of her back and shoulders, he coughed up blood, trying to mutter a word into her spaded ear.

“Susan… It’s… It’s ME… Reed!... Please… Wake UP…”

*

“Wake up Susan, the kids are about to head to school, and I’ve got that symposium at the University, should I drop them off or do you need some more time?”

Groaning awake and sitting up from her spot on the bed, Susan rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and looked around, squinting at the sunlight cutting through the blinds of the bedroom. Looking over to the bedside drawer, she found the alarm clock read 7 AM. Looking up to Reed just now finishing up putting his tie on around his neck, the man wearing his blue business suit for the meeting.

“Damn what a screwed-up dream…” Shaking her head, Susan groaned.

“What was that sweetheart?”

“Nothing Reed, I think I can drop off the kids, just give me a bit to get cleaned up.”

Feeling him place a kiss on her forehead, Susan swooned to herself and sat up to make her way to the bathroom, giving herself a look over in her reflection in the mirror. Leaning against the sink counter, the woman turned her head back and forth and pulled open one of her eyes to get a better look. Apart from her skin looking a bit pale and her eyes a tad bloodshot, she seemed no worse for wear. Slumping and exhaling a breath, Susan gave her reflection a face and snorted. “Last time I eat a turkey sandwich late at night…”

Turning on the shower head and getting undressed, Susan Storm got herself cleaned up and ready for the day.