The retaliation expected, Pearl clings to her victim with all four limbs, nails sinking into her back. The second the skin tears and the first drops of blood hit her tongue, Pearl feels alive. Her fangs grow longer and her claws dig deeper and every bit of guilt she's ever felt about feeding vanishes into thin air. This, this is bliss, this is absolutely everything, and she never wants this moment to end.

But the woman is strong, and the woman is struggling, and Pearl is still weakened from days of starvation. She is only able to resist for so long; a coarse howl tears itself from her throat as an elbow to her abdomen finally shatters her grip and knocks her hard onto the floor.

Pearl lands on her hands and knees, head snapping up with a snarl that reveals fangs like a hyena's, bone-white and dripping red. Her once-delicate features are contorted in a way no human face should, milky eyes frenzied and unfocused. Now that she's had a taste, she can't, she won't be stopped. Springing forward, she chains her arms around the human's left leg, aiming for the pulse point closest within reach -- the femoral artery.