PART ONE

It Begins

Waking Up

Is it over? Where am I? I thought as the silence continued to wrap its cold talons around my mind. I was lost, couldn't see. Was it just dark or were my eyes locked shut? Did it even matter? Below me I could feel stone, probably concrete. I sat up as best as I could in the darkness and stared into the nothingness. There was no sound, nothing to suggest that I was still alive. My mouth tasted dry, and I immediately licked my lips out of habit. All I could hear- or comprehend at the least- was my own breathing. Slowly I began to grow used to the rising and falling of my chest. I jumped, scared, as the silence was broken, but I felt stupid when I realized that it was just my stomach. My legs and neck were stiff. I must have been lying there most if not all night.

Little by little my brain awoke and I instinctually found myself taking in my surroundings. My eyes were adjusting so the darkness wasn't just me. At least I knew I wasn't dead. Or was this what death was really like? I didn't recognize where I was, which scared me. How did I get here? All I remembered was ... ugh ... nothing, I remembered nothing! I think I was attacked ... on my way home ... from work maybe? Wasn't there a fist, or a weapon? As I thought about this, another idea crossed my mind. Why am I still alive? Against my better judgment, I found I couldn't stop my mouth from moving. I spoke.

"Hello?" I barely whispered.

Suddenly light engulfed the room and I was blinded. My arm whipped up to shield my eyes from the brightness, but the sudden contrast still required me to squint. My eyes rapidly trying to adjust, I first noted how small the room was. A fireplace, unlit and sooty, was the only splash of color. The reds and oranges of the bricks prominently stood out against the whites and grays of the walls and stone floor. The hard floor I had felt, as I had guessed, was indeed concrete. Everything was bare from the walls with empty spaces where portraits might have hung long ago, to the floor littered with shards of concrete and a thin layer of dust. The building, if I had to guess, hadn't been touched in years. My eyes continued darting until, naturally, they came to the only other important thing in the room, a small electric lamp with a plain white top; the source of the light. Casually sitting next to it in a beaten down chair was a lone figure. Their head was propped up on their right hand which was closed in a relaxed fist; their left arm was laid out on one of the rests. It was a man, and, as scared as I was, a handsome one. Immediately I realized what kind of a situation I was in, and it wasn't good. I was terrified, I had heard of men like this. They looked decent, but all they really wanted was to get under your clothes. Unfortunately for me, I would probably make a delicious meal. He sat only a few feet away from me; but he didn't move. Instead of looking at me, he was staring out of a window I hadn't noticed before. My heart was racing and it took me a moment to steady my breathing.

"You're awake. Good! There's a lot we have to talk about."

This took me off guard. Wasn't he going to hurt me? Rape me even?! Instead he chose to speak calmly to me, and tell me we had things to talk about.

"You're scared and you're confused, I get it," he finally turned to me and I got my first glimpse of his ... gorgeous face. His eyes were bright green and his brown hair was shaggy as if he'd just gotten out of a fight. Around his neck he wore a chain with a metal cross, and on his finger, a small golden ring. I found it all odd; he didn't look much like a church boy. He wore a black jacket with a white tank top on underneath, and his tan cargo jeans had a hole in both of his knees. His tennis shoes were a little worn out as well. Overall, it was difficult for me to figure out what kind of guy he was.

"My name's Daniel, don't worry, I'm a friend. You've," he paused for a split second, "had an accident."

I looked down at my hands for the first time and realized that they were throbbing, like I had tried punching something hard. I looked back up at him and gave him the biggest look of resentment I could. He had done this to me; whatever was going on was his fault. I had to get out of here. I had to get away from him.

"Look, you're lucky to be alive. I'm lucky to be alive!"

I didn't speak to him; he didn't deserve any respect from me. As my eyes scanned the room for an escape route, I thought I noticed something strange about Daniel's face. Maybe I was crazy, but I swore his eyes were changing color. For a small moment neither one of us spoke. He didn't smile. He didn't lunge at me. He simply leaned down and produced a small hand mirror from off the surface of the end table that the lamp sat on. He looked at me, and then, with a slight hesitation, slowly leaned over and held it out for me. Did he really expect me to grab it?

"Take it, you should know now so you don't freak out too much later and accidentally kill somebody."

"What?"

His statement had sparked something inside of me I hadn't known before, and my hands shot forward before I could even think about it. I held the mirror to my face and immediately screamed. The mirror shattered to the floor, but in the one large piece left in the frame I could still see it all. It wasn't me, that wasn't me. My eyes were the worst; they stared back at me with a bright red color instead of my usual blue. On top of that, my neck now had picked up a new scar, two little holes that sank into my skin a ways. I slowly connected the dots and staggeringly opened my mouth.

My heart stopped completely. I looked up to see Daniel with his head rested against the back of his chair staring at me. I looked back and ran my finger over both of my fangs that jutted like knives from my gums.

"Vampire?"

"You should let me explain before you jump to conclusions."

"Who are you, what the hell is going on?" Suddenly I found myself surging backwards, stumbling as I clambered back. I found myself stuck in a corner. I felt a tear escape my eye and I realized I was going to cry. I buried my face in my hands and I bawled while memories of last week slammed into me like a freight train.

I had just arrived home from work. I had...