I woke up in my bedroom. My mouth hurt from growing in my fangs the day before. I sat up and rubbed my head, my hair knotty and messy. The room was the same, the items in the room were still there, but something felt strangely different. I tried to find out what it was just by looking around but I got nothing. A sigh escaped my dry lips and I decided to walk out onto the balcony. The wind was slightly cool. I didn't really care that other people could see me. Looking down, I gasped as I saw people of a grayish color and ripped clothing walking slowly down the pavement.

I tried to look at them for a long time, but something about them made me want to look away. They looked like ill people, and even though I'm a beast, I wanted to help them from the bottom of my cold, cruel heart. My eyes just looked away in disgust and hurt. And there, right before me, was a large puddle of blood.

Human blood.

My mother would've gone downstairs to drink it straight from the filthy concrete, but I didn't, no matter how many times I licked my lips just staring at it. I was born a horrible creature, one that sucked the life out of innocent people. My reflections on water and in mirrors just mocked me, and I couldn't bare to look at myself. I wish I were born a person, but I only looked like one. I was actually a vampire.

Now I've had friends before that I told them my secret but they never seemed to believe me. It was only when I drank their blood that they believed me. I never wanted to do that, no way, but I was starving. I killed my only friends just for a snack.

So as you can guess, I didn't have any friends. I spent my life alone in my room, stroking the soft white hairs of my pet unicorn named Angel. My life was just a big mess of fairy tales that came true, you could say. Nobody knew she existed but my family and I, and maybe the great God that looked down at me from Heaven with a look of disappointment on his face. She was the only thing that didn't have tasty blood. Hers tasted like wood and metal. That's what humans would say their own blood would taste like, but it tastes different to vampires. It tasted sweet and delicious to us.

I walked back inside and decided to sit on my bean bag chair and think. I thought about everything: the universe, people, television shows, and even love. Love was something I don't usually think about. Like, I know everybody is supposed to fall in love, but I figured I wouldn't because I'm practically a giant mosquito. I'm always so lonely. I've always wanted a girl to smile at me and accept me. I've always wanted a girl to love me and hug me and catch my lips when I least expect it.

After thirty minutes of thinking and staring at a wall, I got up and trotted down 15 flights of stairs to take a walk outside. The air was just the same. I could tell it had rained before I woke up by the darker color of the concrete under my feet. The stench of London relaxed the tension in my shoulders, even if it wasn't a fresh clean smell. I curled my lips a bit, knowing that the day would be a nice day.

The plastic of my shoes scraped on the pavement, leaving a strange but everyday sound that repeated with every small step I took. Everything seemed normal until I noticed that there were no cars going down the streets or any people walking by. That was extremely unusual for where I live. My smile faded and my blue eyes were full of worry as I stopped in my tracks. I listened for a moment. Wind was clearly audible. It seemed as though that was the only thing you could hear until I heard a very quiet whimper. I immediately jumped and my heart skipped a beat. My feet followed the whimpers and I came to a sudden stop. Looking around, my eyes landed on a silhouette of a boy. The boy was curled up into a ball, head resting on the side of a building.

My heart raced and I walked up to him, asking, "Are you okay?" He sobbed and shook his head. I could barely see him at all in the shadows, but he held out his hand. I stared at it for a moment and took it, discovering his hand was covered in some sort of liquid. I immediately retreated. My legs tired and I sat down across from him, waiting for him to say anything at all, but he didn't.

After a few minutes, my eyes began to adjust to the light and I could see his face. It was a very beautiful face, one so beautiful I gasped loudly. He looked over at me with scared brown eyes. His hair was brunette and straight, about medium length. His nose was a tiny bit bigger than a regular boy's nose and his lips sealed together in a perfect shape. I smiled at him and my eyes twinkled with the little amount of light. He smiled back at me with white straight teeth.

"Wow, you're a stunning thing, aren't you?" I asked, quite nervous to be talking to him. His smile grew and he giggled. He put his arms in front of his face and blushed.

"Thank you. I'm Dan, by the way," he said. Dan. I liked that name. The way it rolled off of your tongue so easily was amazing. I smiled at him, probably making it a bit obvious that I liked him. He just smiled back, the tears forgotten and almost dried.

"I'm Phil. It's lovely to meet you," I replied, and I looked at his hand again. I could now see it was covered with fresh blood. "What happened to your hand?" I asked, my voice shaking.

"They almost killed me," he told me, his eyes worried again. I shared the same expression and scooted closer. Dan didn't notice at all.

"Who almost killed you?" I asked, my hand now resting on his knee. He shook and twitched with horror as he thought about who. I could tell that it was horrifying, whatever he was thinking about. I felt bad for causing him discomfort but I really needed to know.

"The zombies," he answered, and I looked at him with a confused expression. He saw this and continued. "Since last night, people have been rising from their graves and killing innocent people. They tried to come for me but I didn't let them get me. Everybody's inside hiding but I don't-" he stopped there. I looked into his eyes and tried to tell him to keep talking without any words being spoken but that wasn't going to work.

"But you don't what?" I asked him, and now my hand was rubbing circles into his knee. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Dan then looked at me with those eyes and told me. Five words came out of his mouth, five words that made me feel so sorry for him that I immediately gave him a strong hug. Somewhere in the middle of this hug I started crying, and he cried with me. What were those five words? 'I don't have a home.'