(inspired by grimmfairy's (ArchiveofOurOwn) "Vampires in Central City", all Credit goes to grimmfairy!)
Chapter 1: Mutatio
TWO YEARS AGO:
Barry didn't know what had happened to him. Just a little while ago, he was standing next to a pond, surveying a crime scene where a young man had been filled with arrows, when seconds later he was lying on his back in the dirt. Except, it wasn't seconds. It was days. His phone had been fried when it happened, and he struggled to recall exactly what had occured before he woke up on the ground. He had been standing there, taking photos of the young man, when he'd heard the sky crack. 'Thunderstorm.' he remembered thinking before continuing his work. He'd taken a photo to catch the angle that the arrows had entered the man's back, when he'd noticed something on the ground. He remembered bending down to pick it up. A wallet? Nothing was missing inside it but the ID card had been burned severely. Strange that the card was burned but nothing else on the man was. Barry had turned to open his investigation bag and put the wallet into a plastic evidence bag, before his eyes looked down into the water of the pond. The lightning was getting bad, making him consider packing up and heading off to finish later, when he saw it. A lightning bolt was moving towards him at incredible speed, its size and power leaving him frozen in fear, his feet glued to the ground. He remembered the pain when the bolt had struck him in the heart, the tearing and burning and searing pain of every cell in his body being ripped apart and pieced back together again in seconds. He remembered flying into the air and impacting the ground, hitting his head on the stones that bordered the small pond, which knocked him out. He'd woken up not long after, found the body burned to a crisp, his clothing in shreds, and went to find his phone. He'd managed to find it just minutes before it died of low battery, reading the date: March 18, 2020. 'Five days. I've been unconscious for five days?' Barry questioned before feeling the massive surge of his stomach growling. He'd found his destroyed car, fried and blown to smithereens, as well as his only way back to Central City in the twenty miles he'd driven to investigate the crime scene. He searched through the contents of his car, finding small granola bars and such, which he snacked on when he'd needed it. Something else kicked at the bottom of his stomach, though. Something that wanted more than just food….He watched a rabbit hop by his sitting spot, his eyes unable to leave its small body bouncing up and down. The 'thing' pulled at him, wanting him to give chase. Without warning, he'd jumped to his feet, finding himself holding the dead rabbit in his hands just seconds later. Terrified, he'd dropped the poor animal, staring at his blood soaked hands. Something pulled at him to lick it off….to taste the blood of his prey. 'No. I can't. I just killed it for no reason!' Barry screamed in his head, his body shaking. He bit down on his tongue, jerking at the feeling of iron in his mouth. He reached up, feeling around his jaws before his fingers caught on four small sharp canines in each corner of his mouth. He got up, choosing to get moving and run to the city if he had to. He gathered what he could and began to move, suddenly finding himself smacking into a wall. He stumbled back, falling over some trash cans in his wake. As he tried to get up, he paused when he heard a sound. Looking around, a homeless man was staring at him like he'd just seen a ghost. Barry raised a hand, trying to be friendly, and began to walk towards him. He shot forward at super speed again, managing to slow himself but skidding across the pavement. He hissed in pain at his bloodied knee, watching as the man quickly jumped up in fear. Barry felt the thirst burning in his throat become stronger the more he looked at the man, but shrank away from asking for help. No matter what happens, he would not kill anyone. He would not subject himself to becoming a killer, not this kind anyway. He slowly got up again, raising a hand to the man, but watched him step back in fear. "Please, don't hurt me." the man cried, turning and running away from him. Barry wanted to cry out, wanted to say he wasn't planning on it, but caught a look at himself in the mirror that the man had been standing in front of. The fangs in his mouth were long and pearl white, his clothing was in tatters, his skin was ghostly pale, and his eyes….they were wide and glowing with some kind of electricity behind them. Barry jolted back as soon as he saw his appearance. 'I look like….a monster.' he thought, tears pooling in his eyes. He turned and sat down next to a dumpster left behind by the homeless man, wrapping his arms around his knees. "I am a monster." he sobbed, tucking his head in tight to his chest.