I opened my eyes and saw the light for the first time. Not in the figurative sense. I knew I had never seen beauty before that day. I looked around me in awe, confused, but I felt amazing. I stretched my arm out to the side and marveled at how I could feel every blade of grass that touched me, the air wafting gently over my skin, the coarse texture of the cloth on my body.
"Hungry!" I whispered the only thing I knew for sure and suddenly, I was on my feet, running so fast that what I was passing would have been a blur if my eyes had been human. They weren't. Everything was in perfect detail and perfectly unknown to me.
Scents swirled around me, flavours of different things colouring my new world. It was distracting to be so aware of everything, but my steps never wavered, my feet always sure. Racing me towards something I couldn't identify and I couldn't resist.
It was done in a flash. I'd leapt and torn out his throat before I recognized what I was about to do and, I think, before he even knew I was there. The blood that sprayed from his body as his heart beat for the last time was warm and delicious and fragrant. I laughed as I fed, happy that I had found what I didn't know I'd been searching for. I felt no remorse. I didn't know what remorse was. I knew I needed, I knew his blood had slaked that need. I walked away smiling.
I fed many more times in the next months. Any hapless human that crossed my path was served a death sentence almost before they even knew someone was near them. None of them got to scream. I think that was a good thing because at that point the sound of someone screaming would have damaged me irreparably. I know how ironic that sounds, but I have learned since that I was very impressionable at that point in my new life. If I had been exposed to the wrong things, my path may have gone in a very different direction.
I had discovered that I was not the same as the beings I fed on. I was something more, something strong. I knew we looked alike, and I had a vague idea that I had once been like them, but I didn't remember anything before waking up in the sunlight. So, while it bothered me from time to time that I couldn't place the feeling that I had changed somehow, it didn't affect me.
I learned very quickly that I was conspicuous in the sunlight. Within my first few days, after feeding I noticed that the skin of the creatures I fed on did not glitter in the sun as mine did. I knew that I was shaped the same way they were and wondered if this difference was only because I was observing them when they were dead. The next time I ate, I paid attention as I was preparing my attack and noticed that yes, their skin definitely did not shine like mine. Knowing that this would cause attention to be drawn to me I became careful to not show myself to humans during daylight hours. Instead I explored remote areas or hid if there was nowhere I would be able to avoid them.
As I began to think coherently, I recognized that the rags I was dressed in not only were not appropriate to be walking about in, but also did nothing for my ability to blend into the background, specifically after feeding. Self-preservation is an instinct born in every creature. I knew that if I was caught that it would not be a pleasant experience. I was much more physically powerful and faster than the humans, but as I came across larger gatherings of them I had witnessed more than a few examples of how brutal and ugly humans could be when incensed.
I was slowly learning to control my impulse to attack every human I saw, so it was becoming easier to be close to towns, cities and other settlements. I decided to test just how well I had trained myself. I noticed that clothes were hung out on long lines during the day in some places. I spent one morning crouched in the fringe of trees that bordered a farm I had seen a few days before. I watched as a woman came out of the house holding what seemed to be a rather heavy basket and place it on the stoop under the line. With a precision born of endless repetition she hung several pieces of clothing by fixing them to the line with curious wooden pegs. They were quite wet, and instantly I put together the logic of hanging them outside where the wind and sun could dry them. I filed that information away for future use and continued to watch as the woman emptied the basket, filling up every inch of space between the two support poles. When she had finished she picked up the basket, humming to herself and walked back into the house, presumably to do some other chore of the variety that never seem to become obsolete. I had held my breath the entire time she had been outside, I had found that this helped to lessen the desire to attack.
After she had re-entered the house I let it out in a long slow breath and drew in another long one. I reveled in the sweet scent of the air, the comforting smell of hay somewhere close by and the grass being crushed beneath my knees. I knew already that I didn't feel the cold, or for that matter, the heat, like humans did. It simply didn't affect me, so I decided to take my chance immediately while the woman was busy, rather than wait for the clothes to dry and risk her seeing me when she came to check on their progress. I rose up on the balls of my bare feet and assessed my target. Towards the middle of the line there was what I eventually was able to name as a long, brown dress, a long slip, and several chemises. I knew from the women I had attacked that this made up most of the female dress, so I was satisfied that my wearing these garments would render me inconspicuous.
I planned to grab the pieces I wanted as I ran through the yard so hopefully all the woman would see if she glanced out a window would be a blur, or some rustled foliage. I stood slowly, my eyes never leaving the door to the house, and a moment later I was flying across the wide expanse of grass between my target and myself. I ran under the line (blessedly being small can be useful) grabbed the three things and was on the other side beyond the tree line before a few seconds had elapsed. I loped into the wood with my prize, a triumphant smirk on my face, to find a place to dress without being interrupted.
As dexterous and accomplished as this new body was, it didn't help when trying to decipher the complexity of my new dress. The slip and chemise were fairly straightforward, the chemise pulling over my head with my arms through the holes at the sides, and the slip held on by a drawstring and small button at my waist. The dress on the other hand, though simple enough in taste was at first beyond my experience. It took some trial and error to figure out. Eventually I conquered it and it was draping my body not only in an appropriate, but a fairly attractive fashion. I was pleased with myself.