Two teenage girls were sitting in the waiting room of a free clinic, waiting with their mothers for their turn to see the doctor. Neither had been told why they were there, and their minds wandered about the reason.

"Sedona," a nurse said monotone.

The brunette teenager stood up. Her long sleeved black shirt and dark blue jeans were wrinkled but she really didn't care. She was Austria Sedona, a sixteen-year-old girl who lived near the mountains in Colorado with her mom, dad, and little sister.

Austria walked to a room that the nurse pointed to and sat down in a chair next to her mom. Within a few minutes, a male doctor with dark blonde hair and orange-gold eyes walked in. It was easy to see that this one was a victim of the vampiric outbreak, but neither women had anything against it. He sat down in another chair and looked at the two women.

"Thank you for bringing her, Mrs. Sedona," he said with a nod.

"It was easy," she said sorrowfully. "I feel bad about doing this."

"It's for the best."

"I know."

Austria looked at her with a halfway scared look. "M-Mom? What're you talking about?"

Her mother took out a pair of blue contacts she had been wearing to cover her eye color. "I'm sorry Austria," she looked at her daughter with orange-gold eyes, "but you and Trista would've run if you knew why we were bringing you here."

Austria gasped and drew away from her mother and the doctor. "You're forcing me to assimilate?"

The doctor nodded. "Yes, but the word 'forcing' makes it seem horrible. Let's just say that we're making your decision for you."

"NO!" She stood up and tried to run for the door, but her wrist was caught and she was turned to face the doctor.

…

Austria yelped and a sat upright in her bed. She breathed heavily - she didn't need to, but it was an old habit from being human. She'd had that same dream for the past four years, ever since her humanity was drained from her and she was forced to become a vampire. True, she could've just stepped out into the sunlight shortly afterwards and died, but she was convinced that there had to be a way to reverse it. She wasn't going to give up on life, even this one, if there was a chance of being human again.

She swung her legs out of bed and stood up. The clock mounted on the far wall read midnight: time to get ready for work. She walked over to her closet and swung the door wide open.

A year after her and her friend, Trista Everclear, were changed, they dropped out of high school and moved in together. They both have successful jobs as scientists. (Even high school dropouts can lead successful lives in this new world.)

A black haired girl yawned as she walked into her friend's room with a cup of coffee in her hand. She was wearing a black tank top and blue skinny jeans. "Don't forget that you'll be with Ed today."

Austria sighed as she slipped on her baggy white t-shirt and black jeans. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Hey, Trista, could you pour me a cup of that?"

Trista nodded and turned towards the kitchen.

Austria brushed out her shoulder length brown hair and walked out into the living room. She sat down on the dark blue couch and watched the news. More humans were captured, ending the blood shortage in Houston, Texas. Stocks went up. The President was giving a speech that night. Nothing interesting.

Trista gave Austria her coffee and sat down next to her friend. "We really should take up the boss's offer for a personal blood supply."

Austria's eyes narrowed. It was the same conversation just about every night. "If I told you once, I've told you a hundred times: I don't want to know where my food supply comes from."

"But you do know: humans."

"I mean specifically. If we have our own personal human, I don't know if I'll be able to keep that one bit of humanity I have left."

Trista shrugged and took a sip of her coffee. "We're vampires, we have human blood lining the rims of our cups of coffee. We have no humanity left, Austria."

Austria sighed and took a gulp of her coffee. She had never put too much blood in it, just enough to dull the strong flavor of the coffee beans Trista bought. In coffee, blood was really just like sugar or cream, so Austria had just always imagined it like that.

"Well," Austria said as she took one last gulp of her coffee, "I'm heading off." She put her coffee on the side table next to the couch and stood up.

"Okay." Trista crossed her legs on the couch. "Don't forget to meet Ed at the laboratory today."

"I won't." Austria walked out of the house and got into her red Toyota Avalanche to go to work.