161 years earlier: London, England

A gun shot pierced the silence of the night; they were saving them is what my mother had said, when she was alive. But then she was taken off the same way, dragged by her arms, and the same gun shot went off. I never saw her again. It was 1847 when the Influenza hit Europe and the rest of the world. People were dropping like flies; there was hardly a cure, or just not enough medicine to give everyone. So that is what they did, took them out and 'humanely' killed them. Each one of them, I could tell my turn would be coming soon. I was weaker and weaker by the day, though Sophia always was there by my side. But when they took blood samples, she scattered, flew out of the room and fast. I had asked her repeatedly and she said when my time would come she would explain everything. But the thing is, when my time came, I would be dead. My brothers, mother, father and sisters had all gone outside. I could never block out the ear piercing shot sound after they were taken out side. It rang in my head for days after that. There was no funeral or anything for any of them, it was a hideous fact: they were shot, killed because it was 'the humane' way. That was the night I heard the doctors whispering in hushed terms, talking about me. It was hearing my name that made my eyes pop open, the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

"Tonight is Hedi's night" the doctor said in somewhat of an unkind voice. It sounded like he had been arguing with someone for a while.

"May I do it please?" it was Sophia, she wanted to kill me? That wasn't like her. They came closer to my bed, believing me to be asleep. I shut my eyes, my eyelashes tickled the top of my cheek. I imagined myself dead, just lying there. With a single bullet through my chest, my deep blue eyes staring into space without something to grasp, my dark brown hair scrawled all around my head mixing in with the blood and my perfectly curved body crumpled in different ways. Then I imagined the mental part, just falling through darkness, trying to hold onto something that wasn't there. Cold hands grasping at me trying to catch me as I fell, yet failing to do so and my family's voices calling me to them. It was hard to keep my eyes closed like that, knowing it was my night to die. I was shaken viciously with a hand covering my mouth, it was Sophia.

"Follow me" she said looking over her shoulder. Wasn't she afraid of getting sick? She wasn't supposed to be near me, I was deathly ill, and she didn't even have a face mask on. I hand never seen her real face, just that horrid mask over it. Always making me feel like I was some kind of scientific study subject, an experiment, nothing else. I raised my head slowly letting my brown, wavy hair flow down my shoulder.

"Oh, here let me help" she said scooting her hands under my body and lifting me up like I was a piece of paper. I said not a word; she was of course older than me. Considering she looked only 28 and yet I was 19. Sophia was beautiful, long blonde hair pulled up in a clasp around the side of her ears, mahogany colored eyes, with pale skin, very pale skin. I never really saw her in daylight, or clear light besides the hospital oil lamps, which were always dim. I was taken outside where she walked passed the bloodstained cobblestones and into the dark forest. The trail was dimly lit by the moon shining down on our backs. I was still looking at the bloodstained cobblestones as we disappeared into the forest. That was where my family had been killed. Murdered more like it, but killed none the less. I was set down deep in the woods, my head laid down gently.

"How are you feeling?" Sophia asked me. What kind of a question was that? A girl who was on death row?

"Not…" but I couldn't finish. There just wasn't enough strength in my limp body to get the words through my heavy lips.

"Oh, god. How am I going to do this? Lets see," she paused "I'll explain everything when I can. Okay?"

She looked me up and down, with these wide eyes. They had something in them that made me think she was about to kill me, a cold sweat started down my face. I was nervous, just something about her face. Worry, sorrow, guilt, happiness. It was all there, all of those emotions fixed in on one face.

"I'm not going to…" she paused "make you die." What was that supposed to mean? But that would mean….

I screeched taking in a deep breath, which turned out to be my last. My heart stopped, lungs, blood circulation, everything. It was still and quiet. But I could hear everything. I felt a rush of heat pulse through my veins, and then my throat tightened up. A thrust of thirst swept through my body, but it wasn't a thirst it was more like a craving. I felt my muscles tightened and then they were…gone? I couldn't feel them anymore. Though I couldn't feel anything anymore, yet I could feel everything. It was an impounding sensation that swept through me. Then it was the most awful wave of pain, I would have rather died. I couldn't scream, but nor could I not. The pain made me cringe every time it would send a jolt through my body. Sophia was there the entire time, by my side. Only leaving once for something I was not sure of. All I could truly feel was heat. Nothing but the heat. Like I was sitting on top of flames, with no way to escape. I was engulfed in the fiery version of what I believed to be hell, which could explain what almost was going to happen at the moment. My eyes were still open, I did something involuntary, I blinked. Why did I do that? They stung, my eyes, they felt like they were having acid poured from every angle onto them, but I was still looking up at the trees. At first everything was blurry as if I was being drowned in a muddy lake, then they cleared up and I could see everything. It was just a feeling, not quite the sense but the emotion. Suddenly, it stopped. The pain subsided, every thing was so clear. I don't clearly remember much of it. Every thing was…gone. The burning, the heat…everything.

"You are going to be fine Hedi" Sophia was there calming me. Like she was in the hospital. My eyes flickered open and saw for the first time. I could for the first time, actually see and feel what was around me.

'Where is Hedi?! Sophia! She took her! Guh! The infection is going to spread! How could the idiotic fool allow this to happen!?' I heard from a far. My head turned to the voice quickly but I saw no one. Then I turned back to Sophia. Everything was so defined, sharp, clear. She was defined, every crevice on her face I saw. Nothing was the same as before. Then I remembered it the pain was…gone. Just disappeared. Nothing was there. I could hear everything, see everything, and feel everything. There was no beat to my heart, or Sophia's. Just the silent sound of wind brushing through the tops of the trees. I could see every grain in the trees above even though it was night. Then I inhaled with lungs full of air. It felt silly but like a bad habit. On my tongue I could taste the air around me. Then I heard a rustle of leaves far off, my head turned and I saw Sophia for the first time after I had taken in my surroundings. She walked towards me, just a fraction of an inch like I was some kind of animal. It startled me though. With in a fraction of a second I was high up in a branch. Maybe I was some kind of animal she should be frightened of? Sophia backed up at that same moment and stood still. Someone who had been frozen in time. I let go of the branch I clutched and fell a good 20 feet to the ground. I landed in a crouch and came up slowly admiring the leaves underneath my feet. Who knew that they were so pretty? When I was standing up straight again I looked at my hands. They where white. Pale. Like Sophia's. It bothered me that I was so pale, but then again. Had I not envied Sophia for her beauty, and part of her beauty was her paleness. She came over to me. I did not move but imitated her standing like the statue. It was easy, and I was just happy I could stand again. Sophia was close to me now, she touched my arm. She didn't feel cold to me anymore.

"Sophia? What?" I started to ask.

"It was really hard Hedi. You don't understand how hard it was. But I need you to, can you see? I did this for your own good. Before your mother….died she said to save you, no matter what."

I felt something new. Something strong. I felt powerful. Too powerful.

"Sophia, what happened?" I asked.

She didn't answer but gave me a shameful look. Had she done something wrong?

"I was dead, before you…" I looked down at my left hand, flipping it over to see my wrist. There was an oval shaped scar, very faint though. "You bit me" I said stumbling through the words.

"Yes and I am very sorry for the pain you had to go through, but please listen. This is very important and it will all fall into place later. Trust me, I went through the same thing".

"What happened to me?" I asked in a shaky but musical voice. Nothing sounded or looked like me. I was something, but what?

"I had to bite you because…" and then I was out again, never having my question answered. I guess I had been un-conscious for an hour or so as my body took in the new me, I woke up at sun set. But why had I fallen asleep like that? It seemed so unnatural like, it wasn't supposed to happen. Off in the distance I heard Sophia was screaming bloody murder. Pushing my self up, I ran to her. She was about a couple thousand yards away, running was easy. Fast, unlike before.

"Sophia what's wrong?" I asked as the wind subsided as I stopped mid-tracks next to her.

"Don't they understand?!" she was wailing, "I could have saved them!" Now she was on her knees, with her hands covering her face. Sophia was in great pain, but why? I looked ahead, the hospital was burning. Then it hit me like a cosmic wave of pain. Worse than before when I was on fire. It wasn't a physical pain, but a mental one.

'Fire! Ouch!! No! where is my baby!? My baby!' I heard a woman screaming from inside the burning building. Reaching out desperately for the burned body in front of her that was her baby. The woman's arms were on fire, and she was in pain. Then another wave of mental pain hit me.

'NO! Doctor! No! Doctor! I'm on fire! Help me! Help me! HELP! Ahh!!!!!! Help!' the man kept screaming over and over again. He was thrashing violently as he was chained to his bed. A ceiling board cracked suddenly and fell on the man. Ending his pain. I clutched my head as more voices of terror and pain filled me. Falling to my knees thrashing my head violently attempting to get the voices out of my mind, I wailed as the same as the burning people inside of the building. I felt their pain, and horror as they were picked off one by one.

'Help!! Please somebody HELP!'

'Dear Lord, please help me! Please, please help me! What have I done to deserve this?!'

'Doctor! Doctor! Help me! Doctor HELP! Somebody! Please HELP ME!! Pleas-s-se! HELP ME! Please help me!!!'

One by one the voices in my head subsided as they were murdered from the flames another voice took its place in my head. It was murdering me mental. I could hear every thought, every word, every shriek of the dying people in the building.

"I could have saved them!" Sophia screamed. I looked back up at her. She had gotten up from her fetal position and was now crouching. Then she ran. She dashed straight into the fire. Went like there was nothing before. Then I heard another shriek, was it from Sophia?