To say I wasn't surprised would be a lie, and I could never really pull those off believably. Just a few hours previous I had been on my way to a place of learning, no worries in the world, but now I was pretty sure I was dying. I winced slightly as a fresh wash of molten fire cast itself through my veins. No, not death then. Change was probably more of an adept description. The change to end all changes, really. The step off of the mortal coil and into something quite entirely different. I hadn't been expecting it, and now with my blood leaking out of my skull, veins wash with liquid fire, I could only scream internally. I was slowly, surely, becoming one of them… Vampire.
Two Hours Earlier
The first time I had seen her was on the train on the way to university. We'd both been standing at the same end of the carriage, packed so close that we were very nearly touching. She was a beautiful woman, jet black hair and porcelain white skin. I figured, then, that she must have been wearing some form of fancy dress contact lenses. Her eyes were a dark shade of red, glistening slightly in the artificial light of the train. She caught me staring, of course, and gave me a smile in return. I figured that she attracted the sort of attention I was giving her all the time, especially when in public. Wide eyed men staring at her in hopeful earnest, even being noticed by her would have been an honor to the lowest of men.
Her smile was dangerous. Blood red lips curved upward into a dangerous grin, wolfish and hungry. I couldn't help but feel, in our first encounter, like prey. A slab of meat her eyes were roaming over, trying to find the best part to bite down. I swallowed hard, breaking myself out of my mental images, and she was still there. Staring at me with one eyebrow quirked as if she knew exactly what I had been thinking, and how I'd been thinking it. The fact that, for some reason, it almost seemed appealing. i felt as if it were all on display for this mystery woman I had never seen before, and the knowing smirk on her face jarred me slightly.
The train came to a shuddering stop at my station. It was a busy stop and thus I was able to let the crowd flow around me and assist in my departure, rather than having to fight through a mass of people. I jumped a little when her hand closed around mine, her skin smooth yet as cold and unyielding as rock. I turned and pulled my hand slightly in an attempt to dislodge her, but she remained glued to me.
"Aren't you just positively delectable," she purred seductively, her voice hitting musical notes I had never expected to hear come from a person's mouth. She was almost inhuman in her beauty, melodic voice and flawless skin, a walking talking goddess. "Why don't you come along with me?" Her eyes seemed to bore into mine, the red hue of what I thought were contacts twisting, drawing me in, as if they could see into the depths of my heart and soul.
She'd started walking, her iron grip dragging me along slightly behind her. My thoughts were foggy, head slow and eyelids drooping somewhat. I wanted to follow her, though I wasn't sure why, and I was more than content to let her pull me along behind her. Time seemed to blur after that. I was sure that from the outside we looked like a normal couple, if a slightly overzealous one by the fervour that the woman had started to pull me along with was anything to go by. But before I knew it we were in a secluded area. The threat of rain hung overhead, the clouds ready to break, and the gravel on which we stood slowly swum into focus.
My head hurt as if I were hungover, but I was finally able to start thinking for myself again.
"That was pitifully easy," The woman stated, laughter bubbling just below the surface. "There was a time when you Humans would put up a fight, realise what was going on. These days all a girl has to do is bat her eyelashes and she's got a meal on legs ready to go.
I shook my head, only just realising how dry my throat is. "I don't… understand," I managed to croak out. "Who-?"
"Who am I?" She cut me off, I nodded. She laughed properly this time, not attempting to hold it back. Even the peals of laughter were musical and attractive. "It'd be easier to show you, sweetie."
She was over to me an instant. Part of me thought I had momentarily blacked out, but every other fibre was screaming at me to move away. Every synapse was suddenly firing the same thought, the same feeling. Danger, this woman was truly dangerous. I stumbled backwards, falling onto my behind, which caused her to release another peal of musical laughter.
"How did you move so… fast?" I mumbled out, my words tripping over themselves in my new found fear.
She bent down, deliberately slowly, baring a set of perfectly straight, white, teeth and letting a dark growl rip from inside her throat. It was the complete polar opposite of what I had heard before from her, the pretence of beauty was stripped away and for the first time I saw the monster that stood before me. Her hand reached out and grabbed my shirt by the collar, effortlessly lifting me up until my feet were just above the ground. With no effort whatsoever, it seemed, she was holding me with one hand above the ground. Still growling.
Before I knew it I was soaring through the air, my entire body arching across the empty parking lot. I hit the ground hard, skidding and rolling over myself. She was, somehow, already there. Waiting for me as my battered body skidded to a painful halt. I could already feel a nasty wound on the side of my head begin to pulse with blood.
"I'm a vampire, if you hadn't figured it out yet." The melodious voice had turned harsh and quiet, seething with all the malice of an expert hunter taunting its prey. "I'm not gonna drink you dry, either. Well I'm gonna try not to. Numbers are down and all that, gotta rebuild the army before the human filth takes over."
Her teeth sank into my exposed neck, biting in deep. Fire flooded into my veins and a scream ripped itself out of my body. I wasn't really processing her words, my world had become fire. I was slowly, surely, becoming one of them… Vampire.