c h a p t e r 2 : changed

I awoke in fire.

It consumed me, burning ceaselessly. I screamed and tried to stand up - to get out - but it was as if the fire had control of my legs. My body. It burned to my very core, nearly paralyzing me. I could not stand.

I surprised myself by imagining what I might look like. Skin burned off, pink muscle and sinew showing. Some places burned so far through that my bones could be seen. No blood though. The fire would evaporate it too quickly. I wondered if I was blind. I had heard that the eyes were the first thing to go when being burned. I was afraid to open my eyes and see the fire, but if they were gone, if all that was left in my head was empty sockets, then there was nothing to see.

I wondered how I could think so clearly, even with the pain of the fire. I tried to remember how I got here - wherever 'here' was. It was dark. I had been walking home from a party. A beautiful woman, she was lost. I tried to help her... Then I lost consciousness. I woke a few times and caught only glimpses of my surroundings before losing consciousness again. I only remembered one thing from those times. Being bitten. Someone had bitten me. Red lips closing over white teeth, leaving marks of lipstick before the blood covered it and blended in. It was the woman, the woman who had been lost. She bit me over and over again. Where her teeth touched, my skin gave way. It was as if she was biting into butter. And each place where her teeth had sunk into my skin, it burned. Burned almost as badly as this fire that surrounded me now.

How could I think this through when I knew I was so close to death? I should have been panicking, or screaming for help. But I did not panic. The knowledge of death did not frighten me. I simply knew it was inescapable. I was in flames. There was nothing to do to escape. I could not stand, I could not move. I waited for the darkness to take over me again, once and for all. I do not know how long I had lain there, waiting for death to come. Hours, days. I couldn't tell. The pain was everything. Every once in a while, I would scream, but no one came to help me.

No matter how long I waited though, I did not fall unconscious again. Instead the fire burned hotter, only making me more aware. I began to feel something other than the burn of the flames. The pain, the fire, began to subside. How could the fire do that? Was someone here with me, causing the flames to go out? I had to see, I had to know. Unsure if I would just be trying to see with empty sockets, I opened my eyes.

And I could see. I was outside, in a street. It was raining. On either side of me there were buildings with walls made out of brick; I was in an alley, lying on the ground. I could see the sky above me. I wondered if someone had left me here as trash, leaving me to die, or thinking I already was dead. Strangely, there was a moon, indicating a new night. No one was here with me, but that was not what surprised me. Despite the rain that fell from the blackened sky and onto my skin, I did not feel anything past the flames. As I lay there, rain dropping on me but not dousing the flames I felt, I realized something that made me question my sanity. It was not what I saw, but what I didn't see. The fire that I had convinced myself there was around me, was simply not there. I did not see flames. They were not around me, nor were they on me. There was no fire yet my body burned hotter than the sun. The fire was inside of me. It did not make sense. It was impossible!

It was happening.

That's when I saw her.

She was sitting in a gap between two buildings, staring at me with angry eyes. I opened my mouth to scream but she was suddenly right over me, one of her hands around me neck, pushing my head to the ground. With her other hand she put a finger to her red lips and shushed me. She let me go and moved so that she was no longer on top of me, but sat a few feet to my left. As the moved, the moonlight glinted off of her eyes and I saw their true color. Red. A brilliant red. "We don't want to wake the neighbors, do we?" her voice was loud though, and I assumed that neighbors weren't her first concern.

I turned my gaze from her so that I was staring at the sky. I tried to speak, but instead of a whisper it came out as a scream. "Why?" That one word had more meaning behind it than ever. Why was she doing this? Why did she pick me? Why was there fire inside of me? Why was she sitting there, watching me suffer? Why was I unable to move? Why….

She did not answer me. She waited for me to look at her again and put her index finger back to her lips and shushed me again. "You won't be in pain much longer," she sighed. She sounded as if she wished that was not true.

I closed my eyes and waited for the flames to leave, if it ever would. Suddenly, the fire's temperature increased, burning ever hotter inside of me. I gritted my teeth and swallowed back a scream. Hotter, hotter, hotter. She had said the pain would leave. When?

I waited there, in flames, for I don't know how long. But finally - finally! - they stopped.

Just like that. I breathed in deep breaths and felt anger surge through me. I sat up quickly - faster than I thought I would - and stared at the strange woman. My surroundings seemed to have changed. It was so much easier to see everything. Everything was clear, like I had had bad vision and just received my first pair of glasses.

She flashed my a brilliant smile, only intensified by my strange new eyes.. "Welcome to my world, Riley," she said.

"Your world," I said. "What exactly is your wor-" I stopped quickly, realizing something. "How do you know my name?"

Her smile widened, but it did not seem cheerful. "Vampires have excellent hearing," she said, measuring my reaction. "And I stole this," she said, tossing me my wallet.

I caught it quickly, without thinking, and stuffed it in my back pocket. "Vampire," I said tonelessly.

She stared at me with her red eyes as she nodded. "Yes, Riley. You're a vampire now. Don't you feel it? See it? Your vision is improved. You have superhuman strength. You have a new life."

A new life….As a vampire. I let that sink in and looked down into a puddle. My eyes were red, even brighter than the woman's next to me. I realized that I didn't know her name. So I asked her.

"Victoria," she replied.

"Hi Victoria," I answered her. There was a feeling then, in my throat. For a moment, I thought that the fire was back. It burned horribly, and my tongue coated with saliva….Strangely sweet saliva. I swallowed and grabbed my neck.

Victoria noticed this. "Come on, Riley. You have got to be thirsty," she said. She scaled a wall, and I followed after her without thinking, into the world of night.