My Second Life chapter 3

Bree POV

I stepped into the house.

The noise assaulted me and, if I wasn't a vampire, I may well have gone deaf.

I guessed the vampires here were well used to having some random new vampire wander in, because no one was turning in my direction. No one even looked in my direction. It seemed like it would be pretty easy for me to keep my head down, as long as I had a decent supply of books to read.

I'd always loved to read. It had sucked when I'd decided to quit school, because it had meant giving up my access to the library. But quitting school had been necessary. My dad made no effort to take care of me, and I'd wanted to run away.

I had tried to run away before, but he'd found me. That was when he told me that if I ran away before I knew how to drive, I'd starve.

I guess he was right. Maybe if I'd known how to drive, I could have stolen a car, found somewhere to live, rather than roughing it and living on the streets, trying to survive.

But then, I wasn't going to be starving anymore. All I needed now for survival was blood, and as long as there were humans on the planet, that need could always be satisfied.

My dad was more likely to starve now. I was pretty much invincible.

It was tempting, to go and visit him. Let him see my bright red eyes, witness my new strength that I hadn't had before. But I knew that if I did, I'd probably risk exposing my kind to his. Something told me that humans weren't supposed to know about vampires. Even if there were only a few dozen in the world… I wondered why this was.

Maybe it was to do with the fact that vampires only existed in the realm of fiction. Or something.

I felt a sudden surge of anger, and punched the wall lightly. To my surprise, the wall gave way under my fist. Either it was made of cardboard, or I was even stronger than I'd thought.

Just then, the brightness of the sun streamed in through the window. I jumped and fled into the shade, not wanting to collapse into a pile of ashes.

Suddenly, my anger gave way to full-out fury. I was raging at Riley for having brought me into this: the fact that now, I didn't dare step outside. I was pissed that I was always going to have to spend my days cooped up inside and only be able to venture out at night to feed.

My new, quicker mind came to the conclusion faster than I would have if I was still human. I would have to feed again tomorrow night, and this time, take care to find someone who was less conspicuous.

Again, the anger flowed through me. I didn't want to be choosy about who I hunted, but it was necessary. Why did Riley insist on these rules?

And I still wanted to know who that woman was. My memories of her were dimming, and I faintly remembered a high, childlike voice. It had seemed out of place.

Maybe she was a vampire too. I didn't really associate vampire with the sort of voice I'd heard, but then, since I'd become one, my voice had changed too: become more musical. Like a bell ringing.

I slipped through the horde of new vampires-I guessed they were new vampires because they had the same bright red eyes I had-trying not to get killed, and found a quieter spot. I curled up in the smallest I could and closed my eyes.

I don't know how long I stayed like that, trying to sleep. I'd read Dracula, and in that book the vampires slept in coffins. It seemed that there were no coffins here though, and this upset me. Where was I supposed to sleep?

Finally, I was startled 'awake' by the sound of wood being torn from wood. I looked up to find a chunk had been gouged out of the roof. Judging by the fact that the sky was dark, I guessed it was finally night. I got to my feet, marvelling at my improved balance.

I hurried out to the door and slipped outside. I wanted to test my physical strength, to see what I could and couldn't do.

Why was I so strong? I got the whole new vampire thing, but that didn't explain the strength. Especially because I was of average strength for my height, weight and age as a human.

As I ran, I tried something new, something dangerous. There was a tall building nearby and it was easy to scale the building. I think I may have torn or knocked off a couple of drain pipes as I was climbing.

I reached the top and looked around. Being forty-five metres off the ground did nothing to affect how well I could see. In a dark alleyway, there were two men passed out. Going by the state of their clothes: tattered rags, and the scent I caught, they were likely acceptable prey.

I walked to the edge of the building's roof and looked down, feeling no fear. Rather, I didn't fear for myself. I just hoped there was no human around when I reached the ground.

I let myself drop off the edge of the building and, for the fun of it, flipped through the air a few times, twisting and turning. Just before hitting the ground, I relaxed my muscles.

Once I picked myself up, I evaluated the damage. There was a small crater where I'd landed.

Now, the mens' heartbeats were much louder. The venom pooled in my mouth. Every thought left my head, leaving only one.

Blood.

I pounced on the thinner man, and as I'd suspected, he was homeless. His blood wasn't as clean as others I'd smelled, but it was blood.

He was so passed out that he didn't even stir when I sank my teeth into his neck. I drank quickly, and before long he was drained. Unsatisfied, I snatched the second man and drained him too.

I felt around for my cigarette lighter, and placed the bodies close together. It took a few tries before the flame caught, and the bodies blazed up quickly. My venom was probably soaked in their bloodstream, and that would've helped.

My throat felt better now and I ran back home. Once I stepped inside the chaos, I intended to try getting straight to somewhere out of sight. Maybe there was an attic I could hide in.

I walked toward the stairs, but was cut off by someone leaping in front of me. He was a big kid, blond, and probably only a little older than I was. He inhaled the air and snarled at me. I didn't know why, did I somehow smell offensive?

Or maybe there were traces of blood on me and he was thirsty. Given that he was a vampire, that was much more likely.

I tried to sidestep him, but he caught my arm and twisted. A small part of my mind registered that it was just annoying to have my arm twisted like that, not painful.

With a metallic screech, he ripped my arm off and threw it at me. I roared at him, furious.

Riley's scent filled the air and we both looked reluctantly at him. I picked up my arm from the ground, holding it close.

'To reattach it, you need to lick the edge and then hold it to the arm socket. The venom will cause it to reattach' Riley said quietly. I followed his instructions and was pleasantly surprised when my arm fixed back into place easily.

Now that that was taken care of, I could fix the kid who'd done it.

Riley didn't try to stop me as I charged toward the kid, who seemed to think he was Super-Man. I landed several punches to him, and he seemed to be the weaker of us. His eyes, while red, were a duller red than mine. I guessed he was older than me.

Finally, I got bored of fighting him and gave up. He wasn't quite strong enough to be a challenge, and that meant I was wasting my time.

Now that I could see more clearly-my thoughts weren't clouded with rage-I remembered my vow to survive.

From now on, that meant keeping my head down and my mouth shut.

Hope you like it. Please review. I still don't own anything. Etc.