ALRIGHT SO. Another late update! I guess! Though I'm starting to think updating on Saturdays is better cos people seemed to like it more that way. Anyway yes so UPDATE IS HERE.

Now, fair warning, the beginning of this update has some pretty gruesome imaginary involved so if you're faint of heart or just don't like reading about a lot of blood and horror than skip ahead. Personally I think I've read and written way more horrible stuff but even so. This is a horror story so... yeah. Just letting you all know right off the bat.

Anyway, I'll let ya'll read on. ENJOY PEEPS!

I slept.

As I slept I dreamed.

I was naked. I was in a room. It was almost completely blank other than wide, arched windows through which shone a bright, blinding light. But that wasn't my focus. My focus was what was before me.

It was a cage.

Within the cage was a monster. It was huge and black and terrible with tufts of matted, ugly fur across its back. It had great claws on strange, elongated arms and long teeth, two fangs that reached down its great wolf-like maw and two horrible red eyes that would not leave me. It seemed to be wearing, or at least covered, in skin that had the texture of boiled leather and it stank of blood. Hot, raw, coppery blood.

I was thankful it was inside the cage though. There was no way it could ever escape the cage because it was locked within. I was safe here, in this room, with the monster in the cage.

The cage started to open.

And I stood there. I realized suddenly that I couldn't move. I hadn't been able to since the dream started.

The shining bright light outside began to fade as the door swung open. Gone was the bright, hopeful light. Now it was a deepening crimson.

I started to scream. Every atom of my being wanted to escape, to run, to flee from this horrific beast that was slowly coming out of the cage. Its pace was a dreadful shamble, as if it wasn't used to walking on its own legs. Then I saw it stretch its arms out and I saw it for what it truly was. It was bat-like but it had the head of a wolf. It roared at me and I did nothing but weep for my own fate.

It shambled towards me, slobbering jaws snapping at me and claws scraping along the floor as it did so. The room was becoming increasingly dark, shadows grew from every direction and everything was bathed in red. My arms were held at my sides, my feet stuck in place. I was screaming, screaming with more terror than I thought I had within me. It was only inches from me now and the stench of blood was overwhelming, consuming my senses. The smell filled my nose and could taste it on my tongue.

A wet snout was an inch from my face. It's hot, rotting breath was washing over me, making me want to vomit. I had stopped screaming, my lungs had run out of breath. Instead I braced for the inevitable as it consumed me.

But instead it did something far more horrific.

It brought down a claw and raked open my torso. I saw blood spill out of me at a rate that seemed almost unreal but it was hard to focus on that when pain unimagined filled my every second. The monster had literally carved me open, I could feel it. I could feel cold air on my insides and blood washing over my feet. I found myself screaming again though that should have been impossible. Blood filled my mouth and wouldn't stop pouring out between my lips. I felt as though I would die here in this nightmare room with this demon-beast clawing at me.

But it still did not kill me. It lowered its head slowly.

And it pushed its snout into me.

I had never experienced such pain in all my life. I wanted so desperately to die, for all of this to end. I could feel the inside of my chest brushing against its blood-covered fur as it entered my body, pushing itself inch by inch into me. Somehow it was managing it, somehow this monster was becoming part of me. Claws raked at my insides and chest as it pulled its entire torso into mine, gore and viscera spilling out around me. My blood. My bones. My flesh. It tore at my body as it pulled its vast, bat-like wings into me and followed it slowly with its hind legs.

I could feel it shifting inside me. Getting comfortable within its new cage.

Then two claws gripped my open torso and began to close me. Bones cracked and tore as it did so but somehow my flesh met and hideously began to seal itself. I tried to force myself to move my arms, to rake my nails against my own body, I would claw my own stomach out if it meant removing this creature.

But I still couldn't move. My body healed around the terrible wound and now I could feel it. I could feel it crawling under my skin, around my insides, somehow it was in my blood, somehow it was in my muscles. It was moving through every inch of me, exploring its new vessel. It moved into my legs and they felt... faster. It moved into my arms and they felt... stronger. It moved through my chest and into my heart which felt... colder.

I wanted to tear it out of me, to take nails to my veins but my body wasn't listening. I could feel it crawling up through my neck, sharp talons digging into my throat. I wanted to choke but I couldn't. I couldn't find the breath. It moved behind my eyes and slowly...

The monster was in my brain.

And then I woke up.

I felt like I couldn't breathe. I was struggling, fighting desperately for air as my limbs thrashed in my bed. I managed to kick the sweat-soaked covers off myself and scrambled back against the wall, my chest heaving as I gulped down the biggest breaths I could. I was shaking all over, visibly shaking.

My heart wasn't pounding though.

It actually took me a moment to register this as I clearly had more pressing distractions. However once I finally managed to gain access to my lungs again I put a hand to my chest and found that despite my fear, my absolute panic, my heart was not beating in my chest.

In fact, it didn't feel like it was beating at all.

And it was because last night when I had lost a lot of blood, probably broke my ribs and had been utterly exhausted by fighting with a supernatural creature, I had agreed to become a vampire.

See that's the funny thing about life. In the books you always read that when the main character wakes up the next morning they never can remember quite what happened until some time later but that's not reality. Reality is that most of the time, unless you had been drinking heavily, you always remember what you did the morning after. It's the first thing you think about when you wake up. It's right there on your mind like a grinning monkey, taunting you about what a complete idiot you are.

I had let a vampire bite me.

I have an IQ of one-fifty.

I am clearly a complete moron.

I groaned loudly and curled up into a little ball. Oh God, what the hell had I done to myself? How was I ever convinced that becoming a member of the living dead was a good idea? What, because I'd had a bad day? A bad week? A bad life? How was that possibly excusable for my actions?

What the hell was I going to tell Dad? Or Gaz? I would have to quit work because I couldn't work in the day! Or... well actually I could agree to take those night shifts they were always offering. Okay so the job situation wasn't so bad but what about everything else?

I had jumped into something head first and, just like last time, it was setting my entire world on fire. Great.

"You're an idiot Dib." I spoke to myself slowly, quietly, "You're an idiot and you've just ruined your life for the second time... or last time. Technically." I raised a hand up, looking over it carefully, trying to spot any new changes to myself.

Obviously I couldn't spot anything. My skin was pale, though it had always been pale, and as of that moment I didn't feel particularly evil or vampiric. I just felt like a complete loser. However I did noticed that I was dressed only in the y-fronts I was wearing yesterday. It hit me suddenly that the last thing I remembered was being bitten in the park. How in the hell did I go from there to here and end up almost naked no less?

The thought that Maria had done it sent a curious feeling of violation through me. Had she brought me back home? Put me in my bed and undressed me? That was a... weird thought to say the least. How did she get in anyway? The security around the house was tight and didn't she have to be invited in?

I couldn't think on this right now. Too many thoughts were going through my head and none of them had answers. Besides, I had more pressing things to get to. Like getting ready for work. Sighing loudly I forced myself to my feet, setting off across my room. Maybe after a shower and something to eat I would be able to get my- "AGH!"

I had stepped into a beam of light.

And it hurt.

For only a split second my foot had stepped out onto the small square of sunlight being beamed onto my bedroom floor but it seemed that one second was all it took. It was like being bitten by a fire ant but all across my foot. Immediately I sank back across my room and grabbed my foot, looking over it for any damage.

It was burned. It was actually burned. My eyes widened in shock as I looked over the now deeply red skin of my foot. It felt like I had been sitting out in the sun with no sunscreen for a year. However, almost as quickly the pain was fading and, to my amazement and a growing sense of horror, my foot healed itself. The skin slowly faded back to its usual paleness in mere seconds.

I couldn't go out into the sun anymore. Was the change really so fast? Was one bite all it really took for me to become a full vampire? It almost didn't seem fair, surely I should have some kind of chance to redeem myself, to go back on this cursed deal?

"Okay, okay, come on now." I let my foot fall and ran a hand through my messy hair. "You can deal with this. I just... I gotta get to the bathroom."

I crawled up onto my bed and quickly pushed the curtain closed, blocking out all light from my room. Breathing a sigh of relief I grabbed some UFO patterned pajama pants and set off to the bathroom. I had to wonder however would I even be able to shower? Don't vampires hate running water? My question was answered as I turned the shower on... no reaction. Okay, so that one at least wasn't true.

However just as I was about to get into the shower I caught sight of myself in the bathroom mirror. I immediately noticed two things. I had always had my father's amber eyes, as did Gaz and anyone else in our family. It was something of a Membrane family trait going all the way back to our great-great-great grandfather Sebastian Francisco De Membrania.

And now they were red. A somewhat light red, obviously they had mixed with the natural amber color but red nonetheless. The color of fresh blood.

I also noticed that I had two puncture marks on my neck, like the bites of two separate needles. This was not so much a surprise, after all a vampire had bitten me but what strange was that clearly my body could heal faster now. Why was it that those two bite marks weren't going away? Thinking on that, why was my vision still blurry without my glasses? My skin could heal but I still got stuck with crappy vision? At least I didn't lose all my Membrane family traits.

I frowned at this but pushed past it. I would have to find Maria again tonight and get this sorted out. I had to find a way to go back to being a normal human, surely there was a way and if not I would figure one out.

As I showered I thought about everything I knew concerning vampires. They couldn't go into sunlight, that I now knew was true from experience. Running water wasn't a problem, obviously because I was shampooing my hair. Holy water worked because it hurt Maria, though she recovered somewhat quickly but it stood to reason that holy icons would also work. Fire also was a no-no but fire was a no-no to practically every living thing on earth. She said she was defeated when I almost staked her so that was another myth confirmed. I was awake during the day and had slept in my own bed so coffins, native soil and sleeping in the daytime were out.

This was helping. I was sure it was helping. I was convincing myself it was helping.

I finished my shower and made my way to my room to get changed though before I left for work I knew I had to do a quick experiment.

I pulled on my usual work gear and my trench coat. Usually I would only take it with me to wear at night when I got out, if I wore it otherwise I would be melting in sweat thanks to the hot summer weather. I knew if I was going to make it to work on time I would need to cover as much as myself up as possible.

However this experiment was not one of covering myself up, the closed curtains proved that as long as the sun didn't directly shine on me I would be fine. This was an experiment in which the old world went up against the wonders of modern technology.

In my room I spent a good five minutes plastering my arm with the highest level sun screen I could find, which was pretty high considering everyone in the house burned like paper on the sun.

I drew back the curtain a little bit and allowed another ray of sunlight into my room. Taking a deep breath I steeled myself against what I was going to do, knowing that if this failed I'd be royally screwed for the rest of the day.
Slowly I stuck my hand out and winced as I thrust it into the light.

Nothing.

Wait, something.

I opened my eyes to look at my hand, which while not bursting into flame or even going as red as my foot had gone that morning, certainly did not feel comfortable in the sunlight. It was like sitting slightly too close to an open fire, not painful but certainly not comfortable. Either way the experiment had been a success and I knew I could at least survive the day if I could plaster my face with sunscreen and make my way to work. At least there I could buy more if I needed to and my particular area of work wasn't in any direct sunlight.

I breathed out a sigh of relief. Okay, so, that was one problem solved. I knew however that it was only the very tip of an iceberg of all new problems I'd have to deal with. When I thought about it all I knew about vampires came what I had either read in books or seen in movies and both of those were unreliable sources. After all, one book said that running water could stop a vampire while another said they could stand in sunlight and sparkle.

One book was obviously better than the other.

I was lost in thought as I made my way out of my room and down the stairs, trying to think of every conceivable obstacle in my path.

One however I didn't count on, though really considering my behavior last night I really should have been expecting it.

"WHERE THE HELL WHERE YOU LAST NIGHT?"

Gaz's voice didn't just break me out of my thoughts it practically jolted me out of my skin. She had somehow appeared right at the base of the staircase without me even noticing, dressed in an oversized t-shirt and a pair of mismatched socks. It was obvious that she had been awake all night, she looked tired and yet even then she still had a terrifying aura of rage about her.

"You vanished and you didn't even answer a SINGLE one of my texts!"

I blinked at her, trying to think of some excuse. "I-Well-"

"WHAT. THE. HELL."

Usually I would have paled at her anger and probably begged for some form of forgiveness. However something inside me growled and I suddenly felt a surge of confidence run through me. "I took a night out for myself." I spoke with such sharpness that even Gaz seemed to be shocked for just a split second. "I'm not your errand boy."

"That's not the point." Gaz snapped as I walked around her, going to the kitchen to look for some breakfast. She followed after me but I didn't care. I had way bigger problems to deal with right now than placating her. "You could have been killed or worse. Why didn't you text me?"

"I didn't know you cared so much." Where was this coming from? I knew that I had a lot of bottled anger within me toward my sister, that was no surprise, but this was like that bottle had suddenly cracked down the middle and now it was leaking out slowly. I opened the fridge and looked inside but nothing there seemed appealing.

Inside I already knew why.
"You're an asshole." Gaz snapped at me. "I know you did something last night. What was it? Was it some girl? Some guy? Did you burn down another college dorm?"

"What the hell is your problem?" I whirled on her suddenly and I saw her again react with that split second of surprise, a crack through that armor of anger she wrapped around her petite frame. My voice was sharp and harsh and mixed with all the shame and anger I held over that horrible memory. "I told you I had a crappy day and all you did was bitch at me so I decided to go out and do some investigating in the park. I stayed out later than I thought and I didn't reply to your texts because I'm a fully grown adult who can make his own damn decisions."

"And you didn't tell me that last night over the phone, why?" Gaz growled back, her hands clenching into fists. It was obvious that she wasn't used to this new, confident me. She didn't know how to properly react other than with more anger.

For moment it crossed my mind that now would be a damn good time to tell Gaz about my little vampire problem. I could cut out a lot of time and worry if I just let her know what had actually happened last night.

But to do so would only admit another moment of stupidity on my half. I would be admitting my own faults out loud and letting her know that, yes, once again I screwed up. My pride was already hanging by a thread as it was and I wasn't prepared to let her hold this over my head as well.

I had gotten myself into this situation, I would get myself out of it too.

"Because I knew you'd react like this. Lay off, Gaz. You usually don't give a shit so I don't know why you suddenly do now."

She looked up to me but before she could make eye contact I turned and walked away. That was something I didn't think she was prepared for just yet, and to be honest, neither was I. If I told her what I'd done she'd be locking me up in the basement.

I had no time to be locked up. I had thirteen dollars an hour to earn.

"I'm going to work." I called out as I got to the front door. "Later."

I could feel her eyes on me as I left but I didn't care. It felt good to shout back at her for once, to put up a defense against her unwarranted sisterly anger. Still it was odd that she was so concerned over my adventure last night. Usually she didn't give a damn, but then again, usually I would have texted her as I was coming home. Usually I wouldn't have gone out at all.

A pang of guilt twinged at my heart as I got into Scully. I probably should have texted her at least once, just to let her know I was alive. I didn't feel bad about not getting her food but... maybe somewhere in that shriveled heart of hers she did give a damn on some level.

But then something else, some growling little beast within me told me that she was probably just upset she didn't get Chicky Licky.

I frowned and started up my car, setting off to JojaMart and another long day before my weekend started. I couldn't be so concerned about Gaz's feelings right now. The sun was on my face and it was making me want to recoil back. I pulled down the visor, which provided some relief, though my lap suddenly filled with old phone bills and bank statements which I then shoved into the glove box.

"Alright Dib, focus. You can get through this day. Just keep your head down, keep calm and carry on. Eye of the tiger. Primo Victoria. Push it to the limit. Other... confident sayings, I guess. Any possible vampire related worries can wait, focus on work and just... push through." I sighed, then forced a smile onto my face. "I can do this."

PRIMO VICTORIAAAA. It means first victory btw. It's from a Sabaton song. Dib listens to Sabaton. Anyway.

So YUS. This chapter actually had the least revisions of any chapter so far, only 4 versions of it in my work files! That whole beginning bit was written all at once too and is one of my favourite things about this story so far. It's so... ethereal and weird and horrid I looove it.

OH ALSO, yes that's Dib talking about his Latino heritage right there. His ancestor is a reference to the Venezuelan revolutionary Sebastian Francisco de Miranda. Maybe in this universe Dib's a distant ancestor? Either way I thought that was cool beans.

Other references... honestly not sure in this one, there's not a whole ton of them so yeah.

ANYWAYS, that's this chapter over and done with. I hoped you enjoyed and make sure to tell me all what you think! TILL NEXT TIME TRUE BELIEVERS!