Chapter 10: First terror

"Wake up, Leo".

If you were to ask a vampire, any vampire, what they remember most about their transformation experience, they would more than likely tell you it was the most unpleasant feeling that one could have. Leo Hoffman experienced only one thing in the two seconds after he flicked his eyes open and felt dirt heavy on his face.

Pure, soul-twisting terror.

He wanted to scream but he clamped his mouth shut for fear that he would choke to death after inhaling the copious amounts of dirt. He struggled to move his body, wriggling his hands and feet wildly and trying to find some sort of an exit. His savior came, a frigid hand grasping his arm and pulling him through layers of earth. Leo closed his eyes again. What's happening to me?

The humid night air sent a shock through his system, he struggled to breathe, spitting out dirt clods and clumps of god knew what else- when he realized he did not feel the need to take a breath. Fern was standing in front of him, her hand still clenched on his arm, and her eyes unusually strung with pity. She let go of his arm, letting him study his own hands in confusion.

"What the hell did you do to me?" he growled.

"You're a vampire, Leo. I thought you would have realized that by now, what with your wounds all healed and the inability to breathe. Are you terribly hungry?" fern whispered. She took a step back and perched herself on a grave stone. The gentle flowing of her black cotton dress in the movement of her tiny limbs set off a trigger in his mind. It had been that vampire…at Fangtasia…biting him…and then, black. Muffled discussion. The sound of a voice whispering in his ear for what had felt like a millennium.

And yes, was he ever hungry. But it didn't feel…right. He didn't feel like wolfing down a burger or even a plate of burgers. With a brutal snap, Leo's fangs retracted for the first time.

"I am really fucking hungry", he snarled.

Fern jumped off the gravestone and retracted her own pearlescent fangs.

"I knew you would be ravenous. We have to start off slowly, at the beginning…this whole transformation process did not really go as I had originally planned but I suppose we can find some low-life scum skulking around the streets somewhere and….Leo?"

Leo's mind had gone completely blank again. He stared forward blankly and forgot what exactly was going on and even if he was really awake. It was more of an out-of-body experience really, as his mind floated upwards and he witnessed his own body convulsing and spitting up some sort of raunchy black liquid onto the grass. His legs gave way and he collapsed to the ground, shaking. It was then Fern's turn to be terrified.

"Leo! Oh, Leo what's wrong! What is that? Did you feed already and…no…no, you couldn't have!"

Fern rushed to his side and pulled him up, only to get a face full of whatever it was Leo couldn't hold in his stomach when his head lolled towards her. She cried out in disgust and shoved him against a grave stone. Desperately, Fern tried to recall if she had heard of such a thing as newborn vampires getting sick. But then, that didn't make any sense…vampires don't get sick…they heal. Had she done something wrong in the turning process? Did he accidently drink from something already?

Leo was slamming his head against the back of a grave stone. His blue eyes darted back and forth in their sockets, a disgustingly seizure-like act. Something was indeed dreadfully wrong. In the few seconds Fern had her back to him, his appearance had changed in a repulsive way. Through his arms, his legs, his back, and his neck- were white bones that had jutted out of his skin at grotesque angles. All of the teeth in his mouth had seemed to sharpen to a point- he didn't just have 2 fangs, he had 32 fangs.

"What the fuck is that?" she screamed. Leo replied by emitting a guttural sound himself, something like a vampire hiss and a dog barking. His eyes had rolled completely into the back of his head. She didn't want to touch him, but she knew she had to do something quickly because it was apparent Leo wasn't going to last long with his body turning itself inside out. Eric wouldn't help her if she brought him to Fangtasia, he would probably just tell her to kill him and dispose of the gruesome remains. But then who else would help her? A thought occurred to her.

Bill fucking Compton.

He didn't live but five minutes away, and surely he would help her with…with, whatever the hell it was Leo was doing. Swiftly, she grabbed Leo's convulsing arms and slung him over her back, paying no attention to his bones piercing into her own skin.

"If something happens to you", she whispered, "I don't think I'd be able to blame anyone but myself."