4. METAMORPHOSIS

Sasha followed James for a long time. They seemed to be getting further and further away from the heart of the city. Finally they came to what looked like an abandoned warehouse. James shoved the door open and Sasha followed him in. The building was dark and empty. She followed him up a staircase that led to an open loft. There was a pile of animal furs layered on the ground.

James took off his jacket and his shirt and tossed them on the pile, revealing his perfect body. Then he moved to Sasha and pulled her jacket off while standing behind her. His icy cold fingers brushed her shoulder and she shivered.

"You're so cold," she whispered.

"Maybe you can warm me up." It was not a line she hadn't heard before but it somehow frightened her.

"Why did you choose me?" she asked. "There were plenty of other girls, why me?"

James chuckled as he ran his fingers through her hair. "I have a thing for redheads."

He began kissing her neck with his icy lips and continued to undress her. Sasha didn't want this. Something was not right. The portion of the money she would earn for tonight was somehow not worth what she was giving up and she didn't know why.

"Wait," she breathed, "no, stop."

But James ignored her quiet pleas. He got more aggressive and pushed her onto the furs. His hands were squeezing her body too tightly and it was hurting her. Before she could utter another protest he bit into her neck. The pain was startling and she gasped for air. Suddenly, her neck was burning. She screamed in pain but there was no one around to hear her. The burning intensified and spread throughout her body. The pain was unbearable.

Suddenly she was no longer aware of James, all she could feel was the burning. It seemed as though she was trapped in her own mind. Why had he done this to her? It was as if every bad thing that happened to her was because of men. Her father had sold her childhood away. Man after man had taken their turn with her as if she were nothing more than an object. Aleksey, he had truly hurt her. When she dared to believe that she was more than a prostitute, he had reminded her that she was not. Now James, he was killing her. Why is it that men torture women?

And now her baby would pay the price too. As life escaped from her, life was also denied to her unborn child. She knew that she would not be able to keep the oath she had made only a few hours earlier. The only comfort she had was knowing that her baby would never suffer, not the way she had. At least they would be able to rest in peace together.

She felt like she was in this pain and trapped with her dark thoughts for an eternity. Finally, the pain began to subside and her consciousness came back to her. She opened her eyes which had been closed tight and instead of finding an afterlife, she found herself in the same loft that she was in before. She realized she had been there the whole time. Her senses were magnified and she was aware of everything around her, especially James.

"What happened to me?" she demanded from him.

His face was expressionless. "I changed you into a vampire."

Was he joking? What a bizarre thing to say. Sasha grabbed her clothes and dressed herself. She was going to flee this place and this strange man. As she pulled the dress down over her body she noticed that her stomach was much flatter. She ran her palms over her belly and tried to comprehend the change.

"I'm sorry," James said. "I didn't know you were pregnant. I heard a fluttering heart beat but I thought it was a mouse or something like that. I had no idea you carried a child."

Dread began to take its hold on Sasha. "Where is my baby?" she asked in a shaky voice.

James held up a small bundle of cloth and Sasha took the bundle from him. Wrapped inside was a small infant, too small to survive on its own. The baby was cold and lifeless.

"No…" Sasha cried. "No, what have you done? No, no, no. Not my baby… No." She cried but no tears fell.

"Your body went through a change. As it hardened, it forced the baby out. He didn't suffer long."

It was a boy, a perfect little boy. Sasha had never felt this kind of pain before. This was not right. "Why did you do this to me?" she asked him.

James was hesitant to answer. "I… was lonely. I wanted someone to be with."

Rage flooded Sasha. She began to leave but James placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her. She used one hand to grab his arm, the other still holding onto her lifeless baby, and she snapped his arm broken. James yelled out in pain and Sasha was surprised at her own strength. She ran out of the building into the black night and didn't look back. She was amazed at the speed she was able to move. She believed him now that she had truly changed into something unnatural.

Sasha ran until she found herself in a cemetery. She walked up to a statue of an angel with her arms outstretched. She fell to her knees and continued to weep. She dug away at the cold frozen ground. Even though this grave was taken, she would bury her child here, under the angel's watch. She kissed the soft skin of her baby boy. "I love you, always and forever." She wrapped him up in her jacket and laid him in the hole. Then she buried him.

Sasha wanted nothing more than to die. She just wanted the pain to end. If she were a vampire, like James had said, then she could wait for the sun to rise and burn her to ashes. She tried waiting in the cemetery but grew too anxious. She started running east. She was running to meet the sun.

She ran so fast that she covered hundreds of miles in a matter of minutes. The sky was finally beginning to lighten. The sun would soon make its way over the horizon. Sasha stopped running and closed her eyes and stretched out her arms. Take me, she thought to herself. But the sun rose and the rays of light fell upon her but nothing happened. She opened her eyes and saw that instead of burning her skin glittered like a thousand tiny diamonds. She was in awe of the extreme transformation that had taken place but now even more hopeless as she realized that taking her own life was now not even in her power. James had taken away the last bit of control that she had. Now she truly was left with nothing.