I started, and then slowly attempted to rise. Failing miserably, I writhed on the cot for a bit, while he watched me amusedly all the while. "Would you like some assistance?" the professor queried, baring his fangs at me. I'd never before seen such a malicious and alluring smile, or teeth so sharp and demonic. I continued struggling without answering, beginning to panic a bit. He glided over and cautiously untucked me from my imprisoning cot as I snapped at him, my needle-like teeth clicking where they met no resistance but smoky air. "Careful now, I wouldn't do that if I were you", he warned sarcastically.

All my dignity disappeared and I hissed at him. I tried to sit up and quickly learned that this was unwise as more waves of nausea hit me, and I noticed I was undressed, wearing nothing but my arm wraps and covered only by the thankfully rather thick sheet. The professor leered at me unpleasantly while I found my bearings. I was disoriented and confused. How was I even alive? Why had he not taken me directly to the hospital wing? What the hell happened? I was about to find these answers and more, the answers to many of the questions I've asked all my life.

"Where am I?" I asked him in a raspy voice.

"On the other side of death," he replied. "You may call me Nikolai. This is my office, welcome. I would invite you to make yourself comfortable, but I think I've seen to that sufficiently, have I not?" he smirked.

"This could take a long time to explain, if what I understand is true."

I rolled my eyes and tried to look indifferent in the unusual circumstance. What in nine hells could he mean?

He began again, "I believe that you are certifiably undead."

Undead! He must be mad! Undead. A term from movie screens, a word for those inexplicable freaks of nature that people naturally assumed must have died and come back to life. A creature made in order to keep little ones from playing in the woods or touching certain objects. Even in this world, where reality and the supernatural collide, undead? I glared careful to look skeptical and unconcerned, although inside my head I was screaming.

Nikolai spoke, "I am a vampire. It is a fact I can no longer deny, or attempt to hide. I have been alive for almost 150 years. I was not grateful for the gift of my own life and sought to use it for the power of evil and eventually destroy myself. Many, many years ago, I was young and foolish, not unlike you, but luckier in that I had at one point been living normally. I believe that you were someone born with this plague, you were half-dead at birth and are now, by killing yourself, fully undead. You poor fated demon. I was angry and hardened, but shattered into so many fragments I thought I could never again be whole. I'll spare you the details, but I was violent-suicidal. And I was wrong. In return for this, I was given undeserved eternal life, but at the price of never living. Vampires are bound to both protect the living as special guardians, and to feed off of them. We do what we must, and you are one of us."

"No! It cannot be true! I don't believe you. Why should I trust you? I am NOT one of you!" I quietly ranted. I fluidly wrapped the sheet around me and stood in one motion, then ran out of the room, and into the corridors, lost and without any idea where I was running. I knew that I had to run, had to get out of there. Although, it would explain so many things. But it also gives rise to so many questions! I suppose it would explain my longevity, assuming all vampires have eternal life insofar as they fulfill their duties. It would also explain the rapidity with which I recover from injury and my obsession with death. Also my state of health-must I now drink blood? This would explain my unquenchable thirst for something more than water, wine, or even the strongest liquor could provide. But could I kill to quench that thirst? Yes, yes I could. I knew it, just as I knew that I would. If killing was what my new life required, I would do it. If I could escape this constant longing for something I could never have; escape this continuous need to attain freedom, I would do anything! If I cannot kill myself to be rid of this world, I will kill whoever stands between me and my peace. And for now, that could mean anyone.