The intense burning carried on, and on, and on. I was trapped in a deep hole of blackness – no way in, no way out. I still had no idea what was going on, and prayed for it to end. But very slowly, I started to feel life coming back into my body. Strength flowed through my veins, and gradually, the pain started to ease. But a new pain was emerging. A flame ripped through my throat and made me want to scream in agony. This time it was a different pain. My body craved something – something warm and wet. My body felt heavy, and I couldn't force my bones to move.
A breeze blew softly from the east, and I could taste everything in the air, smell everything around me and hear movement for miles around. For a moment I almost forgot about the searing pain in my throat, I was so bewildered by my sharpened senses. Maybe the endless pain that I had just witnessed wasn't a bad thing? Maybe it perfected me, made me stronger? I remembered the excruciating pain in my throat again, and realised that this could not possibly be a good thing. Anything that caused such turmoil could not be a good thing, could it?
Then everything changed. The breeze blew a stronger gust of wind in my direction, and with it, it carried a scent so overpowering that I jumped up in horror. The fire in my throat roared and ripped through my chest. I now knew what the pain was. Thirst. But not thirst for water; when I imagined the taste I felt disgusted. I was thirsty for blood. And that was the smell the wind carried – warm, rich, fresh, human blood.
I ran with unbelievable speed towards the unsuspecting human. I must have been travelling at least one hundred miles an hour, but it was easy, and I didn't feel dizzy. I could see everything clearly as I whizzed past; the raindrops on a leaf, the grains of dirt on the forest floor. But right now my thoughts were not focused on the wonders of my new self. I was concentrating on my prey. As the human came into sight, I let my hunting instincts take over. I made one long bound towards the woman, and she gave a short, high pitched scream as I sunk my teeth into her neck. It was unbelievable. Immediately the fire in my throat weakened, and I felt nourished. It was all over too soon. After what seemed like seconds, the limp body was dried out, and I couldn't get another drop of blood out of her. Although my thirst had been temporarily weakened, it was not fully quenched. I left the broken body on the forest floor and headed further east, towards the town, where I would hunt for my next victim.
I did not know how I would hunt in the middle of a crowd, and who I would pick to attack. I had never been aware, in my previous life, of creatures coming and sucking the blood out of passers-by in the street. Maybe others found a different way to hunt? As I contemplated on how to select my prey, my feet were carrying me closer and closer towards the town that would soon be my feast.
I had thousands of questions reeling around my head. Who was I? What had I become? Since when did I have teeth like razor blades that cut through human skin? Since when could I travel at the speed of light? Since when had I savoured the taste of human blood? What did that make me?
By now I was crazy with thirst once again. I pushed my legs as fast as they would go, through the trees at the edge of the forest and onto a small country lane. About half a mile away I could hear the rumbling of a car engine, heading towards the place that I stood in the middle of the road. At once the fire in my throat roared again, and a snarl ripped through my clenched teeth. I was shocked that such a sound had escaped through my lips, but I was too pre-occupied to care. I bounded further up the narrow lane to meet the car. When it was only a few metres away from me, I took one great bound and leaped onto the roof of the car. Underneath me, I heard cries of terror. I ripped the slab of metal off the roof, before I could feel any remorse, and dragged a screaming woman out of the driver's seat with one hand. I sank my teeth into her neck, and once again tasted the rich taste of human blood. When the body was empty, I flung the corpse of the roof and reached for the second person. I savoured the taste and then threw the body off the car. No longer thirsty, I bounded back into the woods and gave one backward glance towards the mangled car left in the centre of the country lane.
Once back in the shelter of the trees, I didn't know what to do next. It was dark – probably around midnight. But I wasn't tired. I felt as though I could stay up another hundred nights and never want to go to sleep. So I leaned against a gnarled tree trunk and rested. I must have sat there for at least an hour, but I was still perfectly comfy. The only thing that made me get up was that the fire in my throat was starting to build up again very slowly. It seemed impossible that even after drinking every drop of blood out of three people, I could ever want more.