POV: Kathryn Taylor – Transforming Human – Original Character (I Invented Her)

I was pretty sure that two days had passed. Somehow, though, it was impossible to tell. In this strange underground city, time seemed to have no meaning. The sun did not rise and set and the people seemed to require no sleep. To make matters worse, every minute felt like years as the pain burned on, intent on torturing me for all eternity. I continued to writhe, but I was still unable to scream. And claustrophobia was setting in.

It had taken a moment to realize what had happened. The landscape had blurred and the colors had melded without warning. My hair had blown in the sudden wind, and then, abruptly, I had found myself in a completely new location. The guard had explained that I was in his chamber, and he was going to hide me there for the time being. Then he had left, saying that he had other matters to attend to. Every now and then, he had returned to check on me. Each time, I had begged him to kill me, but he had repeatedly refused. Now he was back, and again, I howled in agony, pleading with him to put me out of my misery.

"Kill me," I gasped. "Please… just kill me."

"No," the guard replied. "Not when the pain is almost over."

I moaned pitifully. "I can't… last… any longer. Just… kill me."

"It would be much easier if I did," the guard confessed. "I'm supposed to kill you."

"Then just… do it."

"I can't. But I understand. I've been through this… we've all been through this. Every one of us."

"Us?" I asked, bracing myself for the answer to my question. Somehow, as much as I wanted a response, I was as afraid as I was eager. What am I becoming? What is happening to me?

"You're one of us now," the guard clarified. "I don't want to frighten you, but I will explain later… when you're calmer, when the pain has ceased."

"Explain… now," I demanded.

The guard sighed. "We are… immortals. We have no blood, we require no food. We are… monsters. Leeches. You would call us… call us…" The guard paused, rethinking something. After a moment, he said, "I'll explain later. I really don't want to scare you."

"Just tell me!" I protested. "What… what are you? W… what am I?"

"You're a… a…" The guard struggled for the right phrase. But then, finally, he uttered a single word that made me shiver. "Vampire."

For a moment, my brain refused to work, to comprehend the meaning of the term. A vampire? A VAMPIRE? I am dreaming. Surely I am dreaming…

The guard stammered, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. This is my fault… it's my fault that you're like this. I'm so sorry."

I continued to suffocate under the weight of my emotional turmoil, coupled with the searing pain. The word 'vampire' resounded in my mind, growing louder, slowly sinking in.

A vampire – an immortal.

A vampire – a blood-drinker.

A vampire – a monster.

A vampire… me.

I was a vampire. The pain in my limbs was the venom of a vampire.

Impossible, I thought. A vampire? This is like a nightmare, like a horror movie… this can't be real.

"I'm so sorry," the guard continued. "My fault… all my fault. I've ruined your life… you're immortal now."

Immortal. The word echoed within me. Suddenly, I realized the full gravity of immortality. I would live forever, never dying. Somehow, the things that had seemed important before – like popularity and nice clothes – seemed useless, temporary. I started to wish that I had left a better legacy than an expensive hot pink cell phone. I wondered what my reputation was like, and if it was really what I wanted to leave behind. I wondered which of the things that I had said would linger – the kind things or the angry outbursts. I wondered what my family thought of me, and if I had treated my parents with enough respect.

I was a vampire.

And suddenly, in that moment, as I confronted my terrifying new reality face-to-face, I did something that I had been unable to do for what had seemed like eternity.

I screamed.

I screamed so loud that I thought my lungs would explode.

"Stop!" the guard growled gutturally, dashing over to me and covering my mouth with an icy, immortal hand. "The other vampires will find you. I was ordered to destroy you, and if they find out about this, you and I will both be quickly eliminated. Do you understand?"

"Y… Y… Yes," I stuttered.

"Good," the guard replied. "Now that you know what I am, what you are, I have a lot of things to explain. This city… it is known as Volterra. The three men on the thrones – Aro, Caius, and Marcus – are known as the Volturi. They maintain order in our world, the vampire world. The woman, the tour guide, her name is Heidi. It's her job to round up the humans, and then we… you saw it for yourself. We suck the humans' blood. I was supposed to kill you, not bite you and then allow you to escape. And now… Aro is furious with me. Unless I destroy you, he will kill me. And you. So you and I have to work together to escape Volterra… together. Do you trust me?"

I paused to think. This boy was a vampire, but so was I, and he had chosen to spare my life despite the danger of losing his own. "Yes, I trust you," I replied. I unexpectedly noticed that the burn in my limbs was fading, dying – the internal flames were slowly losing the strength to endure. I was speaking normally, without stuttering. "It's stopping," I exclaimed, elated. "The pain is going away. I feel my strength coming back."

"Good," the guard replied. "I'll need to… uh… feed you quickly, and then you'll have to hide here until the time is right for us to escape."

"I don't want to stay here any longer than necessary," I confessed. "Every moment that I spend in Volterra is another moment that I could be found and… and… and killed."

"Yes, but if we escape too early, we might be caught in the act, which would be even worse. You have to trust me," the guard repeated.

"Alright," I agreed, realizing that I had no other options.

"One more thing," the guard interjected. "I… I still don't know your name."

"Kathryn," I explained. "Kathryn Taylor."

"I'm Jared," he replied. "We're in this together. We need each other, and we have to trust each other. It's time to face the future… together."

Jared was right. It was time to prepare to face this new life, as well as the bloodlust that was soon to arise in me. I felt afraid and unready, but I knew that I needed to come to terms with the truth. I was a monster… there was no changing that now. I couldn't change the past, so it would be best to attempt to create a good future. The future, for me, meant more than for a mortal. It meant forever, it meant eternity, and it meant being a slave to a wild instinct that would drive me to murder innocent people like me. But I wasn't simply going to surrender and accept an existence of misery. This was the beginning of a new life, and I was determined to make it a good one. I would try to create a future apart from bloodshed. I would try to accept the monster that I had become.

And, most importantly, I would try to escape from Volterra.

Which might be harder than I thought.