POV: Kathryn Taylor – Newborn Vampire – Original Character (I Invented Her)
Stop, I told myself. Do you have a death wish? You're out in the open. Stop!
But the impulse overpowered me, controlled me. I felt like an animal – controlled by instinct alone – and a monstrous, violent instinct at that.
I had been doing as Jared had instructed – remaining in his chamber – when the scent had wafted into the room, choking my sanity, awakening my bloodlust. The power of the desire to kill had startled me, but I had been unable to control it. The potent scent of the humans' blood had burned in my throat, much like the venom that had changed me, and I had felt my chest tighten and my muscles stiffen involuntarily in preparation for slaughtering the humans.
My conscience had interrupted me, reminding me that the humans were but innocent victims of undeserved violence. But the rational thoughts had been drowned by the new, animalistic nature that had surfaced in me. The world around me had dissolved, and all that I saw and felt and heard was the thirst. I had known that destroying the humans would be murder, but somehow, I could not control the need to kill.
Before I had been able to stop myself, I had opened the door of Jared's chamber. And then, with my newly acquired speed, I had lunged for the source of my torment – a human at the rear of the throng whose eyes grew wide with shock as my icy hands covered his mouth and pinned him to the ground. Now I was fully controlled by instinct – all humanity, all sense of morality, had been extinguished. I was becoming little more than an animal. But I could not fight the need to feed, for it filled my whole being.
So I held the frightened human to the ground, and my teeth pierced his neck. Blood flowed from the wound, and the smell completely engulfed my consciousness, hurling it into a void of wild, uncontrolled thirst. The other humans were completely oblivious, since the one that I had attacked was far behind the crowd. I had intended to kill only one human, but as my bloodlust increased, I suddenly feared that I might not be able to stop until they all lay dead.
Stop, I told myself. Stop. This is wrong… you're killing another human. Stop. You're more than this… you're more than an animal.
But I couldn't stop. I wondered if I was an animal, a slave to a violent instinct that would forever hold me in its grip.
Unexpectedly, I realized that my mortal victim was without any remaining blood. But still, the thirst raged. My whole being was internally screaming, begging for me to keep killing until no blood remained. Until every mortal was dead. Until I was satisfied.
I launched myself at another human. I was too fast for anyone else to notice, and it was even easier to restrain the mortal this time, having done it once before. Soon, I needed yet another human. Before I even realized it, I was drinking the blood of a third.
Stop. Fight the instinct.
The scent of the blood controlled me, and I could not cease to kill.
Enough! You've done too much damage already. Stop!
I seized a fourth mortal.
Stop, Kathryn! Stop killing! Stop this madness!
I couldn't. I felt like a slave, unable to control my own destiny, forced to obey the will of my master – the thirst. I didn't want to keep killing, but I continued in my violent act of horror. Would this ever end?
It didn't seem likely…