whatever you are,” he said as he lifted the
door out of the way. “You know, it's funny, but you really do
smell almost human.”
“ Mmn,” I responded
as vague confirmation, not really sure what to make of that
observation. Soul searching was interrupted when I flinched as
splinters fell to the ground from the ruined door as he set it back
in place behind him. “He never said he'd pay for that door, did
he,” I muttered. On top of that my apartment now reeked from
the throw up and I was sporting a pair of ivory fangs that weren't
showing any sign of going away. I decided to deal with the easier of
the two problems first. Attacking the stain before it could set into
the carpet I was able to get the place back to rights. “Rich
indeed, I bet real vampires never have to clean their own floors.
Dracula had a mansion or a castle or something, didn't he?” He
was also a lady's man, and I couldn't keep a boyfriend for a week.
How was that fair?
Hopefully I'd gotten all the
splinters that had fallen so far. From what I heard they tended to
ruin the barefoot experience. My one lucky break was that the ant
farm hadn't gotten knocked over in the scuffle. '4:55. I hope when
he said to come in after five he didn't mean precisely after.' I
needed to stay on my toes for the time being. This was nothing at all
like the laid-back atmosphere in Haven. There the militia handled
everything noteworthy, I just had to keep Haegle happy during my
apprenticeship for a good recommendation and help him bring in the
occasional drunkard or surly twelve-year-old vandal. My worst
experience while working there was when one of the kids thought I was
thirteen and tried to hit on me. This Boston gig was a whole
different ballgame. Hopefully everyone would mellow out after Chains
was caught. If this was how the force always was I would really need
to start making some friends outside of work.
Then again, maybe I just hadn't
gone through the ritual hazing process yet like they had in all the
old movies. Still, my potential future as a police officer wasn't my
primary concern at that moment. No, that award belonged to the sweet
smell of honeyed chestnuts slowly driving me mad. It seemed utterly
tantalizing, even if a faint hint of copper was polluting its purity. 'Where is it coming from?' I dug my fingers into my thighs to
try and distract myself from my growing hunger, nails pricking my
skin through my pants. 'No way...' I held my hands up in front
of me, twisting them back and forth, disbelieving. My perfectly
trimmed nails were now just one step short of claws. Black and yet
faintly iridescent, they curved to sharp points an inch from my
fingertips.
“ Why won't it stop?”
I could sense the change now as all concern I had for the world
outside my body shrank away. I could feel the slow metamorphosis that
didn't see fit to stop at claws and fangs. A nervous, hungry energy
crept along my limbs, begging to be used, belying the hungry void I
felt at my center. My jaw creaked open as if to yawn, tense and eager
to bite. As the sun-limned windows suddenly burst into eye-burning
intensity I could bear it no longer despite the dark tint of my
sunglasses. Covering my eyes I ran to the bathroom mirror to see
what other changes were coming upon me that refused to stop despite
all my wishing.
How is it that one moment can
change an entire life? Plenty of people called me strange over the
years, even twisted, but I'd always had my family to fall back on.
I'd laughed at things that weren't meant to be jokes, and played with
spiders and snakes and things that most people seemed to have an
instinctual fear or loathing of. Even so, I'd always felt there was a
place I could belong, that I could help people, protect them from the
predators in this world. I'd never considered I could be anything
other than human. Now I wondered if I could ever be human again.
There was no white in my eyes, no shining blue iris – only a
terrifying violet so deep as to appear
door out of the way. “You know, it's funny, but you really do
smell almost human.”
“ Mmn,” I responded
as vague confirmation, not really sure what to make of that
observation. Soul searching was interrupted when I flinched as
splinters fell to the ground from the ruined door as he set it back
in place behind him. “He never said he'd pay for that door, did
he,” I muttered. On top of that my apartment now reeked from
the throw up and I was sporting a pair of ivory fangs that weren't
showing any sign of going away. I decided to deal with the easier of
the two problems first. Attacking the stain before it could set into
the carpet I was able to get the place back to rights. “Rich
indeed, I bet real vampires never have to clean their own floors.
Dracula had a mansion or a castle or something, didn't he?” He
was also a lady's man, and I couldn't keep a boyfriend for a week.
How was that fair?
Hopefully I'd gotten all the
splinters that had fallen so far. From what I heard they tended to
ruin the barefoot experience. My one lucky break was that the ant
farm hadn't gotten knocked over in the scuffle. '4:55. I hope when
he said to come in after five he didn't mean precisely after.' I
needed to stay on my toes for the time being. This was nothing at all
like the laid-back atmosphere in Haven. There the militia handled
everything noteworthy, I just had to keep Haegle happy during my
apprenticeship for a good recommendation and help him bring in the
occasional drunkard or surly twelve-year-old vandal. My worst
experience while working there was when one of the kids thought I was
thirteen and tried to hit on me. This Boston gig was a whole
different ballgame. Hopefully everyone would mellow out after Chains
was caught. If this was how the force always was I would really need
to start making some friends outside of work.
Then again, maybe I just hadn't
gone through the ritual hazing process yet like they had in all the
old movies. Still, my potential future as a police officer wasn't my
primary concern at that moment. No, that award belonged to the sweet
smell of honeyed chestnuts slowly driving me mad. It seemed utterly
tantalizing, even if a faint hint of copper was polluting its purity. 'Where is it coming from?' I dug my fingers into my thighs to
try and distract myself from my growing hunger, nails pricking my
skin through my pants. 'No way...' I held my hands up in front
of me, twisting them back and forth, disbelieving. My perfectly
trimmed nails were now just one step short of claws. Black and yet
faintly iridescent, they curved to sharp points an inch from my
fingertips.
“ Why won't it stop?”
I could sense the change now as all concern I had for the world
outside my body shrank away. I could feel the slow metamorphosis that
didn't see fit to stop at claws and fangs. A nervous, hungry energy
crept along my limbs, begging to be used, belying the hungry void I
felt at my center. My jaw creaked open as if to yawn, tense and eager
to bite. As the sun-limned windows suddenly burst into eye-burning
intensity I could bear it no longer despite the dark tint of my
sunglasses. Covering my eyes I ran to the bathroom mirror to see
what other changes were coming upon me that refused to stop despite
all my wishing.
How is it that one moment can
change an entire life? Plenty of people called me strange over the
years, even twisted, but I'd always had my family to fall back on.
I'd laughed at things that weren't meant to be jokes, and played with
spiders and snakes and things that most people seemed to have an
instinctual fear or loathing of. Even so, I'd always felt there was a
place I could belong, that I could help people, protect them from the
predators in this world. I'd never considered I could be anything
other than human. Now I wondered if I could ever be human again.
There was no white in my eyes, no shining blue iris – only a
terrifying violet so deep as to appear
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