"Sweet… I bet. Very, very sweet…"
The words slipped out before I could stop them. I caught myself mid-thought, feeling that familiar pull toward bloodlust, an instinct I now realized I'd have to battle for the rest of my existence.
"Alexander," I muttered, "don't go down that hole."
What unsettled me most wasn't just the hunger. It was how calmly I had accepted everything: the transformation, the heightened senses, the death and rebirth. I wasn't panicking. I wasn't even questioning my sanity. That terrified me more than the thirst ever could.
I forced myself to stand still, eyes fixed on the bear's corpse. Its mangled body became my anchor, a brutal reminder of what I was fighting not to become. Breathing slowly out of habit, not necessity I sank into a meditative focus.
I retraced every step since entering that damned town.
That's when I felt it was an echo of something foreign. The decision to explore the church and descend into the catacombs… it hadn't been entirely mine. There had been a subtle push, a whisper beneath my thoughts, nudging me toward that place. The curiosity had been genuine, but the compulsion no. That wasn't me.
And yet, after dying and returning as whatever I am now, that influence was gone.
What remained was worse. The violent impulses, the hunger, the unfiltered rage they were mine. No outside force pulling the strings. Just me, changed. My thoughts no longer aligned with who I remembered being. That realization chilled me.
Still, I took a slow, deliberate breath and pulled myself from the meditative trance. A flicker of satisfaction passed through me. Aunt Rachel had taught me that technique years ago, back when I was still human, still naïve enough to think meditation could cure anger or fear. Maybe she had been right all along. It kept me sane, even now.
Leaving the bear's carcass behind, I stepped toward the cave's mouth. A beam of sunlight spilled through the entrance, painting the air gold. My instincts screamed don't. Every nerve in my body felt on edge. But some part of me already knew the truth.
I extended my hand slowly into the light.
Warmth. Not pain.
No smoke. No burning flesh. Just sunlight, a bit too hot, but bearable. The warmth crawled up my arm like a long-forgotten memory.
"Well, that's unexpected," I murmured, staring at my pale skin glowing faintly in the light. "So… I don't burst into flames. That's new."
Gathering my courage, I whispered, "Please don't turn me to dust," and stepped fully out of the cave.
The forest spread before me, lush and alive. Sunlight filtered through the canopy, dappling the ground in shifting gold and green. I blinked, overwhelmed by the colors, by the clarity.
"So vampires aren't really hurt by sunlight?" I muttered aloud. "No… that can't be it. Maybe it's the progenitor's bloodline. He did say he was cursed by the sun. Maybe I'm different somehow."
I shrugged it off. I had bigger problems.
If I was still near the catacombs, then the nearest town or city was at least a week's drive away. "And he mentioned magic, didn't he?" I said, pacing. "If I supposedly have it, maybe I could use it to get there faster. But that idiot vampire didn't bother explaining how. Would've been nice to include that in the cursed welcome package."
I sighed, shaking off the frustration. "Whatever. I just need to get back to the jeep assuming it's still around."
The fragmented foreign memories that lingered in my head told me I hadn't gone far. Still, it would be at least an hour's walk through dense forest to get back to where the town should be.
I started walking, the sunlight prickling faintly against my skin, not burning but reminding me of what I had become something between life and death.
Another fragment of memory caught my attention the speed at which that creature, or rather the other me from those memories, had moved. It was astonishing, almost unreal.
I stood still, surrounded by the chorus of buzzing insects and rustling leaves, and let the idea bloom in my mind.
"Let's try it," I muttered to myself, a grin tugging at the corners of my lips.
All the novels I'd ever read claimed that vampires could move fast and the foreign memories swirling in my head only reinforced that truth.
I crouched slightly, mimicking a runner's stance, and took off.
Nothing. Just a normal run. My footfalls sounded heavy and clumsy against the forest floor. I stopped abruptly, disappointed.
Not giving up, I took another stance, this time focusing on the vivid memory of how the other me had moved like wind, like shadow. I concentrated on that image until it thrummed through me.
Then I ran.
BAM!
I collided headfirst into a tree trunk, the impact echoing through the forest like a drumbeat. Pain exploded across my forehead, and I groaned, clutching it with both hands.
"This was… a bad idea," I hissed, staggering to my feet.
The pain, however, faded almost instantly and a strange thrill crawled up my spine. The remnants of my clothing already torn and filthy were now barely holding on, more like damp rags than actual fabric.
"But at least I was semi-successful," I muttered, remembering the fleeting sensation I'd felt like time had slowed to a crawl, like the world had been struggling to keep up with me.
Over the next several tries, the forest became my crash course in vampire physics. I sprinted, stumbled, tripped, slammed into roots, and somersaulted through leaves. Each failure left me either eating dirt or hugging a tree trunk, but with every attempt, I adjusted.
Finally, I got it right.
I leaned forward, muscles coiling like springs, and burst into motion. The world blurred. Trees whipped past me as streaks of green and brown. The ground vanished beneath my feet, replaced by a rushing sensation that filled my chest with wild exhilaration. A dark mist trailed behind me, curling and dispersing like smoke.
I didn't think about it. I just ran.
Branches slapped my face, but I barely felt them. The wind tore through my hair. The thrill the sheer, unfiltered freedom was intoxicating. For the first time since this nightmare began, I felt alive.
"Woohoo!" I shouted, voice echoing through the forest canopy.
A branch smacked me in the mouth mid-cheer.
"Bleh!" I spat out a leaf, grimacing. "Okay, mouth closed," I muttered and kept running.
After what felt like only twelve minutes, maybe I slowed down. The forest gave way to open space, and there, just ahead, was something familiar.
The Jeep.
It stood where we had parked it in front of the abandoned town or at least where the town used to be. I stopped dead, eyes widening.
The town was gone.
I blinked, rubbed my eyes, and looked again. No, not overgrown. Swallowed. The buildings were there, or pieces of them, but nature had reclaimed everything. Roots coiled around shattered stone, trees pierced rooftops, and vines crawled over rusted lampposts. It was as if centuries had passed in mere days.
I walked forward, awe and confusion tangling in my chest. The Jeep, though aged, still stood resilient against the encroaching wilderness. Its dark green paint had lost its showroom sheen, dulled by dust and time. A faint web of scratches marred the fender, and a thin layer of grit softened its surface.
Despite everything, the sight of it filled me with relief. A piece of the old world still existed, a reminder that I hadn't completely lost my grip on reality.