I stood up from where I had lain on the floor of the warehouse. No windows or open doors were within my line of sight, yet I knew it was nighttime. I wish I could say how I knew, because my gut told me it was important, but right now I simply wanted to know why I wasn’t a corpse.

“Finally awake, I see,” came a familiar voice from the shadows. “I was wondering if I had gotten to you in time or not. Looks like I was lucky.” No one stepped forward after those words faded away, leaving me still without a face to go with the idea of my benefactor.

“Where are we?” was about all I could manage, still confused and disoriented. I tried to get my bearings but it simply was not working. In the back of my mind something bugged me, but every time I tried to chase it down, it just skittered away out of reach.

“Why, we’re where I found you,” came the reply from the shadows. “I wasn’t willing to risk moving you after what had happened, so I simply made sure you would not die before the day was out, and let things go naturally from there.”

I simply raised an eyebrow at that. Why would a single day matter so much without medical attention, if I was that bad off?

The other obviously read the look on my face. “Ah,” a smirk carried by that single syllable. “You haven’t figured out yet. I see.” A long pause filled the time before finally the man spoke again.

“I can’t have someone serving me so ignorant,” he began, each word feeling as though it had been carefully weighed before reaching his lips. “it would likely get myself killed along with you. I, and now you, are vampires.”

The word struck like a semi going over 100 miles per hour. I was a night stalking blood sucker? I felt myself begin to shake, likely because shock was setting in. Vampire…

“Not taking it so well,” the other said, suddenly stepping out into the light. He was a tall man, of slight build. Nothing looked out of the ordinary about him. I never would have guessed he was a supernatural being.

I tried to reply, but only sputtered. My brain and lips didn’t want to cooperate right now, not that I could blame them.

The man came up to me, putting his hand on my shoulder. “You’ll get used to the idea soon enough, I promise.”

Something inside me snapped. Even months later I will never be able to describe what happened inside me next, other than I became an animal.

My arm lashed out, catching the man by the throat. He tried to gasp out a word, but before he could get it out I had slammed him into a nearby pillar. I could feel insane strength flowing through me, power unlike any I had ever felt before. Again my benefactor tried to speak, but I slammed my forehead into his nose with all the new found strength I could muster.

Bones snapped under the force of the blow, and my face felt wet with his blood. The very smell drove my insane rage to new heights. More strikes, more attempted resistance by the Vampire, but I did not let him break free.

At that point I found myself completely lost in the moment, unable to register anything. When I finally came back to my senses, I found the man on the ground, unmoving.

Then I noticed them. Puncture marks on his neck. Dry, deep puncture marks. Had I… I must have. I’d killed the man who saved me, drank his blood.

“Some cop,” I muttered, trying to get my bearings. But then I felt the tickling at the back of my mind. Moment by moment it grew stronger, more insistent. Finally it broke over me, like a wave.

Memories. Hundreds of years worth of memories and knowledge. His. Jonathan’s. Everything about him. Everything he’d done, mine now. The killing, the learning, the feeding. Everything. Even the bitter fact that, deep inside he had wanted to die, but never found the courage to kill himself. Too many years the predator, too much time fighting to survive even among his own kind.

The idea that vampires were despicable creatures was not a new one, not that I had believed they were real. But the memories inside me told tales that made even my worst imaginings seem like a fairy tale. And now, now I was one of them.

My family. Images of them sprang to mind, and at once I flinched. I did not dare see them again, now. They would have to think I was dead, after a long missing person’s period, their hope withering and dying as no sign of me showed up. The very idea made me shudder, but I knew it was the right thing to do. Give them up, for their own good. I was no longer the man they knew and loved, just another monster.

“No, not just another monster,” I whispered, hands clenching and unclenching at my sides. “I will not be a monster as Jonathan was for most of his existence, like the creatures his memories tell me about. I must be more, for my own sake. For my family’s sake. For everyone not able to defend themselves from this horrible things.”

Deep down, I knew what I had to do. The only right thing to do was take this new found knowledge, this new found power, and use it as I had been trained in all my years as a cop. Unfortunately, that meant giving up everything I’d worked for in my old life. I would have to push the thoughts of family and friends out of my mind, forever. My career would also have to disappear. Fortunately Jonathan had been a wealthy man, and all the information to get at that money was inside my head now, giving me what I would need to get by.

I had a new goal in life, a new reason to be. Kill the predators of the night, use their own power against them, and protect who and what I could. And find a way to avoid attacking anyone who was not a Vampire the way I had attacked Jonathan. No one but the undead should feel the terror I now brought with me.

Luckily, Jonathan had brought a change of clothing for his new protege, so I was able to change into something not so covered in blood before heading out.

“Time to start this new life,” I muttered under my breath as I exited the building, leaving behind everything I had ever been. Everything except a desire to help those in need.

—

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Patrick Sullivan is a Software Developer in Denver, Colorado.  He’s passionate about creative ventures, both writing and technical in nature.  When not writing in his preferred genre of fantasy, he’s studying programming ideas and languages as well as usability issues.