Getting out of the morgue itself proved to be a greater challenge than she had expected—at least until she remembered that she could just make the security guard open the doors for her. Sure, it would be another witness, but considering she apparently didn’t appear on cameras, she was far less concerned.

The city in the early evening was still far more awake than she would have liked. Her lab coat, dishevelled appearance and lack of shoes drew far more stares than she was comfortable with.

Walking did a good job of clearing her mind even if physically she felt nothing. No soreness, no sweating, no desire for oxygen. It was… empty. Excluding the hunger that coiled in her belly that was impossible to ignore.

She kept her head down, not wanting to draw more attention than she already was. Her phone's battery was running uncomfortably low and it was by no means a short walk.

Still, it was hard not to enjoy the evening. She was… still here despite everything. She had never put too much value on her own life but tonight she was glad her encounter with Eloise had not been her end. How she felt about… her new condition she wasn’t so sure yet.

Stepping out of the morgue had been confusing. The sheer brightness of the city was unsettling. Streetlights illuminated the dusk, but it wasn’t until she looked up at the sky that it really sunk in.

The light pollution drowned out the stars but the night sky was still far brighter. Her eyes were now built for the dark. Her senses as a whole were far sharper. She didn’t risk breathing, the smells had been overwhelming in the sterile morgue. She tried to focus on only the sound around her, to ignore everything else but it was not easy. Every conversation, every car that passed, every heart that beat all drew her attention.

One thing was for certain, she was never stepping foot in a club ever again. The stimuli had been bad enough before all this. Now the weight of it all might drown her, how Eloise had managed she had no idea.

She walked quickly. Every clothing shop she passed felt like a taunt. She was consistently aware of her nudity under the coat and it would be fairly obvious to anyone who paid too much attention.

Her longing glance into store windows made her aware of another thing. It had taken embarrassingly long, not until someone had passed by her. It wasn’t just cameras, she didn’t have a reflection.

That epiphany strangely made things clearer. She was a walking corpse that drank blood and had no reflection. A vampire. She was a fucking vampire.

Sofia had been doing her best to just not think too hard about everything but since the thought had popped into her head it was impossible not to notice how well the term fit.

Her teeth were starting to push through, at the moment it was only her canines. Now full-on fangs rather than pointier teeth. At least that’s what it felt like.

Vampire was maybe too broad of a term but she was certainly vampiric. Somehow everything seemed far less plausible now that she was applying the term vampire to herself.

In fact, as she crossed the street and turned the corner she seriously considered if this was some kind of coma dream or if she had just lost it. Unfortunately, there was literally no way to know anything at all was real so it was probably best just to accept what seemed to be her new reality.

Sofia checked her map again. She was nowhere near her apartment. If she didn’t look so bizarre then she could just hop on a bus but the last thing she wanted to do was cause more trouble.

She glanced at the large retail store across the street. They would have clothes. She might have been a mess but she did have her wallet. She could buy clothes, right?

A laugh escaped her. She didn’t even need to buy them. She was invisible to cameras and could mind control people. She could just walk in and take whatever she wanted.

How strange to have found so much freedom in death. Fuck, she was probably legally dead wasn’t she? Her parents. Oh fuck, her parents.

Oh, maybe it was ok. It had been two days, they hadn’t even gotten to her… autopsy until tonight. Except… Jackie, Jackie would have been able to identify her, hell Jackie could have broken the news herself. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Sofia gave up on finding clothes and picked up her pace.

“Do my parents think I’m dead? Please tell me you didn’t tell them.”

Just like the other messages, there was no reply.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Unwilling to deal with any more bullshit tonight she broke into a run. There was no joy in a lovely evening anymore. Her life had potentially crumbled in the last three days.

What did the freedom to steal clothes matter if her family thought she was dead? It was easy to get sucked up in the power but there was nothing nice about what Eloise had done. She had been murdered, regardless of what she was now, everyone around her was living in that reality.

Forget being undead, she had no idea how to feel about that, but Eloise had harmed her friends and family. That wasn’t something that could be let go. Eloise owed her big time, she would not forget it.

She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, not bothering to check for cars, what did it matter if she got hit anyway? She could- she had healed from worse.

By the time her phone finally died, she already recognized the neighbourhood. She felt like a madwoman, running at a speed that had never been possible. Dodging obstacles and skidding around corners.

She didn’t dare look down at the condition of her bare feet. She felt no pain, it did not matter. She might have enjoyed this on any other occasion, the freedom, the speed, the power but not tonight.

As she reached the apartment she finally managed to relax a little. It was an utterly odd feeling to just be fine. No cramp in her side, no gasping for air. She had sprinted through the city without even taking a breath.

She knocked, waited a moment, and then realized she did in fact have her key. She unlocked the door and hurried inside only to run face-first into Jackie.

Jackie yelled and punched her in the face, Sofia felt her jaw break loose under her flesh with unexpected brittleness. It only reminded her further of her hunger, especially now face to face with a wide-eyed Jackie. She really needed to eat something. She might have been strong but she was still so-so fragile.

“Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, Sofia,” Jackie gasped, her brain seeming to short-circuit before her expression slipped into that placidly hollow relaxed expression Sofia was becoming all the more familiar with.

Her eyes, she needed to hide her eyes. What did they even look like? What about them could do this to people? She wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to know what people saw.

It was one thing to affect a stranger, it was another to have a friend under her spell. The sense of wrongness was pervasive. It was a violation of someone she cared about.

Sofia pushed by her roommate. The band of control lingered more and more with every mind she grasped even without eye contact. This time she snapped it.

“Sofia?” Jackie called, but Sofia was already disappearing into her room.

Thankfully Sofia had a few pairs of sunglasses. She grabbed the most reflective ones and slipped them on. She had to look utterly ridiculous. But all she could do was imagine, her bedroom mirror was empty.

“Sofi,” Jackie sighed from the doorway, her eyes teary. “You’re… actually alive,” she croaked before pulling Sofia into a hug.

Sofia hugged her right back. She might have been unable to muster a physical reaction but some of the tension she had been holding finally released.

“You were dead, h-how?” Jackie shuddered against her. She was so warm against Sofia’s body. It was impossible to ignore her scent. Heated and wet. How easy it would be to take a bite.

Sofia swallows her reply. Her teeth had grown in enough that she was confident she could form proper words, even if it meant her mouth closed in a way that felt wrong. The problem was she didn’t really know what to say.

“You’re freezing,” Jackie added, pulling back slightly. Concern was clear on her face, Sofia’s outfit couldn’t have helped things.

“I lied,” Sofia offered hesitantly. “I am dead.”

Jackie squinted at her for a moment. “Are we talking ghost shenanigans or like more of a zombie-type deal?”

“I’m serious,” Sofia sighed.

“Bitch we found you in the bathroom with your neck torn out. The paramedics whisked you away but… it was… bad, really bad.”

“My parents?” Sofia asked, changing the subject.

“They don’t know anything. I couldn’t remember their number and I didn’t even know how to begin,” Jackie laughed weakly. “I-I figured the cops would handle it.”

“Thank the stars for your bad memory,” Sofia sighed with relief. Just like that everything seemed to balance out a little more. She didn't feel like she was teetering on the edge of a cliff quite as much.

“You’re actually here, fuck Sofi. You’re actually here,” Jackie laughed. “Now I don’t need to cover all of the rent.”

“Oh fuck you,” Sofia chuckled. She almost felt normal. Almost.

“What’s with the lab coat and glasses?” Jackie asked.

“I uh…” Sofia didn’t even know how to explain everything that had happened. She sat on the edge of her bed and ran her hands over her face. “I woke up mid-autopsy.”

“Like… naked on the table?” Jackie asked, leaning against the wall with a frown of confusion.

“Like cut… open,” Sofia explained, trying to awkwardly mime the nightmare. “He was scooping my organs out.”

Jackie just stared at her, clearly unsure about what exactly the fuck was going on.

Sofia didn’t have the time for this. “I’ll prove it,” she sighed with determination, standing and grabbing a pair of scissors from her desk.

“What-“

Jackie didn’t get the chance to finish the question before she held out her hand on the desk and brought the scissors down with as much force as she could muster.

The scissors hardly passed through with the ease of a sharp sharp blade but the sheer force of her attempt lodged them deep in her flesh. She released the scissors, and they stayed embedded, standing on their own.

Jackie’s complexion somewhat matched hers at this moment. She looked like she was going to throw up.

Sofia supposed impaling one's hand was an inane thing to do. But that was somewhat the point, she needed Jackie to start believing her. It wasn’t as if it even hurt, it was strange and a little uncomfortable but her flesh did not care, so she couldn’t bring herself to either.

She pulled the scissors out, having to wiggle them free from bone. Slowly her hand began to heal. Not in the way the living did. There was no scab, no scar. It was like the injury undid itself. Her hand returned to how it had been before. Bone smoothing out, flesh stretching to latch onto flesh. It was mesmerizing to watch.

Sofia held out her hand. “Tadaa!”

Jackie’s eyes rolled back in her head and she dropped like a rock. Sofia lunged to grab her before her head smashed into the ground. People really needed to stop doing that.

Jackie blinked rapidly and pressed a hand to her face as Sofia cradled her head.

“You fainted,” Sofia laughed weakly.

Jackie shook her head and tried to sit up. Sofia kept a hand on her for support. She had never seen Jackie faint before, actually, she had never seen anyone faint before.

“Maybe lie down for a bit?” She suggested she wasn’t entirely sure what the protocol for fainting was.

“I’m fine,” Jackie croaked as she unsteadily stood. She didn’t seem fine. Thankfully Jackie chose to sit on Sophie’s bed without further encouragement.

“To answer your question from before, it’s more of a vampire situation,” Sofia smiled as comfortingly as she could manage.

“Your teeth,” Jackie muttered.

“Oh… yeah,” Sofia replied, moving her tongue in her mouth. “They’re regrowing.”

“What the actual fuck is going on?” Jackie groaned.