“I fucking knew it, I knew she was trouble,” Jackie growled.

“You told me to have fun,” Sofia huffed.

“I thought she was break-your-heart trouble not… maul you to death,” Jackie offered somewhat sheepishly.

Sofia shook her head and lay back on her pillows.

“So… vampire rules?” Jackie asked.

“What?”

“No reflection, check. I cannot get over how strange this is,” Jackie muttered, holding up the hand mirror.

Sofia bit back her reply. Jackie barely knew the half of it.

“What else? Garlic?” Jackie asked.

Sofia rolled her eyes. Though… “maybe, I have a really strong sense of smell, like really strong.”

“What’s that like?” Jackie asked.

“I don’t know,” Sofia groaned. Jackie had moved from disbelief to cursory and she wasn’t sure if it was any better.

“Sorry, sorry,” Jackie giggled. She was practically giddy about all of this. The last thing Sofia felt was giddy. How could she be so excited about all this?

Sofia was definitely hangry and Jackie was not helping things. She needed to eat though she had no idea where to even begin.

Eating human food was probably not an option but she needed to try to rule it out. Eating Jackie was not an option either. They probably had some kind of meat in the fridge, maybe that would do?

“What about the whole invitation thing?” Jackie yawned.

“I don’t know,” Sofia snapped.

Jackie seemed somewhat taken aback.

“Sorry, I’m just tired,” Sofia sighed, leaving out how hungry she was. She doubted that realization would be as fun as the rest of it. Shit became real when your roommate suddenly had a taste for human flesh.

Sofia tried to push the thought from her mind. Thinking about food just made her hunger more apparent.

She had also dodged any questions about the sunglasses. She had no idea how to begin explaining the effect of her eyes and the last thing she wanted was for Jackie to volunteer as a guinea pig.

She wanted normal, none of this was normal. Everything going back to normal was what had brought her home with so much urgency but it was just a fantasy. She was still just as dead.

“I’m sorry,” Jackie sighed, “this had to be overwhelming.”

Sofia nodded.

“I figure you're not going to class tomorrow?” Jackie asked as she stood and stretched.

Sofia blinked before shaking her head. She hadn’t even considered school. The weekend was over now. Life was just carrying on.

Jackie pulled the blinds tightly closed. “Maybe… don’t risk the sun tomorrow. That’s Vampire 101.”

Sofia gave her a tight smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, goodnight,” Jackie said. She paused, quickly pulled Sofia into another hug and then left Sofia alone.

Sofia could still hear her. The soft pattering of her steps. The pulsing of her heart. Every sigh and breath. The house was quiet, every sound was a shout.

Sofia could certainly smell her. That was far worse. Jackie didn’t smell any different. It was almost worse that way. All the wires in her brain had been rearranged.

She had eagerly drunk the coroner's blood. It should have been revolting, it tasted like blood, but that somehow was a good thing now. Her entire sense of taste had changed but the flavours hadn’t. She had been… changed, made into something new. Something that only had some of the old Sofia.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

It was too late in the evening now to call her parents. But she sent them a message wishing them well and telling them she loved them.

She lay there twiddling her thumbs for a few more minutes until she couldn’t take the boredom and the hunger. The last thing her body felt like it needed was sleep. She didn’t feel energized but she didn’t remotely feel tired either. As always her flesh felt next to nothing.

Sofia tiptoed her way to the kitchen, not wanting to alert Jackie to her presence as she opened the fridge. She grabbed the prone juice and poured a small glass.

Tentatively she took a small sip and smacked her lips. It wasn’t… the worst. Far too sour and disgustingly sweet. The thought of drinking more made her feel a little queasy. She poured it down the sink. Her taste had certainly been rewired.

Next, she reached for a pack of bacon. Cooking it would theoretically make it taste better but she was famished and she didn’t want to risk Jackie waking up. She took a small sniff, it smelled like bacon.

Willing herself to just get this over with she bit off a small piece. She chewed and swallowed. It tasted… meh. There was a plasticky undertone she wasn’t a fan of. But the meat itself was fine. Palatable even. Good would be stretching it.

But it was food, food she could eat. She bit off a larger piece.

She had to have looked insane. Crouched in the kitchen in sunglasses eating a pack of bacon raw. She chuckled at the image as she ate another piece.

What did she even look like anymore? She would never see her face again. Never see what Eloise had done to her.

As much as she wanted a rational explanation, an explanation of vampirism based in science that just wasn’t possible. She wasn’t possible. Ergo humanity was oblivious to a lot. She didn’t want to consider that if vampires could be real… what else?

A whole new category of things she knew she didn’t know had opened up and it scared her.

She swallowed the last strip of bacon. It really held nothing compared to human blood. But she wasn't starving anymore. It was a wonder she had made it as far as she had without eating more than a small amount of blood.

Any mammal would immediately be nursing. But she had been born dead. Left to figure everything out on her own.

The bacon barely managed to calm her hunger, she was far from satisfied. She felt a little better. It only made her wonder how fantastic she would feel if she drained an entire person of blood and ate all the flesh from their bones. How strong would that make her?

It was a dangerous idea to allow, especially with Jackie in the other room. So very warm and alive.

But it wasn’t as if she couldn’t control herself. There was no feeding frenzy, no blackout. If she decided to eat someone it would be her own choice. She would have no excuse. Still, she preferred having control, better than being at the mercy of some kind of bloodlust.

She tossed the packaging in the garbage and washed her hands. Sofia went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and hopefully rid the taste of raw bacon from her mouth. It may have tasted fine but logically she didn’t like it.

When she returned to her room she ensured the curtains were tightly closed, and kicked off the stupid lab coat and sunglasses before climbing into bed.

----------------------------------------

It was nearly morning. Sofia had long given up on actually sleeping. She could lie there with her eyes closed all she wanted to, but rest seemed beyond her. There was no pull of unconsciousness, no sinking into the bed. Just waiting, alert and awake.

With far too much time and nothing to do anxiety began to creep in. The sun was beginning to rise. Faint light now illuminated her room through her blinds. If there was one thing everyone knew about vampires was that the sunlight was antithetical to them.

She pulled the blankets tighter around her. Maybe she could avoid sunbathing but there were very few places on earth that no light reached. Was she the burst-into-flames kind of vampire or the turn-to-ash kind? Somehow she needed to find out but the thought terrified her.

The room was already uncomfortably bright and it wasn’t even dawn. She was not particularly hopeful. She had ordered blackout curtains during the night but they would not be there before the sun rose.

How stupid it would be to burn to death in her own bed after everything. But in the small apartment, there wasn’t really anywhere to hide.

She settled for rolling herself under her bed. It felt safer than the alternative. She really needed to vacuum under her bed. Thankfully she didn’t need to breathe and was safe from all the dust.

The curtains did a poor job of blocking out the light. Then again she was far more sensitive to it. What was dim light would be a spotlight to her. Hidden away under the bed she felt fine even as dawn turned to morning.

However, her eyes were unable to adjust. Even dim daylight and hidden under her bed left her struggling to see anything clearly. She could squint and blink all she liked but it was like a flashlight being shown directly in her eyes. Her room was nothing more than a blinding blur before she knew it.

She was blind. Her eyes were far too sensitive to be of any use during the day. She really wished she had not left the sunglasses on the other side of the room. Eloise clearly knew what she was doing.

Trapped under the bed and unable to see, she had never quite felt so helpless. It was like looking at the sun. The price of near-perfect night vision.

“Tell Jackie I need help,” she told her phone, for once actually using the voice assistant.

Sofia didn’t like relying on people but what choice did she really have right now? Wait until the sun went down? That wasn’t an option, she couldn’t hide under the bed all day. She had a friend, a roommate, someone that partially knew about what the fuck was going on. She wasn’t too proud to admit she needed help.

“Tell Jackie the curtains don’t block enough light.”

The city had long since woken up, drowning out her ability to hear her roommate but it didn’t take a genius to guess Jackie was still asleep.

“Call Jackie.”

She might actually strangle her roommate. Once again when she actually needed help she wasn’t there. Maybe that wasn’t entirely fair but for fucks sake.

For all Jackie’s kindness, she wasn’t the kind of person that Sofia would choose in an emergency. She was flaky and unreliable and didn't take much of anything that seriously. But she was the closest thing Sofia had to a friend and she really needed one right now.

“Jackie!” She yelled as loudly as she could. The name came out more of a snarl, far louder than she had expected.

She heard the footsteps even before her door opened. “Sofia?” Jackie asked, panic lacing her groggy voice.

“It’s too bright,” Sofia whimpered.

“Fuck… uh, hold on,” Jackie muttered and pattered away.

Sofia tried to calm herself. It was foolish to start expecting things from Jackie. Getting her expectations up would be a stupid thing to do. This couldn’t be easy on Jackie either, her roommate has thought her dead. Still, she didn’t manage to fully smother her annoyance.

Jackie returned a minute later and after some fiddling the room fell dark. With. Sigh of relief Sofia slid from under the bed, still very much naked except for the blankets wrapped around her. It was a habit she had no intention of continuing.

Jackie had tucked a blanket in the curtain rod and did her best to tie it.

“Thanks,” Sofia sighed, grabbing her sunglasses and slipping them on. The darkness was a relief.

“Uh, no problem,” Jammie offered. “Are you ok?”

“I can see again,” Sofia replied curtly walking over to the window. “I need to see if I’ll burst into flames though.”

Jackie rocked on her heels and watched with bated breath.

Preparing herself to do something very stupid she slipped her hand under the curtain, exposing it to the sunlight.

“Anything?” Jackie asked after about a minute.

Sofia frowned. “Maybe a bit tingly?” She pulled her hand out and immediately winced. Her hand was blistered and blackened. Cooked by the sun. She hadn’t burst into flame but she had gotten one hell of a sunburn.

“Oh my god,” Jackie winced, covering her nose.

Sofia was all too aware of the smell of her chard flesh. “Okay then, bright direct sunlight even for a short amount of time is a no-no,” Sofia huffed as she flexed her hand.

“Does that not hurt?” Jackie asked with horror.

“Nothing hurts anymore,” Sofia sighed as she watched her hand begin to revert to its once pristine state. She healed far faster than before, the bacon had done her some good. “Do you have any sunscreen? I need to do some more testing.”