Awaking beneath shaded trees has never been so painful. I sat up and glanced around. That’s odd, there’s no one around. And no snow. Just how far did we fall? Did I get launched from the bus or something, and if so how far and how the hell am I still alive?

I was in a forest now, with dense foliage allowing only soft diffuse light through. After I got my bearings I started to push myself back up, but then I saw it: my hands were pale. Deathly pale. And not only that, they weren’t my hands. My hands were rough, hardened things that I hated, and if nothing else I could recognize the mole on the back of my left hand any day. These hands were thin. Light and feminine, with long elegant fingers and nails that clearly used to be manicured, but now were cracked and breaking. No mole to be seen. These aren’t my hands. Pushing myself off the ground I felt my weight shift in unexpected ways and looked down. I was in a dress, could see blond hair draped over my shoulders, had breasts and hips and long skinny legs and oh god, I’m a woman???

I took several deep breaths. Calm down. Retrace your steps, Jason. What got us to this point?

My class was going for a field trip up to the mountains, to see some space observatory. On our way up the winding road along the mountain our bus driver got distracted, we tumbled over the railing and down the mountain, there was a lot of screaming and then… and then what? We couldn’t have possibly landed near somewhere this densely wooded, right?

I’m an unfamiliar person in an unfamiliar place after a terrible car accident. I must have some kind of concussion. That’s the logical cause of disorientation, gaps in memory, and visual hallucinations like seeing yourself as a woman.

Its just a concussion, I thought with a sigh of relief, beats being dead. I ran my hand through my hair and stopped in my tracks. This long, soft blonde hair…. Certainly feels very real. I brought my hands to my hips and up my sides. I was very cold, but this body shape certainly feels real. I placed a hand between my legs…

Okay, this is real! I darted through the forest trying to find a way out of here, and finally spotted a sun-lit clearing. The instant I stepped out into the light, my entire body started to burn like I’d poured boiling water on myself.

Instinctively I jumped back. I glanced my new body over, giving my skin a good check. Red with irritation, but no major harm it looks like. I pulled a sleeve up, and could see a clear line between the pale skin that this dress had been covering and the red, itchy skin that was exposed. It was like I had gotten an instant sunburn. Just what the hell was that? Experimentally, I stuck my balled-up fist out into the sunlight. Almost instantly the skin began to tingle with pain like before, and within a few seconds was beginning to blister. I pulled my hand back when I could bear the pain no more. A stripe of dark red, burned skin on the back of my hand stared back at me.

So I’ve got pale skin, I’m cold, and I burn up within seconds of going in the sun.

“Oh my god, I’m a vampire?!” I exclaimed with realization in my new, surprisingly pretty voice. Did I need to drink blood now? The sudden rumbling in my stomach and watering of the mouth at the mere thought indicated yeah, probably. What about garlic, or stakes to the heart? Well that last one will do a pretty good job killing anyone…

For now I need to figure out where I am. Does this vampire have anything on her that could help me? I do a quick once over of my person and the area where I woke up: aside from the dress I was wearing I found a wide-brimmed sunhat and cloak, presumably to ward off the sun. Surprisingly cute clothes for a supernatural monster. I also found a pouch of shining coins, though they looked like no coins I’d ever seen had I had no way to assess their value. Tucked in the folds of the cloak were an ornate dagger the size of my forearm and a journal, which I opened in hopes of getting any insights into my new situation.

The inside of the front cover had a gold inlaid inscription reading If Found, Return to Tess. I guess that’s her - my - name then. My eyes went wide when I glanced over to the other side of the cover. The first hundred or so pages, easily half the journal, had been roughly cut out. So much for learning anything from this. Just who was this girl? What did she cut out of her journal and why? And if I’m in Tess’s body, what happened to the real Tess?

I shook my head, returning the dagger and journal to the pockets of the cloak where I had found it. Cool dagger, vampires, mysterious journal and I’m suddenly a girl? I think it’s safe to say I’m not in Kansas anymore. That or I’ve got the mother of all concussions, I’m not ruling that possibility out just yes. Regardless of if this is Kansas or Middle Earth, I’m going to need to find some civilization. I was feeling pretty hungry after all, and maybe some of my classmates ended up here too. Not that we’d recognize each other, if my new form was anything to go off.

What did those survival handbooks always say to do? Find a river because human settlements are usually built along rivers, I think. I briefly worried what I’d do if the town were on the other side of the river. After how much that sunlight hurt, I’m in no hurry to test how vampires deal with running water. I put on the cloak and hat, picked a direction and headed out, keeping the cloak pulled tight around me to prevent any more incidents with the sun. This forest seemed to stretch on and on in every direction. Several times doubt clung at the corners of my mind and I had to fight the urge to pick a different direction, but the survival advice I’d always seen was to just keep going until you hear water.

This wilderness was beautiful at least. Growing up as an indoorsy nerd in a metropolitan area, I’d never had many opportunities to walk through this much unspoilt land before. What were these, redwoods? Or the fantasy world equivalent, maybe. Still, they were gorgeous. The tree canopy had to be a hundred feet up at least. I needed to be careful when looking up to check, for fear of tipping my head back and getting an eyeful of a random beam of sunlight. That would be an embarrassing way for a vampire to go blind. Occasionally I’d catch a glimpse of rabbits, snakes, the occasional deer. They scattered as I walked by but seemed remarkably calm at my presence. Are they used to humans… or perhaps to vampires?

The sun was setting by the time I finally heard the babbling of a river. After several hours of walking, just the sound of water was a relief. Once I’d found the river and had a short break, I set off downhill in search of other people. Curiously, some ways down I came upon a lone cottage. Maybe someone was here? Hope swelled in my chest as I cautiously approached it, only to deflate as I got a look from up close. This place had clearly been abandoned for some time. While the structure was in good condition, the windows were broken and boarded over, and the front door was entirely missing. Pretty remarkable stonework though. Why would a place like this be abandoned for so long?

I smacked my lips briefly as I realized how thirsty and cotton-mouthed I’d gotten. The iron-like taste of blood came to mind but I shook that away. I can figure out how I’m going to address vampirism later, for now lets focus on not dying of dehydration. I started rummaging though the cottage for any sign of potable water. What I found was plenty of stagnant water. Plenty of extremely, extremely gross stagnant water. They smelled like fetid toes, real lovely stuff. Just when I was beginning to think this world hadn’t developed the technology to seal water in an airtight container, I saw it: a re-corked wine bottle filled with perfectly clear liquid. I opened it up an had a whiff. It sure didn’t smell like wine, or fetid toes for that matter. In fact, it didn’t smell like much of anything at all. Must be water! After swishing an experimental sip around in my mouth, I determined it was safe and promptly guzzled down the whole bottle.

Ahh, now that was refreshing. I hadn’t realized how thirsty I was getting. The feeling of cold water hitting an empty stomach reminded me of my pained hunger. Before I left I refilled the wine bottle from the least disgusting pool of stagnant water, corked it, and left it on the window sill. Didn’t look like there was any particulate in it. I’d read in a book about survival skills (what, you don’t read those in your off time?) that sunlight filtering through a clear container can be enough to sterilize it over the course of a day or two. Fingers crossed that the next person who happens upon this place can have something safe to drink too.

I continued making my way downstream, rocks and bits of sand clinging to my boots as I went. Occasionally a wave swelled near me and, not wanting to test how well a vampire can cross water, I dodged out of the way of it. Eventually I began walking further from the coastline. The sun had set now and my eyes adjusted extremely well to the dark. Makes sense, Vampires are nocturnal after all. With sun gone, I could take off my hat and let my cloak billow freely. The cool of the night air felt so nice, the moonlight on my skin was so soothing, and the swishing of my hair and the hem of my dress felt so natural… Er, did I just think that? That’s weird, I’m a guy why would I think a dress feels natural…? Sure it’s breezy and breathable and comfortable even after all this walking, but that’s not the same. I must have just been thinking about how practical it feels. Yeah, that’s it!

And uh, the hair? I asked myself impatiently. That I didn’t have an answer for. I’d always kept my hair short, even though I always dreaded getting my hair cut. It was just practical that way, at least my mom told me so. I wonder how mom is doing… Let’s ignore that heart wrenching sense of homesickness for now. So maybe I didn’t like having my hair cut and had always kind of wanted it longer. I was just enjoying the novelty of having my hair long, and was getting a bit delirious with hunger.

The hunger was getting hard to ignore. I was so hungry. I felt the world spin occasionally as I got lightheaded and felt my stomach growl angrily at me. I needed to eat something. It had been hours since I was at that cottage, and I did not want to have to sleep outside on top of everything else. Just as I was beginning to feel hopelessly tired I saw it: a town! And on my side of the river too! I couldn’t help but let out a happy giggle as I picked up the pace and bounded towards the little hamlet. Sure, that was only making me more lightheaded, but the sooner I got there, the sooner I could eat!

The town was a loose smattering of buildings, with no walls or bridges or major landmarks. Each house had a stretch of farmland between it and the next, and judging by the fields they were going to have a very plentiful harvest. Mmm, just the smell of grass and hay and vegetables in the air made my stomach growl. And was that stew I smelled? All meaty and delicious? Part of me was tempted to go bang down their door and ask for a serving, the sooner I could eat the better after all, but decided against it. It would be terribly rude for a stranger like me to just barge into their home and demand food like that. No, I was much better off looking for a tavern or an inn of some kind. Lets see, big building with lots of noise…

As I made my way through the town, I heard a woman’s cry ring out from behind one of the larger buildings. Was someone in trouble?

“Shut your damn mouth! Wouldn’t want someone to hear you, now would we?” A man’s voice spoke.

Well, that doesn’t sound good. I don’t see any town guards around to take care of this, and I can’t exactly wait around and hope someone else helps her, right? Besides, I’m a vampire now, vampires usually have increased strength and stuff, so I should be able to at least scare this guy off! Alright, the sooner I can take care of this, the sooner I can eat.

I ducked around behind the building I thought I heard the scream come from. Sure enough, I could hear the sobbing and whimpering of a young woman. I rounded the corner and skid to a stop, “Get away from her you…”

My voice trailed off. The second I saw them all I could think about was how… tasty they looked. They smelled like meat and iron and man and woman. My thoughts clouded and the world spun. Both of them stopped and were looking at me with fear in their eyes. I could feel myself about to pass out as I took slow, staggering steps towards them. I ran a tongue over my new, sharp canines. The sooner I do this the sooner I can eat, right? The sooner I can eat.

I blacked out for only a moment, so overwhelmed by sudden hunger and the irresistible smell of the two before me. When I came too, I was on all fours, my mouth filled with the sweet, sweet succor of blood as it poured down my throat. I felt so reinvigorated, so much more alive than I ever had before. I blinked my eyes a few times, still sucking down every drop of the delicious ichor. Finally my eyes readjusted and I focused on the figure before me. A few feet away the girl was staring at me in sheer terror. A small droplet of blood, tasty blood, clung to her cheek. Her eyes were wide with horror, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. Her clothes were in a state of distress, may already of have been before I arrived, but she paid them no mind. Her eyes were locked on me. That was when I glanced down.

My teeth were sunk deep into the man’s body, or rather his shriveling corpse. His body had dried up like a raisin as I sucked drop after drop of blood from his body. I recoiled in disgust at what I had done, scrambling backwards away from his body. I brought a hand up to my face to wipe it clean, and when I looked down my fingers were drenched in blood. My mouth and jaw must be absolutely covered in the stuff. My eyes caught sight of the two puncture holes in the man’s neck where I had bit him.

Not even a single drop came out. I must have drained him dry. I gulped, swallowing down the last drops of this man’s life. I’d killed him. And it was so delicious.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I glanced over to the girl once again, her eyes meeting mine. Both of us stared at each other in shock for a moment before she let out a blood curdling scream, halfway between a mourning wail and a terrified shriek.

I launched myself to my feet, suddenly much more lucid, “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, I was just trying to help!”

She recoiled as I tried to walk towards her, “M-Monster!”

I tried to protest, to calm her down, to do anything, but I felt dismay grip my heart as I looked down at the man’s pruney corpse. Oh god, I was a monster, wasn’t I? I’d only meant to help this girl, maybe scare him off, but instead I’d killed him and likely traumatized this poor girl. Even if he was attacking her it wasn’t my place to decide his fate and kill him, let alone have him for a meal!

I shook my head as I felt tears beginning to run down my cheeks, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

I turned and ran. I had to flee, had to get away from this intense sense of shame and guilt I felt welling up in my chest. I couldn’t get the man’s corpse to leave my mind, or the horrified look of the girl I’d tried to help. I had to get far from this place, I needed to hide, to fly somewhere safe and never hurt another person again.

As I thought those words I felt an odd shifting in my body, a breaking and a cracking as my body seemed to shrink. Were it not for the adrenaline of having just killed a man, it likely would have hurt a great deal. I felt my arm bones crack as they stretched and fused with my cloak, and soon I was no longer human. A glance down at my shadow a few feet below me… small, furry, winged. I was a bat, flying through the night.

Great, as if the shock of having eaten a man wasn’t enough, now I quite literally wasn’t even human.

I didn’t know where to turn as I aimlessly flew through the air. I was high up enough to see the entirety of this tiny hamlet, and of a crowd of torch-bearing citizens who seemed to fan out through the streets. Aside from this, there were no other signs of civilization for miles. I had no where to turn, I realized. I was stranded in a strange world, in the strange body of a blood-sucking monster, and I had no real clue who I was or what to do. Aren’t isekai stories like this supposed to have to protagonist cast as a hero fighting a demon lord, or surrounded by a harem of hotties or something?

There was one place I could go, I realized. I flew back upstream, towards that abandoned cottage I’d found earlier. Unsure how to land, and not particularly caring if I injured myself, I barreled straight at the ground. As if by muscle memory, my body returned to a human form and landed on my feet, scattering a mystical smoke across the ground as I did.

Tears in my eyes, I marched into the cottage and looked for the first thing that could suitably block the doorway. A table caught my eye. I flipped it effortlessly at the doorway, where it landed with a crash but successfully blocked the exit – apparently vampires do have extreme strength. Then I collapsed to the ground sobbing. I could look around my new home tomorrow, I could figure out a proper door tomorrow night…

I cried myself to sleep. Thoughts of that man’s drained body and the girl’s terrified face haunted my mind. What did I do to reincarnate as a creature like this? Part of me was grateful I had at least reincarnated alone, I don’t think I’d ever forgive myself if a friend saw me do that. The burns on the back of my hand had healed, I distantly realized. The pain in my body was relieved, but now my spirit was wounded.

---

Over the following days, once I’d emotionally recovered, I explored this cottage that was to be my home. It was a simple three room affair: a kitchen and den, a bathroom, and then a bedroom upstairs. There were holes in the roof that would need to be covered to prevent light leaking through, which had trapped me in bed for several hours that first morning, with the blankets pulled up over my head thanks to my hat and cloak being on the other side of the room. Once the sun set, I temporarily covered the holes with leaves.

I made my way into town to buy the goods needed to rethatch the roof, as well as a door and a cart to transport everything. I kept my hat drawn as far down as I could to obscure my face. A few people gave me odd looks, confused as to why a lithe girl like me would be transporting all this by herself. A couple men even offered to pull my cart for me, as a favor to such a beauty. While I was flattered at being called such a beautiful woman, I declined. I doubted he could see much of my face below the hat anyways, so the compliment felt insultingly hollow in my already dour state of mind.

Not that I was actually a woman or anything. Why would I want to be called a beautiful woman, after all?

Every step I took in town, I kept my eyes peeled for the girl who had seen me that night. I didn’t want to be recognized, and I didn’t want to terrify her if she saw me. After three days I went back to town to see the clothier, as just this one dress and cloak were rapidly proving to be insufficient on their own. I considered asking for trousers to be sewn for my size… but they had skirts on offer, I didn’t want to draw more attention to myself than I already had, and the skirts and dresses were pretty nice. It was just convenient that I happened to have a woman’s body for these comfortable women’s clothes. Yeah, that was it.

It was odd how accepting I was of this form. I’d read so many stories about guys who transformed into girls – so, so many stories – and yet those always framed it as something titillating and arousing. Perhaps it was at least partially the shock of my first day in this world keeping me from relaxing enough to explore myself, but this wasn’t erotic so much as it was… comfortable. I had no issues introducing myself as Tess when asked by shopkeepers and townspeople. In fact, I liked that much more than Jason, a name which I’d always hated and saw nothing redeeming in save for the connection it gave me to my best friend. Being Tess was just… normal. I wouldn’t say I was entirely used to having the anatomy of a girl, but I was sure once I’d had some time to settle into this life I could get used to it. In a way this was fulfilling a long-held dream I’d had of trying out being a girl. Just for a day or two, or a week or two, maybe even a month or two. Perfectly normal curiosity, you know? I remembered when I’d brought it up to my best friend once, and while he agreed that a day or two would be interesting, he seemed apprehensive about a week and downright horrified to consider a month. I thought that curiosity was normal for guys but evidently not.

I sighed as my thoughts kept returning to him. Grayson and I had met in elementary school, where we were teased and lumped together by our classmates due solely to our names ending in -son. Jason and Grayson, or Grayson and Jason, that’s what we always were in everyone else’s eyes. Luckily we got along well and became fast friends. As we got older we ended up being very different people. He was the popular wide reciever for the football team, good-looking, funny, and well-liked by everyone. I was just his hanger-on, a nerdy, shy, “gay” kid who tagged along everywhere because Grayson felt bad for me. Grayson broke off a lot of friendships and even relationships when people said those kinds of things about me. Despite what people, said Grayson was always adamant that he was my friend of his own volition, and nothing would change that. Hmph. If he saw the kind of monster I’d become, I don’t think he’d agree.

He was likely dead now. That hurt to acknowledge. The mountain road was pretty high up after all, so a crash like that wasn’t something you’d walk away from. If I was in another world and in another body, it meant my soul certainly wasn’t in my old body in the old world anymore. I and everyone else was probably dead. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t mourning him and all my other classmates. Some of them made fun of me, but I’d still miss them.

It was hard being alone in this new place with no family or friends. It was harder staying alone. Every time I went to the village for supplies I had people approaching me, curious about the mysterious new person in town. Women sought the friendship of a new and independent wanderer, men sought the companionship of a beautiful and mysterious young woman. I had to turn all of them away. When I looked at them all I could see was the shriveled corpse of the man they themselves had found dead under mysterious circumstances. I couldn’t let myself get close to them, for fear they’d realize who I was, and for fear that my hunger would overwhelm me again. I could deal with the loneliness if it meant not hurting anyone else.

My thirst for blood seems to be slaked… for now. After six days I still felt as fit as a fiddle. However, on top of drinking blood I learned my body still needed human food as well. I had no idea if eating human food would extend my time between real feedings, and admittedly I wasn’t willing to experiment with that. I would… rather avoid feeding on humans all together. I didn’t know enough to know how much blood I would need compared to how much a person had, and I didn’t trust myself to stop once I’d had my fill. Best to stay away from everyone. I went into town and bought two months worth of flour, jerky, drinking water, and anything else non-perishable, as well as an array of books to keep me entertained. Then, I entered seclusion.

After a week, the boredom had grown too severe. I started writing in Tess’s journal, on the off chance that she just… came back or something. I figured she’d want to know what her body had been up to all this time. I addressed the entries to Tess accordingly. Admittedly, I wouldn’t mind if she came back any moment now.

I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t fallen into a depression. On the sixth day it was so bad that I didn’t even get out of bed. The man who I’d killed, the girl I tried to save, and the faces of my dead classmates, Grayson especially, kept flashing through my mind. I thought of how my mom must feel grieving back on Earth, and what she’d say if she could see me now. In a dress, having accidentally murdered a man, living off beef jerky and whatever water I could purify in a day. I’m sure she’d be oh so proud.

After two weeks it occurred to me that I’d never heard about what the townsfolk did about that man. I supposed there wasn’t an equivalent to detectives in medieval Wherever-The-Hell, but I figured they would care a bit more about a desiccated corpse of one of their neighbors.

After three weeks the hunger pangs started to come back. By four weeks I was on the verge of blood-starvation once again. I’d wanted to avoid this, but it seems I’d have no choice. I could go find an animal, and see if its blood would be enough to slake my thirst. Part of me wishes I’d done this a week or so ago, when I still had the strength to catch a deer. As it was, I was so weak with hunger there was no way I could catch a mouse, let alone a deer. That left me with one option: the livestock in town. The people needed those cows to feed them and give them milk. Killing them was as good as making someone else go hungry. But better that than having a ravenous, maddened vampire eating the populace.

Under the cover of night, I made my way to one of the cattle fields. The town was quiet, and the nearest home was still and dark. The cows were sleeping and I easily snuck up on them. Beneath the moonlight I apologized to the poor cow whose life I was about to take, then sunk my teeth into its neck. It mooed in pain and thrashed for a moment, but after several seconds of sucking it became lethargic. I fought back tears as I pet the cow on its head, I’m so sorry for this little cow. I hope this is worth it.

The blood was disgusting, nothing like the blood of that man I’d drank a month ago. This blood was dirty, lesser by a degree of magnitudes on my tongue. Still, if it meant not killing another person, I wouldn’t hesitate to drink it all.

The cow was limp before me. I apologized to it one last time as I stood up. I felt… it was hard to tell. I certainly didn’t feel like I did after that first feeding. Did I need more blood? I frowned. I’d already killed one of the poor animals, did I really need to kill another? The blood did taste weaker, maybe that just meant I needed more. And if it meant not killing the next human I saw, it was worth a try.

Offering my apologies and trying to soothe it like before, I drained yet another cow dry. When I stood up afterwards I felt… exactly the damn same, I realized with frustration. Does it have to be human blood? I felt tears pricking my eyes as I looked at these cows I’d killed for nothing. And now I’d likely go ravenous again anyways. Dammit, I don’t want to be a monster! Is that too much to ask?

I fled the town as fast as I could, though not before stealing a few of the blacksmith’s nails. When I arrived back at the cottage, I took the spare boards of wood and reinforced every exit to the building, nailing the front door shut so I couldn’t possibly get out. In my weakened state, there was no way I’d be able to get out of here. Then… I waited. I blew out the candles keeping the dreary cottage lit, and I laid down onto the bed and waited. Waited for starvation or its vampiric equivalent to take me. I cried softly to myself as I accepted my fate, dying pathetically of starvation in a strange world all alone, never understanding why or how I ended up like this. I just showed up and made things worse, as usual. At least now I wouldn’t have to hurt anyone.

---

“The cottage should be just up this hill,” the adventurer mused to himself. He’d been hired by a local of the village he was passing through to investigate the death of his cattle last week, as well as the death of a local criminal some weeks ago and the disappearance of a young woman who’d come to town some weeks ago. After asking around town about unusual landmarks, the one that kept coming up was the old cottage some ways up the river. It didn’t seem relevant to him, but after several days of asking around, it seemed like the only option he had.

There it was cresting the hill right where the villages said it would be, a day’s walk due north up the river. As he approached it however he realized there was no way this place was relevant. It was boarded up and looked like it had been for years. Still, as he looked closely… the roof had been repaired recently, and the wood of the door looked a lot newer than the rest of the construction. Curious.

Walking up to the door and twisting the knob, he found that the door didn’t budge. The hell? It doesn’t feel like its locked. The knob turned completely; the door must be blocked. Or is there some kind of trick to it?

As he was pondering what to do, he could’ve swore he heard a woman’s wheezing sobs. There was someone inside there? If someone was being kept captive in there, what kind of hero would he be if he left her in trouble?

“Sorry about the door, I promise I’ll buy you a new one!” the adventurer said before taking a step back and tracing holy symbols through the air. An explosion of holy light rang out, blasting the door to smithereens. He stepped inside, light from the doorway casting stark shadows on the rest of the interior. There’s still meat and water available, as well as a wine bottle on the boarder-up windowsill, so someone was here very recently. What was going on in here?

The adventurer heard another sob come from upstairs, “Don’t worry ma’am, I’m coming!”

He made his way up the steps, and felt his blood run cold as he reached the top. In the pit of his stomach he could tell something was wrong in this cold dark bedroom. He could tell he was being watched.

In an instant a bestial roar rang out from behind him and something was on his back, clinging to his armor. Before he could even react, he felt the pain of something sharp sink into his neck. He fell to his knees. Wooziness overcame him as he realized there was blood dripping down his armor, “A vampire?”

The vampire on his shoulder didn’t respond, instead absent-mindedly nuzzling the wound on his neck. With a strong swing of his arm, he launched the vampire off him and into a nearby dresser, where it crashed with a whimper. The adventurer winced; launching the vampire off him like that had widened the wound on his neck, but he could deal with that later. For now, he lunged at the dresser and attempted to drive his sword through the vampire. He missed, instead lodging his sword several inches deep into the wood of the now-ruined dresser. With his free hand he pinned the monster and finally got a good look at it. It was a girl. A devastatingly beautiful girl with long, wild blonde hair and ember-like red eyes. She snarled at him in animal-like desperation, before a blank look came over her. Her red eyes faded to a icy blue as she blinked at him in confusion.

“Grayson?”