**Hello again every one, I’m back and chomping at the bit to get this show on the road. Before you read any further though, I must warn you, you may want to go and grab a tissue or two. This story doesn’t have a vary happy start to it at all, but it is necessary to the story and the development of the character. So I hope you can forgive me for it. Major thanks to Enemyoffun, Maggie Finson, Lilith Langtree, Dr. Bender, Donjo, Wren, and Djkauf for their invaluable help in planning this story out and helping me get things to work, editing, and beta reading. Also, I may or may not have taken some small liberties with locations, names, landmarks and other such things. Any mistakes that you find are my fault. I had to change a few things around after the editing process. The image is owned by Wizards of the Coast, I just thought it looked pretty cool. Here’s hoping you have a good read.**

July 8^th 1995…

I couldn’t believe this was happening. I had come home from school to show my parents my exam grades, just to prove to them that Jimmy and I actually did study all night instead of just goofing around in front of some video game like they thought we would. I found a note that told me they had gone to get some groceries at the store. I figured couldn’t have missed them by more than two or three minutes. I saw that the new turbo charger kit I had ordered over a month ago from Germany had finally shown up. I put the letter that said what my grades were on the kitchen table for my parents to see when they got back, and lugged the box with the parts out to the garage and got to work installing them on my baby.

I was, and still am, the very proud owner of a 1984 Audi S1 Sport Quattro. Never heard of it? Don’t worry, not too many have. It’s old, and wasn’t all that popular here in the US. But these things are legendary in the European rally circuits. The first turbo charged car to be competitive, and the first to have any kind of four- or all-wheel drive.

After installing the new turbo, I was expecting to be getting about 550 horsepower at all four wheels (meaning the engine was making close to 675) and about 480 pound feet of torque. That may be over the heads of most people, but it boils down to this: with the special racing tires I had on the car and this new turbo, the thing could sprint from a dead stop to sixty miles an hour in about three and a half seconds. And that’s on a gravel road.

Cars like these are not easy to work on, being made in Germany (and by extension of this, everything is over engineered) as they are, and replacement parts are hard to come by. And they usually cost you an arm, leg, and the soul of your first born child IF you do eventually find something that MIGHT work. I got lucky and found what I needed locally and was able to talk the guy into straight up trade, the turbo I currently had for his. I would have paid about five grand for it otherwise.

I was about half way done with getting the old turbo off when I heard a car pull up the drive way and shut off. I remember thinking that they had gotten home kind of quickly, considering it usually took them about two hours to do the grocery shopping. I realized my error when I heard the knock on the siding of the garage. I slid out from under the car, where I was trying to loosen a bolt that had almost completely rusted to the point of fusing to the nut it was attached to. When I looked up, my heart dropped straight out of my chest. It was one of the local sheriffs and he didn’t look like he was here to share any good news.

“Are you Michael Fitzpatrick?” He asked, sounding much too somber for my liking.

“Yes sir, officer. I’m assuming by the look on your face that something went wrong, so go ahead and just tell me, please.” I asked. I really should have been able to put two and two together, but I guess I was just refusing to come to that conclusion.

“Son, I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but there was an accident involving your parents. There’s alive, for now, but it’s not looking too good for them. They’re being air lifted to the hospital as we speak. I’ve come here to inform you of what’s going on and to give you a ride to the hospital, if you need one.” He said, taking his ‘Smokie the Bear’ hat off and holding it over his heart in a gesture of compassion expected from someone like him in a situation like this. I was lucky to be standing near the lawn chair my dad kept in the garage for when he stepped outside to smoke in the winter, otherwise I think I might have fallen flat on my butt on the cement floor right where I stood.

“I don’t believe I’m good to drive, officer, so I’ll take you up on that offer, please. You can fill me in on the way there.” I told him. I saw my feet moving, but it didn’t feel like I was controlling them. I was still in shock. This kind of thing just couldn’t happen to my parents. He started to explain what had happened, but he didn’t get very far at all, nor did we even get half way out of the drive way before I lost control of the tears I was trying to hold back so I could learn what happened to my mom and dad.

About three hours later and here I am, completely alone in the ICU waiting room, cursing whichever one of the powers that be that decided to take my parents from me. I didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye or tell them I loved them. I think, looking back on it, that this is what hurt me the most out of everything. It wasn’t that I didn’t make it in time, it was that they were brain dead before the fire even got to them. Blunt trauma to the head tends to do that kind of thing to the human body. They were buried two weeks later.

Turns out that my old man had invested in some penny stocks for me about six or seven years ago and didn’t tell me about it. I only learned about this through the reading of their wills. Dad left all of those stocks to me. As I was having a look through which ones were still there, there were two that jumped out at me. The first was IBM, and the second was Microsoft. Mind you, he only bought one ‘stock’ in each of the companies. However, if you leave it sitting for as long as he had, well, that’s still a lot of money.

In this case, it meant that I had just over one million dollars at age 24. That was more than enough to make up for the fact that they left everything else to charity, except the house and the cars. I was all set to go to one of the colleges in the area this fall anyway, might as well move out that way a bit early. I really didn’t want to, but I knew that I couldn’t stay here. I could barely even stand to be inside the house for any length of time, let alone actually live there any more, and I had no one here to tie me down. Both of my parents had been only children, so I had no cousins, aunts, or uncles. I looked at the recruitment brochure the school had sent me. Ravencrest seemed like it was as good a place as any to be this time of year.

Three weeks after the funeral…

“I still don’t see why you’re leaving so soon, man. You know you don’t have to, right?” Jimmy told me after we got the last of my stuff packed into the moving van. He had been practically living with me since my parents died. Every time I tried to shoo him back to his parent’s house, he tell me to shut up and that I’d be doing ‘the exact same damn thing, and you know it!’ He did give me my space, though, when the emotions started overwhelming me. He also helped me finish that turbo swap, and take it for a test drive through the curviest roads that we could find. And Sterns, Kentucky has quite a few of those. We even made a day trip up to Cincinnati and hit up Devil’s Backbone Road and Congress Run, both of which were taken at high speed. The first was fun, like a roller coaster ride. The second? Well, that one found us on the shoulder by the end of it, puking our guts out from pure terror. If I ever find the cracked out son of a bitch who laid THAT road out, well, let’s leave it at ‘you don’t want to know.’

I had decided to move to where I was going to be attending school this summer. A small town called Ravencrest, New York. The school had a killer reputation for turning out some of the top minds in their respective fields of study, which was why the town still existed at all. If the school went under, the town would invariably follow. The town itself was nestled in the Adirondacks mountains in the north central part of the state, about an eternity from anything else. I know they say that location is key in the business world, but they also say the world will pave a road to your front door if you build a good enough mouse trap. I had already gone out and gotten myself set up with a small apartment in town, not too far from the school.

There wasn’t much to the place, as it was just a small one bedroom, but it was going to be my new home.
“I thought we went over this already, dude. Too many painful memories. I may come back someday, but it won’t be any time soon. It just hurts too damn much to stay here. I’ll miss the hell out of you and the rest of the crew at school, but I need to get away so I can heal.” I told him. I was barely keeping myself together at this point. I was just too close to too many memories I needed to remove myself from.
“Hey, look man. You have my address. Send me a letter or something when you get there, ok? Let me know what’s going on and how your doing. Ok?”

“You got it, dude. In the mean time, no worries. Alright? You know I’ve got my head screwed on better than that.” I said as I smiled and shook my head. I knew that he was worried about me. He and I had been friends since we were both knee high to a grasshopper and our parents had been friends long before we were born.

“Yeah, well, I guess I’ll see you next time I see you, buddy.” He said as he walked over and got in his car. “Take care of yourself now, and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do twice. And do try not to wreck you car like you did your last one. I still can’t figure how you survived that. Hell, I’d doubt even GOD knows that one.”

I couldn’t help it. I scoffed at his remark and about busted my guts laughing. I was expecting him to say something funny, he usually does when things get too serious for his tastes. I knew to expect something, but this wasn’t what I was thinking.

“Thank you, oh great sage of wisdom, for guiding me away from so many paths..” I snarked back at him. making a very formal bow, my hands brought together in front of me like I was some kind of monk or something. “And be sure to tell your parents not to worry too much. And that I’ll be back to visit y’all one of these days.”

“You got it, Hoss. Like I say, take her easy now.” He said as he got in his car, fired it up and left. After watching him go until he turned onto the main road, I went to make sure that the trailer for my car was hooked up the right way one last time before I left this home for whatever awaited me beyond.
Most of that first term wasn’t all that memorable. Wake up, shower, dress, eat, go to class, do the work, come home, finish the work, eat again, go to bed. Wash, rinse, repeat until Friday. I had decided on adding a second major to my transcripts once I had finished moving into the apartment I know lived in. My first major, before you ask, is Acting. When I was in my early teens, a friend of the family had taken my parents and me to see a live theatrical production about an hour and a half north of Sterns in the Newport Shopping Plaza. We were expecting something like a more traditional production with memorized scripts and the normal kinds of stage props and stuff. What we were NOT prepared for, however, was what we got at the Shadowbox Cabaret. They had a special show going on that night and the theme was “Improv and Ad Lib.” It was about the funniest thing any of us had ever seen. They made the story up as they went along, coming up with lines off the tops of their heads and grabbing at random objects on stage as needed for props.

At one point, during a musical number, the actors were by the drummer and they grabbed the drum sticks right out of her hands and started sword fighting with them. It made such an impression on me, that I decided then and there that it was want I wanted to do with my life. Which leads me to my second major: Psychology. I decided that this would help me in my acting by giving me a better understanding of the roles that I would be playing. When trying to pass yourself off as a certain kind of person, it helps if you know not just how that kind of person normally acts, but also why they act that way and what they are usually trying to accomplish. As the actors and actresses put it, it helps me ‘get into character’. And that was the edge that made my grade in my acting classes so much higher than the majority of my class mates.

All told, I was doing alright in my classes, well enough to pass quite well, but not enough to really stand out and draw attention to myself. I didn’t really want to know anyone here, as I didn’t want any ties to this region, aside from the school itself. I wasn’t into the whole Fraternity/Sorority thing, nor was I a partier. I didn’t drink or do any drugs. I did smoke though. Picked that one up just recently. I found it helped me calm my nerves and keep them from going completely on the fritz after my parents’ death. I know it’s a bad habit, but I never really cared. If I died, oh well. No one lives forever, right?

April 11^th 1996…

I was sitting at the kitchen table of my little apartment watching the news on TV when the story was interrupted by a breaking report. The view on the screen switched to the White House where President Clinton came on and said that He was pulling all US military forces and Government personnel out of Liberia due to the "deterioration of the security situation and the resulting threat to American citizens." I didn’t realize it at that time, but that was to be the harbinger of yet another personal tragedy.

April 21^th 1996…

I awoke to my alarm blaring out the sweet sounds of “Overkill” by Motorhead and hit the snooze button after mentally jamming out for a minute or two. I got out of bed and went through my daily routine of getting cleaned up and dressed, fed, and dropping the dishes off in the sink to clean later. I went down to the front door of the building and grabbed my mail on my way out for my first cigarette of the day.
Hmm… Now this is odd. Why would Jimmy’s parents send me a letter and not Jimmy? I thought to myself as I lit my cig and sat down to open the letter. I almost burned my leg when the cig fell out of my mouth and got caught in the folds of my jeans.

Dear Michael,
We both hope you are doing well and wish you the best. I am sorry to be letting you know this by a letter, but we don’t have your phone number. On April 9th there was an incident in Liberia. I don’t know if he told you or not, but Jimmy enlisted in the Army and that was where he was stationed. There was an incident with some militant locals during the US evacuation and during a small firefight…

There was a bit that looked like it had been waterlogged and scribbled out, but the letter continued a little further down the page.

I really don’t know to say this, but Jimmy was killed in that firefight. Janelle and I want to know if you would be willing and able to speak at his funeral.
Your second parents,
Ralph and Janelle

After swatting the cigarette off of my pants leg, I picked it up and leaned back against the building. I was too numb to even cry, at that point. I flicked my cigarette away and went back up to my apartment, called my boss to explain why I wouldn’t be in today, and went straight back to bed. I didn’t get up for about two or three days.

April 29^th 1996, 3:40 A.M.

I may not have mentioned anything about it before, but the one thing my dad did get me into, aside from working on cars, was music. All I’ve ever learned to play was the guitar. I never wanted an electric guitar or to go nuts and be a rock star or anything, but I do like playing and it soothes my nerves when life is just too much to take. I’ve been playing for a few hours every night since I got the letter from Jimmy’s parents, just sitting on a small stool on the roof of the apartment building. It was fairly convenient since I had a fire escape right outside of my bedroom window that led all the way up. I’d just climb up and play under the stars. I don’t like it all that much, but I’ve been told that I have an amazing singing voice. I probably got that from my mother, because I know for a fact that my old man couldn’t sing to save his soul. The last time he had tried, I saw a fish try to drown itself to get away from the noise. True story, I swear!

I know that it may sound like I was a loser at this point, but I still hadn’t returned to the college yet. I had gotten a job there as a grounds keeper while I studied Psychology and Drama, but it was no more because I hadn’t returned. And yeah, it might seem like a strange pairing for a double major, but the Psychology lessons were a gold mine for information on how different kinds of people behaved in various situations, and that helped quite a bit with my acting classes.

Sitting up on the roof, I tore myself away from my thoughts and looked up for the stars like I used to back home, but I didn’t find very many due to all the street lights. At least this is an unseasonably warm night, so I didn’t need to bundle up like a penguin. Sighing, I picked up my acoustic guitar and start to tune it to play a song I learned a couple of months ago. It was only from a demo tape that was left in a bus station, but one of my buddies, Charlie, had mailed it to me before I moved because he thought I would like it. It was a very depressing song, but it fit with where my mood has been since finding out that my best friend died eight months after both of my parents were killed. Yeah, it wasn’t exactly in a very happy place any more.

After getting the strings tuned right, I stopped to take a few breaths. I don’t know why I chose that moment of that night to play guitarist on the roof top, but it was almost a compulsion to play. After adjusting the guitar in my lap and the pick in my hand, I started playing intro to the song. It is a truly hauntingly beautiful riff with a very tricky picking pattern and once I got through that, I took a deep breath and all of my pent up emotions, remorse and anger, al of my sorrow at losing first both of my parents, then my best friend in such a short time. Little did I know that I was giving a live performance, let alone that the instant I started singing, I would seal my fate forever.

On the sidewalk below…

Carmilla was not having a very good night. Wisteria was being even more of a bitch than normal and it was grinding her nerves. She had left the house in need of something to occupy her mind and had happened across one of Suzanne’s infamous parties. She had invited herself in and had some how managed not to put her troubles out of her mind. Suzanne, with ashy blonde hair falling down to her thighs, along with Josephine, who had gone with her mother to said party, had both left to keep an eye on the second eldest of them, lest she do anything rash in her anger. Josephine and Suzanne were walking a couple of steps behind Carmilla, in an effort to avoid upsetting the second eldest of the clan any further until Carmilla came to a sudden stop. Josephine looked around, expecting some kind of trouble, but then heard a haunting melody being strummed somewhere over their heads. Then, he sang.

Carmilla was almost literally entranced by the mystery man on the roof. It had been a very long time indeed since she had heard anyone perform with that level of emotion. She looked up to the roof of the three story apartment building and she saw him. From the first, she knew that he would be a perfect addition to the House. He may not like the sex change, but he would be much happier in the long run and would thank her for it. She was sure of it.

Josephine looked over at Suzanne and saw a tear run down her cheek, something she hadn’t seen Suzanne do for a very long time. She followed the blonde’s gaze back up to the lone singer/musician, who by this time was making his way off the roof by way of the fire escape and shimmying his way into a room on the second story. She looked to Carmilla and already knew what the woman was thinking. She knew because it was what she was thinking as well. That one would become one of the sisters, one way or another.

An hour later…

“I know you want him, but I still don’t see why we would need another sister here. We have enough.” Wisteria said. Carmilla was growing more and more agitated. She was sure that her maker was still just being a bitch.

“How about this then. We can hold an outdoor concert, and I will have him play. Then you judge for yourself if he worthy of our gift or not, Mother dearest.” Carmilla retorted, trying hard not to lose her temper again. She knew that it wouldn’t do to have Wisteria become so angry that she dismissed it out right.

“If you insist. I’ll leave the planning to you. But I had better not be disappointed by him, or I will make sure no one shall have him.” Wisteria said with a sigh. There was no mistaking what the woman meant by that. The upcoming performance would decide Michael’s fate.

He had better play his absolute best for this. I’m not going to let that bitch keep us from gaining his gift. Carmilla thought to herself as she turned on her heal and glided out of the room, not quite slamming the door on her way out. She had to figure out if there were enough bands and solo musicians in the town to make this look legitimate and to find a suitable charity for the proceeds to go to. She stopped and turned one of the sisters passing the other way in the hall.

“Darcy, have you seen Josephine lately?”

“The last I heard, she was going to her quarters to rest.”

“Good. You would do well to return to your own soon, child. It’s almost curfew.”

“Of course, that is where I’m going now.”

“Very well.” Carmilla told the younger vampire with a sigh. “Run along, now. It wouldn’t do for you to be
in trouble, especially not on this night.”

“Yes ma’am.” Darcy said somewhat nervously as she shuffled off to her room for the night. Carmilla watched her go until she rounded the corner and disappeared from sight, then continued on her own way. She knew she had many things to do if this was going to go the way she wanted. She would also need to get Suzanne to help with most of the logistics and event planning. Then there was advertising the concert, setting up the stage, acquiring the sound and lighting equipment needed. Then figuring out what to do with it all afterwards, and organizing the grounds clean up as well.

But all of that can wait until tomorrow. Tonight, I think I’ll slip out for a quick snack. Hell, I’ve earned it after the day I had today. She thought to herself with a crooked little smile as she glided out of the front door to do exactly that.

***=-_-=************************ =-_-=***

May 1^st 1996, 8:00 AM…

I was dreaming. All around me was darkness. It was all too familiar. I’d been having this dream ever since my parents had died, but it didn’t start getting this bad until Jimmy died. All around me was total darkness, I couldn’t even see my hand touching my face. But I could feel something in that darkness. It was lurking, waiting for something. It scared me, but couldn’t figure out why. I just had a feeling about it that screamed “DANGER! Keep Away!” and that is exactly why I was running for everything I was worth to do that. But I just couldn’t move fast enough. It always caught up to me in the end. Then I’d wake up about half way through the song Battery by Metallica.

“Man, I really need to change out the CD in that alarm…” I said to no one at all. I got up and stepped on a fork that had somehow been left at my bedside from a prior meal. cursing all and sundry around me, I sat quickly back down on the bed and steeled myself to inspect the damage. It almost looked like something tried to bite the heel of my foot. Luckily, it didn’t break through the skin. I threw the offend utensil away from me and tried to go back to sleep. I wasn’t doing very well at all. I hadn’t shaved in almost a month and I didn’t really leave my apartment for anything aside from food anymore. I hadn’t even been back to class after I got that letter from Jimmy’s parents. I figured that they had put me on academic probation by now, so I didn’t see the point in bothering with it.

I was almost back to sleep when I heard a knock at my door. This was rather unexpected, as I hadn’t really made any friends, at least none of the few people I did talk to for longer than it took to ask the time or for directions didn’t know where I lived. When I looked out of the peep hole, I almost forgot to open the door. She had her back to the door and was tapping her foot impatiently while waiting for me to open it. Which I quietly did and peeked out into the hall to see what she was looking for.

“Since I don’t see any balloons or a giant cardboard check, I’m gonna guess you’re not with Publisher’s Clearinghouse.” I said, still rather bleary eyed and slightly annoyed at having the precious little sleep I was able to get lately being interrupted. “So, What can I do ya for?”

“Hey, I’m Suzanne. I was walking by here the other night and I heard you singing up on the roof and I just had to meet you. You know you’ve got an amazing singing voice, right?” She said in a voice that would have left angels jealous. “I gotta say, I don’t think I’ve ever been that moved by just one person singing a simple song before. You really shouldn’t keep that kind of a gift all to yourself.”

“Uh, no, I guess I shouldn’t.” I said. Strangest thing about that morning is that I don’t remember much after that. Just that somehow, I seemed to have been beamed straight up to Cloud Nine and left there for a while all as a reward for wanting to sing and make Suzanne happy.

A short while later…

After I still have no idea how long, I snapped into wakefulness, wondering what I was doing spacing out at my kitchen table of all places when three things all came to my attention at once. The first was that I felt both emotionally drained and spiritually empty Almost like something in my life was missing, beyond the people I had already lost. The second was that every part of my body felt more relaxed than I ever remembered feeling. The third was the exception to the first. That meaning: the junk hanging from my groin felt like it had been run over by a Mack truck. And let me tell you, that was about the strangest damn thing I have ever experienced, especially since I can’t remember what I got hit with that would cause that much pain.

Anyway, I was waiting for said pain to go away before finishing my morning routine, I noticed a flyer on the table. It was advertising the concert I was playing in. And there were a few numbers there. One was for the Sorority house, another was to call to RSVP, and the third was for musicians to call to schedule auditions. I flipped the flyer over and found a hand written note on the back.

Hey, you don’t need to audition. I’ve already heard you perform and you are more than good enough. Just play that song again and you’re sure to be a huge hit. Why don’t you give me a call, too. I know a few people that could form a band for you to play with. Just do something about that beard of yours. It’s making you look like a hobo.

Suzanne

P.S.
Here’s my number, Handsome. 315-867-5309.

A hobo? I asked myself as I reached up and scratched along my jaw line. I didn’t think I looked that bad, but if someone who knew as much about looking good as she did said it would help, then why not? Worst case would be that it just grew back. But I didn’t understand why she wanted me, of all people. I was a nobody, even if it was by choice. I hated being at the center of attention. Why me?

Well, either way, it wasn’t like I was going to turn down an invitation from someone like that. I grabbed a pen off the table and started making a list of what I would need to do to prepare for the show. While I had never knowingly put on a live performance before, I knew that I didn’t want to screw it up, I’d probably die of embarrassment. It was this point in time that inspiration slapped me right in the face. A slow smile crossed my lips as I started writing out my set list and what equipment I would need. I should have been a bit worried about how intensely I was going at this. I didn’t even know this chick and her I was, trying to figure out ways to impress her and make here happy.

That night, I even had a dream about her. Normally I would have been pissed off about something like that, but for some reason, it didn’t bother me. The note she left on the flyer said that she might have some people that could form a band to back me while I did my thing. I’d have to call her soon to figure that out. The next morning found me in the kitchen staring at the flyer. In particular, it was the note on the back that had my undivided attention. As I got up from the table, I felt like I had a bajillion thoughts racing through my head. But somehow, I couldn’t call even one of them to the forefront of my mind. I went to my bedroom and fished my phone out from under the bed. I dialed Suzanne’s number and waited for her to pick up. She answered on the first ring. Had she been waiting for me?

“Hey Suzanne, it’s Mike. You left a flyer at my apartment with your number on the back.”

…

“Yeah, How many people are you talking about for that band?”

This story has only just begun…

If you liked my offering to you (or not, as the case may be), please let me know. I am looking to become a better writer and that is one of the most effective way to do so. As Enemyoffun always says, comments are an author's life blood.

*Author's note: If you have not seen the video for the song mentioned in the is story, or you've never heard of the song before, I strongly recommend you check out the link to the youtube page for it. Just click the song's name.

I’m sure I was blushing profusely by now from the embarrassment. And why was I talking to her like she was my boss or something? I didn’t even know her.

“Why don’t I walk him back there instead. I’d like to ah…” She paused and looked me over once more. “Talk, with him in a more quiet setting. Would you like that, dear heart?”

“Yes, please.” I don’t know why I said that. I guess it just felt right at the time. I grabbed my guitar and followed her around the bar towards a door, watching the gentle sway of her hips as she walked. I’ve never felt more like a puppy on a leash, to be honest, but she seemed so pleased with it that it was just too hard for me to be angry about it.

May 3rd 1996: 7:30 AM …

“What say we take five for now, guys?” I suggested. I had been practicing with Frankie, the band’s lead singer and rhythm guitarist, “Quick Hands” Vick was going to be playing the lead guitar roll, “Cornbread” played the bass, and they had this dude named John on the drums. I was going to be singing and playing as a second rhythm guitar. These guys were seriously good and I’ve seen Vick play so fast, I thought his finger tips were going to start bleeding and peel right off his hand.

“Sure thing, buddy.” John called out from behind his drum set. Which, by the way, was absolutely huge. With him at the center, he had drums going from the seven o’ clock position all the way around to the five o’ clock position. Then, he had cymbals covering almost as much ground with two bass drums. I have no doubt that I couldn’t play it well at all, but he could and did with near perfection.

The strange thing about John, though, was that the kid was almost always as stoned as, well, a stone. I found it kind of sad as he was only eighteen and that made him the baby of the group, but what he did was his choice. He was an adult in the eyes of the law now.

“I’m gonna step out and burn one, I’ll be back in a few.” I called out to them as I headed around to the side of the garage we were using as a practice studio. They had some good material they were using for a demo tape. About half of it was cover material, but that’s how it goes when you’re trying to get started in the music industry.

As I stood by the side of the garage I thought about the things that brought me to Ravencrest and the things that have happened to me since I got here. I finished the cigarette and headed back in to find Frankie writing in what he referred to his Book of Rhymes.

“Whaddya working this time, Frankie? Anything new?” I asked him. We had been working all through the night, stopping every now and then while I ran out to get frozen pizzas.

“Actually, yeah I am. I don’t have a name for the song yet, but it’s what we were working on before Suzanne called us in for ya.”

“Mind if I take a look?” I asked. He handed me the book with a grunt in the affirmative. After reading what he had, I could only think of ‘tragic’ as being appropriate to describe it. Maybe it was just where my mind was, but it spoke to me on a deep level, actually pulled at my emotions.

“Good shit, dude. Let me know when you guys are done with it, I’d love to have a listen.” I told him as I handed it back. He never failed to surprise me. He was almost always drunk, but he had this weird ability to phrase things in a way I thought was really profound. “Actually, why don’t we work on that one. I think we should play some of this at the show. That stuff is seriously good, guys.”

“Thanks, man. We used to have two more members, but they split and went to parts unknown. Haven’t heard a thing about them in about three years now. You may have to rewrite some of the vocals to fit your range. Think you’re up to it?” Vick asked me.

“Sure, I think I can do that.” I replied. “Just so long as one of these days I get to learn just what your mother named you at birth.” I replied pointing at Cornbread.

“Stick around long enough and you might just do that, dude. But good luck with it. Even his mom calls him ‘Cornbread’. That where we got it from.” John drawled out. Being slightly burnt out like he was, he tended to talk kind of slowly.

“That’s what she said.” I said as I turned back to Frankie. “In the mean time, what was that other song on the page about?”

“Here, read it yourself. It’s a bit easier that way.” He said with a look that said I was close to hitting a nerve. I took the book back and had a look at it. “We have the music set for the lyrics, but I can’t seem to get the wording the way I want.”

“I could give it a shot, if y’all want.” I offered after having a closer look at the lyrics so I could get the feel for it, but I would have to hear them play the instrumentals for the song to get a better feel for how and what to sing about. I followed Frankie’s gaze over to Vick, John and Cornbread.

“Here’s the rhythm guitar section to play along, that way you can get the music down right. Let us know when you think you have a good feel for the song and we’ll let you have at the lyrics for a bit.” He said handing me a few loose sheets of paper with the parts in question.

We played the song for at least two hours before I consistently got it right. The part I was playing wasn’t very difficult, but you need to play better than just “good” when you are going to be singing and playing an instrument at the same time. Frankie called a break after the third hour.

“I think you got it now, Mikey. You got any ideas on vocals?.” He asked.

“I’ve got a few. Lets start with the intro and work our way forward from there. Sound good?”

“Alright. Two… Three… Four…” John called out. And I sang the lyrics from the book, adjusting the wording as needed.

They actually stopped shortly after starting the first chorus and just gave me a slack jawed stare.

“That’s what’s up.” Cornbread eventually said. This surprised me, as I hadn’t heard a peep out of him prior to now. “That’s exactly what it needed. Whaddya think guys, should we do it for the show?” He said this last to the other three band members.

“I’d be protesting with a picket sign if we didn’t.” Frankie replied nodding his head somberly. I was just happy that I didn’t end up making an ass of myself after what I had said earlier. “Alright guys, lets call it a wrap for now and get ourselves cleaned up. John, no offence, but I can smell the B.O. coming off you from way over here buddy.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that, not only because of the indignant face that John made at him for it, but also because it was true.

10:30 AM…

“Thanks for following me out here Cornbread.” I said. I had bought a little Honda Super Cub to get around town so I could garage the Quattro. The Cub only cost me about five hundred and I had gotten it from a phone in auction company that dealt with estate sales and repo auctions. I didn’t want to risk the Quattro getting damaged by careless jerks stumbling around drunk from the most recent frat party. That aside, it was starting to get a little warmer. Not much, mind you, but enough for me.

“No problemo, my man. But I don’t know, the way you described that little scoot-about made it sound like the thing hasn’t run in twenty years or more. Ain’t good for an engine to sit that long and not get turned over every now and again.” He said. He had followed me to the other side of town to this small self-storage facility. I had decided to bring my Audi here while I was going to be living in this town. I had my father’s toolboxes already sitting in the unit from when I moved up here and the unit had plenty of room for the car. “You gonna have time to get it running before the show?”

“Dude, is it even possible to kill a Honda? IF, I repeat, IF I need to, I’ll just order the parts and get the same day shipping option. It should still early enough in the day to do that.”

“Yup, that would be one way to do it.” He said with a yawn. “Well, if you’re done here, lets get going. I need to get some sleep.”

“Let me lock up and we can take off.” I called out to him as he started walking back to his SUV.

“Sure thing, I’ll bring the Blazer around for ya, buddy.” He called back.

“Thanks.”

“Yup.”

2:30 PM…

Turns out that I need’nt have worried about whether or not the scooter was going to run or not as the motor ran like a top. The turn signals were busted out on it, and it needed new tires, but that was it, and those were easily fixed. I had to call the Honda dealership in the next town, but they said they would have them shipped to me by the end of the day.

After that, I hopped on the scooter and took it to the local tire place to take care of that problem. Three hours after dropping the Quattro off at the storage unit, my wallet was three hundred dollars lighter and the little thing was finally ready to go.

After leaving the tire shop, I went to the gas station and filled it up, then decided to take it for a spin on some of the roads outside of town. All told, I lucked out with it. It was a reliable little scooter, and it got much better gas mileage that my car did. Considering how little I drove anymore, it just made sense.

After having my fun, I rode back into town and back to my little apartment to get everything ready to go for later than night. At least, I had thought I would be ready.

The Guardian, 7:20 PM...

When I got to The Guardian, Suzanne was waiting for me just outside the front door. She was simply stunning. She had a way of dressing that enticed your fantasies, but still maintained a sense of class and respectability at the same time. When she saw me park the scooter, she walked up and gave me a kiss on my cheek.

“Not that I’m complaining in the least, but what did I do to earn that?” I asked her.

“Why do you want to know?” She asked me as she ran her hand through my hair.

“Just so that I know what to keep doing.”

“You showed up when you said you would, silly. Call it a good luck kiss.” She replied, then ambushed me with what had to be the most sensuous kiss of my life.

“And before you ask, you can call that further incentive to do well. If you do really well, there might just be more where that came from, big boy.” She said with a wink and a smirk before she turned and sashayed back into the bar.

I’ll be the first to admit, she had me completely bewildered by this point. But, I wasn’t about to start complaining though. As far as I was concerned, only an idiot would have. Taking a moment to shake out the cob webs, I picked up my guitar case and made my own way inside. I found Frankie and the others after a minute or two of making my way through the crowd.

“Hey there guys. I’m gonna guess this place doesn’t do things like this very often, do they?”

“It’s the first time I’ve ever heard of them doing it.

It was actually pretty neat how they had the place set up. Normally, there would be chairs and tables in the middle of the floor, but for tonight they had been moved to a storage room in the back to make room for the stages. They had set up two stages, one on each side of the back wall in the corners. While one band was starting their set, the band on the other stage would get their gear packed up and the next band would get theirs ready to go.

As we were getting our own gear set up, I looked around to find Suzanne. I found her, but it was the woman she was talking to that held my attention. Hell, that woman almost made me forget where I was and what I was supposed to be doing. I’m sure I made an ass of my self just gawking at the red head she was sitting with.

They looked deep in conversation and that is probably what saved me some face. I got the distinct impression that I was supposed to impress her for some reason. She was stunningly beautiful, but then again, that was more appropriate for someone like Suzanne. The woman that Suzanne was speaking to went far beyond just being beautiful.

While I still fail to find the right words to describe her, I shall try to convey a description as best as I can. To start with, she had long red hair that was done up in a loose bun. Though, to say it was “just” red is like saying Elvis was “just” a musician. It looked like living fire laced with strands of gold flowing down from her head in a molten cascade and her face was even more delicately featured than Suzanne’s.

A small and softly shaped chin, cheeks that were both high and looked to be full of life, and a small nose that would not have looked right on anyone else all came together to present a face that I could easily see men getting into drag-out, throw-down bar fights over.

But it was the depth of her eyes that entranced me. They were a hue of green that I had never seen on anyone before, and they were stunningly beautiful. It may have been my mind looking for a reason to weasel out of performing, but I swear I could almost feel myself getting lost in, more like pulled into, those pale green orbs. Luckily for me, Frankie broke me of my revere.

“Hey man, we’re gonna be starting any moment. You ok?”

“Yeah. I’m good. Just spaced for a sec.” I told him. Which was true. All of that only took but two or three seconds at the most. “How much time do we have?”

“The tech just told me we have thirty seconds or so before our act starts. You figure out what we’re starting with?”

“Yeah, lets do that one we worked on first, then do the one that Suzanne wanted us to sing. Sound good?”

“Works for me, buddy. Lets do this.” He replied as he went over to the other guys to tell them the song order.

Frankie caught my eye and gave me a look that asked if he and Vick were good to start the song. I gave him a nod in the affirmative and they started playing the spidery sounding riff that Vick had come up with for the intro.. Shortly after, the rest of the band jumped in, then I stepped up to the mic. I had decided I was going to do only the vocals on this one. The song just didn’t need a third guitar, as it would have been too cluttered.

Once again, I had no idea by just how much my fate rode on making this a good performance. But it was probably best that way. Very few are able to do their best under that kind of pressure, and I wasn’t one of them. Not when I was as messed up in the head as I was at this time. Being oblivious to all of this, however, I only took a deep breath to get myself hyper-focused on the task at hand. Once I had done that, I took one last breath and sang:

After the applause died down a bit, Frankie stepped up to his mic.

“Thank you everybody.” He told them.

“We’ve got time for another song. Our good friend Mikey here is going to perform a song that brought even ME to tears. Ladies and Gentlemen, lets hear it for him.” He finished, waving the crowd to even more applause.

I leaned into my mic and thanked him and the audience.

“This song is called ‘Bother’. Hope you guys like it.” I told them before taking a breath and singing my last song for the night. I didn’t have even a clue how the crowd was going to react to the song. I took a breath and started the intro. As I did, I thought back to that night that Suzanne had apparently heard me perform it on the roof of my apartment. She had told me she wanted me to play it like that again, so I let my mind wander back to that afternoon my parents had died, and the morning I got that letter that Jimmy had been killed thousands of miles from his home and loved ones. After playing through the intro, I started to sing.

It turned out that I never needed to worry how the crowd was going to take the song. There were some dry eyes in the crowd, but not very many. As we took our bows, I looked over to the pair of goddesses I had noticed earlier. They were still there, but at some point third ‘goddess among us’ had joined them, this one a few shades of blond darker than Suzanne. If you’re wanting a description, don’t hold your breath for it. I ran out of adjectives when I described Red.

I saw Suzanne nod in my direction while saying something to the two of them and Red turned and gave me a once over. I’ve never felt more like I was just a slab of meat on a plate being inspected prior to a meal. The oddest thing about it wasn’t that I couldn’t even bring myself to care about that, though. For some reason, I found myself worrying about if I was going to measure up for the fire haired goddess or not. Not that I was bad looking, mind you. I know I’ve not given a description of myself yet. It’s because I’ve never placed much stock in appearances.

As such, I usually look a little ragged. My brown hair usually looks like I didn’t bother doing anything with it after rolling out of bed, which I rarely do, and I usually wore my clothes until they literally fell to pieces in the wash. I stood about six feet tall and weighed in at around one hundred eighty pounds. While I didn’t have much muscle mass, I was very well toned.

But due to the clothes I wore, the casual observer usually couldn’t notice it and just assumed that I was the tall and skinny, almost lanky type of guy. All of this is done intentionally. I don’t normally chase after women and I don’t like them chasing after me. It had never ended well in the past, so I just decided to quit playing that game and focus on other things, like school and work.

The muscle I had wasn’t from hitting a gym, either. All of it came from working on things with my father. From cars to the plumbing to chopping up firewood as the older trees fell over in the storms we got in that area during the spring and the fall. My old man was a true D-I-Y’er and I picked up a lot of those skills before he and mom passed away.

I have a somewhat squared off jaw line, and I do try to emphasize that with my beard. I usually keep it trimmed very close to the face and only let it grow from the sideburns, down along the jaw line, and shaving it so that it stops at my chin. When Suzanne had met me earlier in the week, I hadn’t shaved in about ten days, so it was really scruffy and grungy looking. My teeth had an ever so slight yellow tinge to them from my smoking habit, but I did keep them brushed at least three times a day to compensate for that.

I’ve been told that the best part of my looks is my eyes. They are kind of unique in that I had blue and green eyes, and not the whole one blue, one green deal. The outer part of the iris is a grayish blue, and the inner part is a shade of green somewhere between an emerald and a piece of jade and in the middle there was a natural, if jagged, ring of yellow where the blue faded out completely and exposed the yellow under the inner portion of the iris.

Frankie, once again, brought me back to reality by patting me on the shoulder.

“I feel bad for whoever has to follow us after that performance, man. You have got to teach me how to stir a crowd like that some time.” He said. “Unfortunately, they’re wanting an encore. Got any ideas on what we could play?”

“No encore, man. There’s no time for it. We’ve gotta get cleared off the stage for the nest act. You know the rules.” I replied. I just didn’t have it in me to do any more songs that night. Both of the ones we had just performed reopened the wounds caused by the deaths of my parents and Jimmy. I just couldn’t take any more of it that night. “But I do what to know this, who’s that with Suzanne over there?”

“Some of the girls from Delta Beta Zeta. Apparently Suzanne used to be one of them, but had a falling out with one of the house mothers.” He told me as he look to where I had nodded my head. “I don’t know the details, but apparently they’re all a bunch of hotties. I’ve only ever seen Suzanne and these two, so I can’t say anything about the rest of them.”

In spite the sadness I was feeling, I couldn’t shake the gut feeling that something was off. I pushed it out of my mind and helped the guys clear the gear off the stage so that the next group in line could set up. After this, I packed away my guitar and brought it with me as I walked up to the bar.

“Hey, good job up there, kiddo. I don’t think I’ve ever seen as many sad looking people in my bar as I do now.” The bar keep said as I took a seat in one of the stools.

“Thanks. Ya know, it never ceases to amaze me just how much doing something like that takes out of you.” I replied. And it was the truth. Just ask any professional musician, they’ll tell you almost the same thing.

“That it does, kid, that it does. So, what can I get for ya? First one’s on the house for the performance.”

“Actually, a glass of water would do me just fine, I’m not really into alcohol, but thanks anyways. What I’m really looking for is a safe place to stash this.” I said as I nodded to my guitar. “Think you could let me stash it behind the bar until it’s time to leave?”

“I think you can do the poor boy one better, Donnie boy.” I turned and imagine my surprise when I saw that it was Red that was speaking to the Bar keep. “Why not keep it in one of the back storage rooms? It’ll stay safely locked up back there and it’ll keep the clutter down behind the bar.”

“That’s actually what I was going to suggest, Sweet Cheeks.” Donnie told her with a wink. She gave him a look and a smirk in response.

“I’ll tell you what, kiddo, I’ll go ahead and take it back for you.” He offered. “I’ve got to restock on a few things anyway. I’ll be right back if either one of you needs anything.”

All I could do was give him a nod because I couldn’t take my eyes off of Red, embarrassing as it was.

“Do you see anything you like, honey?” She asked me.

“Yes ma’am.” I said. I’m sure I was blushing profusely by now from the embarrassment. And why was I talking to her like she was my boss or something? I didn’t even know her.

“Why don’t I walk him back there instead. I’d like to ah…” She paused and looked me over once more. “Talk, with him in a more quiet setting. Would you like that, dear heart?”

“Yes, please.” I don’t know why I said that. I guess it just felt right at the time. I grabbed my guitar and followed her around the bar towards a door, watching the gentle sway of her hips as she walked. I’ve never felt more like a puppy on a leash, to be honest, but she seemed so pleased with it that it was just too hard for me to be mad about it.

As I entered, I took in the surroundings. Amongst the supplies, there was a small couch, more like a love seat, and a low table off to one side and to the other, a small cot was neatly made up with two pillows resting at it’s head. As I turned back to… my Mistress? Where did that come from?

“I want to give you a gift, lover boy. Would you like to know what it is?” She asked me as she let her hair fall about her back and shoulders. I don’t think I could have run at this point even if I wanted to.

“Yes, I would like to know what it is, but first I would like to know what you have done to me.” I found myself blurting out. All she gave me, however, was an arched eyebrow and an amused look. What I didn’t understand was how she had done something, anything, to me at all. I had nothing to drink, or to eat, the entire time I was in the bar. Unless Suzanne had something on her lip gloss when she kissed me outside, she never would have had a chance to.

“If you accept my gift, lover, you will understand what I have done well enough on your own. As for what my gift is, it is simply life. I want to give you life forever. To welcome you into my family. I feel a void in your soul from the loss of your family. I know your pain on a personal level, Michael. So I will not say that I can replace them, or bring them back. There is nothing and no one that can. What I can do, however, is welcome you into a new one. Would you like this?”

“That all depends. What would I have to do?” I asked her. Family has always been very important to me. They serve to keep your thoughts and actions grounded and act as support in times of need. It was something that I was dearly missing since the death of my closest friend, not to mention my mother and father.

She gave me a smile in return and it took all of my will power to not ravish her right where she stood. She then turned and walked over to the table and returned with a chalice of some sort of steaming liquid. It didn’t look very appealing or palatable, but still smelled somewhat nice.

“Drink this, to start with, then let me do the rest. If you do, you will wake up a, ah… brand new you.” She told me as she ran a finger nail up my neck and along my chin as she handed me the brew. I accepted the chalice and took a whiff before doing anything else. While it didn’t necessarily smell great, or even good, it wasn’t bad either.

I raised it to my lips, but hesitated. I still didn’t know what the catch of all this was. Would it be worth it? More importantly, would I be able to live with myself? I was having a hard enough time with that one as it was already. I knew I hid it well, but too many were the nights that I found myself thinking about how easy it would be to just end it.

“What will this do to me?” I asked, suddenly feeling rather nervous about it.

“It will grant you new life, beyond what you might think is possible. Drink it all, and that life will be yours.” She said as she looked straight into my eyes.

Nodding and mumbling in the affirmative, I did. God forgive me, I drank all of it, just like she told me to. I didn’t even notice that she was saying something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like Latin. I didn’t have the presence of mind to note that it was some kind of wine that I was drinking, mixed with cinnamon, raw sugar, and other things I would not have been able to make out. I didn’t even feel the strange, slight tickle in the back of my mind.

I stood there looking around and half expecting to find out I was on Candid Camera or something. I didn’t feel anything going on inside of me, so I was beginning to think this was all some kind of hoax. Until she started speaking again.

“My name is Carmilla Du Lac and now, dear Michael Fitzpatrick.” She said as she walked me over to the cot, spun me around so that I was facing away from it, and pushed me belly up onto it. “You will go places that you would have never imagined in you wildest dreams. Allow me to give you your first taste of these places.”

After getting over my surprise fall onto the cot, I looked up and I swear if my jaw wasn’t attached to my face, it would have fallen off right then and there. She had somehow gotten her blouse off and was in the process of shrugging off her bra. She stopped when she saw me just staring at her with what I am sure was a truly bewildered look on my face.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Aren’t you going to join me?” She asked with an innocence that in no way fit with what she was doing.

“I see at least one part of you that wants to.” She said with a suggestive smile as she took notice of the tent in my pants. I didn’t even bother trying to hide it as I shucked my shirt and started tugging on my belt, trying to catch up.

“I knew you had something going on under there, love. You need to not hide such a delicious looking gift from the world.” She said with a small hum of approval. I’m guessing she liked what she was seeing of me as much as I like what I was seeing of her. Although I didn’t see why she would. Like I said, I never really thought of myself as being anything special.

After finally getting my pants off, I looked back up, feeling positive by now that this was all one big hoax and someone was going to jump out of one of the supply boxes and scream, ‘Surprise!’ But as much as I would have expected that, what I saw actually did surprise me. It also terrified me to the core.

I was starting to see why Red had been looking at me like I was a slab of meat. She licked her lips and I finally saw her fully smile, revealing her teeth to me for the first time. Her canines seemed to be much too sharp and pointy. Sadly, all I could think of to say was something from a fairy tale scene.

“My, what, uh… Pointy, teeth you have…” I said with a nervous laugh that quickly died on my lips. I was still staring in disbelief and not quite able to finish that sentence for fear that she would take offence and think I was claiming she looked old when I found out that she had a truly wicked sense of humor.

“Well, aren’t you the quick witted one tonight?” She said, giggling slightly as she stepped out of her pants. “Now, how did that one go?”

She stood there, wearing only her panties, tapping her bottom lip and looking off as if lost deeply in thought.

“Ah! I remember now.” She suddenly exclaimed, then turned back towards me slowly with a predatory smile on her face. The kind of smile that revealed all four of her fangs, for that is, in truth, what they actually were. She gave a totally fake evil laugh before finishing. “All the better to eat you with, my dear.”

I could only lay there and watch, dumbfounded as she crawled up and straddled me before leaning down and alternate between trying to suck my tongue right out of my mouth and dueling mine with hers. Somehow, during all of that foreplay and tomfoolery, both she and I had ditched our last remaining articles of clothing and we got busy doing what people sometimes do.

This was when the absurdity of the situation sunk in. I was about to get busy with a creature I had thought only existed in myth and legends. A freaking vampire had the hots for me and now stood before me almost completely naked and was about to drain me dry, in more than one way apparently.

What? You want details? Seriously? Do you really think I’m stupid enough to do something like that with a VAMPIRE and tell ANYONE about it afterwards? I’ll have you know my Mama didn’t raise herself no damn fool. You can take that thought and file it away as a Very Bad Idea, right in between Tempting Fate and Playing in Traffic.

All you need to know about what happened after that was this Draculina took me to a land called Bliss and beyond. The down side of it all, was that after receiving the best sex of my life, I died. Okay, fine. She showed me positions that I didn’t even think could be done and blew my mind. Are you happy now?

We were basking in the afterglow, me laying on my back and her snuggled up to my side with one of her legs draped over me, nibbling on my ear and drawing random patterns on my chest with a finger tip. I’ll admit, it felt better than I had expected it to. But I wasn’t expecting what came next. Never even saw it coming. She nibbled her way down my ear and began nibbling on my neck. I thought she was going to just leave a hickie or something, but no. She bit me. And even though I had just came mere moments before, I was hard once more the instant her fangs pierced the flesh of my neck and she began to feed on my blood. I wish I knew what happened after that, but all I can remember is closing my eyes, then nothingness claiming me.

An unknown amount of time later…

I hear. I hear something… Voices? I cant tell who they belong to. All I see is blackness. They have nice voices, whoever they are. My head is swimming as I return to the land of the living and I start to notice that something’s not right. I’m feeling a weight on my chest that doesn’t feel right and I can no longer feel the Draculina laying next to me.

Great. Just my luck. I think to myself through the mental haze. An effin’ vampire decides she’s going to bone me and doesn’t even drain me of blood. Did I just taste that bad or what?

As I slowly manage to open my eyes, I realize that the voices are calling out to someone. They are telling someone named Danielle to wake up, that it is time for her to feed. I feel someone gently nudge me and I feel the weight on my chest continue to wobble for a bit after the rest of me has settled back down. My eyes slowly flutter open and I start to take in my surroundings. The first thing I notice is Red, no, her name is Carmilla, standing over me. She is smiling down at me and moving her mouth. I realize that she is talking to me.

“Danielle, how long do you intend to lay there? You need to wake up and feed.” I hear her say to Danielle. I have no idea who this Danielle chick is, but she seems to be kind of lazy, needing to be told that many times to get up.

Who is Danielle? I idly wonder as I try to take stock of my self. I feel my toes and fingers and I can wiggle them, that means I’m not paralyzed. I decide is a good thing. When I notice that I can’t move my hands or feet, I try to take a look at them. While I can see my hands just fine, I can’t help but notice that I can’t see my feet because my boobs are in the way. Carmilla and the blond one seemingly glide over to my sides and release the restraints on my arms which allows me to sit up and come more fully awake.

This is when I prick my tongue on something sharp in my mouth. I run it along the offending thing and realize that it’s my canines that I hurt myself on. As I’m doing this, some taste builds up in my mouth and it causes a strong urge to bite someone and… drain them? The desire causes my canines to grow even as I’m running my tongue along their length. The moment I realize what is happening I draw a deep breath and I scream.

At least, I try to. But just I take a breath to do so, something covers my mouth and I bite down out of reflex. I taste something pouring out into my mouth. It tastes sweet and somewhat rich. I have to cross my eyes to look at it and when I do, I realize that it’s blood that I’m drinking. I’m drinking from the side of a medical pouch of blood like it’s some kind of morbid juice box.

And that’s what sets it off. I loose myself in a frenzied urge to keep feeding on it. So I did. I went through two of them before I was able to think in a straight line again. I was trying to be cautious about being in the presence of one individual that I knew was a vampire and a second that I was assuming was a vampire as well, but all of that went straight out of the window along with almost all of my higher thought processes. Making this insane hunger go away was the only thing that mattered.

“Very good, Danielle. It seems that you are taking to being a vampire better than some have.” I heard Blondie tell that Danielle lady that I've yet to see. This makes no sense to me as I seem to be the only other person in the room.

“Who’s this Danielle chick you keep talking to?” I ask in a voice that I’ve yet to realize isn’t the one I was born with.

“Why, you are, of course. Who else would we be talking to, love?” Carmilla answers. I stop sucking on the third pouch of blood about half way through it and can only stare wide eyed at the two of them while holding the pouch in my hands like a precious toy that’s been broken. I look back down to my chest again, and sure enough, I wasn’t hallucinating a moment ago. I do indeed have boobs hanging from my chest. I reach up and grab one, causing me to blink a few times and twitch involuntarily.

This time, when I tried, I actually did manage to scream. And both Carmilla and Josephine swear up and down that they saw the blood in my pouch curdle a little bit when I did. Like I’ve said before, I’m not exactly very quick on the up take when I’m first waking up.

Stay tuned, folks, this story ain’t over yet…

**Author's note**

**Major thanks also go to EoF and the rest of the gang for creating this playground in the first place. Thanks to EoF, Maggie Finson, Donjo, D.A.W. and Wren Erendae Phoenix for their help with Beta Reading and Editing. Two more thank yous go to Avrent and Mr. StarkManly as well for helping me edit and for beta reading this story off line.

If you enjoyed this story, or if you have suggestions for how I could do better in the future, please let me know either through a comment or through a PM. I am always looking to become a better writer, so any critiques, so long as they are constructive, are more than welcome. ^_^**

“Who’s this Danielle chick you keep talking to?” I ask in a voice that I’ve yet to realize isn’t the one I was born with.

“Why, you are, of course. Who else would we be talking to, love?” Carmilla answers. I stop sucking on the third pouch of blood about half way through it and can only stare wide eyed at the two of them while holding the pouch in my hands like a precious toy that’s been broken. I look back down to my chest again, and sure enough, I wasn’t hallucinating a moment ago. I do indeed have boobs hanging from my chest. I reach up and grab one, causing me to blink a few times and twitch involuntarily.

This time, when I tried, I actually did manage to scream. And both Carmilla and Josephine swear up and down that they saw the blood in my pouch curdle a little bit when I did. Like I’ve said before, I’m not exactly very quick on the up take when I’m first waking up.

Strangely, that scream felt rather cathartic for some weird reason. If I’d have known screaming like that felt so good, I’d have done it a lot more often before now. But it still didn’t change me back into a guy, or a human anything for that matter, so it was just a waste of breath. Sullenly, I looked back down at my pouch-o-blood and proceeded to finish it off.

I was certain that I was dreaming now. Someone slipped something into whatever it was that I was drinking at The Guardian. Then I remembered that I never did get anything to drink except for whatever it was that Carmilla gave me in that back room.

“What happened to me?” I asked in a demure voice that belayed none of the turmoil going on inside of me.

“I have given you new life, my daughter.” Carmilla answered with a soft smile.

“Michael is dead now, dear one. You are now Danielle, a vampire of my creation. Welcome to the fold.” Her companion said to me. “My name is Josephine. I will be in charge of getting you used to the new you. There are a few things you need to be made aware of before we can just let you loose on the town.

She went on to explain about the Blood Lust and a few other things to watch out for, like the sunlight thing. Once she was finished reading the Encarta Encyloped... excuse me, explaining the things that could and couldn’t do in Ravencrest, she draped a robe over my bare shoulders. The sensations it caused brought a small squeaked ‘eep’ out of my mouth and made me involuntarily flinch. This brought a small smirk to Josephine’s lips.

“The sensitivity of your new skin may be a bit of a shock, darling, but you will get used to it eventually.”

I put the now empty packet of blood down on the table and leaned forward to undo the leg restraints so that I could get off the table and stretch my legs a bit. This would turn out to almost be a mistake. I almost fell flat on my rear end the moment I let go of the table. I hadn’t even considered that my balance point and center of gravity had changed when the rest of me did. I quickly grabbed for the table and steadied myself, much to the amusement of Josephine and Carmilla.

“Just let your body do what it naturally wants and you won’t have to worry about it, child.” Carmilla told me from around her hand, which she was using to try and hide a slight giggle. “I’ve given your body the knowledge it needs to blend in, just go with it and you will be just fine, I promise.”

I took her word at it and I’ll be damned if she wasn’t right. Not only about the walking thing, but about being a vampire and a woman in general as well, as I would find in the years to come.

A few days later and I was hating myself for what I had gotten myself into. I was chained up to that same bed again. My mentor, a beautiful vampiress that introduced herself as Darcille, had chained me back up to the same bed I was on when I first woke up as a vampire. The reason? Apparently, I was having troubles overcoming the Bloodlust.

“Until you can wake up without trying to go for a neck, I can’t stop your punishment.” She told me with a look of pain on her face that I was sure was faked. “You know this, so why are you trying to plead with me about it.”

I didn’t even bother responding to that. Was I being immature? Not at all, I had all but lost my mind to the Bloodlust, so I wasn’t exactly in control of my actions at the time. The only thing I had experienced that was even close to the lack of control over myself that I had felt was what Carmilla did to me the night I was converted. I was still struggling against the chains for all I was worth and it was getting me nowhere. I’d have told her that I was only trying to get to the fridge in the corner, which was where the blood pouches were, but I’d shouted my throat raw already and I was having too hard a time trying to talk. Eventually, I just wore myself out too much to struggle anymore.

“That’s better. For stopping your struggles, I will get you what you wanted.” She told me as she skipped over to the fridge and got me one of the pouches. She tore a corner off and slowly fed it to me. As I drank, my throat slowly began to feel better and I found that not only was my strength returning, but so was my sanity. I’m not sure how bad it was, but I’m sure my face went red with shame.

“Don’t worry about it Danielle, it happens to all of us when we first converted. I’ll tell ya what.” She told me with a curious look on her face. “Mother tells me that you had a voice on you that could make a woman weak in all the right places. Why don’t you try singing now? See if you still got it.”

I laid right where I was while I pondered what to sing, or even if I wanted to. This Darcille was almost to bubbly for her head to be screwed on straight and I wasn’t sure if I liked her or not. I had to be around her, though, as it seemed that she was supposed to be my ‘mentor.’ Suddenly, the words to a song I had heard a time or two on the radio came to my mind, and they just seemed to fit with what had happened to me in the last few months. So I hummed a few warm up scales, to prep my vocal chords.

“Follow me into the desert, as thirsty as you are. Crack a smile and cut your mouth and drown in alcohol.” I sang. I remembered the whole song, surprisingly enough, and I remembered how impressed I was by the power in the singer’s voice. For some reason I felt that I had to match that, so I sang out as powerfully as I could, hoping to mimic the power in that scream that had torn its way out of my lungs that first night I woke up as a female and a vampire. By the look on Darcille’s face, I don’t think I was that far off. I can’t even begin to describe how pleased I was by that. “’Cause down below the Truth is lying beneath the riverbed. So quench yourself and drink the water that flows below her head.”

“Girl.” She said, causing me to cringe involuntarily. “If you sang even half as well as you just did as a man, then I can’t blame our mother for wanting you the way she did. Hell, I’d have dropped my panties too.”

This made me blush all the way down to my new breasts. I’m sure of it, even if I’ve never actually looked into a mirror to see them from the front yet. Not that I haven’t been curious about what I look like, mind you. I’ve never been offered the opportunity yet and I wasn’t about to go asking. I figured that I’d get to see me soon enough.

I hadn’t even the foggiest idea how long I’d been chained up. Being confined to a room with no windows and no clock or calendar tends to do that to a person, and apparently the dead were not immune to it either. All I knew is that A.] it felt like I’d been locked up for, like, fifty kabrillion years or something (Wait, did I just use the term “like”? No, I refuse to go there) and B.] I was *really* hungry. Where was a neck when I needed one? Hell, I was so hungry, a wrist or a thigh would do.

Yesterday had been the worst punishment for me yet. When Darcille had woken up, she had seen me chewing on the corner of the door on the mini fridge trying to get into it. She didn’t label me a deviant because I had the right idea, but she did punish me for allowing myself to be so consumed that I forgot how to use a door.

It wasn’t all bad for me, however, as this served to help me in two ways. Firstly, it showed me that we as vampires can cure minor cuts with our saliva. It also served to help me actually beat this damnable Bloodlust at last. But before I could get too smug, Darcille had chained me by my wrists to the floor. This left me nowhere near enough slack in the leash to reach the fridge. But that didn’t matter to me. I now had a plan.

the next morning

It was priceless, I’m telling ya! There she was, mouth agape like a fish out of water. And there I was, happily sipping away at one of the pouches the morning after she had all but bound me to the floor. I don’t know what about it she was the most surprised about, but she went completely slack jawed at the sight of me, almost completely out of my restraints and merrily sipping away at a juice pouch of blood. Are you confused yet? Excellent! Now, let me explain how I got here.

The previous night, I had dislocated the joints in my thumbs and slipped the restraints off my wrists after curling up to sleep in such a manner that Darcille’s line of sight was blocked. Next, after pretending to fall asleep and waiting until well after she had nodded off, I carefully made my way over to the fridge and turned it so that the door would open away from her. After that, I reached inside and pulled out the piece of the door that had come off in my mouth the previous morning.

Now, I had been told that our hearts did not pump blood the way that a human heart does, so it wouldn’t do me any good to bite one of my sisters’ necks for food. Figuring that we did still have blood, I used the piece of the door to slit the bottom of my foot and gravity became my new best friend. I used the little bit of blood that came out to write a message on the door of the fridge that read: “FREE NECK INSIDE!!!” before spitting on my hand and sealing the slit back up.

I then used my make-shift shank to put a small hole in the top of one of the pouches, thinking that the smell would attract me in the morning as I had been usually waking up earlier that Darcille. Turns out I was right on all counts and it worked beautifully. The question now was if it was good enough to get me past this training from hell phase that all of the girls apparently have to go through.

Obviously, I had left Darcille speechless. But if that was a good sign or not, I didn’t know.

“I... Um.... Don’t really know what to say to this one. I don’t think any of us has ever done anything quite like this before.” She eventually told me. “Tell ya what, just stay put and I’ll be right back. I need to talk to our mother about what I’m supposed to do here.”

Uh oh. I could be the only one to have done something like this? While I felt a small part of myself beaming with pride for being resourceful, the majority of me was worried about the implications of this. Who the hell was going to get out of here if it came down to it?

I gave Darcille a nod in the affirmative and continued sipping on my pouch like I didn’t have a care in the world and she left without a noticeable second thought. The moment that door was closed though, I put the pouch down for a moment to take stock of my surroundings once more. And nothing helpful jumped out at me. I then re-examined my shackles and... found no way out of them.

Then, like a bolt of lightning from the clear blue, an idea came to me. It would be risky, and fatal, if it didn’t work because I would only have one shot at it, if things went south when Darcille came back with Carmilla.

I grabbed my pouch of blood and moved so that the chain was stretched taunt. Then I brought it back about three inches and, using a little bit of the blood, I put a bloody finger print on the floor. I repeated the process so that I had an arc of finger prints spaced about four feet apart on the floor, making it look like I had marked the boundaries of my reach while the shackle was still attached to my ankle.

Once all of this was done, I went back to where I had been before and re positioned the chain so that I was sitting on it. I’m certain that they knew just how long it was, but I was hoping that they might mistake it’s length if they couldn’t see it. With the stage set, it was time to wait on the rest of the cast to arrive.

Acting, you see, is just like being a stage magician. If an illusion is to be believed, then the lie has to be believable. At least, that’s what Mr. Thulman taught us is in his acting classes. I’d seen the man do his thing before, and I’m inclined to believe him as the man really knew how to put on a convincing show. When we studied the “Improv” method of acting, he had us believing that he was a crack addict from Miami, Florida by the end of the class.

Again, thus why I only detracted three inches from its overall length as far as the marking went. And speaking of acting, in walked the last two cast members right on cue. The instant that door began to open, I rearranged my face to one of innocent worry instead of one ready to do just about anything to defend him... wait, HERself (at least, now I was a she and not a he, anyway. I’m still trying to get used to that thought).

Mistress, as Carmilla told me to refer to her, and Darcille walked into the room following Mistress, who stopped about two feet from where the arc was on the floor. She took a look at that, took a look at me, sitting on the chain to the shackle, then to the note on the fridge, then back to me, then to Darcille. The look on her face said that she wasn’t very amused about something and I’m guessing that it was me. When I looked closer, however, there was an amused twinkle in her eye that was barely noticeable.

“I’m not entirely sure whether I should be insulted and offended that you even thought you could kill me in a bid for freedom, ‘If it came down to it,’ amused by your stunt with that note on the door there.” She quoted my thoughts verbatim as she walked (more like glided) over to where I still sat. I have to admit, this lady just scared the bejesus out of me with that one.

“Or if I should be impressed with how efficient and well thought out both of these plans of yours were. Believe me when I say that you are very far from the first daughter I have made, Danielle. Young Darcy here was turned in the sixties and I myself was turned during the early stages of the French Revolution. That I am even considering being impressed should say something positive to you, darling.” She said this last with a slight chuckle.

I’m dead positive that the chuckle was at the combination of faces that I involuntarily made at these revelations. These ranged from shock that she could apparently read my mind to confusion at just how old she was. She only looked to be twenty years old at the oldest. I had thought she was about seventeen or eighteen the night she turned me, for cripes’ sake!

“If you can repeat this feat tomorrow morning, without the note this time.” She said with the emphasis on the part about the note as she reached down and tilted my head up with a fingertip. “Then you will be done with this phase of your training and ready to move on to the next.”

When I looked up into her eyes, I saw a small, almost motherly smile on her lips. I say motherly because it reminded me of the smile my, wait... Michael’s mother had when she was amused at how he had broken the rules of the house.

“But if you ever try, or even plan to try and fight me like that again, I will end you. Are we clear, daughter?” She said without losing the smile, but the twinkle was gone from her eyes, replaced with a cold look that I hoped to never see again.

The next day I managed to pull it off without the note. I was almost bubbling over with excitement at what I had accomplished until I realized that I had been duped. I must not have hidden my disappointment at not realizing it sooner quickly enough, though.

“What’s with the face, Dani? I thought you’d be happy to be progressing with this thing.” She asked me with a look of mild confusion on her features.

“I can’t help but feel like this whole thing is one giant ‘Carrot and Stick’ method of our ‘mothers’ getting us to do what they want.” I explained to her. And it really did, to me at least.

“Naw, now you’re just being paranoid. You should be happy that it only took you six days to complete this phase, it took me two weeks! Now come on and get this robe on.” She said as she handed me the robe in question and blushed a deep scarlet at her admission. “ I gotta take you to your new room and introduce you to your room mate.”

After helping me to my feet and removing my bindings, she helped me into the robe, which looked and felt like a bath robe. I couldn’t believe just how soft it felt against my skin. Anyway, she led me out of the door and down a few halls and corridors until we passed through what appeared to be the oldest part of the building’s basement. This came, naturally, as a surprise to me, as I hadn’t really given much thought to where I was other than ‘in a room somewhere.’
“Um...” Where are we? I meant to ask her, but I had a hard time forming the words.

“Oh, I guess this is all pretty new for you, isn’t it? In case you can’t tell, we were in one of the sub-basement levels under the sorority house. As far as I know, we mostly use them for storage, but some of them are used for other things. Let’s leave it at that, shall we?” She offered in explanation.

“Oh.” I oh so intelligently responded. Her explanation made an odd kind of sense at that.

“Well, now that that is out of the way, we’re walking, we’re walking...” She said as she gently took my arm and guided me further up into the house. I was still a bit too surprised about being so close to my apartment to even offer resistance. It was around this point that a thought struck me.

Roommate? Huh? I thought.

We walked down more than a few more corridors until we stopped in front of an unassuming door.

“Here we are. Let’s go on in, she won’t mind, trust me.” She said this last to me when she saw my look of mild apprehension at just waltzing on in unannounced.

“Uh... Okay?” I answered as she opened the door and all but pranced right on in.

The room was pretty basic, as far as layouts go. There were two vanities that were on opposite walls from each other and a bunk bed in the corner of the back wall. That’s it. No coffins leaning against the wall in the corner, no religious symbols scrawled in blood on the walls, ceiling, or the floor (which was covered in a burgundy colored carpet, though), no creepy chandlers with human skulls on them. All in all, it was kind of anticlimactic.

I walked in after her and she somehow had gotten behind me and stepped towards me from behind the door as she closed it.

“Well, hello there stranger, I hope we can get along. My name is Darcille, but you can call me Darcy, and I’ll be your new roommate.” She said with a truly sunny smile like nothing strange had happened. To be honest, I would have probably let loose a second blood curdling scream if I hadn’t been too busy hyperventilating.

“Whoa there, girlie, just calm down.” She told me when she saw my reaction. “I don’t bite. Well, at least I don’t bite my sisters when they tell me not to.”

It took me a moment to calm back down again. I don’t know what was going on with me, but I seemed to be jumpier now that I wasn’t Michael anymore. Maybe it was just being in a situation that I was uncomfortable with. But that left too many variables open.

Was it being a woman after spending over two decades, the first ones actually, or was it that I wasn’t even human anymore? Maybe it was all of it at once, mixed with the fact that I was still thinking of myself as a human male. The other thing that was confusing me was that I was never this analytical before the conversion. Maybe they really had changed my brain when they changed the rest of me. If I’m honest with myself, that was a thought that really scared me.

“You okay there, Dani?” Darcy asked, bring me back out of my thoughts.

“Wha... Yeah. I’m fine. Just thinking about things is all.” I told her. Which was the truth, even if I didn’t tell her what I was thinking and worrying about.

“Oh, okay.” She said. “I’m just trying to make sure that you’re okay. I’d be more than happy to listen if you need someone to talk to, you know.”

And whaddya know, I actually felt somewhat better about that. I didn’t know if I could trust her or not, but the fact that I didn’t really have any friends since my move here to Ravencrest and Jimmy’s death. It might actually be nice to have a friend and not feel so lonely anymore.

“Sure, okay. I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks.” I told her in spite of my reservations about trusting any of these vampires just yet. If her smile was anything to go by, then she was pleased with my answer. Like I said, too many things I didn’t know about them, and too many things that could end up being very bad for me. However, it might be in my best interest to at least act like I’m wanting to fit in. There is a reason that they say that the nail that sticks out is the first to feel the hammer drop. If my creator was anything to go by, that hammer looked particularly painful and very unforgiving.

*****Author's note.

Thank you to EoF for creating this wonderful place to let my muse play and to Dustin, Maggie, and EoF for beta reading and editing work. I hope you have enjoyed my latest offering! The next chapter is already being worked on, it shouldnt take me as long to get it done this time *blush*. Also, the song in this chapter is done by Soundgarden and is called Burden in my Hand. I claim nothing about the song or the video other than that I like the both of them and that I'm making no money off of this.

Thanks again and as always, have a nice read. ^_^

When last we saw Dani:

“You okay there, Dani?” Darcy asked, bring me back out of my thoughts.

“Wha... Yeah. I’m fine. Just thinking about things is all.” I told her. Which was the truth, even if I didn’t tell her what I was thinking and worrying about.

“Oh, okay.” She said. “I’m just trying to make sure that you’re okay. I’d be more than happy to listen if you need someone to talk to, you know.”

And whaddya know, I actually felt somewhat better about that. I didn’t know if I could trust her or not, but the fact that I didn’t really have any friends since my move here to Ravencrest and Jimmy’s death. It might actually be nice to have a friend and not feel so lonely anymore.

Late evening, May 9th 1996

“Yeah, it’s not what most would expect a vampire’s lair to look like, is it?” She asked me.

“No, it’s not.” I had to agree, but then again, I didn’t know what to expect either. It was while I was taking in the room that I had a thought.

“I’m not going to be forced to wear this robe form now on, am I?”

Oh no Dani, no you’re not. Don’t worry about that. We don’t have anything for you now, but you can borrow something of mine for tomorrow while we go shopping for you.” She told me. She then gave me an appraising once over. “Hmm... You’re going to be a difficult one to shop for with those proportions.”

“Um... Sorry?” I said, not feeling very sure of myself.

“So... Which one is mine?” I asked as I nodded towards the bunk bed in the corner.

“You can have the top bunk.” She told me. “I still toss and turn a bit in my sleep, so I learned after the first time that I fell off that I need to stay on the bottom.”

“Oh, okay.” I’ve got to say that this was getting very awkward very quickly.

“Look, Danielle. I know that this is a lot to take in at once, and I’ve heard that you’ve recently been through a very rough time, right?” She asked and I nodded in the affirmative. “Would you mind if I asked about what happened?”

This caught me off guard. I hadn’t told anyone anything about what had happened before I had moved up here, nor did I say anything to anyone about why I had left town for Jimmy’s funeral, aside from saying that someone close to me had died and I was going to be out of town for the funeral. I really didn’t know if I should have shared it, but I couldn’t for the life of me see what it could hurt.

“Normally, I wouldn’t be talking about this kind of thing. But I’m going to. I do have to warn you, though; it’s kind of a sob story.”

“That’s fine, sweet heart. Sometimes it helps to just get it out to someone.” She said as she placed her arm around me and led me over to the bed. Once we sat down, I just opened up to her. I told her about the day my parents died, about hearing what had happened earlier in the year in Liberia, then about getting the letter from Jimmy’s parents about his death.

I started telling her about some of the things that Jimmy and I had done over the years. I talked only about the good times, like that time that he and I had found a car that had crashed when the old lady that was driving went into a diabetic coma behind the wheel. I told her about how Jimmy had called for an ambulance while I pulled the lady out of the car and tried to find her insulin. I told her about how happy her daughter was that we had noticed the car off of the road and pulled over to help. We had saved her life that day.

I didn’t say anything about the handful of bad times in that friendship. Not only did I consider those things done and over with, but I’ve never felt comfortable bring up the names of the dead in a bad context. Call me superstitious if you want, but I always felt it was tempting fate.

I told Darcy about the funeral and about how it was a closed casket because it was an empty casket. I told her what Jimmy’s dad had told me when I asked what had happened, about how the mob had gotten his body and had dragged it through the streets and generally desecrated his corpse.

I was having trouble talking by the end of it because I was crying so hard. This was a new sensation for me, because I didn’t normally cry all that often. It wasn’t because I saw myself as some manly-man or anything, but because they just didn’t come all that often. I had just let them flow, figuring that I could deal with the tears when I was done. When I went to wipe my tears away, Darcy reached out and gently took my hand and wiped them for me with a tissue she pulled out of her purse.

“Something I forgot to tell you about us vampires; when we cry, the tears are blood. You’ve had enough nasty surprises already, so I thought I’d save you from another.” She told me with a sad smile.

All I could do was thank her and giver her one of my own in return. I felt oddly better after that cry, even if I didn’t understand why. All that talking about my past had brought the memories back and I was surprised by just how much I could remember. I can still remember the color of the interior of that old lady’s car and even the name of police officers that responded to Jimmy’s 911 call.

It took me a long time to get to sleep that night. Not only were Darcy and I up talking about the things that would need to be done on the morrow, and how I was dreading them, but I had also stayed up even later than she did. When I did finally drift off, I was glad that I wasn’t going to be dreaming anymore. I don’t think I could have dealt with thinking about the past anymore.

May 10th 1996
The next morning, I woke up with Darcy’s face hovering about an inch over mine. I probably would have had a heart attack if my heart hadn’t stopped beating when I converted.

“Um... Hi?” I said, wondering what in the world was going on. “Can I help you?

“That all depends, are you ready to do some shopping?” Darcy asked, entirely too happy at the prospect. I could only mumble incoherently in response. It was still too early for me to be functioning. That much, at least, hadn’t changed with the rest of me.

“Good enough. Now wake up and get ready! We’ve got places to go, stuff to buy and people to eat... I mean, see.”

It took me at least a good minute to register what she said there.

“Wait, huh?” I mumbled, my brain’s higher thought processes still not quite engaged just yet.

“Just go take a shower or something and I’ll be waiting here when you’re done.”

I think I mumbled something along the lines of eating dung and dying while screaming, but I couldn’t even tell what I said myself.

The shower did wonders for waking me up. Not only was it my first time bathing in days, but it was my first shower as a woman. I expected there to be more sensations, based on how my new body reacted to the robe I was given by Mother back when I first woke up in this place, but I was not prepared for how intense those sensations were actually going to be. Oh. My. GOD! I’m not sure how I managed to keep my sanity with just how good I was feeling, but I did and I managed to get clean in the process. That’s all you need to know.

I wrapped my towel around myself the way I always had and had actually got one foot out of the bathroom door before I caught my error and quickly closed the door again. After readjusting the towel around... well, you know, I made my way back to the room to find Darcy digging through her closet.

“I’m really sorry, Dani, but the only thing I’ve got that will fit you, in terms of tops, is this little number.” She said as she threw an oversized t-shirt at me. Apparently she heard me come in. “The only thing that I can find that would fits you in the way of bottoms is this peasant skirt, sorry. I’m not as wide in the hips as you are, girl. You know you’re going to be a challenge to shop for, right?”

“Uh... My bad?” I said. “I’m not sure if I’m ready for a skirt just yet though. Don’t you have any sweat pants in there anywhere?”

“None that are clean. I wore all the ones that I’ve got while I was training you.” I could whimper by this point. I was so not ready for this.

“I’ve got a bikini top you can use as a bra for the time being, but I’m not lending you my panties. That’s just grodey.”

Now, at this point I wasn’t sure if I should have been happy about postponing the act of having to wear girl undies or be horrified by having to go commando. I know that either way, I wasn’t looking forward to wearing a skirt. Imagine my surprise when I found the damned thing to actually be pretty comfortable.

At least it was ankle length, so it wasn’t like I had to worry about anyone peeping or anything. So I had that going for me at least. But it still didn’t make me feel any more comfortable about it. I think I was more obvious about my nervousness than I intended to be because when I looked back over to her, she was giving me a funny look.

“What’s wrong? Did I get the size wrong?” She asked.

“I don’t know about skirt sizes, so I won’t know until I get it on.” I answered. “But I can’t help but feel like I’m wearing...”

“Girls clothes?” She finished. “Hon, you need to understand that you’re not a guy anymore. No one but maybe yourself is going to care if you wore this out in public. Didn’t you want to be a girl in the first place?”

“Not really. I hadn’t really even thought about it, to be honest. I’m... Well, I was a guy and that was just that.” She shook her head in an almost sad way when I said this.

“Honestly, I really don’t know what mother was thinking when she converted you. This may be hard on your mind right now, but I think you’ll come to accept it with time. If I have you look at something, will you promise to keep an open mind about it?” She asked.

“Maybe? I can’t really promise until I know what it’s about.”

“I was wanting to wait a bit longer before I had you do this, but now is probably as good a time as any. Just take a look on the mirror on the back of the door over there.” She said with a nod of her head.

I’m almost certain that she was laughing at me and not with me when she saw my reaction to my own reflection.

The girl that was staring back at me looked like she stood about five feet and four inches tall, which would explain why so many things looked so much bigger to me now. Her hair fell down to her waist and it was so black, it looked like the light was simply falling into it and not returning. Her nose was small and delicate and her cheek bones were set high, giving her an almost regal, feminine face. Her eyes got me the most though.

They were this intense electric blue that almost looked like she was wearing colored contacts or something. Her skin looked like pure alabaster, like she had never seen the sun before. But now that I thought of it, the few girls that I had seen that belonged to this sorority all had the same skin tone, so I guess it was something that just came with being a vampire.

Her shoulders were slim and sloped down past her breasts, which looked ridiculously big for her frame, to a slim waist and flared out to wide hips that I would have called “child-baring,” if I were I still human. Her legs were lean muscle, even if they were a little thick for what I liked when I was human.

All told, she had the body of a vertically challenged porn-star athlete. Then it clicked that this was MY reflection I was almost drooling over in the mirror. I saw the look of hunger on her face turn slowly to one of horror at this realization.

“I’m really am sorry Dani, but it never fails to be funny when I see a new sister’s reaction to her reflection.” She said while politely trying to stifle a giggle. I wanted to be mad at her for laughing at me like that, but when I thought about

I was a bit too shocked to even try to cover my nakedness by what I had seen. Actually, I had completely forgotten about it until Darcy threw that bikini top over my head.

“Quit ogling yourself there girly, you’re going to get enough of that at the shops in the area as it is.” She chided me.

The thought of this made me blush.

I hurried to but the top on, but figured out very quickly that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I can’t even begin to tell you how embarrassed I was to still be in the same state of undress as I was just a moment ago.

“Oh wow, you weren’t kidding, were you? Here, let me give you a hand with that.” She said as she came to my rescue.

About ten minutes later and I was about as dressed as I was going to get. She had me in that brown pheasant skirt with a white band tee shirt. I think it was Metallica, but I couldn’t tell because it didn’t have a name on it. She gave me a pair of flip-flops and pronounced me as dressed.

“OK, now that we got that done, time for some light makeup and you’ll be ready for the world.”

I’m not even joking with you; I felt a shiver go down my cold, dead spine at those words.

“Um... If I look so good, can’t I skip the make up this time? I’m really not ready for something like that just yet.” I told her. And I honestly wasn’t either. I mean, yes I had worn makeup before when doing a stage performance, but that was different. Even guys need to in a stage production; otherwise the oils on your face will show up something horrible under the stage lights. I wasn’t a stranger to it, but that didn’t mean that I was comfortable with wearing it around on a daily basis.

“Fine, if you insist.” She huffed, and then giggled. “But count yourself lucky on that one, most of the other sisters would have been too excited by the thought of being able to teach a new sister the fine arts of makeup.”

“Lucky me?” I said, not really feeling very sure of myself here.

“Very.” She said, giving me ‘The Eye.’ “And you need to lighten up there missy. Just learn to go with it and you’ll be just fine, I promise.”

Easy for her to say, she ain’t me!

“Now, we’ve wasted enough time lollygagging around here.” She said as she took my hands and pulled me up off the bed and onto my feet. “You need to get your head in the game here, sister. Shopping is serious business.”

When I stood up, I almost fell back over with mirth from the look on her face. She looked so serious about it that I just couldn’t help it. Even though some small part of my mind told me that this could mean trouble for me in the immediate future.

“First things first, though. Do you want to walk or catch a cab?” She asked.

“I do have a scooter with a luggage rack, you know. And I’ve got a car, but that’s in storage at the moment.” I retorted. “Why spend extra money when we don’t have to.

“Ok... Where ‘s it at?” She asked, apparently more than just a little excited by my revelation.

“Umm... The Guardian?” I asked. Truthfully, I hadn’t even thought about any of that stuff since I woke up a vampire. I’ve had more pressing things on my mind.

“Well, we can check in with Mother to see what she did with it. We don’t normally need to keep the things from our new sister’s previous lives.” She explained. “Mostly we end up donating it for tax write-offs. Either way, let’s go find Mommy and see what she did with you stuff.”

With that, she pulled me up and led me out of her... our, room to go and find our creator.

“That was easy.” Darcy said. “At least we caught them before they got rid of it all.”

“I swear to whatever god, goddess, thing might be listening; if they’ve so much has removed a piece of lint from that storage shed, heads will roll. Most of that stuff is things that are family heirlooms and things that I have a strong sentimental attachment to.” I explained to her

They had already gotten rid of my clothes and the things I had in my apartment, but they hadn’t dug up the storage unit just yet. We got to Carmilla in time to cancel the donation of the scooter and to stop them from looking into the storage unit. That made me a happy camper.

We got the keys off of my new mother and made our way through the house to the back door. As I was about to pass through, however, Darcy stopped me.

“Hold up there girl.” She said. “We can’t go outside like this just yet. We have to get our sun block on first. You don’t want to know what the sun does to us.”

“Wait... what?” I hadn’t really been into fantasy or anything when I was human, so I didn’t know much about vampires and stuff. She went on to explain to me the strengths and weaknesses that we have as vampires. Stuff like our weakness to sun light and how we need to avoid being stabbed by pointy bits of wood. But on the upshot we are much faster and stronger than a human and about how we can ‘Mesmer’ men and manipulate them to do whatever we wanted them to do.

She told me more about the town as we walked back to the common room. She touched on the Weres and the Coven and how we aren’t allowed to feed from either of them. She also told me about how each one of us has a special ability. Apparently Wisteria, whom I have yet to meet, can absorb the powers of whomever she feeds from or something like that. Carmilla can do magic and Theresa, whom I don't get along with at all, can stay out in the sun longer than the rest of us.

“So then, if each of us has an ability, what’s yours?” I asked her.

“I’m a siren, almost like the ones from Greek mythology. My voice amplifies my Mesmer ability. I don’t even need to make eye contact with the man I’m using it on, I just need to focus on him and he’s mine.” She said with a smile that held more sunshine than all of the great outdoors put together. Honestly, it was a little disturbing.

“How do I figure out what mine is?” I asked. I don’t know what I was hoping for, but I was seriously wishing it was something cool.

“That’s something that each of us has to find out on her own, sweetie. You’ll figure it out soon enough.” She replied as we finished putting the sun block on. It was prescription strength S.P.F. 150, if you really need to know. I can’t say that I was all that happy with that answer.

I stood back up and wondered why it felt a little... Breezy, in certain areas of my anatomy, then realized that I was wearing a skirt (sigh). This was going to make it difficult to ride to the store.

“You have to kind of wrap the fabric up in your legs and keep them pressed together at an angle. That way, the wind doesn’t catch it and you can still control the scooter. I used to do it all the time back in the Sixties.” Is what Darcy told me when I mentioned my concern to her. Did this girl have a freaking answer for everything?

“I’m not too sure I’m following what you just said.” And it was the truth too.

“Then why don’t I show you?” She offered as she stood up herself. I nodded in the affirmative and followed her around back. I took a seat and almost broke one of the cardinal rules of skirt wearing, apparently. Always smooth it out when you sit and keep your legs closed. It sounded like two to me, but she insisted that it was all one big rule. Whatever.

After relearning how to take a freaking seat, I finally got the key in the ignition and I guess I was expecting the same kinds of feeling that I would have had before the conversion. But no, of course not. I was seriously wondering just what all they did to my mind when they changed my body. The thought that they did something was always in the back of my mind, nagging away quietly while I was focus on more pressing things. If I could work up the courage to confront her on it, I’d have to be sure to ask Mother.

I did a few practice laps around the back yard of the house after she showed me what she was talking about. Once that was done, I donned my helmet and made the adjustments to the straps while Darcy hopped on behind me and wrapped her hands around my waist. I decided that the easiest way to get to the road way was to go through the lawn as we apparently hadn’t had anyone who owned a motor vehicle in the last, by the look of things, well, ever.

Darcy had convinced herself that I was going to crash into something before I even made it half way around the house, and was ready to jump off at a moment’s notice, leaving me to my fate like the true friend she claimed she wanted to be. I almost had my vengeance, though.

I tricked her into jumping off right in front of a tree. I hadn’t counted on every vampire being about as fast as my dear Mother is and that allowed her to avoid it. The look on her face when she about hit the tree was priceless enough to make up for it, however, so all was well enough. After getting her back on the scooter and getting myself situated again, we finished the ride around the house and took off for my first shopping experience as a female.

After scooting across town and finding a safe enough place to park the scooter, she hit the stores like a tornado and dragged me along for the ride. At least, that’s what it felt like to me. The first thing I tried to do was take a look around at what kind of stores were on Main Street Ravencrest. There wasn’t a whole lot, but there were quite a few considering the size of the town. The clothes boutique was the first place that Darcy wanted to go to, but I convinced her that I really wanted to replace some of the gear that had been donated before I could get to it, like my guitar. I figured that I’d need a stress reliever here in the near future and playing music is one of the best, that is, if you know how to play already. We went into the little music shop on the corner opposite from where I parked the scooter and almost immediately fate pounced on me once more.

“Excuse me, Miss, but might I ask a question of you?” Said a voice that I sounded very familiar, but I could place where I knew it from with all that had gone on recently.

“Go for it.” I answered, not turning from the guitar I was looking at on the wall.

“How much does a polar bear weigh?” the decidedly male voice asked.

“Uh...” That was definitely NOT what I was expecting. “I have no idea, how much does a polar bear weigh?”

The answer he gave me would have frozen my heart in place, had it not already been stagnant. As it was, I had to fight myself to keep from laughing at the same time.

“Enough to break the ice. Hi, name’s Frankie, nice to meet you. Are you new around here?”

**This isn’t over yet, so please stay tuned**

As always, please let me know how I’ve done. I know I failed to leave this note on my previous chapter in Danielle’s (un)life, but I do appreciate the input on how well I am (or am not) doing. Thank you for taking the time to read my offering to you and I hope you've enjoyed the ride to this point as much as I have. Now that you're done with what I've managed to accomplish in this universe (thus far), go check out the other (and really awesome ^_^) stories set in this universe. And as always, if I may quote, "Have a nice read."

previously

The answer he gave me would have frozen my heart in place, had it not already been stagnant. As it was, I had to fight myself to keep from laughing at the same time.

“Enough to break the ice. Hi, name’s Frankie, nice to meet you. Are you new around here?”

“Um... yes?” I said as I turned around. With everything that had been going on, there was one thing that had slipped my mind when I had walked into this store. Vick’s parents owned the only music store in town. How could I have been so stupid? Thinking quickly, I flashed him a small smile that hopefully said that I wasn’t interested, but appreciated the thought and went back to the guitar I was looking at.

“Anything I can help you find, miss?” He asked me.

“Yeah, actually there is. What can you tell me about this guitar?” I asked in response, still very much unsure of myself and wondering just where in the world Darcy had run off to.

“It’s a good guitar for learning how to play, but not much else.”

“Oh. Then what would you recommend for someone who knows how to play rather well?” I asked as I gave him a looking over. He was about as tall as I used to be, with these broad, sexy shoulders and those... No. Just no.

“Is something wrong, miss?” Apparently, he noticed my embarrassment at my train of thought.

“Oh... No, not at all. I was just lost in thought for a moment. Sorry.”

“You’re fine.” He said with a friendly smile that made me... No. Still not going there! “If you’ll follow me, I can show you some of the better models that the store carries.”

I followed him over to the other side of the store where there was a small booth set up for people to try the instruments. Luckily, he didn’t notice my insecurity with just how bouncy my new equipment was up top. He walked into the booth and after looking at a few of the guitars on the bottom row, pulled a simple looking one from its peg.

“Here, try this one out.” He said as he handed the instrument to me. As I took it and inspected the price tag, he pulled me up a stool to sit on. I took a seat and ran through some warm up scales and played a random tune.

“There you are! Girl, has anyone told you that you are really good at disappearing?” Darcy said as she finally came to my rescue. “Let’s get going, we’ve got other places that we need to get to, you know.”

I returned him the guitar and made to take off with Darcy before he could try anything else. I almost made it too.

“Hey, if you’re not busy later, I could show you around town if you’d like?” He asked. Drat. I knew that I couldn’t avoid feeding, and the things that Darcy told me usually go along with it, but I was damned well going to try. I soo wasn’t ready for that just yet.

“Not tonight big guy, but maybe some other time. She and I have a bit too much planned for today." Darcy answered for me. This time, I was the one hurrying her along. I managed to bustle her outside and down the street a bit before I stopped and turned on her.

“Now, please tell me what just happened.” I asked her. I was not happy that she made that decision for me. I may be new to being a vampire and a woman, but I wasn’t exactly a toddler either.

“Well... He was a hottie and if I’ve got you pegged right, you were kind of digging him.” Damn. Did she read my mind or something? “That’s okay, but you need to be careful. You don’t want to know what happens if we get attached to our food source.”

This last reason floored me a bit. All she did, though, was giggle at me.

“What? Did you think that you were going to feed from the pouches forever?”

“Actually, I kind of did.” I answered. It took her a moment or two to recompose herself before she could talk again. Ya know, this girl really knows how to do a number on a person’s ego.

“Oh, not at all sweetie.” She said once she did finally regain herself. “We have to feed from humans. Men, to be specific. A woman’s blood just doesn’t have the right stuff in it. And it’s best when it’s fresh from the tap, if you catch my meaning there.”

One word: Eww! Even though Frankie had looked delici... NO! Bad me! Bad!

“From what I’ve been told, every new sister that is converted without wanting to be a female goes through something like this. If you need any help with it after tonight, just go ask Josephine. I’m told it took her about twenty years before she finally got with a man for the first time.” She said. “Look, girl, it’s best to just accept it and roll with it. Now let’s get you some clothes sister.”

She grabbed my hand and led me towards the fashion boutique a few shops down where she fed my measurements to the sales lady. After looking me over and asking Darcy a few questions that I didn’t pay much attention to, they proceeded throughout the little store like a pair of large cats on the hunt or something.

I looked around and I couldn’t help feeling very out of place in this store. I didn’t feel like I was supposed to be here. Then I realized that I was in fact a girl now and not the guy I was about a week ago, which explained why I wasn’t getting any weird looks for being in alone in a women’s clothing store. Not even five minutes later and Darcy’s return broke me out of my musings. She grabbed my hand and drags me back to the dressing rooms.

“I’ve gotta warn you girl, you may not like some of these things, but it’s about as good as we could do here.” She said with an apologetic look on her face. I saw why quickly enough. Most of it looked like it was made from rejected material from some kind of Vanilla Ice music video. In other words: Eww?

“Um, most of that isn’t really my style, Darcy. Sorry.” I told her with what I hoped was an apologetic look. “I’m more into the grunge look, actually.”

I had no idea how I knew that made a mental note to ask about it as soon as we got back to the house. I was getting sick of worrying about the CIA mind control kind of crap.

“Well then, have a look through and pick out what you like, then I’ll try and find more for you based on that.” She said. To be honest, she looked rather annoyed with Darcy for having pulled so many pieces of clothes only to have to put most of them right back and I couldn’t blame her in the least.

I went over and picked through and found the least expensive pants and... Why was the word “tops” coming to my mind? I quickly chalked it up as one more example to use when I approached my creator about just what in the world was going on with me.

Mostly it was just tank tops and jeans but there were a few skirts mixed in that I would have thought looked good on a girl a week ago. Now that it was me that was going to be wearing them, I wasn’t too sure. The tops, I was told, had a built in bra, for when I “felt too lazy to dig up a clean bra to wear.” Which worked just fine for me, at least until I either got used to wearing girl’s clothing or went insane. The only bras they had in stock that would fit me were sports bras (according to the label) and they looked straight forward enough, so I wasn’t too worried about having trouble with them.

I looked around, thinking that I might be able to do a bit better at figuring out what I wanted than two people that didn’t even know me. Then, a tee shirt on a mannequin in the corner caught my eye. It was an old Misfits shirt that was solid black with two skeletal arms that wrapped around the sides from the back and the hands looked like they were cupping certain parts of the mannequin’s fake anatomy.

Now, I know that I just recently acquired the right bits to make use of a shirt like that, but I’ve always thought it looked cool, so I snagged the sales lady to get it for me. During that short wait, Darcy slid up next to me.

“I think you’re going to fit right in, girl.” She whispered with a warm smile. “But I’d still like to have a little chat with you once we get outside. Don’t worry, though. It’s nothing bad, I promise.”

I gave her a nod in reply and stepped closer to the sales lady to get the shirt. It was a medium, so it was going to have to stretch out before it would fit comfortably, but that was okay with me. I quickly went back to the changing room to try it on, per Darcy’s orders, and was a happy camper when I saw the hands were lined up perfectly with where they were supposed to be on my body.

That’s when I caught just what it was that I was doing. Oh. My. God. I actually took a seat on the small bench chair thing and decided that my creator definitely messed with my head when she remade me. And that I was going to need to talk to her about it, even if I was scared to death at the prospect of giving a lady that could probably strike fear in the heart of a Navy Seal a piece of my mind.

After changing back into the shirt that Darcy had loaned me, I went back out and paid for everything and left for the Guardian after getting everything secured to the storage rack on the back. Luckily for me, the Guardian had just opened for the day so I took us there instead of off to another shop. We entered, got a small drink each, and took a seat away from the small group of people that were in the place.

“Ok girl, spill. You know you’re not done shopping yet, so what gives?” Darcy asked, somewhat annoyed that her fun had been impeded on.

“Questions that need answers is what.” I said. I hadn’t meant for it to come out short like that, but put yourself in my shoes. How would you react if you believed that someone did to you what the tin-foil-hat-wearing nut jobs have been saying the CIA has doing for years? That’s what I thought.

“Oh? Like what?” She asked, a bit more interested now.

“For starters, I’ve never found guys to be attractive before. Why did I have to struggle so hard to not rape that sales dude in the music store?” I said rather pointedly. “Secondly, that shirt that I picked out, when I went to try it on, I was actually happy that the hands lined up with my new body almost perfectly when I think I should have still been freaking out. What the shit is going on here?”

“Probably because you were that attracted to him and I have no idea, actually. In that order, by the way.” She said with an almost thoughtful look on her face. “Didn’t you want to be a woman? Normally, the gift is only given to those who would want it, so I had assumed that you had.”

“Not in the least. Actually, it never even crossed my mind. I was happy with what I was. All that I was unhappy about were the deaths of my human parents and my best friend before becoming... this .” I said as I gestured to my new body. “I think I need to get back to the house. Soon.”

“That might be wise.” She said as she snagged my drink before I could even get any of it (the bitch) and ushered me outside and back on the scooter. I almost certain that I broke some kind of record and maybe a law or two in getting home so quickly. We got the new clothes unloaded and into the room. Then I parked Darcy on her bed.

“Where’s Mother at normally at this time of day?” I asked.

“Around here, somewhere would be my best bet. Go ask around for her.” She answered as I hung my head with a sigh.

“Alright, but if I get eaten alive, I’m going to haunt you forever. You do realize that, right?” I said as I turned on my heel and went to find the source of my current problems. Turns out I didn’t have to go very far at all. She was just sitting in the common room, almost like she was waiting for me.

“You look confused about something, love. Take a seat and let’s talk about it.” She said, patting the cushion next to her. So that’s exactly what I did. I even crossed my legs like a woman would, too. That was a bit unnerving because I hadn’t really thought about doing that all day, but when I thought back on it, I had at the Guardian as well. Don’t get me wrong, I assume that girls are supposed to when they wear a skirt, for obvious reasons, but I never had those reasons and so wasn’t used to the need to do it.

“Well, I don’t really know how to say it without thinking I’m going to make you mad. Obviously, I don’t want that, but I’m wondering if you maybe changed anything else when you changed me into what I am now.” I said. I was a little annoyed by how meekly that came out, but looking back, it was the best that I could hope for.

“Not at all, darling. I would never do such a thing so one of my daughters. However, that being said, your new body does have its own instincts and desires. It knows what it wants and it knows how to get it. I will admit that I do have designs for you but please believe me when I say that I do love you just as any mother would love her daughter.” She said in that French accent of hers as she reached out and stroked my cheek with one of her delicate hands.

“I know that you’re having a hard time trusting right now. That is fully understandable for someone in your situation, but you need to know that I have no intention of doing you any harm.” This was it then. That last bit she said held an unspoken question. Would I be willing to trust her enough to believe her and go with whatever she had in mind for me?

On the one hand, I knew that the woman before me was older than anyone had a right to be and could end me before I could so much as blink. On the other hand, she claimed that she wanted the best for me and actually loved me and cared for my wellbeing. What I really needed was more time to decide, but that was a luxury I just didn’t have.

“Ok Mama, I’ll trust you.” I answered her question. I figured that if all else failed, I could make a run for it or something.

“Thank you, Daughter. But there isn’t anywhere that you can run to in town that I can’t find you, and the curse on us all binds you and any other new daughter of either mine or Wisteria’s to this town for around a decade, so leaving isn’t an option. And yes, I can read your mind, before you ask.” She said with a somewhat amused smirk on her face as my own face dropped in astonishment. Her eyes said that she was pleased with my decision.

Well, with that being said, I guessed there was nothing left for it. It was either adapt of perish, again. As far as I was concerned, that wasn’t an option, so that left me with adapting. Would it be hard? Abso-freakin’-lutely. Just how the hell is a person supposed to come to terms with the fact that they’re dead? ‘Hi Honey, welcome home! I died while you were at the office today, but I brought home that chicken roast like you asked’ or something like that?

Why must I still be Fates little bitch?

Twenty minutes later

Carmilla had suggested that I stop by Suzanne’s place and talk with her about becoming more comfortable with being a woman and a vampire and doing all the things that being both of those entailed. She gave me directions to a place that was about a fifteen minute ride up the road.

After reapplying the sun block, I hopped on the scooter and took off for her place. Upon arrival, I must say that I was impressed with how well maintained the house was. Just looking at the styling of it, it looked like it had been around from the town’s very beginnings, but everything about it looked brand spanking new. I was honestly wondering if I was going to smell that ‘new car smell’ after walking through the front door or something.

I hesitated only for a second before knocking on the door. I really didn’t know what to expect, so I was trying to keep an open mind about what I might see, but I still couldn’t have expected what greeted me when the door opened.

“Well, hello there.” She said, her platinum blonde hair cascading down from a high ponytail to barely kiss the top of her hips. She was wearing a beautiful silk nighty that managed to be decent and cover everything while still remaining erotic and provocative.

“Hi. Carmilla sent me to talk to you.” I told her. I would have been nicer, but my body was being an insistent little shit and doing strange thing again. Just like it did with Frankie at the music shop earlier.

“So she told me. Come on in, darling. I promise I won’t bite unless you’re into that sort of thing.” She said with a small smile on her face that I couldn’t read. That troubled me, as I had spent all that time in psychology studying people and I hadn’t even the foggiest idea what could have been going on behind those beautiful eyes.

I followed her into the front foyer and I must say that I was impressed by the décor. Most of it looked to be antique heirlooms, but knowing that she was a vampire I wouldn’t have been surprised if she had bought them when they were brand new. She led me through the foyer and into an adjacent parlor.

“So, take a seat and tell me about what’s bothering you.” She said as she gestured to what looked like the most comfortable couch in existence. I took her up on that offer and found that, indeed, I couldn’t imagine a more comfortable couch on this side of Heaven.

I told her about the issues I was having with actually being a woman and having to feed from men. I told her about the incident with Frankie at the music shop earlier in the day and how I was having trouble with dealing with the thought of it, even if my body wanted it to no end.

I’m not entirely sure how she did it but by the time I was done talking with her, she had managed to get *me* to slide across the couch and snuggle up with her. She had a hand tracing random patterns across my back and my leg lying across both of hers.

Don’t bother asking me for details. All I’ll say is that she somehow managed to get me out of my clothes and show me a good time, from a woman’s point of view. After that, I wasn’t feeling so skittish about being the one penetrated. And it just so happened that she had a few friends over while I was there for me to try the ‘real deal’ for myself. All I’ll say is that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

Three hours, one good time and a hot shower later

“I’m still having a hard time believing that I got roped into doing this.” I groused at Darcy as we made our way back over to the Guardian. At least I talked her into letting me wear the shirt I picked out earlier.

“Believe it, sister. You need to get used to this as quickly as possible. As I’m certain Mother told you, the secret must be kept.” She teased.

“Yeah, yeah. I get that. Seriously, I do. But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to believe it.”

“How does that make any kind of sense?”

“I’m in denial.” I told her with a straight face. All this got me was a roll of her eyes. She and I went back and forth over this almost all the way there. In fact, it didn’t stop until we just happened across Frankie walking to the Guardian with Vick.

“Hey, it’s him.” Darcy said while nudging my shoulder. “I wonder who his friend is...”

“His name is Vick.” I blurted out. This caused Darcy to raise an eye brow at me. “I knew them before my conversion. Suzanne introduced them to me and they were part of the band when I performed at the Guardian before...”

Her eyes grew a little at this revelation.

“Oooohhh... So that’s why you were acting so shy about him.” She said with a giggle that compelled me to take a playful swat at her arm. All this got me was full blown laughter from her.

“How is it that someone so bubbly can be so sadistic?” I asked no one at all.

“Look at this this way: would you rather be with someone that you don’t even know for your first time, or be with someone that you do know so that you can have a fond memory of them, both in life and in death?”

Ya know? I hadn’t given that one very much thought. The parts of me that still stubbornly held on to being Michael, few as they were by this point, could see where she was coming from. As Michael, I was always told that the girl’s most private places were invaded, in a way, every time she had sex and that it didn’t matter if she wanted it or not. That’s what my old man had always told me to treat it like.

Now that I was a woman, with all the urges that included (plus a few with me being a vampire and all), I was starting to think that he just didn’t want me getting some poor young girl knocked up or something. It was seriously a struggle not to just run over to Frankie and.. You get the idea.

We tailed them into the Guardian, per my request. I wasn’t quite sure that I was ready but I was getting really hungry by this point.

“Why are we trying to be so sneaky?” Darcy asked in a loud whisper.

“Because that one on the right is that guy from the music store earlier, that’s why.” I answered in a real whisper. I really didn’t want to know what would have happened if any of my sisters caught wind that I actually made contact with people I knew from before my conversion.

“Oh, I see.” She said with a sly grin. “Good eye, girl. Keep that up and Mother might just have you gathering information and stuff on the people she finds interesting.”

“Yay me?” I said, completely unsure if I should have felt good about that or not. It would be a few years before I realized just how much like a fourteen year old girl trying to stalk a new boyfriend I was being just then, but I was beyond caring. We waited about five minutes then made out way inside ourselves.

She walked in first and grabbed my hand and dragged me off to the little girl’s room.

“What’d ya do that for?” I asked, completely clueless about what was going on. We’ve got to check the makeup, girl.” She answered like everyone was supposed to know that. “Can’t go running around with seared makeup, can we?”

“I’d have to say... No?” I guessed. Seriously, I hadn’t had all that much contact with women before becoming one. How was I supposed to know?

“Someone get the girl her prize, she’s a winner” Darcy said with a smug smile. I was getting good at these guessing games, apparently. After a few minutes re-painting our faces on, we headed back through the bathroom door and up to the bar where Frankie and Vick were seated.

“Hey there fellas, I’m Darcille, and this is my roommate Danielle.” She decided to take the initiative and introduce us to them. “I don’t think either of us caught your name at the shop earlier.”

“I’m Frank, and this my partner in crime, Vick.” He said as they introduced themselves. Darcy wasted no time and put Vick under her Mesmer almost immediately.

“Come on, girl, get with it already. Mesmer the poor boy so we can eat already.”

“Oh...” That I could even do that had completely slipped my mind. I looked into his eyes and I still have a hard time describing how this works. I felt him and his lust for me, which creeped me out a bit by the way, then felt it bending to my will. Interesting... A girl could get to liking this a bit too easily if you ask me. I’d have to be careful about that in the future.

I allowed him to take my hand and we followed Darcy and Vick around the bar and towards the storage rooms in the back. As my luck would have it, I ended up in the same room I was in when I was the guy and Carmilla converted me. Well, it was now or starve. I walked in from of him and laid face up on the cot and looked at him expectantly. He didn’t disappoint.

I’m willing to admit that it wasn’t all that bad at all, after I got over my nervousness of being penetrated. I’ll also say that the boy has the stamina of an Olympian god or something. It was kind of weird drinking from him, but he didn’t taste bad at all, so I was able to deal with it. But that’s all you get to know about that night. A girl has to have her secrets, after all.

Mid-September 2010...

“Dammit Dani, you done in there yet? I’ve been ready to go for a while now!” I hear Darcy calling to me from the other side of the door to my room. I’ve been writing down all that has happened to me over the years so that I won’t forget. I’ve been told many times by Jo and ‘Milla that I will never forget, but I don’t like taking the word of another for something like that. That aside, maybe I could turn it into a fictional story and make some money off of it.

“Yeah, I was waiting on you, bitch.” I shout to her. She and I have been roommates since I was converted and have what would seem like a complicated relationship to someone who didn’t know us. Each throws insults at the other like it’s going out of style, but neither of us are ever serious about any of it.

“Whatever, whore, you know you wish you were even half as hawt as I am.” She said in a thick ‘Valley Girl’ accent as she strutted into the room and struck a pose, then ruined it by breaking out in a giggle fit.

“You wish, slut. Now let’s go get fed, I’m about half starved and horny as hell.” In case you can’t tell, I have no social filter. While it usually embarrasses the ones I’m with to no end, it does lead to some stories that are downright hilarious, at least in retrospect.

“You did not just say that.” She said with an incredulous look on her face. “It’s been how long now and you still talk like a guy?”

“Only because it drives you and the others up the walls.” I explained with my most winning smile. And it was true, too. I never did fully assimilate to being a woman. I hopped up from where I was sitting on my bed and took one last look at myself in the mirror.

After some last minute primping in the mirror, just to annoy Darcy, I walked with her out to the street where my Honda Cub was parked. Normally we would go to the Guardian, but she and I had decided to do things a little differently tonight.

It was the anniversary of the day that Frankie, John, and Cornbread (whose name I would later learn was actually Carroll and that he was named after Carroll Shelby, the creator of the Shelby Cobra) had all left for the west coast to seek their fame and fortunes.

And that left only Vick in town. Instead of moving with the other guys, he stuck around and set up a little karaoke bar on the other side of the campus from the Guardian. He sold it to Joey about two months after opening it because he had some kind of project he wanted to work on. Long story short, he died about five months after starting his project. I’m pleading the fifth on the details of that one.

Anyway, this was where the frat boys did their thing when there weren’t any house parties to crash as The Guardian was more laid back, kind of like a chill spot. I didn’t really have a preference for where I got my food, that is, when I wasn’t out doing this or that for Mama.

While the quality of the ‘food’ wasn’t as good as what one could find in The Guardian, in my opinion, I’ve found that I could actually attain a feeling similar to being drunk from the guys at this bar as they usually had much higher blood alcohol levels.

After catching what seemed like every red light on the way there, I finally parked and we went inside to find us some food. Unsurprisingly, more than a few of the idiot frat boys were in here. There just weren’t very many who looked appealing either to me or to Darcy.

“Hey Darse, I think we came to the wrong bar. I don’t see any good looking guys anywhere.” I said to her while pantomiming the act of scanning the bar. “All I see are these nitwits gawking at us like we’re on the menu.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right Dani.” She replied. “Maybe we should just go back. It’s no fun at a place like this unless you know someone here.”

Then she and I both let out involuntary squawks of indigence as Joey pulled us both onto his lap. While I was expecting him to do something like this, being pulled off balance threw me off my guard.

“Oh really, now? And here I was thinking I was looking at two of the prettiest women in this entire state, but if that’s how you’re going to be...” He let his retort hang for a moment. I decided not to tease him until I had him good and drunk out of his mind later, so I leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Hey Joey, why don’t you and Dani lead us off with that song you guys have been practicing? I haven’t heard it yet.” Darcy asked.

“Well...” He stalled as he looked at me for the go ahead. It’s a duet, with a male and a female part. I liked it, even if the female part was written for a soprano like Darcy. She just couldn’t get the feel of the song quite right. The band that wrote it did so as a vicious dig at a former member, so naturally it’s an angry song. It didn’t fit very well with the season, but Joey just went through a bad break up and Darcy and I both wanted to make sure he was alright.

After we ran through a few warm up scales, Joey and I took our places at the microphones. I felt eyes on me while I walked and turned to take a look. It wasn’t in the normal way either. Normal, for me, was lust or envy. The gaze I felt on my back was full of malice and hatred. I couldn’t help but smile a bit when I found the source. It was Joey’s ex-girlfriend.

The girl was a knock out, too. As close to a vampire’s good looks as a human could get. She had golden blonde hair that fell down to her shoulders and these piercing blue eyes that seemed to gaze into your very soul. I was sorely tempted to call her out on that and ask her if she could see mine. None of us at Delta Beta had figured out if we still had our souls or not yet, so it was a point of curiosity for me.

“You know that she’s up at the bar right now, right?” I said with a smirk, turning back to Frankie.

“Then let’s make it extra special. May I have this dance?” He asked with a sadistic smile as he held his hand out to me like he was asking me to waltz with him. While the smile was warranted with what that bitch put him through, I couldn’t help but find it out of place on him. He normally had a very soft, kind looking face.

“Why, of course my good sir. I would be honored to dance with you on this pleasant night.” I returned and shot an evil smile of my own towards ‘The Bitch,’ as we had taken to calling her. Just to rub it in, I snapped my teeth at her. I thought she was going to break the mug of whatever-it-was she was nursing with the way she was gripping it after that. I mean, seriously. I thought it something like White Lightning

We all gathered around the machine and queued up the songs that we wanted and debated the order to sing them in for a bit. After ironing everything out, the others went and sat down and waited for the intro for Frankie’s song to start. As much I loved the song, it was going to be a stretch for me to sing it like it was recorded. The high notes were almost out of my vocal range.

“You know she’s going to hate all of us for this, right?” I told him while the intro was getting under way.

“Yeah, but The Bitch deserves it. Let her rot in her misery.”

I was so busy laughing at how angry he was about it that I almost missed my first lines.

“Finally the hills are without eyes. They are tired of painting a dead man's face red with their own blood.” I sang, knowing that his ex had inadvertently taken one of the best seats in the house. “They used to love having so much to lose. Blink your eyes just once and see everything in ruins...”

"Did you ever hear what I told you? Did you ever read what I wrote you? Did you ever listen to what we played? Did you ever let in what the world said? Did we get this far just to feel your hate?” Frankie came in and sang after a brief pause. “Did we play to become only pawns in the game? How blind can you be, don't you see? You chose the long road, but we'll be waiting”

“Bye, bye, Beautiful!” I sang with a voice that was somewhere between a natural singing voice and a heavy metal scream. During this, I slid up in front of him and ground my rear into his crotch. I had a sad mental laugh that I was only just barely tall enough to do that to him. I was delighted when he followed my lead and ran his hands over my hips and down the front of my thighs, only just missing my womanly bits. I then turned to see The Bitch’s reaction and sang to her. “Bye, bye, Beautiful!”

“Jacob's ghost for the girl in white, blindfold for the blind. Dead Siblings walking the dying earth” I continued after the brief pause between the chorus and the second verse. ”Noose around a choking heart. Eternity torn apart, so toll now the funeral bells...”

"No need to die to prove a lie...” Joey sang out, putting as much anguish in his voice as he could muster. “Did you ever hear what I told you? Did you ever read what I wrote you? Did you ever listen to what we played? Did you ever let in what the world said? Did we get this far just to feel your hate? Did we play to become only pawns in the game? How blind can you be, don't you see? You chose the long road, but we'll be waiting.”

“Bye, bye, beautiful!” We both sang in that almost metal scream this time around. ”Bye, bye, Beautiful! Bye, bye, Beautiful! Bye, bye, Beautiful!”

“It’s not the tree that forsakes the flower, But the flower that forsakes the tree.” Joey sang with as much passion as the boy could muster. ”Someday I’ll learn to love these scars, still fresh from the red-hot blade of your words”

“How blind can you be? Don’t you see... How blind can you be? Don’t you see...” I took over with a stage whisper of my own. ”How blind can you be? Don’t you see that the gambler lost all he does not have?”

”Did you ever hear what I told you? Did you ever read what I wrote you? Did you ever listen to what we played? Did you ever let in what the words said?” We sang the final Chorus together. My mezzo-soprano harmonizing quite nicely with his tenor. ”Did we get this far just to feel your hate? Did we play to become only pawns in the game? How blind can you be, don’t you see? You chose the long road but we’ll be waiting...

“Bye bye, Beautiful! Bye bye, Beautiful! Bye bye, Beautiful! Bye! Bye! Bye! Bye!”

I took a quick, sideways glance at the bar to check out her reaction and I’ll tell you what. If looks could kill then hers would have staked me a dozen times over from two miles away. Pleased as punch with myself for getting her all riled up like that, I turned away and favored Darcy and the guys with a sheepish grin.

“I think I made her mad, you guys.” I told them, instantly rearranging my face to one of indignance and crossing my arms below my breasts. “We even went through all the trouble of singing a song just for her and she goes and hates us for it. Seriously, the nerve of some people.”

A few days or so later...

Well... there is no way that is going to end well. I thought to myself after watching Theresa and Jolene talking to the same prospective recruit. He was a mousy looking thing. Should prove interesting to watch this play out, though.

We, meaning vampires of Delta Beta (which included my adorable and so very charming self), were only allowed to pick one new sister for this school year. We could have probably gotten away with not getting a new one, but Mother loved having her daughters around. Even if she did scare the newer ones to no end with all of those scary stories of her past that I may or may not have exaggerated slightly. I never could figure out what the big deal was about them anyway. But maybe that was just me being me: from my conversion even up until today, I’ve never once been accused of being a normal anything.

Oh, where am I? The answer is quite simple, really. Up. Theresa, Jolene, and the boy who would probably be in for the surprise of his (soon to be cut short) life later tonight were all on the ground and I had been up in a tree from much earlier in the morning. What was I doing in a tree? I’d love to be honestly able to tell you that I was just watching the people interact, but I would be a liar if I told you that.

You remember that bitchy little thing that I sang for the other day? She turned a few dogs loose on me while I was out on my morning run and then proceeded to chase me around the campus in her car while somehow managing not to run those damnable dogs over like I was trying to trick her into doing. I ended up running up a tree to get away from her and realized that I had been gone too long to be ready for orientation this year, so I had decided to stay put.

Of course, I could have gotten away from her in an instant, what with my vampiric speed and all, but that would have clued her in to the fact that I’m not human anymore. So that was out of the question, and maybe, just maybe, I was a bit too much of a bitch the other night, so I let her chase me up this tree. But the two real reasons I hadn’t gotten down yet was that I was comfortable right where I was, what with the tree’s leafs shading me from the light and everything, and the oh so simple fact that those thrice damned, mange-ridden dogs were still down there trying to bark at the tree till it fell over with me still in it. And being stuck like that was just straight up embarrassing.

If Mama or any of my sisters asked me, I was planning on telling them it was a social experiment. I think I’ll go with: “People Watching... and maybe throwing unripe walnuts from my perch at the stupid ones I don’t like.” The objective is to see how long I can sit here with everyone else oblivious to my existence because of all the leaves in the tree, even if I did end up throwing only a couple (dozen) walnuts. Times like these, I actually kind of like those idiot frat boys. I did leave the weres alone, though. They would have skewed the test results with their heightened senses and everything.

What’s that? Why didn’t I just loose the dogs with my speed after that bitch went somewhere else? That’s a good question, you know that right? The answer is just as good, I promise. And here it is: She never left. She is an art major and was keeping me up here with the fact that she didn’t start classes until tomorrow (do NOT ask me how I managed to learn that one) and she pulled an art easel out of her car, along with a set of drawing pencils and a sketch pad and was drawing the dogs.

And yes, I am fully aware of just how “fine a kettle of fish” I’ve gone and gotten myself into this time. Luckily, I had a huge dinner last night, so I wasn’t feeling anywhere near as hungry as I normally was. Hopefully, one of my sisters comes and gets the bitch to go away. Luckily for me, I didn’t have any classes today either so I wasn’t going to be in too much trouble for this.

Four hours later and I was almost bored to the point of tears. Or insanity, whichever one is furthest along that particular path. I was running low on walnuts that were within reach and I had completely ran out of idiot frat boys. I’d also figured out the hard way that pelting the dogs, who were still trying to bark the tree over (no pun intended), wasn’t the brightest of ideas. Nor would that make them want to go away. So, with no other unexplored options, I did the only thing I could do: I started pelting little Ms. Bitchy McWhorington and that stupid drawing that wasn’t completely about me with the last few walnuts.

Fifteen minutes after that and finally one of the campus rent-a-cops comes walking by and notices her screaming at me from her stool for the bruising that the walnuts caused on her arms and face. About twenty minutes after that, and yes, it took them that long to get the only animal control unit in this tiny little town out here, and I was finally able to get down out of the tree.

Call me a glutton for punishment if you really want, but I managed to weasel the numbers for both the rent-a-cop and the animal control unit just to be mean to the Bitch and blew all three a kiss as I walked off to go home.

“You stupid bitch!” She screeched at my back after that little bit of taunting. “This isn’t over! You hear me!?”

“Mettre un coq dans celui-ci, vous deux bits putain” I called out to her over my shoulder just as sweetly as I could. It was a little something I had picked up from Mama-San when she thought I couldn’t hear her. She’s from France, as obviously indicated from the accent that she most commonly has, so it was natural that I would try to talk her into teaching me the language of love. Or hate, in this case.

Oh, you want to know what that translates to in English? Sure, I’ll tell you. It means: “Look it up in an online translator ‘cause I’m not going to risk getting my mouth washed out with soap... Again.”

And after all of this, I can finally go home and get what I’ve really wanted all damn morning: A HOT, SOOTHING, RELAXING SHOWER!!! Can’t a girl enjoy a relaxing shower after her morning run? Is that too much to ask for? IT IS?! What do you mean, ‘Yes, it is’? Just what the hell is this world coming to, anyway?

*twitch*