She awoke in a cold sea of deep crimson velvet. The room before her was an unlit abyss, and yet she could see everything with level of detail that made her uncomfortable. From the fading amber of the paint on the walls to the fine cracks in the tile on the ceiling to the whisper of dust on the floor, the minutia seemed to scream out at her. She pulled the blanket over her head and tried to force herself into slumber. She knew she couldn't. She was yet too young and sleep was still a demand. When the sun rose up from its cold grave of earth, she was compelled to sleep. When it returned under the horizon, she had no choice but to wake. Not that it really mattered. Sleep was no longer a comfort. It brought only the hideous dreams of freedom and joy.
She felt motion from the form that lay beside her and the soft sound of silk sliding across velvet and flesh.
A quiet voice came from the darkness. "Oh god... what have I done...." What used to be a young woman tore the blankets away and ran to the bathroom. The scent of vomit and blood came wafting through the door and was soon followed by the sounds of sobbing.
"What have I done? Oh god...oh god..."
Rising from the bed she drifted to the bathroom where she found the young woman on floor in pool filth. Her face bore the deep gashes of her own fingernails and her eyes were now little more than bloody pits. The ragged from whimpered once before the body went still.
A tiny sigh escaped her lips as Katie picked up the corpse and placed it in the bathtub. The roaches and rats quickly appeared. Katie knelt and ran her fingers through the corpse's soft hair as the vermin danced and feasted. She heard the door open and the soft sound of familiar feet draw near. She looked up to the doorway.
Dania stood wearing her hollow smile. "Lost another one?"
"I don't see the difference." Katie said as the two walked out of her building and into the street.
"That's why you can't keep them." Dania replied. "You still don't know what it is you lost when I brought you over. To be honest, I am quite amazed at your obtuseness. Most learn fairly quickly what life means after they lose theirs.
"You know, you say stuff like that a lot. I'm beginning to think that you are trying to tell me something."
Dania's eyes almost seemed to warm as they slid a sidelong glance over Katie. "I never have to muse long over why I keep you." She shook her head. "Still, after five years, I would have expected you to at least begin to understand."
Katie stopped dead in her tracks. "Five years? Impossible... it can't have been more than a year... two at the very most."
"I've told you my dear; time has little meaning for us. Remember back to what I taught you those first few days after you turned....
...You are still an infant and a slave to the cycle of night and day. Even if you could stave off the slumber, the sun will kill you. Once you get older, you will start to develop a tolerance, after fifty years you should be able to walk outside on a cloudy day, after a hundred, you may even be able to withstand a clear dawn. Never forget, no matter how old you get, the sun will weaken you. Even the eldest are as frail as the cattle in it, stay in the night as much as you can.
Your reflection... the image others see now is an illusion. You will cast a reflection that others can see, but you will not see your own. You would see yourself as you truly are, a walking corpse, bloated with the blood of your victims.
Your senses are more acute, far too much so actually. Detail will overwhelm you. There are many who cannot cope with the new flood of sensation and descend into forms of madness. Obsessive compulsion, extreme reclusion; some have literally ended from it. The only time it shall abate is when you feed. In those moments, all you will know is the kill. It is the only respite we have.
Your strength and speed and stamina are all greatly increased, but it is your glamour that will be your best weapon. You will be able to envelope yourself in anything from a radiance of lust and desire to a cloak of malevolent terror. Learn to use these well and you will be nearly untouchable.
Life feeds on death, and death feeds on life. It is the circle...
They walked on in silence to a cold and windswept beach. What moonlight managed to push through the layer of clouds cast a tired reflection on the waves that slapped against the shoreline. Dania cast her gaze to a small nest of shrubs and pointed at the shadow that shivered at the center.
Katie looked down on the form. She could see the years in him. A man of no more than twenty, his face still had the tint of youth in it, but was aged beyond its years by abuse and self-loathing.
"We pick him because he wasted his life?"
Dania gave her a bemused smile. "We pick him because he will not be missed."
"But... I mean, couldn't we pick someone who deserves it?"
The smile slid away as Dania ran a finger down the side of Katie's face. "We all deserve it."
