Stepping closer to the Jeep, I caught sight of my reflection in the glass window. For a long moment, I couldn't recognize the face staring back at me. The man in the glass looked familiar and yet entirely foreign.
What struck me first were the eyes piercing red, glowing faintly even under the muted daylight. They shimmered with an otherworldly luminescence, something hypnotic and unsettling. It took real effort to tear my gaze away.
My own damn eyes nearly put me in a trance... what the hell?
I forced myself to focus on the rest of my features. The pale skin, I had already grown somewhat used to. But my face was something else.
"My face…" I murmured, fingertips brushing over my cheek.
It was still me… only perfected. My cheekbones were higher, my jaw sharper, my features symmetrical to the point of artistry. Even my once unruly black hair now flowed smooth and silky down to my shoulders, catching the faint light like threads of ink.
I tilted my head, smirked at the reflection. "Not that I was bad looking before," I said with a self-satisfied grin, "but this is something else. Alexander, you've moved up in the world, looks-wise."
Using the Jeep as a frame of reference, I noticed something else. I was taller. My limbs were longer, my stance more balanced, though perhaps too new for my coordination to keep up.
"That would explain why I kept crashing when I tried the vamp speed," I muttered.
Yeah, I named it vamp speed, I added mentally, feeling just the slightest bit smug about it.
Then the amusement drained from me. The locked car door brought back an unpleasant thought.
"Those damned mercenaries locked it," I whispered darkly. "They wanted to make sure I couldn't escape, even if I ran."
My jaw tightened. A harsh, humorless laugh escaped my lips. "Look at how that turned out for them."
But the laughter didn't last. The memory of the mercenaries surfaced like ghosts, their faces vivid, their screams echoing in the back of my mind. And Kaycee… her name cut sharper than any blade.
Kaycee. The one who'd called me Lexy. The one I'd started to care for.
Her voice haunted me even now, crying that same name as they hunted me through the catacombs. A shiver crawled up my spine.
Rage simmered beneath my skin. My fist clenched involuntarily and
CRASH.
The glass shattered under my blow, shards spilling like rain. For a second, I just stared, startled. I hadn't expected it to break so easily.
The cuts stung briefly, blood welling up… and then, before my eyes, the skin stitched itself back together. The wounds closed, leaving not a scar in sight. Only a faint phantom ache remained.
I flexed my hand, fascinated and unnerved. Then I reached through the broken window, unlocked the door, and searched the car.
Inside the boot, I found my suitcase clothes still neatly folded and a small stash of food supplies. Relief washed over me. "Thank God," I muttered under my breath.
I changed into fresh clothes, slid into the driver's seat, and hotwired the Jeep. The engine roared to life, an old and comforting sound. Pressing the accelerator, I sped down the dirt path until the forest began to blur past me.
For the first thirty minutes, I drove in silence, grateful for the hum of the tires, the vibration of the wheel beneath my hands, something normal in a world that had gone insane.
But as the road stretched on, the vampire's words replayed in my mind.
He'd spoken of other vampires who wanted to conquer the world. And of humans with magic standing in their way.
Magic
I'd never seen such a thing in my lifetime, yet the way he said it… there was no doubt it existed.
Are mages hidden somewhere? Living among us unnoticed?
If the fantasy nerds of the world knew magic was real, they'd lose their minds.
What caught my attention was what he also called the other races.
'I mean woah other races'.
But what worried me most wasn't the existence of magic, it was what he'd said about me. About his bloodline.
A progenitor vampire. That's what he'd called himself. And if he gave his bloodline to me… that meant I was one too.
I sighed heavily, tightening my grip on the steering wheel. "So what happens if other vampires find out?" I muttered. "Do I become a target? A prize?"
The thought was exhausting. I brushed a hand over my face.
I couldn't go back to my normal life. Not now. Not ever.
The vampire's final words echoed faintly his talk of contingency plans and the inevitable war between races. Maybe the mages and humans would hold their ground. Maybe they'd even win. I didn't care. I wanted no part in their war.
I hadn't chosen this life. I hadn't asked for this power, this hunger. So I refused the crown, the title, the responsibility.
The instant I made that silent declaration, I felt something stir within me like a pulse beneath my ribs, a swirl of unseen energy. It faded as quickly as it came, leaving me unsettled but unwilling to dwell on it.
The rest of the drive passed in quiet reflection. Eventually, I hit asphalt, a comforting sign that civilization wasn't far. Mountain ranges rolled past in the distance, the forest thinning as the road curved on.
For a while, I was at peace. Then Alvin's face came to mind.
Alvin, my friend of ten years, my brother in all but blood. We'd suffered through dead-end jobs together, shared meals, shared dreams. And yet he'd betrayed me, tried to have me killed, left me for dead.
My grip on the steering wheel tightened until the leather creaked.
I didn't know what had driven him to it. Money? 'I didn't have a dime to my name' Fear? Something else?
But I would find out. And when I did… he'd pay.
The anger built inside me, hot and sharp, before I forced it down. Losing control wasn't an option.
Night fell as I drove, the stars spilling across the dark sky. Eventually, I pulled over by the roadside. I could have kept going, vampire sight made darkness irrelevant.
The hunger had returned.
It wasn't as vicious as before, more like a faint scratching at the edges of my awareness. A quiet reminder of what I'd become. I stepped out of the Jeep, letting the cool air brush against my skin, and listened.
Thinking back to me killing a bear to satisfy the hunger, that made me believe that I was able to use animal blood to satiate it.
Crickets sang in the grass. The forest whispered. Nothing else.
Remembering something I'd once read, I closed my eyes. When one sense weakens, the others sharpen.
Maybe if I blocked out sight, I could enhance my hearing.
I tried. Nothing happened.
"Okay," I muttered. "That was anticlimactic."
So I shifted my approach drawing on the meditation technique. Calming my thoughts, clearing my mind, I focused only on sound.
'Thanks Aunty, your meditation techniques are really paying dividends.'
And then it happened. The world deepened. My hearing expanded outward like ripples in water. Every insect hum, every rustle of leaves became distinct. My new hearing was sharper, more refined even compared to my normal vampire senses..
"My vampire hearing," I thought, and the words sounded absurd in my head. It was still strange how easily I was accepting this new reality.
Then
Thump.
Something moved. A sound, heavy and rhythmic, echoed nearby. And with it, an image flickered in my mind brief, disorienting, but real.
"What the…?" I blinked, breaking concentration.
Curiosity got the better of me. I focused again, breathing slowly, tuning out everything else. The sound returned, and the image became clearer, like a vision forming from static.
A rabbit.
Just a rabbit, thumping its hind foot against the ground.
I let out a quiet, incredulous laugh. "Well," I said softly, "guess even vampires start small."