The printer's out of paper alarm finally penetrated her consciousness.  She stood, still staring at the text on the screen she'd been reading.  She turned and seemed flicker to the other side of the room.  The room lighting was surprisingly dim so that could account for the optical illusion.  She picked up a carton of paper and brought it back to the main part of the room.  She handled the box easily and snapped the strapping tape with no apparent effort.  She took out a ream of paper and loaded the laser printer.  She charged the paper path and made sure it was clear. She seemed to almost blink to her seat.  She unconsciously rubbed her right breast.  The spot she'd noticed the wound on itched a little and she was concerned.  The thought of breast cancer was frightening.  She had done some reading on that and was quite sure there was no problem there but she couldn't figure out what had happened.

She finally figured it was probably a cat scratch.  The kitten would leap from her and his sharp hind claws would nick her.  Usually the wound healed right up but maybe she'd gotten a slight infection.  What was really bothering her was her lapses of memory.  Staring at the screen, she became engrossed in what she was reading.  She heard the door to the computer lab open and close and felt a rush of pleasure.  John had finally come in.

"Hi, girl.  How're you doing tonight?  Enjoy the short work night last night?"

"Yes, that was nice."  She laughed.  "Too bad we can't do that more often."

"Well, we do it too often and we won't make any progress here, but I don't get to see my brother that often and it is my project."  He grinned.  "I figured if I was goofing off, you might as well too.  What did you do?"

Eliza smiled.  "I took a nice long walk.  The full moon was wonderful."

"You took a walk?  Past midnight in the storm?"  He sounded very surprised.  "Where on earth did you go?"

"Oh, I just sort of wandered around and then into the park.  You should have seen how the ice on the trees glistened in the moonlight.  It's lovely at night."

"Don't you know how dangerous that park is at night?  People are always getting killed in there.  Here!"  He held our the newspaper he was carrying.  He pointed at the paper.  "Right there.  Last night this guy was murdered and mutilated!  It almost looks like some sort of cult thing.  He had a stake driven into heart, his throat ripped and he had a short crossbow bolt in his stomach!  You're lucky to be alive!"

Eliza felt her eyes getting bigger as she looked at the grainy, newspaper photo.  He looked so familiar and she wondered if she'd seem him somewhere.  Her hands started to shake and then she started to shiver all over.  She felt tears coming to her eyes and realized that she was sobbing.  She didn't know when it happened but she realized that John was holding her and making soothing sounds.  His cologne was in her nose, her cheek was pressed to his and she could feel the softness of his neck against her lips.  Emotions coursed through her being and she wasn't sure what she felt.  She wasn't sure how long they'd been standing there, holding each other.  She got herself under control and took a deep shaky breath.  John pushed her back to arm's length and stared are her with a concerned look on his face.  "Are you ok?  What happened last night?  Were you hurt?"

She shook her head.  "I think I'm ok.  I don't know what happened last night.  I don't remember!"  She ended on a rising note struggling to maintain emotional control. "I remember going into the park.  The next thing I remember is that I was in my apartment and I was feeling so sleepy."  She sniffed, controlling herself.  "I just passed out.  I slept straight through until the kitten woke me up.  I'd forgotten to feed the poor little fellow.  But I'm ok.  I'm not hurt or anything."  She wondered if she was telling the truth.  The spot on her breast was on her mind but that wasn't bothering her at all now.

John lead her to her chair and sat her down.  He pulled up a chair and sat next to her.  He sat, silently chewing on his upper lip.  He reached out and stroked her cheek; he sighed.  "Eliza, you sound like you're in shock.  Maybe you saw something.  Maybe you heard something, but Eliza, something happened."

She gripped his hand.  "I don't know.  I just don't know.  What should I do?  What can I do?"

"As long as you're OK, there's probably not much that you can do.  I'm not sure if you should seek any sort of counseling or not."

"Oh John, I couldn't talk to a total stranger.  Besides, I don't even know what I'd say!"

John nodded.  "Yea, I can see the problem."  He stared at her intently.  He saw her quizzical look and laughed.  "No," he laughed.  "I don't mean you're a problem.  I mean I understand your problem."  He stood up.  "What were you reading so intently when I came in," he asked to change the subject.  It worked!

"Oh!  John, that is the most fascinating thing.  I found an article supposedly by someone who claims to have been made a vampire, and she is describing the transition process.  It sounds so real and so possible!  It was posted through a proxy and I don't' think we can find the person but the details are fantastic!"  She marked the appropriate text and cut it to the word processor.  A couple of quick macros and it was print ready.  The laser print hummed and spit out the three pages of the article.  "You have got to read this!"  She handed Dr., Rolf a copy and put a copy in her purse to take home with her.

Her focus on the work and the printing had distracted both of them from the emotional turmoil of earlier.  Eliza was a stable person and she had the habit of taking adversity in stride and coping quite well.  She had other searches on her "to do" list, tonight but she wanted to take some time to read this article more carefully.  So much in it seemed to ring true to her and seemed familiar in disquieting ways.

Work had taken on a comfortable pattern in the months they had been together.  It was this that helped Eliza calm herself, also knowing that John had cared enough that she was alright.  “There definitely is an attraction, at least on my side,” she thought.

“Eliza?  Have you read any of this article yet.,”   John asked.  “No I’ve just skimmed it. I was going to take it home to read more carefully.” she replied.  “Well this definitely seems to explain how “vampires” are made. It says here that in some the bite of a human or animal causes a viral infection, which then attacks the immune system of the persons body.  It also seems to mutate the way a person recovers from it.  There seems to be a mutation of almost all body organs.”

“That seems fantastic, John,” Eliza replied.  “I can’t imagine a virus that could do all that.  What are some of the changes mentioned?”

“Well, for one there seems to be a sensitivity to light.  This woman explains how she cannot tolerate the sunlight. It seems to cause severe pain and she sees better in the night.”  Hearing this cause a ripple of reaction to run through Eliza. “Plus there seems to be an alteration, mutation of the cornea, causing it to almost look catlike.”

“Then there is the part of the almost instantaneous healing.  It seems that no matter how deep the wound, it closes over instantly and heals within minutes.”  Hearing this, Eliza gave a small cry.  “What...what else does it say,” she whispered.

John looked at her with a questioning look.  “What is wrong, Eliza?” he asked.  “Please don’t say there is nothing, I can tell there is something, you are white as a sheet.”

Looking at her intently, he noticed that he again was trembling.  Walking to her he again put his arms around her and held her close.  “Something is wrong, can’t you please tell me?” he asked.  Holding her hands tightly clasped together the nails were digging into the opposite palms.  “I can’t tell you what I don’t know, John” she cried.

“All I know is that hearing this makes me terribly afraid and I don’t know why.”   Thinking to herself, “I do know why though.  Something strange is happening to me.  It all happened the night I was attacked.   I can’t tell him now, I never told anyone about the attack, so why would he believe me now?”

Standing there, with her face buried against his shoulder, she again was aware of the soft, inviting skin of his neck.  An almost unbearable yearning to...”no, no, what is wrong with me?” she thought.  Why would I want to do that.

Suddenly she felt a soft kiss on her hair.  His arms around her felt so right, so good.

“Eliza, Eliza, your hair is so soft,” he said as he stroked her head.  “Look at the way it wraps itself around my hand, almost as if it has life of its own.” Holding her closer, he bent his head down and placed a soft kiss on her mouth.

Startled, she gave a slight gasp, but kissed him back, her eyes drifting closed.  “This is what I have wanted and waited so long for, and its just like I imagined,” she thought.  His lips soft, against hers felt so good, so right.

Breaking the kiss, John looked down at her.  “I’ve wanted to do that for a while now, Eliza.  I can’t say I’m sorry.”
He smiled down at her, waiting for her reply.

Stepping back within the circle of his arms, not wanting to break the delicious contact of his body, she slowly opened her eyes.  Looking up at him, she caught the somewhat startled expression on his face.  Looking confused, she asked what was wrong.

“It must have been a trick of the light, Liza.  For a moment, it looked like you had cat’s eyes.,” he laughed.  Looking closely, he realized it was a trick of the dim lighting.

“Dim lighting?” she asked.  “Why its bright as day in here.  I thought the lighting exceptional,” she said.   Looking around the room, she realized she could see everything clearly and there were no shadows.  That in itself was strange.  All rooms had shadows, but there were none here.

John, she noticed, was looking at her strangely. “You must have keen eyesight then Eliza, but I thought you wore glasses.” he said.

“I haven’t worn my glasses in almost two months, John,” she replied.  “For some reason my glasses now make everything blurry and I can see fine without them.  I don’t miss them either, they were a nuisance. I was having headaches when I wore them, so now I don’t.”  She still sounded a little unnerved, even to her own ears.

That was another thing she realized.  Her hearing was so much more acute.  "What are all these changes I am experiencing," she thought.  "I’ll think about it later.  Now we’d better get back to work." She sighed sadly.  Looking up to say just that to John, she realized he was again staring at her with a speculative look on his face.
“What John, what’s bothering you,” she asked.

 “Not bothering me, I was just admiring the changes in you.  You’ve let your hair grow and it seems as though you colored it.  I think its darker than it was before.  Most becoming.  Your eyes have a definite slant, almost like a cats. You are looking most attractive, that outfit you chose is very becoming.”

Blushing, she gave her thanks for the compliments.

 “That’s another thing I like, Eliza.  You are one of the few women I know today that can still blush.  Will you come with me for some dinner?  I know its more like breakfast, but will you come? John asked.

“I’d love to,” she replied, not wanting to end this night.

Smiling at each other, they went to get their coats and close the office down.  Turning off the lights, and all non essential machines, they moved out of the office and down the corridor to the doors of the library.  Pulling them closed behind them, they turned to walk down the stairs.

It was now 8 a.m. and the weak winter sun had been up for half an hour.  But as she turned, a shaft of light seemed to drill into her eyes.  With a cry, she closed her eyes and covered them with her hands. Fumbling around in her purse, she dropped it.

John reached down and picked it up, asking what she needed and what was wrong.  It seems there is something very wrong Eliza and I intend to get to the bottom of it.

“Just my sunglasses, John, please.  The light hurt my eyes.  It must be from working nights now.  I still haven’t gotten used to it.  Truly that’s all it is,” she said.  Her eyes were watering slightly, so he knew she was telling the truth.

When did this start Eliza,” he asked.

“Shortly after I started this project, but as long as I wear the sunglasses outside, I’m fine.”

They walked along the sidewalk talking quietly.  Suddenly Eliza heard the sound of footsteps following them.  The steps slowed when they did and sped up when they did.  Just then they came to the diner and John asked if this was alright.  Nodding, they turned in.

Removing their coats and hanging them on the rack by the booth, they sat and looked at menus.  John smiled and asked what she’d like to eat.

“I’m not really hungry, John.  I think I’ll just have some tomato juice.”

Giving their order to the waitress, they continued talking quietly of their work day and getting to know each other better. They drifted from one subject to another.

With a great deal of hustle and bustle, the waitress brought Johns food, placing it in front of him and making a big deal about her little glass of tomato juice.

She found herself staring fixedly at the juice.  So red, so like blood.  Feeling again that craving, so hungry, she grabbed the juice and drank it so fast she almost choked.

“You must have been thirsty, Eliza.  You sure drank that quickly,” John said.

Looking at her, he saw she had a slight smear of juice running down the corner of her mouth.  Reaching over, he ran his thumb  across her lips toward the corner of her mouth.  As his thumb reached the center of her lips, she drew it quickly into her mouth and nipped lightly.

“Ouch, your teeth are sharp, Eliza, you drew blood,” John said.  Keeping her eyes locked with his, she sucked lightly.  Enjoying the sweet taste of his blood.  Letting go of his thumb, she replied that it was all better now.  “See it has stopped.  Just a little nick.”  She smiled a cat-like smile.