The thought, "Like a deer in headlights," flashed through her mind.  That was just before the impact; the impact that lifted her; yes, she could even feel the acceleration rip her feet out of her shoes, and throw her across the street and into the mouth of the alley.

It had been a pleasant night.  The glow of their breakfast the other day seemed to linger and she'd felt a real comradery between them.  As usual, he'd left a little before her and she'd closed up.  The morning air was crisp and pleasant, she was enjoying the walk back to her apartment and anticipating feeding the kitten and watching him bounce around.  With her strange work schedule, she almost never watched TV anymore, but she didn't miss it at all.  She was quite satisfied with her life.

It all seemed to be happening so slowly.  She heard, more than felt, the impact of the hood of the car against her body.  She realized that she was airborne and wondered if it was going to hurt when she hit the ground.  "The stars are pretty," she thought.  Then there was a rush of sound and dull sensation.  She heard breaking glass and the noise of empty tin cans rattling on concrete and felt her body skidding into the alley and into piles of trash, ripping open the plastic bags.  The impact of the brick wall against her back drove the wind from her and she couldn't breathe.  She knew she was dying.  She guessed her spine and been broken and she briefly hoped it wouldn't hurt too much.  Who would feed the kitten, she wondered?  Her legs were in her line of vision.  Her skirt was hiked up revealing her lace panties.  She'd been feeling very feminine with John lately and they had been so pretty she just couldn't resist.  The shattered bones of her legs protruding though her flesh was an indication of how great the impact of the speeding car had been.  Consciousness faded and there was no pain.

She heard herself gasp as air rushed into her lungs.  She was cold, so very cold, and then the memories came rushing back.  Her eyes flew open and she expected to see a hospital room but what greeted her was the sight of the alley.  She felt panic rising.  She didn't want to die like this, not in a trash filled alley, broken and bleeding, a creature of pain and suffering.  Not like this!  Other than cold, she felt no pain.  She weakly sat up and leaned into the garbage bags, in a semi-reclining position.  She looked at her shattered legs and realized they looked almost normal.  There was blood all around but she could see no visible wounds.  She reflexively pulled her skirt down and wondered if she should try to stand.  She started to stand and then was hit by a horrendous thirst.  She'd never been so thirsty!  She had to have blood!

"WHAT!"  She wondered what was wrong with her.  "No one drinks blood.  I'm delirious," she thought.  "This isn't really happening.  I'm going to wake up soon."  She closed her eyes and waited.  Soon she felt a cold nose on her cheek. She smiled.  The kitten was trying to awaken her.  She opened her eyes and was face to face with an alley rat.  It was sniffing her body, wondering if she was ready to eat yet.  With a move so fast the normal eye could not follow it, she snatched the hungry animal and sank her fangs into the back of its neck.  Its squeal and struggles emphasized the flow of life into her mouth.  She slurped eagerly and could feel her raging thirst ease.

A second rat, hearing the squeals of the first, peeked out from under the trash and met the same fate.  Her cheeks were pink with a glow of health.  She tossed the second limp body down and spat.  She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and shakily rose to her feet.  She focused on the moment.  She needed to get home and get cleaned up.  She needed to feed the kitten!  The kitten would be missing her and wondering where she was.  Her steps where uncertain but she was having no trouble standing or walking.  For someone who had been hit and tossed across the street and into an alley, she was doing quite well.  She looked at her watch, which surprisingly enough was still working, and saw that about a half hour had passed.  It would be dawn soon and she did not want to be in that bright glare.  Her eyes had become too sensitive to light for that.  She looked around and saw her purse.  Picking it up, she checked to make sure her sun glasses weren't broken and she, with a firm step, headed toward home.

For what she'd been through she realized that the stairs to her basement apartment seemed very easy to navigate today.  In fact, she felt almost cheerful.  As she approached her door, she could hear Toby squeaking with excitement to greet her.  He always seemed to know when she was coming home and he was always waiting for her.  She felt really close to the little guy.  Opening the door, she was met by a furry tornado.  Toby was rubbing her ankles and doing figure eights between her feet.  She picked him up and was rewarded by a rumble purr.  She hugged him and felt his rough tongue licking around her lips.  She giggled and pushed him away.  "No silly boy, you do not get to French Kiss me!"

She put him down and went into the bath room and stripped.  She wanted to check to see what her injuries were.  She felt so good she was worried.  It concerned her that she might be in some sort of shock but she didn't want to go rushing to the emergency room, either.  Her clothing formed a puddle on the floor and she straightened to look at herself in the full length mirror on the back of the bathroom door.  She'd discovered, that without her glasses on, she had no trouble seeing her self in the mirror.  Only when she was wearing the glasses, could she not see herself.  Yes, there were some really wicked bruises on her legs and her stomach showed an almost healed gash that she'd not realized she had.

She stepped back and felt Toby under foot.  "What are you doing, silly cat?"  She looked down and he was digging into her clothing and he backed out of the pile holding a dead rat in his mouth.  He sat with it between his front legs and began chewing the head off.  Her first emotion was shock.  Where had it come from?  Then she remembered and the details of the entire incident came rushing back to her.  Stunned, she sat on the edge of the tub.  "He deliberately tried to kill me," she thought.  There was no doubt in her mind who it was.  None.  It was as if it had to be and she knew what she had to do.  She held out her hand and stared at it.  Standing, she looked at herself in the mirror again.

She nodded.  Yes, she was different.  Her hair was jet black, now, and shoulder length.  It was perfectly straight, thick and luxurious.  She was thin yet she had a good form.  Her breasts were small and high and her waist sharply tapered to flaring hips, shapely though bruised legs completed her.  The definition of her abdominals indicated that she was carrying very little body fat and her thought was, "I could be a professional athlete."  She looked at her nude countenance again and grinned.  "Or a porn star!"

The crunching of rat bones broke her enthrallment with her appearance.  She looked down at the kitten and the mess he was making on her bathroom floor and started to scold him.  "You . . . " And then she hesitated.  The memory of catching and biting the rat and drinking its blood returned to her.  She sat down on the edge of the tub again.  Her eyes were wide and her partially open mouth revealed two pointed teeth that could easily penetrate flesh and draw blood.  Her eyes briefly flashed yellow and then faded to a normal hue as the long incisors shrunk to normal size.  "I'm a VAMPIRE.  I'm really a vampire," she thought.

Suddenly everything clicked into place in her mind.  The sensitivity to light, the apparent speed with which she moved, the paleness of her skin.  All these confirmed the fact that somehow she had become a VAMPIRE!!!!!!
When . . . how . . . Oh my God, I know when. The night I was attacked by that man/beast whatever it was.  He must have infected me somehow, but where is he, what has happened to him.  I know I’ve never seen him again.  I’m sure I would know him if I saw him.  Who could forget that face?

Scrabbling around for her purse, she yanked the forgotten printout to her and began to read.  Yes . . . yes, oh my god yes these are all things that have happened or are happening to me.  But wait, it says that the one who transmits this virus or whatever in the embrace, then stays and helps with the newly made vampire’s transition. Two months, two months since this happened and I thought it was all a dream or that I’d been sick.  If I’m a vampire,  . . . a sly look passed over her face.

Memory rose of the face behind the steering wheel of the car that hit her.  She was sure it was the older of the two that had tried to kill her in the park.  Why did they want to hurt her and had they already known she was a vampire?  If so, how, when she didn’t know herself.  "I am going to get answers; I swear it.  But I need to sleep.  Its daylight and the light is killing my eyes.  I'm so sleepy.  I’m glad it’s the weekend, although I won’t see John til Monday night."

Climbing into her bed after donning a clean nightgown, she pulled the covers up and slept, a dream filled sleep.  She dreamed of the moments before the car hit her, of flying through the air and most of all of the face she had seen.  She dreamed of John and the attraction that seemed to be deepening between them.  Then just several hours before dusk, she sank into a deep,  deep sleep.  No dreams, nothing just dead to the world.

One moment she was asleep and the next her eyes flew open.  It was pitch dark in her room, but she could see the details of her room as if it were day.  “I like this night vision," she thought.  She knew where Toby was, not so much by sight but by an innate knowing.  She made her way to the bathroom and after washing her face and combing her hair, she made her way to the kitchen and put food down for Toby.

No wonder she hadn’t been hungry for food anymore.  This not eating surely has helped my figure though.  In total acceptance of what had happened to her, she thought that she’d now save on grocery bills too, although she’d have to buy some groceries to keep up appearances.  She was surprised no one but John had noticed the physical changes that had taken place in her.

Sitting at her kitchen table, she again read the date that she had printed out, reading it through and then through again.  If this is true, she mused, then maybe I'm projecting my previous looks to all I meet.  But then why would John see me as I am now and not the projection?  There are so many questions and nowhere to go for answers.  Which again brought the thought of where the one that had changed her

Reading the paper, an article about a body found under a train bridge caught her eye.  The body was of a male, about 5'11" tall.  He’d been found wrapped in a black cloak, wearing a soft fedora type hat.  But the kicker was, he’d been killed with a wooden stake through his heart.  This reminded her of her night in the park, when the two men had tried to kill her.  Is this what they had tried to do to her?  Drive a stake through her heart.  That would account for the wound she’d had in her breast, the one that had healed so quickly.  Then the stake the older man had used on the one he’d called Jake, had been meant for her.  “I didn’t even know I was a vampire then so why would they.”

Again, so many questions and no answers.  Now she had an idea of where to look though.  "If I go back to the park, I may run into him.  Then maybe I’ll get some answers.  Oh yes, he will give me some answers."  Eyes flashing yellow, then red, then back to normal.

Looking around, she realized she’d cleaned up the kitchen, made her bed and gotten dressed in the dark.  “I’ll have to remember to use the lights when people are here, she thought.  I don’t want to scare anyone.

Chuckling to herself, I have to use lights because I don’t want to scare anyone, but I’m going to go out and drink their blood.  Something is wrong here.  She laughed; this could fun.