tent Warning: Blood, Violence, Mind trol, Self-harm.

  —

  Four years earlier

  Katrina’s phone buzzed on her pillowcase, falling to the floor with a heavy thud. Looking over to it, she groaned in frustration, but didn’t bother pig it up at the moment; she was far too distracted trying tle her hair into submission. Her bright, ginger hair was incredibly curly, and unmanageably voluminous. At the moment, she was sitting in front of her vanity mirror, an industrial grade brush in one hand and a pile of hair ties iher.

  She heavily preferred sleeping with hair tied back, but doing so required a solid half hour of annoying, painful brushing. It’s not that she disliked her hair, she holy loved its color, but she desperately wished she could find a product that would reduce how easily it mangled up.

  After aen minutes, once her hair was mostly in check, she finally kneeled down to pick up her pho had gone off a couple more times siting the floor; apparently her friends were trying to p beach trip before the weather started turning cold. After cheg her dar, and the weather forecast, she started typing a response in the group chat.

  Katrina: I’m fiher weekend, but we find a spot with lots of shade? Even with suns, the sun will burn me alive if I’m not careful.

  Memories of her st trip to the beach returned, and she unsciously rubbed her shoulders as she thought about the horrible sunburn she’d gottee all the hassle, it was still worth it; she was really happy she’d mao stay in touch with her college friends after they graduated. She’d heard too many stories of friend groups that drifted apart after leaving school; her parents basically didn’t have friends, tent to watch TV all day, and Katrina wanted better for herself.

  She looked out the window, staring at her tiny er of the Chicago skyline. She loved the night breeze, and happily left the window open all night long whenever she could. She also loved the noise of the city; it helped her sleep, and was an ever-present remihat she was never quite alone. Growing up in the distant suburbs, she’d quickly developed a distaste for the overwhelming silend ck of activity. She’d left for the city the instant she had an opportunity and had never looked back.

  Katrina plugged in her phohe on the nightstand and took o trip through the house. She made sure the lights were off, locked the front door, and then stopped i to grab a gss of water. She always kept one on her nightstand in case she got thirsty at night, and wasn’t a fan of walking through the house in the dark.

  She had almost left the kit when her body suddenly lurched forward. She fell to the ground, the gss shattering on impact, as pain surged through her. She had no idea what was happening, and panic set in immediately. She feared it might be a seizure, or possibly a heart attack, but she could barely think as her body filed untrolbly on the floor. In the chaos of the moment, she even thought she saw a fsh of blue floating in the air, but it vanished as she kept g out in pain. Her ski like it was on fire, and her entire body felt like it was stretg and snapping. She screamed out, desperately trying to grab something to steady herself, but recoiled when she saw her hands.

  The lights i were off, and she wasn’t even wearing her gsses, yet she could see everything in perfect detail. The hands that tried to push her up weren’t her own; they were deathly pale, and their nails were far too long. When she mao crawl to her knees, bending over and panting iion, a curtain of unfamiliar hair fell in front of her. It itch bck, and perfectly straight.

  What’s happening to me?!

  Somehow, Katrina found the strength to stand up, but even that proved to disoriehe apartment almost seemed smaller, the ground further away, but she didn’t have the energy to try and figure out why. In fact, she felt pletely and utterly drained. When had she st eaten? Based on how she felt at the moment, it was like she’d never eaten anything in her life, and she was ravenous.

  Opening her fridge, she pulled out the sed half of a sandwich she’d made earlier that day, and eagerly took a bite. Attempting to chew only served to further disorient her; her teeth felt wrong, somehow, like they had all switched pces.

  Her fusion over her teeth, however, was immediately repced by another shock; the sandwich was repulsive. How? The ingredients were fresh, the fridge seemed to be w, yet she wanted nothing more than to spit the food into the garbage. She tested everything in her fridge, desperate to find something to fill her stomach, and everything she tried was as horrible as her sandwich. With her body screaming at her, desperate for some unknown food, she ran back to her bedroom.

  She fell more than oill swearing that her body had somehow grown, and mao turn on the lights. She colpsed in front of her vanity, the chair skidding slightly as she did, and grabbed the edges of the mirror, hoping to find answers in her refle.

  But it wasn’t there.

  The mirror was pletely empty, and when she pulled ba surprise, the chair behind her clearly moved in the refle.

  “What’s going on?!” Katrina shouted, barely holding herself together. In a panic, she grabbed her phone and turned on the selfie camera. This time, an image appeared, and it terrified her.

  The creature in the camera had ghostly pale ski bck hair, and blood red eyes. She stared into the crimson irises, almost getting lost in them, before realizing that they were glowing brightly. Without fully uanding it, she could tell this creature was dangerous, but worst of all, it was her.

  Terrified, Katrina dropped her phone on the floor, and lost trol of her body once more. She stumbled backwards, hoping to escape the beast she’d just seen, but failed to sense how close she was to the window. She tripped, tumbling over the edge and beginning the four-story fall to the pavement below. Time seemed to freeze as she stared at her apartment, tiny and tained in that little box, and she knew she was about to die.

  Yet, time stayed frozen.

  Except it didn’t. She heard horrible noises from all over the city, cars crashing and people screaming, yet she stayed perfectly still. Time hadn’t frozen, she had. Somehow, she was suspended in midair, her body floating on the night breeze.

  Underh her, another scream echoed out. Someone had burst out of her apartment building in a panid she watched him fall to his knees as he made it to the sidewalk. Some instinctual side of Katrina took hold, and she mao float lower to the grouually nding safely on her feet. She approached the man on the ground, still scrambling to get up, and saw that she reized him. His name was Marco, he lived on the floor under hers, and she saw him frequently at the grocery store dowreet.

  Marade it to his feet, and he grabbed Katrina’s shoulders. “Please, you’ve got to help me! My wife, she… I don’t know! I woke up and she had turned into some… some monster! I don’t know what’s going on, 911 isn’t pig up, and I’ve been halluating this weird, blue box thing!”

  Katrily pced her hands on Marco’s arms, trying to calm him down. Before she could speak, however, a delicious smell filled her senses. It was the most glorious thing she’d ever experienced, yet she couldn’t identify what it was. For some reason, it almost seemed like it was ing from Marco.

  “Hey, it’s gonna be alright, let’s take a deep breath, okay?” Katrina said, staring into Marco’s eyes.

  Wheared back, something strange happened. He instantly took Katrina’s advice; he took a deep breath, and his iron grip on her shoulder rexed. “It’s… going to be alright,” he said, his words slow ahodic.

  Katrina’s eyes briefly moved off of Marco’s and she kept looking for the source of the smell. Except, it wasn’t just a smell. It was an idea, a purpose, a celebration. It was a beautiful symphony of perfe, an elusive dream that she was on the verge of disc. The sensation grew louder, overp every thought in her head, and she suddenly kly where it was ing from. She stared at Marco’s neck, the source of everything, the in of the most rapturous overture the world had ever created.

  Whatever it was, it was trapped.

  She looked bato Marco’s eyes. “I help, you just o trust me, okay?”

  Marodded, his voice quiet and distant. “You help, I trust you…”

  With a deep breath, Katrina raongue over her teeth. Were they bigger? Two of them seemed unnaturally long, a strangely powerful. She ed a hand around Marco’s head, pulling him close and exposing his neck. The song was right there, just underh his skin. She just o free it, that would make everything right.

  Opening wide, she saeeth into Marco’s neck. They punctured deep, releasing a heavenly river of blood, and the symphony exploded in Katrina’s head. Ambrosia passed over her lips, and her body sang with delight as she tasted the most delectable cuisihe gods had ever created. She drank deep, vinced she’d just unlocked the secret to life, the hidden truth that tied everything together.

  Her ears rang with the most joyous melody she’d ever heard, and she was ecstatic that she’d been the oo free it. It assionate, vivacious, and bombastid it was all hers. The drinking tinued, and the melody began to slow. It became a romantic waltz, then a passionate sonata, and before long, a powerful, thrumming dirge. Nothing that Katrina had ever experienced came remotely close to the joy of this moment, and she was on the edge of her seat as she did everything in her power to savor every st note of this performance.

  When the musided, the deathly feeling iomach had somewhat abated. Her thoughts felt manageable again, and in a panic, she let go of Marco.

  Oh God, what did I do?!

  Her neighbor’s body fell to the ground, pletely limp. Blood ran down his neck, and Katrina raised a hand to her face. After a moment of hesitation, she ran a finger across her , and found it covered in that same blood. Had she really just attacked Marco?

  But… the blood on her finger, it smelled so delicious. Without even thinking about it, she had moved her fio her mouth and was eagerly sug it .

  She needed more. She was so hungry.

  Somewhere in the distahe statewide arm system had started. Sirens bred, warning of some unknown disaster, and when Katrina looked to the skies, she saw fire on the horizon.

  Another scream filled her ears, this o too far away. Without thinking, her body floated off the ground again, and she raced towards the source of the sound. Down an alleyway, around a er, and suddenly she was in a small, private parking lot. Several cars had been cramped into a tiny space, likely belonging to whoever lived in this apartment plex. As she arrived, she saw someone on the ground, slowly bag away from a smoking crater in the side of the do.

  The stranger looked over at Katrina as she nded. “Stay back! I’m dangerous!”

  Katrina looked at the crater, then back at this stranger. She was a younger robably no older than thirty, and had messy light-brown hair. Her curls cascaded down to her shoulders, but at the moment, Katrina could only focus on the song she heard deep ihis stranger. “Hey, it’s okay, I’m here to help. What’s going on?” Katrina asked.

  “I’m serious, stay back! This weird… box told me I’m a Magus? I don’t know what that is, and I panicked, and then lightning jumped from my hands! Please just stay away, I don’t want to hurt you!”

  That’s the sed person to mention a weird box, what’s going on?

  Stepping carefully, Katrina looked deep into the eyes of this stranger. “It’s going to be okay, I help. Why don’t you tell me about this box you saw, maybe we figure this out together.”

  “I… I don’t really know. It appeared out of nowhere, and now, when I think about it, it es back.” The stranger suddenly calmed down, her breath slowing as Katrina kneeled o her. “It’s hard to describe. It’s a bunch of boxes, it has my name, information about me, it’s almost like looking at a video game status s.”

  Katri her eyes fixed on this woman, listening ily to her words, but also to the song buried just beh her skin. It was calling to her, perhaps not as strongly as it had earlier, but it was there. “I help, if you let me. I set you free.” She saw a strange flicker in this stranger’s eyes, and they seemed to dull as the woman nodded again.

  “Please… please help me!” she whispered desperately.

  A pale hand caressed the side of the woman’s face, and Katrina pulled her closer. She brushed her hair aside, exposing the tender flesh of her neck, and opened wide. With another powerful bite, she felt her teeth sink break skin, and another deluge of perfe found its freedom. This woman’s song was an impassioned opera, a chorus of a thousand angels celebrating the beauty of the os. The blood that passed over Katrina’s lips was every bit as delicious as she remembered from moments earlier, and she could think of nothing but drinking every st drop. She shuddered with excitement, practically moaning in delight as she bit down harder. The woman gasped, whimpering in pain, and she began tle in Katrina’s grasp.

  She tried to point her hand at Katrina, who instinctually reacted and poihe arm elsewhere. A crackle of electricity formed around the woman’s fiips, theed outward, striking a nearby car.

  After the discharge, however, the stranger lost the strength to fight. Her struggles grew weaker, her gasps joining the final chorus of the music that filled Katrina’s senses. Blood tio flow from her neck, and Katrina desperately drank even deeper than st time. The void inside her had been so painful, and every drop that passed her lips chased it further away. By the time the stranger’s arm fell limp to the ground, Katrina could no longer hear that rapturous musior the woman’s heartbeat.

  Another lifeless body fell to the ground, and again Katri her senses return to her.

  No! Not again! Why is this happening?!

  Guilt wracked her body, and in a panic, she flew to a nearby roof to escape the body of her test victim. She desperately wanted answers, to know what was going on, and she remembered what the stranger had said. Something about a status s? If she could find that, maybe she could figure out what the world was being.

  Katrina focused hard, trying to imagine a mystical, blue box that would tell her basiformation, but nothing happened. “, give me something! Information! Bio! Status!”

  Without warning, a bright blue box filled Katrina’s vision. It moved with her eyes, effectively blog her from seeing anything else, and she didn’t hesitate to read everything she could.

  —

  General Information

  Name: Katrina Ma

  Race: Vampire

  HP: 100%

  SP: 57%

  MP: 100%

  —

  Attributes

  STR: 11

  END: 16 (+4)

  DEX: 12

  AGI: 15 (+2)

  INT: 9

  WIS: 10

  CHA: 19 (+4)

  LCK: 10

  PER: 13 (+2)

  HLT: 15 (+4)

  —

  Racial Features

  Vampiric Curse

  Flight

  Undead Fortitude

  Enting Gaze

  —

  Css

  Bard - Path of Magic

  Level: 1

  Progress: 0%

  —

  Css Features

  Inspiring Performance – Guitar

  Bardiowledge

  —

  A Vampire? I’m a VAMPIRE?! Oh God, that expins so much… This also expins why I fly, but what’s an Enting Gaze? Did I hypnotize those people into giving themselves up to me?!

  Katrina aralyzed with fear, pletely uo process everything that had just happened. Not even an ho, she nning a friendly trip to the beach, and now it felt like the entire world was colpsing arouhe emergency sirens tinued bring, and she still heard the sounds of chaos sweeping the city. Explosions, screaming, gunshots, and she had a feeling there would be more than two people dead before the end of the night.

  She curled into a ball, screaming and g as she tried tet the terrible things she’d just doime ceased to matter, and she stayed there for hours, hoping beyond hope that she would wake up in the m to find this was all a terrible dream.

  Yet, when m came, she was still covered in other people’s blood. She still had the fangs of a killer, and worst of all, she was still hungry. The warmth of day began to dawn oy of Chicago, and just before the light found her, she remembered that she was a Vampire. Would the sun hurt her? Kill her?

  She ran to a nearby staircase, stepping inside before leaning against the wall. She started watg the light of the sun creep across the roof, the inside of the stairwell growing warmer and warmer. Katrina reached forward, nervously letting her hand pass into the light. The sunlight immediately assaulted her, not only burning her hand, but causing terrible pain across her entire body. It felt like every fiber of her being had just threateo catch fire.

  Hadn’t that weird Status box dispyed how much health she had? She ope up again and saw that just a sed of sunlight had brought her HP from 100% down to 98%. What would longer exposure do?

  Maybe I deserve it. Why should I tinue living after what I’ve done?

  Keepiatus s open, Katriears start falling down her face. She stood at the edge of the daylight, her thoughts ed by the dying gasps of the two people she’d attacked st night.

  No, I didn’t attack them; I killed them. I’m a murderer.

  With a deep breath, ohat shook her body as she started openly g again, she stepped into the sun.

  The pain was beyond description. It was the por opposite of everything she’d felt st night duritacks. There was no musio joy, just overwhelming, undeniable agony. Deathly silence surrounded her, only broken by the sound of her body threatening to buckle uhe pain. She watched the HP value oatus rapidly drop, and knew she had only seds left to live.

  40%.

  She couldn’t be allowed to tinue living, not if she had to kill to survive.

  30%.

  She thought about her family, her friends, everyone she was leaving behind.

  20%.

  They would be safer this way, right?

  10%.

  Wouldn’t the world be a better pce without her?

  5%.

  At the st possible sed, Katrina fell backwards into the stairwell. Despite everything she believed in, she couldn’t bring herself to gh with it. She was scared of who she was. Scared of what she’d done. Scared of what she might do iure. But, more than anything, she was scared of dying. No matter how much she thought she deserved it, she couldn’t muster the ce to step bato the light. Once again, she hugged her ko her chest, tears of pain mixing with tears of guilt as she cried herself to sleep.

  For better or for worse, Katrina survived the ge.