When the hissing started I scrunched myself between the floor and my mattress, trying to get away from the truth. The truth that I had been those girls a little over an hour ago.

Monsters.

Driven by thirst.

My humanity stripped away and the only thing left was the basest urge to feed, to quench the bone-dry thirst that consumed me.

I was a monster.

I might not be right now, but I was.

And I didn't know how to deal with that.

So I hide.

I hide from them and me.

Mostly me.

Bastien looked to my cell as soon as he entered the room and he frowned. I shrank farther against the wall. I didn't understand this reaction I was having. I was a fighter. I didn't hide from things. My daddy told me to face my fears head on, but I still couldn't pull myself out from under this bed. Maybe it was a combination of grief, shock, and all the changes going on physically.

But I was stuck under this bed.

He went about feeding the other girls and I notice he didn't take the same care with them as he did with me. Even though I couldn't see him, I heard every single movement. My hearing was so sharp, I heard the buzzing of wings right outside the door. A fly or mosquito maybe.

"Wha' be wrong wit' dis one?"

I made myself as tiny as I could when I heard Henry's voice.

"I don't know. I'll deal with her when I finish with the others. Dominic wants to inspect them after they've fed."

"I can..."

"No," Bastien barked. "You are not to touch any of them unless given my express permission or they break the rules. Those are our master's orders. Even Dom cannot supersede them."

"DIs one be damaged," Henry argued.

"Did she break the rules?"

"No."

"Did I say you could touch her?"

"No." He sounded like a sullen four-year-old who had just been told no chocolate before dinner.

Bastien stalked toward him and he seemed to grow in stature. Power rolled off him in waves and all of the girls, including me, flinched away from it.

"There is a reason our master put me in charge of the new acquisitions. The turn is different for each one. They go through phases of change. Her mind is most likely trying to come to grips with her new reality and she'll be fine in another hour. You can't assume she's damaged until I invade her thoughts and see if she succumbed to the madness that can sometimes overtake them."

Madness? Was that what this was? Was I going mad?

"No, Kathryn. You are not. You just need to sleep. Go to sleep."

And that was the last thought I had for a very long time.

***

The next time I woke up, I heard the sound of a television in the background. The news was on. They were talking about record highs with the heat wave rolling through.

This time I was sleepy when I woke up.

Maybe it was all just a horrible dream and I'm back at university. Neely's watching CNN for her journalism class project.

"You're not at home, Kathryn."

My head swiveled to see Bastien leaning against the doorframe watching me like a creeper.

He laughed and came into the room. "Your mind was trying to break down and I put you to sleep to let it heal. It processed too much while trying to rewire itself as the virus spread through your synapsis."

"This is a virus then?"

"Maybe, maybe not. I know many have tried to answer that question over the last two hundred years, but they have no more than I do."

"Two hundred years...are you that old?"

He laughed again and I had to admit he had a really nice laugh.

"No. I'm twenty-five tomorrow."

"But you're a vampire?"

"I am. My master, Niko, turned me when he found me lying half dead in an alley. I'd come to New Orleans during Mardi Gras and got a little too drunk. It wasn't hard to rob me and even easier to stab me. I was close to death when he found me. He didn't give me a choice until I woke up the next night. It was the same choice I gave the girls. Live or die."

"Where were you from?"

"Cincinatti. I do miss the chili sometimes."

"Chili?"

"It's what the city is famous for."

"Oh."

I wasn't sure how to respond to him. He was being so kind.

"How are you feeling?"

I did feel much better, but I still felt out of sorts.

"That's normal," he said and pushed off the doorframe. He opened the window and leaned out, looking around. "When a person changes from human to vampire their body is overtaken by the vampire blood. It eats away everything that made you human physically and replaces it with everything that makes you now a vampire. It's a three day process."

"It takes three days for the soul to leave the body."

"Some say that." He shrugged and turned to the small chest of drawers, picking up a set of clothes. "Here. I found you some new clothes. The bathroom is through that door if you want to shower and get the blood off of you."

"Where are we?"

"My room."

"I..."

"You were freaking out and I didn't trust Henry not to try and take you. He has no fear of reprisal. That is going to change once we are done here."

I shivered at the threat in his voice.

"Don't be afraid of me, Kathryn. I won't hurt you."

"But you already did."

"Yes, I did, but that was to protect you."

Semantics.

I took the clothes he held and went into the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind me. The light wasn't bright at all in here. The bulb for which I was grateful. The dim lighting didn't mean I couldn't see, however. Truthfully, I could see as if I were standing in the brightest sunshine.

And do I ever wish I couldn't see so well right about now.

The lower half of my face was smeared with dried blood, but it did nothing to detract from how pale I was. I mean, I was already pale thanks to my Irish heritage, but this went above and beyond that. My red hair was matted and stringy and the deep bruising under my eyes spoke to how hard the last twenty-four hours had been.

I looked like total shit, pardon my French.

I did notice other things though. Like the scar above my left eyebrow from when I wrecked my bike when I was seven. I split it open and it caused my eyebrow to grow in funny. It was gone and my eyebrows were perfectly shaped. My freckles were lighter and every single flaw I'd ever noticed about my skin had disappeared.

At least there might be one upside to this whole vampirism thing.

I turned on the shower and stripped out of my stinky, bloody clothes, throwing them in the small trash can by the toilet. They didn't deserve to see the light of day ever again.

The hot water worked some of the kinks out of my muscles and it was refreshing to wash my hair. But through it all, I kept rubbing my chest and thinking of Neely. My heart hurt.

Maybe tomorrow, my third day, my soul would leave my body and I wouldn't feel this heartbreak. It would be the one good thing that could happen.

I was a monster and if I couldn't feel the guilt and the grief, I'd welcome it.

Getting out of the shower, I dried off and pulled on the jeans and t-shirt Bastien had given me. The plain gray shirt had to be his. It smelled just like him and had to be three sizes too big. I pulled the bottom up and twisted it into a knot so it didn't hang so badly.

Not caring if the toothbrush was his, I brushed my teeth and washed the taste of blood out of my mouth. I felt nowhere near normal, but at least I wasn't feeling half dead when I stepped back into the bedroom.

Bastien wasn't there. My first thought was to go out the window or try to find my way out of the house, but I nixed that idea before it even formed. I had no idea how many guards were here and I knew there were innocent people down there. If I caught their scent, I was terrified I might attack them.

And there was Henry. Breaking the rules meant Bastien had to give me to him. There wasn't a chance I'd let that happen.

Instead, I sat down on the bed and pulled my feet up Indian style and waited for Bastien to return.

My only question was what new hell awaited me tonight.