In bed, alone.

You awake with a start and sit up immediately. Looking around, it takes you a few seconds to realise where you are. You are alone in your room, it's dark outside, and you can see your clothes scattered around. There is no sign of Tereza, not even a note. Everything feels different, though. You glance across at the mirror that is attached to the wall on the other side of the room. You double-take as you realise that your reflection is now a distorted blur. You look down at your hands. They look pale and feel waxy. You dab your face. Again, waxy to the touch. Suddenly you stop.

These unsettling physical differences are rendered insignificant by your next realisation, however. You've grown accustomed to your body carrying out certain autonomic physiological functions: your heart beating, breathing, etc. While you were rarely consciously aware of these functions until now, a sudden and very distinct absence of these functions is as noticeable as the two elongated top canine teeth your've just noticed in your mouth, which now feel like what can only be described as fangs. You find that you can go through the motions of sucking air into your lungs, but you don't really find it as necessary as the night before.

Broken flashbacks of the your last waking memories flood back into your mind as you try to piece together what is going on. You can't be certain, but you think it was the previous evening that you brought Tereza back to your flat. Another memory returns, that of Tereza's face soaked in your blood. Was she a...? You don't allow yourself to finish that thought. Preposterous. And yet...

You need answers, and you need them now. Tereza has vanished, yet you know that she of all people is the one who will have the answers you need. You start wondering if you should seek her out at Caine, the nightclub you met her at, when a pang of desire comes over you. It's like a feeling of emptiness, of hunger. Instinct, and dozens of bad Christopher Lee tells you what it is you crave. You climb out of bed and wander round the room, picking up clothes as you go. You feel more agile and stonger than before. Your sneses are heightened, and you can make out individual conversations of passing pedestrians. You pull on a pair of blue jeans, an olive-green t-shirt and a red tracksuit jacket (after all, red just seems appropriate!) You pull on your trainers and head for the door, stepping over the black leather jacket that lays there from last night. The night is young!