Tori at school

[Tori's POV, Seattle, 2029. The first days of the Vampire Revolution.]

Tori sits at her desk, idley doodling on her notepad as the history teacher drones on: ...something something reconstruction something something fifteenth amendment.... But her mind is elsewhere. She can't stop thinking about the last few days, her mother's transformation, and her confused feelings.

It's been several days since that night, when her mother took her hunting, and they made love. Tori had mostly avoided her mother since. Tori would be active during the day (while Carla slept, drunk on blood), and would lock herself in her room at night. Carla didn't force her way in, even though Tori knew that she could. Her mother was giving her space.

Tori had considered moving out, maybe crashing at with her friend Tanya. But something wouldn't let her leave her mother. She was stuck in limbo: unable to embrace what her mother had become, but unable to move on.

In particular, Tori finds herself mulling over the events of the previous night.

Tori was sequestered in her room, TV, but was having trouble focusing. It was 11pm, and she was starting to yawn. Her mother had left the apartment around nine, and Tori had been careful to avoid her beforehand, staying in her room.

Tori dozes off, but is snapped awake when she hears the front door open. She hears her mother laughing. And a second voice... a woman, young sounding.

Mom. No. Not here.

The laughing and chattering gets closer to Tori's door. She tries to ignore it. There is a knock.

"Honey, why don't you come out and have some fun with... What was your name again, dear?" Carla laughs. The girl answers, but Tori can't make it out. The human girl seems drunk. Tori doesn't respond to her mother, just hoping that Carla will walk away. There is a silence on the other side of the door, and then footsteps walking away. Tori breathes a sigh of relief.

She tries to ignore the sounds coming from her mother's room on the other side of the wall, but can't. She can hear laughing, and the creaking of the bed. They are clearly having fun. Tori, despite trying to suppress it, becomes a bit aroused. She fantasizes about herself being the one to be fooling around with Carla. Tori reaches into her sweatpants. She closes her eyes, and begins to touch herself as she voyeuristically listens to the sounds of lovemaking. Tori imagines kissing her mother, her tongue touching Carla's sharp fangs, Carla's cool hand on her breast...

There is a loud scream from the other room, followed by more screaming, now muffled. Tori's eyes snap open.

She listens for hours, as her mother bites into the girl, over and over again, her laughs becoming crueler and crueler sounding. Tori wants to stop listening, but can't. It's horrible, and exciting, and scary, and arousing. Tori buries her head under her pillow, on the verge of tears. Eventually, the fanfare dies down and Tori falls asleep.

The next morning, Tori's morbid curiosity gets the best of her. She tiptoes from her room, and cracks the door to her mother's room. Looking in, she sees Carla deeply asleep. The sheets are stained red with blood, but there is no body...

"Earth to Tori" Tanya says, jabbing Tori in the arm. This snaps Tori from her thoughts. "The bell rang, are you getting up?" Tanya asks.

"Yes, I'm coming" Tori says, smiling wanly and gathering her things.

"Are you okay? You've been...somewhere else the last few days" Tanya says, putting her hand on Tori's shoulder, but Tori shakes it off.

"I'm fine" Tori says. She wants to tell Tanya, her only real friend, everything. But she can't. She can't betray her mother, terrible as she is.

The two friends leave the classroom together, both sensing that something has fundamentally changed.