I shot up, gasping for air. Waking up in a boiling puddle of my own body stew wasn’t exactly my idea of a good morning. My watering, bloodshot eyes burned with tears and ached from being clamped shut. Everything around me was a blur and it took me quite a while before I registered what had happened, and what was happening now.

  It was just past five in the morning, definitely not my favorite "wake up" time, even in the half-afterlife, considering there wasn’t much to do. My hair was hot and wet and sticking to my equally overheated body. The back of my neck was burning up and I just wanted to crawl out of my skin.

  Once I moved, I realized I was clenching something in my still-locked grip. I pried my fingers off an ornate, bronze key attached to a makeshift necklace fashioned from a tightly knit rope braid. I had never seen it before, nor did I remember falling asleep with it. The rope reminded me of the tail that ran down from Laycee’s head. It looked old and worn. I inspected it for a while and decided I was too exhausted for speculation and should wait until Laycee woke up to think anything about it. I tucked it into my nightstand drawer and sat up in bed.

  Looking over at her, I chuckled. She was cuddled up in a little mass of hair and blankets on the bed across from mine. I finally figured she must have given me something to occupy my hands in my sleep so I didn’t end up clawing at myself—one of the great joys of night terrors. I wondered where she got it… Maybe it was hers, though I’d never seen her wear it; and why not a pillow or stuffed animal? Oh well. The night was the least of my problems. My body was so weak from a frantic sleep that when I stood up to walk around, my legs ached and I nearly collapsed. No more late night scary movies for me.

  Peeling off the sticky clothes I was wearing was my first priority. Soaked through with sweat, I stripped down to my bare skin and wrapped myself in a silky robe that I usually hung on the wall by my door. Although sometimes you’d find it strewn about, or find Laycee folding it with a look of disapproval on her face—most likely after having tripped over it first.

  I had been so tense in my sleep that I had to stretch out my limbs before I could wander downstairs to find something to do or eat. Five o’clock snack? Guess so. I made my way down the stairs and into the kitchen. Walking past the room where Angoroth had once stood after plowing through my wall like an angry bulldozer, I glanced at the patchwork and took a moment to think over the work Laycee and I had put into remodeling that part of the wall. The emissary had originally insisted that someone would come to fix the damage. I let them replace the fence, but we wanted to do the wall ourselves. They laid out most of the rough framework, but Laycee and I wanted to DIY the drywall and paint. It was terrible.

  I ran my hand along the wall and fingered its rough edges. I supposed it wasn’t that bad. We weren’t exactly handywomen, though. It was amateur work, but still had great emotion to it. And the irregular look of the surface gave the house character. It made me feel like my house was like us now, like me, trying to be normal but just a bit different, even down to its appearance. I felt a little closer to my house now that I built part of it. Maybe I might just take care of it a little better. It brought me joy to know that a little part of us was part of my home now.

  The time we had spent fixing the destruction had allowed my heart to open up to Laycee a lot more than I permitted during our first few times just casually hanging out. I guess I could say that we "bonded" during our hard labor, outside of our previous trauma bonding. It had given me a great deal of respect for her after seeing how easy it was for her to open up to people, especially me, and do something selfless—like helping me fix my tattered home. And it gave me hope that I would be able to pass this selflessness through myself.

  I wished… God did I wish I could be as carefree as her. She could walk up to anyone, even someone she didn’t know, and spark up a conversation with them, get them laughing and smiling. I just sank into the shadows and waited for her to finish while they fell in love with her. Most people who met her fell in love with her. It was so strange walking with her outside of my sanctuary, especially through the busy parts of the city when we made our way to her house. Despite the time I tried to spend mingling and even after essentially saving their lives, people were still wary of me. Sometimes I felt like they may never understand.

  But Laycee… Laycee understood.

  One of the times she had dragged me through the market, it occurred to me that we could go to the brewery together. I certainly preferred having her around when I had to drink blood, so surely buying it would be the same, right?

  An idea crossed my mind and I grinned.

  "Do you want to meet someone?"

  She scrunched her face, "I meet a lot of people."

  I laughed. "Well this is someone I know and maybe you don’t know for once."

  "Mysterious…" she said quietly. "Who is this mystery person?"

  "Oh, just my best friend," I said wryly. She shoved me and I cackled. "Just someone I met a while back. Come on, he’s nice."

  "Ohhh… He’s nice, is he?" She wiggled her eyebrows and I smacked her arm.

  "Come on. You better not make it weird."

  "I never make it weird," she said with her chin high. Right on queue, her toe caught the concrete and I grabbed her arm to keep her from tripping right into a woman carrying a box of eggs.

  "Right. Never."

  I led her to the brewery and opened the door. Scanning the room and its patrons, my eyes fell on Danny serving a table. I raised my hand to greet him and Laycee’s voice peeled from next to me.

  "Hi Danny!" Several patrons stopped their chatter to glance at the interruption.

  Of course she knew him. I didn’t know what I expected. I threw my arms up.

  "Okay, who is this mystery man?" She asked. She turned her head from side to side cartoonishly.

  "Never mind…" I said, rolling my eyes. "Guess you already know Danny.."

  "Oh!" She squeaked. "Yes, we met recently. He just started working here at the brewery not too long ago." She leaned in to put her lips to my ear. "And thank God for that, huh?" She jabbed me a few times with her elbow and wiggled her eyebrows again.

  I pawed at her desperately. "Oh my God, stop. Do not let him see you acting like—"

  "Hello ladies." Danny’s silky voice came from my right and I turned to find him already standing beside me. I wanted to turn and run home. "Table for two?"

  Laycee and I answered at the exact same time.

  "No!" I pleaded.

  "Yes!" She squealed.

  I glowered at her and Danny looked between us, a smile curving lips.

  "What Laycee means to say is that we have a busy day ahead of us. Right Laycee?" I said through gritted teeth.

  She just grinned. "Nope!"

  I was going to gut her when we got home.

  Smiling broadly, he raised his eyebrows and gestured with a hand to an empty booth that could seat four, a question in his eyes. Laycee yanked my arm toward the table and I groaned.

  We sat down and ordered some blood beers à la Danny; Laycee got a sandwich and I got my typical, tuna tempura. When Danny brought us our food, he actually sat down in the spot next to me. His knee briefly brushed my thigh as he shifted into his chair and I thought I would die right then and there.

  "So when did you two meet?" He asked. "Eyevoree doesn’t seem like the type to go hunt down new girlfriends at the mall."

  I glared at him, then spoke quietly. "We met the night… at the North gate."

  His smile vanished. "I should have been there that night. I should have walked you home. The gesture was originally polite, but if I had been there…" He frowned. "Maybe it might have been different." He reached over to take my hand with both of his. "I’m sorry."

  I was so stunned, it took me a minute to respond. We had run into each other here at the brewery only once since that night and my feelings were still the same. "Like I told you before, it wasn’t your fault." He opened his mouth to respond, but I cut him off. "Please. Because you were supposed to know that some giant, unknown creature would jump over the walls and try to kill me? Don’t be ridiculous."

  My voice was too loud. I noticed a few heads swivel toward us. All the while, Laycee was just staring at us with her eyebrows so high I thought they would fly off her head. She looked back and forth between both of our faces and our hands. I cleared my throat and pulled my hand away, using it to tuck a bit of hair behind my ear. "Anyway… so you know Laycee. She’s been forcing me to brave the sunlight, and the dark, evil world outside my house. You know how much I hate that."

  His smile returned, but it no longer reached his eyes. He graciously accepted my change in subject. "Good. It’s good for you. And maybe now I’ll see you more often." He winked before standing and striking a bow. "Let me know if you need anything else."

  I kicked Laycee under the table before she even said a word.

  I was sitting in the kitchen drinking tea now, and looking out through the enormous French doors that led out to my patio. Little birds were hopping around cautiously, hunting for the birdseed I regularly threw out there.

  I decided that I could pass some time before Laycee and the city woke up by watching a movie. She shouldn’t be too long; she was an early bird—er, cat?—

  and I wanted her to enjoy her rest. I had already given up on getting any more, myself. I wandered into a room downstairs with a huge flat screen and grabbed a remote. I reached for a blanket that was dangling off the back of a couch across from the TV, wrapped myself up, and sprawled out on the sofa.

  I started flicking through hundreds of channels when I flitted past the news and caught a word, bold and red. I paused. I clicked back to the station and read the headline: Hospital Break In. I unmuted the tv and listened, semi-disinterestedly.

  "Officials are on the scene of St. Janine’s Medical Center today after an unknown group of thieves broke in and ransacked the hospital’s blood supply located in the donation center. Authorities say that, despite the magnitude and professionalism of the break-in, there were no medical supplies or equipment stolen, and very little damage done on scene. More on this tonight."

  I pursed my lips and stared absently at the wall. A break-in where someone stole blood from a blood bank in a hospital. That was certainly… interesting. More than likely, it was a coincidence, but the signs definitely pointed to these people. Who knows what they have going on in their head most days? But why would they steal human blood? Everyone knows it’s forbidden. If you drink human blood, the Elders will exile you from the city, or lock you up. We have our own sets of laws here, and what the Elders say goes. Don’t like it? Leave. But it can be hard to survive out there with the humans and maintain your blood intake.

  I continued on through more channels and gave up just past six hundred, instead walking over to a cabinet that held at least a hundred movies. I looked through and couldn’t find anything that I didn’t want to laugh at with a friend instead of watching alone in the sulky hours of the morning, and romance was out of the question. A surge of loneliness coursed through me and I was irritated again by foggy memories.

  I laughed darkly as I realized I might be a little depressed. I had such little interest in anything I used to enjoy as a human, or even something a typical young lady would enjoy. Remembering back to high school, I recalled a psychology class that taught us that depression was pretty common in young adults. Symptoms usually consist of lack of interest in things you enjoy, lack of appetite or overeating, and poor sleep hygiene. That pretty much hit the nail on the head. I told myself I was going to try to get out more and see what I could do to help alleviate some of those symptoms, but still found it humorous that even in the afterlife, I was subject to human mental illness. I guess it could happen to anyone.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Thinking of high school, I frowned. I often tried to remember anything from then or my earliest days in college. Today I could see surges of colors running around the football field. I closed my eyes and lay still while I tried to force my mind to remember.

  I think there was one guy I was interested in once I started taking classes at the local university near my house. What was his name? I really couldn’t remember. I thought I remembered his beautiful sandy brown hair. His bright green eyes. Or were they blue? No… they were green. His gaze broke through the fog of my mind and I could see them. His eyes had been two glorious emeralds. I remember thinking they almost looked unnatural; they were so green. He captured the hearts of so many girls that he met eyes with, including mine. I was certain that playing hard to get would make him more interested in me than the other swooning women that lost their heads around him. I’d sit in the bleachers and watch him play behind the safety of my sunglasses, and giggle with my friends while he tried to get my attention. I wondered if he was wondering about me? Did he even remember me, or notice that I had gone?

  The more often I tried to remember old details about my past life, the more often I came up with success. As time had begun to pass between my transformation, I was able to remember significant things. My mom making breakfast as my siblings and I rounded the hallway to dig into pancakes; my father working in his office, that stress-crease over his eyes the dominant feature on his face; my little brother beating me at video games; my older sister dragging me into her room for late night movies and popcorn-propelled gossip—Laycee reminded me so much of her. My school, my home, my friends, it all started to come back to me. It was subtle, but it was there. I sighed a heavy sigh. I missed them so much. I wished I could find them and go back to the life I was meant to live.

  The tv was now very uninteresting. I shut it off and shrugged the blanket off my shoulders. Walking to the large window, I peered outside. It had to be almost six now, because it was getting somewhat light outside. The tips of the trees behind the city walls now frosty with the blue haze of dawn. A little wave of fear and anxiety washed over me as my mind pricked with a consideration.

  What if I were to go to the pool? There were only a couple people out there, and they were wandering around minding their own business. The pools and spas were empty. Behind my cluster of emotion, I felt a twang of excitement.

  Should I? Laycee would want me to.

  I took a deep breath and walked over to the corner of the room to search for a bathing suit. I had so many clothes that they were kind of haphazardly stuffed into closets all over the house. It wasn’t surprising to look into the one in the living room and still find more clothes for all weather. I found a skimpy but cute suit tucked into a drawer. I didn’t have time to find one more appropriate, lest I change my mind. I dressed quickly inside the enormous closet and came out to look in the mirror.

  Although I was used to the color of my skin and the scantily clad way I usually left the house, I was still very alarmed to see myself in such a tiny amount of clothing. A couple of months ago, I would never have even considered leaving the house in something like this, let alone going to the pools in front of all these people. A bikini wouldn’t have been a problem in my past life, my human life, because my skin wasn’t so radiant with a pearl hue. The bathing suit was a deep blue color, with little, glittery streaks of gold running through it. It must bring out my eyes. Of all the damn things to accent.

  I stared for a while and shook my head, escaping the mirror; I wasn’t going to back out now. I went into the bathroom and found a thick towel, and I wrapped it around myself for security. I felt a little better, now that I was covered, but the real awkwardness was sinking in.

  I was ready to go outside. Alone. Without my Laycee. To swim.

  I shuffled to the front door and reached for the doorknob. Holding my breath, I twisted it. You’d think I’d be used to these people, after what we had all experienced together only weeks ago, and every step I had already tried to take for nearly two months. But going to the pool was different. This was so… intimate. It wasn’t like shopping or wandering the museum minding my own business. This was personal. This was exposing my foreign body to strangers.

  No. You’re being a sissy. Stop it. Just go. Like it’s any other day.

  I swiftly—but not too much—walked over to the pool and dipped my toes in. Not cold, but not suitable for a brisk morning; not what I was looking for. I kept moving, very aware of each time a new pair of eyes was glued to me. Slowly I felt more and more of them boring into me, burning into my body, and I tried not to flinch.

  I passed the hand rail for the pool, the one I had wrecked during the attack, and ran my hand along the new, smooth metal. I chuckled to myself. I wondered if someone had been mad about it.

  Making my way to the jacuzzi, I kept my eyes on the ground, watching my feet take each step. When I got to the edge, I dipped a foot into the water. It felt so good I wanted to just plunge right in. Why had I never gone swimming here before again?

  Now the scary part... No. This was just like any other day. People did this all the time. It wasn’t weird at all. Self-consciously, but still without looking around, I took off my towel. More burning. I folded it and stepped halfway into the water—probably a little more quickly than necessary. I reached up and tied my thick hair into a bun on top of my head with one of the many small rubber bands I always kept around my wrist, and I slipped fully into the water, my head the only part of me not submerged.

  The burning grew hotter. I almost felt it scalding my skin. My cheeks began to grow hot, as well, or maybe they were the source of the burning to begin with. I wondered what my face actually looked like with my cheeks flushed with black blood. The water almost felt cold compared to this.

  I tried to relax a little as the ripples in the water licked my neck and the jets massaged my back and legs. I realized now that even though a few weeks had passed, I was still dreadfully sore from being thrown around like a ragdoll in this very vicinity. Truthfully, I probably hadn’t drank enough blood since.

  I felt a wave of stress shed from my entire body, and I was calming down a lot, still aware of the fiery eyes. I tried not to let them get to me; the water’s comfort was too great. My body completely relaxed and I pushed the burning to the back of my mind. It was now hotter than ever, and I tried to shut my anxiety out and enjoy the heat of the water instead.

  I soon heard people arguing in hushed, sharp voices somewhere far away from where I sat in pleasure. They were growling out what sounded like objections under their breath, but I fought to ignore them.

  "Ahem," someone cleared their throat.

  I tensed, not knowing what to do. In my bliss, I had not heard anyone come up on me. I peeked out from under my lashes and saw a man standing at the edge of the spa. He was wearing a uniform. I opened my eyes and stared at him, and he stared right back, frozen now by my gaze—captured, like so many, by my eyes.

  He cleared his throat again, nervously this time, "Would you… uhh—" he rubbed the back of his neck and tousled his hair, overcome with anxiety. "We always offer drinks to the people in the pools. Are you feeling thirsty, ma’am?" He looked around, pleading, almost as if the question itself would insult me. I suppose, to everyone else that knew of me and how I felt about blood based on my actions alone, he truly thought it would.

  Blend in. Blend in. I wasn’t sure how well I could handle a drink in front of everyone else, but I’d come this far already.

  "Um… sure…" I gave him a look that I hoped told him I was just as nervous as he was. He was surprised, but bowed his head and shuffled away quickly. I stared after him, still shocked, but curious.

  The burning was at its hottest, yet.

  I saw him go behind a medium-sized bar and start up a machine. I didn’t really want to think about how he was getting the blood or from what, but I continued to watch. It was sort of like a smoothie or slurpee machine which was both disgusting and fascinating at the same time. Every once in a while, he would glance up at me and get jumbled. A few times he dropped something that was metallic and loud when it hit the floor. I laughed a couple times because it was ridiculous that he was so downright terrified. He must have heard me because he buried himself harder into his work.

  Finally after what seemed like an hour but was probably only a few minutes, he came over with a dark cup full of liquid that I could already smell, and I involuntarily made a face. He slowed his pace at my reaction, but walked over and extended his arm out to me reluctantly.

  "Thanks…" I tried to smile, but it felt more like a grimace. I took the drink from off the metal tray and he went back to his bar and began arguing under his breath with someone sitting in a hidden spot.

  So that’s where that was coming from. He and an unknown source were arguing over who had to be the one to offer me a drink. I decided that it was best to shrug that off. I suppose I would have done the same thing, but I had silently wished that it didn’t hurt my feelings so much. I stared down into the cup and I felt the burning boil my skin while the cold drink froze my fingers.

  I was on fire. I could almost hear their buzzing thoughts in my head.

  Here goes nothing.

  I took a small sip from the straw and tried to act casual, putting my arm out along the side of the spa. It really wasn’t so bad I guess. I looked around like I didn’t mind and sipped while I relaxed.

  The tension slowly began to evaporate from the air, and to my relief, the burning let up just a little. Movement started to catch the corners of my eyes as more and more people who I had not seen before started to come out and walk around the pool—a few kids ran and jumped into the water.

  A feeling of actual contentment arose within me and I relaxed fully again, consumed by the cool and alarmingly refreshing liquid in my hand. Normally at this point I would be insane with anxiety and disgust, but here I was, doing my absolute best to… blend in. When I observed people and caught their eyes, they did not glare. They didn’t really break eye contact either; they just nodded very gently—and did a few of them smile?

  Two women walked over and joined me in the water. They were gabbing on and on about something and I tuned out and drifted into my thoughts. I tried to feel and hear everything and take it in. A gentle breeze tickled my nose; a strand of my hair fell from my shoulder; the jet on my left calf changed from hot to cold; a bird flew overhead and sang its song; a squirrel scurried by and tried not to be seen. Everything seemed to have more meaning and feeling to it now that I opened myself up to it.

  "Hey!" A familiar voice shouted from somewhere. Startled, I looked around. At first, I saw nothing, just people continuing to unfreeze and bustle about in the rising sun. Then a little blip in the corner of my eye brought my attention to my house.

  Laycee was leaning a little too far out of the window to my bedroom near my perch. She waved furiously, a giant, smug smile taking over her small face. I shook my head and was soon laughing at how absurd she was.

  Until she fell.

  "Oh!" She tumbled out the open window and spiraled through the air, toppling heels over head, and very unable to stop. I shot to my feet, overturning my drink and frightening the women in the water with me—they had not quit babbling long enough to even notice my best friend headed face-first into my front lawn and fence from more than a three story floor. I didn’t know what to do, and I was helpless.

  Laycee’s pinched little face got a look of determination to it and she deliberately flipped in the air so her feet were facing down and her head the right side up. She popped her wings just soon enough to float down to the grass, like she was a living parachute. She hit the ground with a loud thud and stood up to shake her head like an animal. Brushing at her shirt, she straightened herself out. She looked like little more than a ruffled bird trying to set her feathers back down.

  She chirped and skipped over to me with a grin on her face.

  "See! I told you I could make it!" She beamed.

  "Are you trying to give me a heart attack? Really. Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" I gawked at her, standing with my arms half-outstretched, like I was still trying to catch her as she fell.

  She held her stomach and laughed, head thrown back, and then she ran over and hugged me around my shoulders. "Good morning, little tulip! Whatcha’ doin’ out here?" She put her hands on her hips and looked around and saw the chatty women, still quiet, unnerved by the savage monster. She walked over to where they were huddled together and reached her hand out to them and smiled, "I’m so sorry for the scene! Nice to meet you, I’m Laycee. I see you’ve already met Eyevoree."

  They both shook her hand. "No… We haven’t. My name is Jennifer. This is Annie. Nice to meet you Laycee, and… Eyevoree." She eyed me unsure but slowly extended her hand out in my direction. I wasn’t sure how they would react, but I was instantly aware of the burning again. I didn’t know what it was, but most of all, it was just downright annoying.

  I waded over to them in the water, taking Jennifer’s hand—I saw her tense just slightly. Then I shook Annie’s and smiled shyly.

  "Alright, now that we have intros out of the way, I’m gonna go change!"

  Laycee ran back to my house to get something to swim in and my eyes drifted after her bounding away. She had her own closet and dresser in my house filled with her belongings since she practically lived with me now. I had even insisted she have her own room, but she liked sleeping in mine.

  Nervous and alone again, I shrugged off what had just happened—or nearly happened—and I retreated back to the other side of the large jacuzzi. When I made it to safety on my side of the water, I was now face to face with the scared little man who had brought me a drink—only now he was cleaning it up off the floor. He refused to look me in the eyes, but I could tell that if he wasn’t uncomfortable with being so close to me again, he was irritated that he had gone through the trouble of interacting with me and it had been a waste of his time.

  "Sorry…" I whispered. He nodded brusquely and continued to clean, his face turned downward to the mess. I sunk into the bubbles, mortified—completely submerged this time. I opened my eyes under the water and was so shocked to find that I was able to see as clearly as if I had goggles on. Every little particle dancing in the currents was perfectly visible. All around was a crystal clear blue; puffy and white where the jets blew out clouds of bubbles.

  But it wasn’t just the water that was clear—it was my glass eyes. I could see with one hundred percent efficiency. It was as if my eyes were above the water instead of below. I wondered for a second if there were underwater covens of vampires and then shrugged—mysteries kept unfolding recently, why not? This really could have come in handy all of the times my family and I went on trips to the lake.

  The cold memory made me wince and I tried not to think about the images that wouldn’t come to me this time. I closed my eyes and stayed under for quite a while. After a significant amount of time had passed, I came to the surface and peeked over the ripples.

  No Laycee.

  What was taking her so long? I was growing fairly impatient now that I knew she was awake and I didn’t necessarily have to be alone. She was probably forcing me to stay out here by myself longer.

  Under the water, the jets made it quiet and peaceful, and I couldn’t feel the burning. I took in the warmth when the jet—by my back now—changed back to hot. I was sitting in a meditation position with my legs folded, my feet on top of my knees.

  Being this flexible was another thing that was surprising to me when I used to be so stiff—I felt like a marble-skinned contortionist. I took my hands and linked my fingers together. I twisted my arms around into an extreme position—a twist that would probably look incredibly painful even to someone who wasn’t elastic like I was. I was curious to find whether or not I could manage it, and sure enough, I found myself looking sort of like a pretzel. I chuckled a little in my head and brought my hands down onto my knees to complete my meditation pose.

  Finally, a tiny hand reached down and tapped my shoulder. I came to the surface and saw Laycee standing to her knees in the water, smiling her taunting smile again.

  "So you come outside to swim and decide to hide under the water?" she teased. "Looks cool under there, huh?"

  I nodded, "It’s so clear."

  Her grin reached her ears. "Let’s play a game!" she chimed.

  So we spent the early morning sitting under the bubbles, trying to guess what the other was mouthing under the water. When the person guessing would answer, it was done in a charade. She and I laughed and played until the sun was high in the sky, and the city was alive again with the people of Anglaya.