So I Might Be a Vampire - Book 1 (Original Version)

32: The First Sunrise

I had never once seen a sunrise in all of my twenty-seven years on the planet. I had talked about it from time to time, about going to see it, but that was usually to either get into some girl's pants or simply because I was drunk. Either way, I would either be passed out or too busy by the time the sun was actually in the act of rising. From what I've heard it's supposed to be something pretty spectacular, a life-affirming experience that makes you glad to be alive, but I usually passed on it, mainly because I wasn't that into life-affirming things anyway.

So it was ironic that it would be the experience of becoming what might be a vampire (and my encounter with the lovely Dr. Mendelssohn was a kick in the nuts type of affirmation) that spurred my first sunrise experience. I was hoping that it wouldn't be my last sunrise either, but I just had to know for sure. I had long passed the point where someone telling me would be enough. What I was going through was a life-changing experience, as fucked up as it was, and I had to know the absolute truth of it.

So I sat on the back porch of my apartment with Claude at the ready with his fire-extinguisher and a blanket, and watched as dawn slowly lit up the darkness. And I do mean slowly.

Claude had gotten a six-pack of beer from the trunk of his car, where he apparently kept a few in a cooler for emergencies. I didn't ask him what else he kept back there, since he had also gotten the fire-extinguisher and the fire blanket from there as well. I was just glad for the beer, and for the first time in my life, I actually enjoyed the weak taste of American beer. Now that's what you can call irony.

"So irony is bad beer. That makes sense."

"Right now, I'm just glad that I can drink beer. I've been trying to make a list of any spicy foods that I'll have to avoid, and so far my options are diminishing really quickly."

"But that's only if you really are a vampire."

"I don't think there's any doubt about it. Not after the night, I've had. The coffee thing is kinda freaking me out a little, even more than the eyes."

"Yeah, I was gonna mention something earlier but I kinda forgot."

"What is it? Did I grow horns or something?"

"It's about your eyes."

"What about them?"

"They kinda glow in the dark now."

"You're fucking with me, right? Tell me you're fucking with me."

"It's not that bad really. It's actually kind of cool if you're into that sort of thing."

I was looking at myself in the glass of the porch door by this time, and I could kind of see what he was talking about. If I tilted my head just so, my eyes caught the light and reflected it back, just like a cat's eyes.

Whoa. Freaky.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to that. Man."

"Have another beer."

I dug one out and opened it, inhaling the flavor of the beer I had previously hated, actually enjoying the smell of it now. I was getting a kick out of the smells. I noticed smells so much more now, everything an explosion of sensation that was practically colours in the air, waiting to be inhaled. The beer in my hand right then was incredible, a virtual powerhouse of waiting flavor, and I wondered what a good German beer would taste like. It would most likely give me another aneurysm or whatever the hell it was that happened to me earlier.

"You gonna tell your mom?"

That one came out of left field. I just gaped at Claude, and he took a deep swig of his beer.

"What am I going to tell her exactly? This isn't like some bad career choice or dating some girl she hates you know. I can't go home and say 'Hey guess what mom? I'm a vampire now.'"

"Why not? Your mom's more understanding than you think."

"Dude, I'm a fucking vampire."

And then it hit me completely and totally for the first time. There would be other moments over the next year where reality would come back and hit me in the nuts, but it would never be the same. This first one was a doozy, and it hit right where it hurt.

Here I was watching the sun rise slowly from my back patio, and it was very likely it would be the first and last sunrise I would ever see. Three days ago, when I walked outside complaining about the sun, I had never taken the time to enjoy the sunlight and enjoy the day, never knowing that it would be the last time I would see the sun. The last time I would ever look at the sky. It was a tragedy because I couldn't remember the last time I'd even looked at the sky apart from a quick glance to see if it was going to rain. Nobody looks at the sky anymore; nobody ever looks up, and I was one of the nobodies.

"I'm scared, Claude."

"We can call this off you know. You can go inside and wait it out."

"No. I need this."

"I'm scared for you too dude."

It was completely light out now, and there was still no sun, just a lightening of the sky, a sky that I now looked to, sunglasses in my hand. I looked about, seeing the light and felt a little foolish at my fear and nervousness.

"Nothing going on here."

Claude relaxed his hold on the fire extinguisher. He grinned, possibly as relieved as I was.

I turned back, sunglasses going onto my face, and the sun peeked over the tree line. I had started to laugh, laugh at the foolishness, and laugh out of relief, sheer unadulterated relief.

My laughter turned into screams as my exposed skin began to blister and boil. I staggered back, pain shooting through me, trying desperately to find cover, and I could smell something sweet like barbequed pork. Something was burning, and that something was me.

A blast of foam from the fire-extinguisher hit me, covering my skin and granting temporary relief. Claude somehow managed to throw the fire blanket over me and wrestled me back towards the door trying to get me inside where it was safe, and I could hide from the sun. He was yelling something at me, but I wasn't listening, just concentrating on the intense pain that was my skin.

Even as he slammed the door behind me, and I collapsed on the floor, still dripping fire extinguisher foam, I knew it was over. My tears couldn't take back the awful truth and the look on Claude's face echoed the truth.

Dismay.

Shock.

Horror.

Fuck.

Fuck me.

I was a vampire.

I was a fucking vampire.

***********

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