Fang and Claw

The Best Laid Plans

Bernard Calihan woke up among the tattered remnants of his well thought out and painstakingly planed life. Never had he had a wild party or drunken indulgences until last night, and it seemed as if he was paying for his carelessness.

His dark suit hung from his thin frame in ragged shreds, and what looked like claw marks had torn great rips across the chest, severing his necktie in half. Dried blood marked the stone floor of the abandoned building, and Bernard felt of his neck. Although he failed to find an injury, he'd been certain that crazy man he'd encountered the previous night had bitten him.

Standing up, he staggered toward a broken mirror, but he was forced to change direction as a shaft of morning sunlight lancing down from a boarded up window touched his hand and burned like a cattle brand. He violently ripped his hand back and out of the painful light. Thinking it odd but insignificant, he continued toward the mirror, careful to avoid any additional rays of daylight in the old building.

When he picked up the mirror from its wall hook, he failed to find his reflection. The torn scraps of his clothes hung in the empty air as if suspended on a clothesline, but his body was absent. The mirror shattered to fragments as it slipped from his fingers to crash down upon the floor.

A horrible realization had come into his mind, and as much as he wanted to fight against it, he couldn't explain the situation any other way. His neck and other injuries had healed by morning, he was painfully allergic to sunlight, and he didn't cast a reflection upon the silver surface of a mirror. He knew enough of local legends to recognize the signs of vampirism, and it seemed as if he'd become one. Reaching into his mouth, he found his teeth sharper than usual, and it only confirmed his suspicions.

He sat back down, feeling miserable. He'd worked for so long to become a partner at his law firm, but those dreams looked to him as hopelessly broken as the mirror he'd dropped. As he thought about his situation and what he might do next, he considered stepping out into the light and being done with it, but he rejected the idea as he didn't know for certain if it would be lethal or simply agony.

After the initial shock wore off, Bernard began thinking, straightening his severed necktie. Solutions were always possible, it just required the right amount of time and planning. Employment at his law firm wasn't lost entirely; most of society already considered lawyers to be bloodthirsting parasites, so his current state wouldn't be an issue. Working at night would solve his sunlight allergies. He could also be a legal representative for the poor because even if they didn't have money to pay, everyone had blood.

Bernard smiled, his sharpened teeth gleaming. His plans weren't destroyed, merely altered. This could still work out.