Chapter 4 : Warm Blood

Eva wandered aimlessly through the streets of her new world, feeling nothing of the cold and attempting to keep her mind empty, in fear that she was going insane.

She had come across a road of small to medium sized houses, covered in colorful paint and adorned with many lawn decorations. Eva had no idea where she was. She had never seen homes that were so gaudy.

As Eva made her way down the road, she came to the house at the end of the block. The thing that made this house standout wasn’t it’s, by comparison to other houses in the area, subtle light brown paint job. It was instead a gang of cats that seemed to linger on the porch of that particular house. Most of them were white or light grey, although a couple were brown. Eva estimated there was about 20 in total.

Eva had never owned a cat, as her parents were not very fond of animals. When Eva was young, she often wondered what it was like to own a pet, but she grew sour on the idea as she got older.

A small white kitten confidently walked up to Eva and mewed loudly at her, almost demanding that she shall pet it. Eva couldn’t help but feel her spirit lighten at the sight of such a creature. It had no concept of her discontent, and all it wanted was affection from a stranger. 

Eva bent down and patted the kitten on its tiny head, it purred loudly in response and attempted to bite Eva’s hand playfully. 

 

A smile ran across her face, the motion almost felt painful, as she hadn’t grinned in such a long time. Eva lifted the kitten gently into her arms and scratched behind it’s ear. She could feel it’s throat vibrating in a purr and it mewed again at her. 

 

But above everything else, Eva heard it’s heartbeat. She could almost hear the blood flowing from the kitten’s heart into the rest of its body. She felt the vibration of blood everywhere from the kitten’s tiny body. She felt something for the first time since she had risen from the grave.

Warmth.

The noise of pumping blood was almost unbearable, louder than anything she had ever heard in her entire life. Blood had never made a sound to her before that day. Now it was all she could hear.

Eva felt a hunger pain that ran through her so violently that she felt as if she could vomit right there. Before she even fully realized what had happened, Eva grabbed the kitten by the neck and bit into it with her teeth. She felt the kitten's body go limp instantly.

The hot blood hit her mouth and she groaned in pleasure. Eva was so desperately hungry, her body felt as dry and empty as a desert. The blood was the sweetest thing Eva had ever tasted. She didn’t think about what she had done, the only thing on her mind was drinking. As she drank, she truly began to feel alive again.

But in a moment, she had stopped. Eva looked down at the corpse of the kitten that had shown her so much affection. It’s neck was almost completely dislocated. Pure white fur now covered in the bright stains of crimson.

A life was now taken because of her. Eva cried out, fully realizing what she had done. She dropped the lifeless body and looked at her gloves, now covered in blood. Why do she do that? And why did it feel so damn good?

Tears started running down Eva’s cheeks, she had killed the only thing she had positive interaction with in this new world. She killed something innocent, a killing born out of selfish desire. And feasted greedily on it’s blood.

Eva felt the blood spatter on her face and attempted to wipe it off, but it seemed to be never ending. Her face was twisted into a blackened, cracked mockery of what it once was. Her teeth were as sharp as razors. Eva could feel her face was that of a monster.

 

A deformed and demented blood sucking monster.

Eva began to cry and she sat on the ground, defeated, realizing that she was no longer human. The reason why she couldn’t feel the cold, the reason why she survived being locked into a coffin with no air or nourishment, the reason why she only felt hungry in the presence of a living creature. The reason was that somehow, she had been transformed into a creature known as a vampire. A creature she had previously regarded as folklore was proven real right in front of her eyes.

The despair she felt was overwhelming, and she cried with her hands to her face for a very long time. Eva regretted taking that road when she rose from the grave. The better solution in her hindsight was to lay down and die.

The sound of quick air flowing garnered Eva’s attention away from her emotions. Almost out of thin air, a tall, gaunt and pale man in a black overcoat appeared before her.

With a charming smile on his face, he greeted her, “Welcome, young one.” 

 

Eva pulled herself from the ground and looked at the man quizzically. At that moment, the despair she felt ran dry and all that was in her head was confusion.

She asked, “Who are you and what am I welcomed to?”

The man introduced himself confidently, “My name is Count Vladislaus Straud. Around mortals, I’m known as Vlad Straud the 4th. I don’t need to keep that farce in the presence of you, I’m aware.”

Eva was befuddled at this strange man, and he could see this on her face.

“I can always sense when a new child of the night is near.”

Almost like a spell, Eva understood what the man named Vladislaus was saying. He was like her. He was what Eva had transformed into. He was one of her kind.

Vladislaus put his hand out ceremoniously.

Eva  reached out and took Vladislaus’ hand apprehensively. But behind that curtain of apprehension, was a small shred of relief. 

(Author's Note: I know this has just been like 4 chapters of angsty internal dialogue, but hey, that's what vampire fiction is all about. Things get better for Eva from this point on. The next chapters will be slightly more optimistic. Most of the past chapters, I took artistic license over my sim's life, as Sims 4 doesn't actually have a "rise from the dead" or "murder and eat kitten" feature. I know, that's a shock.)