Anna had been born in in 1706 and had become a vampire before she was even twenty. She still hated to think about those first few months. Once she’d been turned, she’d had no idea what to do; there had been no one there to guide her. What could she do? She couldn’t very well ask anyone for advice; they’d either run her out of town or kill her. So, she’d been forced to figure things out for herself as she went along.
It was rough going, but she’d managed to learn a few basic facts. First, she’d discovered she was a lot stronger than she used to be. It was hard to tell exactly how much stronger she was, especially since she’d never really tested her strength before becoming a vampire. But she estimated she was at least four or five times stronger than she used to be. One thing was for sure – she could now easily overpower the average man, despite the fact that she almost never did. She just didn’t like to use force. It made her feel like some kind of bully – or monster, even. Besides, it was so unladylike. And growing up in the early 1700s had taught Anna nothing if not to be ladylike.
She discovered she’d gained other abilities as well. Her sight had improved dramatically, for instance. Instead of being a little nearsighted, her vision was now perfect – more than perfect, actually. She could see in full darkness as well as the average human could see during the day. And during the day – well, she could read the hands on a pocket watch from over fifty yards away.
She was more agile and much quieter, too. She could move at almost three times her original speed and be absolutely silent while doing it. Not that all her new abilities were that great. Her amazing new sense of smell, for example. How was that useful? As far as she could tell, the only thing it ever did was let her know that her neighbor about six houses down burned dinner at least once a week.
Which brought her to the drawbacks. Some of them had jumped out at her right away – her reaction to sunlight being a perfect example. Oh, she could still walk around during the daytime, sure. She just burned quicker than she’d ever thought possible. If she stayed outside for more than an hour or two, any part of her skin that the sun touched would turn horrifyingly red. She’d managed to get around this by simply wearing lots of long clothes until the invention of sunscreen – a real life-saver for a vampire. Even still, she tried to avoid direct sunlight as much as possible – sunscreen could only do so much, after all.
The power of garlic had been another surprise for Anna. She’d always been fond of garlic, and since it was used to help cure certain diseases when she was young, she’d always had plenty on hand. But after she’d become a vampire, just touching the stuff burned her. She’d eaten it only once, and even though it had been just a tiny amount, she’d been violently ill. Needless to say, she didn’t make that mistake again.
Avoiding these pitfalls wasn’t nearly as painful as finding out about them had been. It seemed to Anna that in one fell swoop, all that she had truly loved had been taken away from her.
The circumstances surrounding her becoming a vampire had been most cruel, and Anna reacted accordingly. She hadn’t wanted this in the slightest, and she’d refused to believe something so horrible could happen. Why her? What had she done to deserve this?
She kept going over it time and time again. She’d been a good, if naïve, girl – she hadn’t done anything wrong. So, wallowing in depression, she’d done what she was sure anyone else in her situation would have; she hid herself in her room and steadfastly refused to come out.
And that was how it stayed for many years. Anna would only come out of her room when she absolutely needed to. Most of her time was spent in solitude, reading. Her parents would leave dinner by her bedroom door, and Anna would place the empty tray in the hall before morning. Her parents always assumed Anna had eaten what they’d left for her, but since becoming a vampire, she’d almost completely lost her appetite. She did eat what was brought to her on occasion, but more often than not she’d simply throw it out the window for the animals. While Anna could eat food, she no longer needed it and certainly no longer enjoyed it.
There was only one reason Anna ever really needed to leave her self-imposed exile. And in these cases, she’d wait until dark and then sneak out the window, across the roof, and down a tree on the back side of the house. It was an extreme measure, sure, but these were extreme circumstances.
She would go out every five days or six days, when she could stand it no more; the thirst would drive her out. There, in the shadows, she’d wait for some unlucky passerby who might come along.
Anna had always felt bad for what amounted to basically mauling innocent victims. But she’d done it in order to survive. Even still, once the cravings had subsided, Anna would return to her room, overcome with feelings of guilt. She’d flee from the scene as hurriedly as if she herself had been the one attacked. These feelings of guilt would last for days. Until, that is, the cravings returned, driving her out into the cold, lonely night once again. This cycle continued on for many years, and it was only during a particularly cold winter in 1748 that her routine suffered a brief hiccup. Her mother had died some years ago, but this winter, it was her father’s turn.
After the death of Anna’s father, she’d been forced out of her room to take care of the necessary arrangements. She emerged not looking a day older than she had when she’d first locked herself away over twenty years ago.
After the funeral, she’d slowly started talking to her neighbors, getting back into the community. It was the first time she’d talked to anyone other than her parents since her self-imposed exile had started. She learned that most of her friends had married. Her very best friend, Jacqueline, had moved away with someone almost twelve years ago, though she hadn’t the courage to ask who the groom had been. But even with most of her former friends gone, there were still a few people in town that Anna knew. And she started talking to them again, reconnecting to her town, trying finally to put her life back together.
But Anna’s refusal to leave her room for over two decades had been an unusual turn of events, and most of the town remembered it. More importantly, they remembered her. She’d been one of the most beautiful girls in town – the kind that people don’t often forget. So when she emerged looking exactly as she had all those years earlier, people noticed. And in that superstitious time, rumors spread quickly.
She’d only been coming into town for two weeks when it happened. A mob of what looked like fifty or more men was storming towards her house, their lanterns piercing through the night and making them clearly visible. She heard the angry shouts of “Demon” and “Monster” as they came up the path. Her heart pounded in her ears. She knew what they were going to do – it was time to go.
Her strength and agility saved her life. Anna quickly grabbed anything of value that she could carry – including all the money left in the house – climbed through her window, and disappeared into the woods.
She found a small cottage a few towns over, and she quietly took up residence there. And by the time some young kids finally got up the nerve to go into the abandoned house at the end of the road, there wasn’t a thing left in it save a few spider webs.
After being chased out of her own town, Anna decided it was best not to make friends anymore; the less people knew about her, the less likely they were to come after her. And so, her cycle of isolation continued as it had been, with one exception. Now, she moved every five years, whether she wanted to or not. It was safest this way.
And this is how Anna continued to live for years. Over two hundred years, in fact. Even now, she couldn’t say exactly what it was that broke the cycle. She did know it was around the time that television was invented; maybe that was what did it. All she knew for sure was that she’d been one of the first three people to buy one from that particular store – a feat which was quite amazing for her since Anna was the last person to try something new.
The television set had been a lifeline for Anna almost as much as it had been an escape. She’
d watched it as often as she could. Eventually, she started watching it almost twenty hours a day. She relied on it; not only did it distract her from her lonely, solitary life, but because it was also her only connection to the outside world. Still remembering how she’d been chased out of her home in colonial Massachusetts, she hadn’t been anxious to establish new contacts. This is where television saved her. It had allowed her to stay reasonably connected to the world outside without having to actually go outside. She had been able to get news and current events as well as stay at least superficially aware of the changing culture. She learned about the major changes in society, at least, even if she had missed out on some of the more subtle details.
Anna probably would have carried on forever as a TV-watching vampire, only venturing away from her own home to hunt, if it hadn’t been for an interesting phenomenon: vampires on TV. This was a turning point for Anna. It was the first time she realized that all vampires weren’t necessarily evil – that she wasn’t necessarily evil.
Realizing that she might not be intrinsically bad did wonders for Anna. It started to boost her self-image and her confidence. She started slowly going out places, even during the daytime. Coffee shops and movie theaters were her two favorite places to go. She’d seen her first movie at this time, and still had fond memories of that theater. Going out even that limited bit helped her realize how much better her life could be – better than she’d ever thought possible.
Soon, Anna was going out almost every single day. She still wasn’t talking much to people, but at least she was out in public. This had been fine with Anna, and she had no desire to do any more – she never had been a particularly ambitious person. But even this newfound excitement wasn’t enough after she saw that commercial.
Anna had been at home in her apartment late one night when an advertisement came on for some after-school program. She watched in fascination as students ran across the screen, laughing and playing in groups. She didn’t even remember what program was being advertised; that wasn’t important. After school. That was the important part. These kids were in school, and they were having fun. That was all Anna saw.
It had been so long since Anna had had fun – real fun. Sure, she’d enjoyed herself over the years, but she hadn’t felt the joy of sharing her experiences in a long time. Thinking back on it, Anna realized with a shock that it had been over two hundred years since she’d had fun with someone else. She yearned to have that again; she’d forgotten for so long what that was like.
But you can’t have fun in after-school programs if you don’t go to school, can you? So, as she watched the ad go by, her eyes shining with excitement, Anna made a decision: she was going to school.
Chapter 5: Demons, Past and Present
You Were What You Eat Page 5