VAMPIRE THE MASQUERADE

OF MEN AND MONSTERS

Liz stared blankly at the door of the backstage exit for a few moments, trying to remember everything that had happened to her-and realized that she could not. She turned around to examine her surroundings-the dirty pavement, the crisscross of fire escapes,the tall wire-mesh wall lined with discarded flyers and obscured slightly by garbage cans, the distant sound of police sirens-and felt a growing sense of dread. She suddenly realized that she had no idea where she was or what she was doing before she got here. She had no idea what had led her to a... stage? Theatre of some sort? She closed her eyes and tried to remember. She remembered being in a room in a ...motel? Hotel? No, it was definitely a motel. She most definitely couldn't afford a hotel. Then what? Well, there was a man in the room-a man! What was she doing with a man? Did the man do something to her? She couldn't tell. Then some guys barged into the room, one of them came to her,and all she remembered after that was darkness. That was it. She couldn't remember anything that happened after then up to the stage and nothing before the man.

The growing fear in her gut finally manifested itself by her pacing around the alleyway. While doing so she noticed that she felt somewhat...different. She noticed that her body felt lighter, her movements felt a bit easier, as if she had lost a few pounds. Then there was that dull ache in her gut...

Her train of thought was cut short by a deep throated laughing behind her. She turned around to see a burly man wearing a standard biker getup. He had a full, brown and very messy beard and a long, wild mane. She noticed that he was wearing sunglasses.Strange, she thought, considering it was dark. "Ha ha heh, classic cammy,leavin' you out here like a naked baby. Ha ha!" the biker man said.

"And who exactly are you?"Liz retorted.

"The name's Jack" he replied"Smiling Jack, if you'd like to call me that. Don't bother introducing yourself, I overheard everything. Got off real lucky back there kid".

Liz suddenly became alert."You know those people? What's going on? Where am I?"

"Oh. Your sire never told you? Well I guess shit like that happens once in a while." He sobered up a bit."Well it looks like I'm the one to do the formal introduction. Kid, you're one of the kindred now. A bloodsucker, a leech." He looked her straight in the eye after that sentence. "Or as the kids call them nowadays, vampires. That's right kid, you're a vampire."

Elizabeth looked at him incredulously. A vampire?! Was this guy for real?! She always believed, in the back of her head, that there were a special type of lunatic in LA, but vampires,really? "Yeah, nice one pal." She said with a slight chuckle. "Seriously, where am I?"

"I'm tellin' you the truth, little girl." He sounded serious now. "You're the standard package. A blood-drinking, night-stalking, sun-hating vampire. Hell, I'm a vampire too.The guy you were talking to, the LaCroix guy, he's a vampire, though he's a different kind of vampire"

A car zoomed by the alleyway, whipping up a bit of debris. Liz was annoyed now-the dude was fucking crazy. That had to be it. "Look, I don't have time for this. If you're not gonna tell me anything useful, I'm leaving." With that, she began to walk briskly to the mouth of the alleyway. She paused for a bit to look at a piece of broken glass-just in case. A lot of weird stuff had happened. She still had a reflection, though she did admit she looked a bit pale...it was probably just the stuff that had happened. She looked up to see a boy-he couldn't be older than 19-walking into the alley. He was wearing a bright blue T-shirt and black trousers with brightly coloured sneakers. He seemed to be in a hurry and had most likely just come here to pee. A sweet scent filled the air as he entered the alley.

Liz lurched. All of a sudden the dull gut ache became a gnawing, overwhelming...hunger? No, it couldn't be hunger. She had been hungry before and it was nothing compared to what she was feeling at the moment. She felt a strain on her teeth, like something was trying to force itself out of her canines. The boy was now looking at her,confused. Smiling Jack began to laugh.