Vampire. (YouTube)

Assimilation

Made by: justanotherbookfanatic

"ROOMMATE WANTED. DISCRETION NEEDED. 5 BED HOUSE IN L.A WITH POOL."

That's what the ad had said. I walked into the little cafe to meet the posters of the ad. As I set my bag down, I took out my phone to check the time. I was early. I was supposed to meet them at 2. It was 1:45. I scrolled through Tumblr until a deep voice caught my attention. I looked up to find three men walking in to the cafe.

"Alex!" The red-haired man smiled at me as he made his way over to my table.

I smiled and waved him over.

This wasn't our first meeting. This was the final meeting. I had yet to sign the papers that would officiate my moving in, but they wanted to do a stress test. Mark, the red-haired man, was a famous youtube personality, as well as his two roommates Jack and Felix. Felix was the most popular out of the three of them and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a fan of them. Today they put out a tweet advertising that they would be at Panera. They invited their fans to drop by and say "hello." They were used to this, but I had to see if it would be something I could handle. I had to be mature. I was a fan but I had to put that aside if I wanted to move out of my parents' house.

My parents were both human. I was born human. Sometime during high school I had been injected with a serum that took away my humanity. I became a demon. It was hard keeping it secret, but I managed. In my second year of middle school, the U.N. had announced that some of the mythical creatures we loved to read about were real. They lived among us. This was after a series of pictures and news articles had revealed the Prime Minister of England to be a werewolf. Officials tried to deny it until a clear video was posted. In it, the Prime Minister undergoes his transformation along with some other members of his pack. After this, the world became chaotic. Some embraced the new knowledge and were welcoming to the other species that chose to come out. Others decided the other species were lesser beings. Hunters became a thing. So did species-exclusive hunting grounds and areas. Some towns forced out non-humans, while some towns became just for the non-humans. Schools were required to teach about the new species. I still remember the lessons.

There are three types of vampires. Type A vampires are born as they are. They do age, but differently. They can choose to stop aging at any time. The young are sensitive to sunlight, but the much, much older can go out with less of an issue. It still hurts them, but it's less like a third degree burn and more like a too-hot bath. It hurts at first, but you get used to it after a bit. Type B vampires are also born as they are and age like type A vampires, but they appear much more like humans. Type B's can go out in sunlight comfortably and have a working circulatory system. Both types A and B need blood to survive, but can limit themselves to once per week if they have to, sustaining themselves on human food instead. Type C vampires are the ones from the scary stories. They can't go out in sunlight without very bad burns. They require blood every day or every other day. They have no heartbeat and are considered to be "undead." Type C vampires have to be made. Teachers usually stop there. Only other vampires know how to make Type C vampires.

Next we learned about Werewolves. There are two types. Type A turn involuntarily once a month on the full moon. Type B could turn any time they wanted. Neither had pain-free transformations. Both types are big on community, though. Packs are very important to them. Very important.

We learned about nymphs, lamia, sirens, the differences between selkies and brownies, shapeshifters, real witches, fairies and faeries, and many other kinds of non-humans. The last thing we learned about was demons. The only thing my teachers ever said was that demons were still a big mystery. Everyone seemed to fear them. I feared them, too, while I was in middle school. After I was turned, I found out first-hand what it meant to be a demon. Or at least to be me and a demon. I found out my senior year that I was different from most demons. I had left the mall late after a movie and found a group of demons having a Ranking in a parking garage. A Ranking is when demons fight each other to determine who is the strongest, thus making them a higher-level demon. I had had my abilities for about a year at that point and I couldn't have known what would happen. I went to my car and was getting out my keys when one of them approached me. The thing about Rankings is they're underground. Demons can cause quite a mess. Every demon I'd heard of before was reckless and cocky, but I didn't have an arrogant bone in my body and I cared too much what people though to cause issues like property damage.

When the demon approached me, he must've thought I was human because he had an air of superiority about him. Demons can read minds and have immeasurable strength, so it was no surprise that he was able to lift me up by the front of my shirt and force his way into my mind. At the time I wasn't any good at mental games so he found out that I was a demon. He half dragged me back to the circle of demons and threw me on the pavement. A guy of moderate build stepped forward. I got to my feet and squared up, having realized I would have to fight. He didn't look like he was much of a fighter, but demons aren't always as they seem. He swung and I ducked under his fist. He sent a second punch out as I stood back up and it connected with my stomach, making me double over in pain. I felt something drip onto my cheek. I reached a hand up and looked at the black liquid on my fingertips.

The rest of the fight is blocked from my memory. When I next woke up I was in bed and it was morning the next day. A trip back to that parking garage revealed a black spot burned into the ground and broken glass from the shattered lights above. In the following months I learned I had a talent with fire and telekinesis. There wasn't any news coverage on what may have happened, but demon deaths were of little interest to the police.

I snapped back to the present with a sigh. Mark had taken out his phone to vlog our location, further promoting his fans to come out. It took all of fifteen minutes for the people to trickle in and find us. At first it wasn't so bad, I sat back and let the fans see who they came for. A couple shot me dirty looks, a few tried to sit with us, but most just ignored me. When the bigger groups showed up, they began to notice me more. Many began to ask if I had a youtube channel, how long I'd known the guys, etc. I answered as best as I could. Yes I had a youtube account, but it wasn't exactly a channel, I'd known the guys for a little over a month, no, I wasn't dating any of them. It went on like this for a few hours with many questions being repeated. The entire time the guys were gauging my reaction. After the last of the fans finally went home, Jack slid a small packet of papers across the table to me.

"I passed?" I asked. Jack nodded, smiling.

I smiled back and began reading the papers in front of me. The contract detailed everything we discussed before. Keep my room some semblance of clean (or at least free of wierd smells), move laundry through the washer and dryer in a timely manner, dirty dishes go in the sink, leave the blood in the fridge alone, leave the mystery meat alone in the standing freezer. Mark would cook every night and do dishes, Jack would mow the lawn, Felix would pick up the yard. I had to take out the trash and recycling. Rent wasn't too bad since there would be four of us. There was a section on setting up a space in the fifth bedroom for recording, but I passed over it, knowing my set-up would be just a laptop. Nothing fancy. There was of course a section on guests and what to do if a fan comes knocking. I read it over a couple times to make sure I understood. Everything was in order. I signed on the last page and passed it back.

"Alright. Here's your copy," Felix handed me an identical copy of the agreement. "And we'll see you on Monday."