The electronic bell chimed as I walked into the convenience store. The smell of hot dogs and slushies permeated the air, and fluorescent lights hummed with excitement from above. My baggy sweater concealed a blood-drenched shirt that clung to my skin, tightening and itching as the blood dried. The night hadn’t gone as planned, and I was in a mood.

“Hey, Ember. Key?” The raspy voice belonged to Cal, a middle-aged man who smelled as if he had been born and raised in an ashtray. Despite his scraggly appearance, Cal was an okay guy. I’d come here at least a dozen times to clean up, and most times Cal stood at the counter—never pushy and always minding his own business.

“Yeah. Thanks.” I released a deep, pent-up breath, blowing away my stress through tight lips. As I approached the counter, my fingers loosened around the straps of my backpack.

The door chimed again behind me, followed by the thud of heavy work boots. Normally, at this time of night, the area was dead quiet—not another soul to be found for miles.

Static filled the air, and an unfamiliar scent hit my nostrils. A subtle, dry odor—much like ozone with an acidic bite to it—shimmered in the air around me. The hairs on my arms stretched toward the sky and my eardrums throbbed as my heart jack-hammered inside my chest. My stomach cramped in response. I’d read somewhere survivors of lightning strikes reported smelling ozone right before they were struck, but I was indoors on a cloudless night.

I shuddered, shaking off the ominous feeling.

“Hang on.” Cal opened a drawer to his left and pulled out a blood-covered license plate with a silver key attached to it. The blood dripped and splashed onto the counter as Cal handed it to me. Cal stared at me with streams of red gore oozing from his hairline down his face. The blood spattered against the front of his tan polo as it dripped off his chin.

The hollow, dry ache of hunger swept over me. I blinked, scrubbing my head of the mirage. Great. I was miserable and hungry to the point where I was hallucinating blood.

“Thanks.” Using the sleeve of my sweatshirt, I wiped away the sweat forming on my brow.

The blood had vanished, and Cal was back to normal. I took the key and gave him a brief smile, but he bent over to pick up a pen he knocked to the floor.

As I swung around, I rammed hard into a well-built man. The hair on my neck rose. Warning bells rang in my ears as adrenaline raged like wildfire in my veins. My fangs shot down and saliva flooded into my mouth and down my throat. I grabbed for the man’s face, gripping his bristly cheeks with my fingers, and for that brief second between heartbeats, I was a predator. A natural-born hunter with one instinct—to kill.

Electricity flowed from my core, rippling through my nerves as it trailed down my arms, and a glow radiated from beneath my fingertips. A gasp escaped me as I stumbled backward.

The man I had touched recoiled, blinking as his mouth gaped open. I didn’t know who was more appalled—him or me?

“Oh.” I slammed my mouth shut, and brought my hand up, covering my fangs. My face heated. “I’m so sorry,” I muttered through gritted teeth, wondering how much he had seen.

The man’s brow furrowed as he surveyed me. The gruff man had a scruffy face and tattered clothes. He wore pricey work boots—but even those were worn and coated in dark brown stains. My eyes met his, so blue they appeared silver. Brow arched, his face dropped, and his lip curled up in disgust.

I averted my eyes and hurried past him, clutching onto the sharp edges of the license plate until I could no longer feel my fingers. Making my way to the restroom, I didn’t look back—yet the man’s eyes still taunted me, burning holes into the back of my head.

I locked the door behind me and tossed the license plate on top of the paper towel dispenser. I sighed, leaning my feverish head against the cool tile wall.

That was the first time I had attacked a human in public. Was I that hungry? I ate this morning. It was a week since I switched my diet to animal blood, but maybe I needed to switch back.

Holding my shaking hands against my cheeks, I tried to push the episode out of my mind. It was silly. I would laugh about this later. And yet, something still nagged me, tickling the back of my neck like an annoying strand of hair. A queasy sense of impending doom shrouded me.

I often spent my sleepless nights imagining police or federal agents storming into my room to arrest me. The thought made my bowels clench. More beads of sweat formed along my forehead, and I couldn’t breathe. Like now.

Pushing myself from the wall, I threw off my backpack and fished out my small bottles of blood and the Ziplock bag with the tubing and encased needle covered in the same horse blood from my shirt. Damn, tonight sucked.

Ever since I woke up to my new life two months ago, I couldn’t do anything right. I wasn’t learning the skills I needed—I couldn’t figure out mind control to save my life, and my stained shirt was proof I couldn’t do a simple blood draw.

Everything screamed that I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t be a vampire, and I shouldn’t be living off someone else’s charity. I was an imposter, and I didn’t deserve what little I had—which was a suitcase full of clothes and my freedom. But I was in hiding, so even my freedom was borrowed.

I turned on the faucet and ran the bag underneath the stream of water before opening it to rinse the bloody equipment. Reddish-brown liquid sloshed around the grungy porcelain and pooled down the drain. The equipment would need sterilization before I used it again.

I did the best I could to rinse out the blood from my shirt and patted it dry with paper towels. A hopeless task.

“Well, this’ll be uncomfortable for the rest of the night,” I mumbled to myself. I shoved the items back into my bag, threw on my sweatshirt, and left the restroom. I crept back to the counter, looking left and right for the gruff man, but he had vanished. Thank god. I tossed the key and two Snickers onto the counter—Cal’s favorite. He didn’t ask questions, and as a thank you, I bought him a treat.

“Three-oh-two.”

I slipped my pre-paid debit card out of my back pocket and inserted it into the machine.

“Creepy guy, that one that came in a little bit ago.”

I picked up a Snickers for myself. The hostile vibe from the stranger was still fresh in my mind. To be fair, I did grab his face.

“I didn’t notice.” I hid my grimace.

“He was a fuckin’ weirdo. Kept askin’ about you after you left.” He grabbed his Snickers and tore it open, raising it to thank me. “I didn’t tell ’em anything.”

I gave Cal a grateful smile, but I wasn’t settled. “Thanks.”

I threw my candy bar into my backpack, tossed the bag over my shoulder, and left the safety of the store.

The neighborhood around me grew darker and more secluded. I had walked through this area dozens of times, but tonight was different—the encounter with the stranger had me spooked. I should have called for a ride.

I craned my head over my shoulder as paranoia ran rampant in my imagination. There were a couple of cars parked on the street, including a brown Chevy van, parked on my side of the street, facing me. It was sure to have a parking ticket by morning. Street lights flickered on and off as clouds of bugs swarmed each light, zipping through the warm night air. The hair on my neck and arms stood up once again. Anything could be lurking in the dark shadows beyond what I could see.

I choked and turned back, a coward of my own imagination, choosing to return to the safety of the gas station. I took no more than ten steps when my shadow shot out, extending in front of me as a dim light enveloped me from behind. The rumbling of an approaching engine followed. I peeked over my shoulder long enough to see the van pulling out from its illegal position. My stomach churned. I gripped the straps of my backpack until my hands turned white, and I continued walking.

The hum of the Chevy’s engine grew louder. My heart sped up and my muscles tensed. Sweat collected in the creases of my palms. The anticipation was more than I could bear.

At last, the brown Chevy drove past me. I let out a sigh of relief, and laughed to myself, shaking out my sweaty hands. But my relief was short-lived. Several feet in front of me, the van pulled over, and the brake lights shifted from a glaring red to blinding white as the van kicked into reverse. I stopped dead in my tracks as the van came to a screeching halt. The driver and passenger doors swung open, and two men climbed out—sure enough, one of them was the man from the store.

My fear returned in full force. No way was I paranoid. I spun in the opposite direction, breaking into a run.

Shit, I gave myself a mental kick. Frantic, I scanned my surroundings. Tall, barbed-wire fences guarded factory yards and buildings. About a hundred yards ahead, I spotted a break in the fences. I pushed harder, making my way for it. The galloping of feet behind me ceased. As I reached twenty yards from the break, a loud pop echoed off the factory walls, and my legs gave out beneath me. I fell face-first toward the ground.

I reached out to catch myself. Daggers of pain shot up my arms, absorbing the impact of my fall. A bone in my right arm snapped with a sickening crack. My body hit the ground hard, and my face grazed against the cement.

A panicked yelp escaped my lips. I had to get out of here. Using my good arm, I lifted myself up, giving my right arm a chance to heal, but when I tried to pull my knee beneath my body, my legs wouldn’t move. I was a sitting duck.

Pain spurted up my spine, and an agonized cry escaped my lips. I dropped down to my elbow and rolled onto the shoulder of my bad arm, searching around my lower back with my hand. My fingers landed in warm, slippery liquid. My back was bleeding. Something had penetrated the area under my backpack, injuring my spine.

Feet shuffled toward me.

I looked up to see the men rushing toward me, one carrying a gun aimed straight at my chest. They scanned the area, not wanting to be spotted.

“Leave me alone!” I screamed, trying again and again to move. I reached down to my pocket, grabbing for my phone, but as I went for it, the gruff-looking man sent two bullets ripping into my shoulder. The bullets tore through muscles and bones, burning like a wildfire. My voice erupted from my chest in an uncontrollable scream. My eyes filled with stinging tears that leaked down my face. I gasped between screams.

“Grab her arms — I’ll grab the legs,” the gruff man directed. The other man was a few inches taller, also rough and glossy. It’d been a few days since he’d had a shower and a shave. Both men grabbed onto me and lifted, dragging my body in quick stride towards the van.

“No. N—” The pain was too intense. I couldn’t voice my protest. Each movement they made was blinding. I hadn’t had enough blood this morning to hurry the healing process.

Together, the men threw me onto the ground right next to the rear of the van. My head knocked against the asphalt, sending red spots swimming past my vision. My back slammed down, air rushed out of my lungs, and for what seemed like an eternity, I couldn’t breathe. My lungs were in shock, frozen from the impact. Gruff Man rammed his steel-toed boot into my side and rolled me onto my stomach. At last, I was able to suck in a wheezing breath.

There was movement above me. The straps of my backpack tightened around my shoulders, and one of the men ripped it off. The back doors of the van groaned above my head. I didn’t care what I had to do to get free—I wasn’t going in there.

I mustered up what was left of my strength and pushed against the ground, rolling onto my back. My legs were still limp noodles. The men were pulling rope from the van. Gruff Man leaned over and tied up my feet while the other went for my hands.

I forced my fangs to extend, as the man above me scrambled to work, fumbling while untangling rope. His hands trembled over the cord—he was as scared as I was. He stooped and reached for one of my hands, the inside of his elbow exposed to me. This was it—my last chance to fight. I made a lunge for his arm.

“No!” Gruff Man shouted as I gripped onto the man’s arm in my hands. I tore into the man’s skin with my teeth and latched on for dear life. Blood gushed down my throat. Hot. Human. Blood. I forgot how wonderful human blood tasted, but there was something different with this blood. I squeezed the jerking arm tighter, keeping it steady. The skin ripped beneath my teeth as the man tried to pull away. Each terrified heartbeat drove more blood into my mouth.

I was in nirvana, unaware that Gruff Man was kicking me and screaming profanities, or that my victim was shrieking as he tried to claw me away. The more I drank, the more I wanted… needed. His life force was luminous as it joined my own, like our minds were melding as one. A light burned brighter and brighter inside me.

A heavy boot met my jaw, shattering the bone. Black and red fireworks exploded in front of my eyes. Dazed, I was forced onto my stomach as Gruff Man yanked my arms and tied them behind my back. As my vision cleared, I raised my chin off the pavement, disoriented. I stared at the man I bit, blood dripping down my chin. He fell to his knees, clutching his arm with a thousand-yard stare. His wide eyes met mine as his complexion grew sickly and pale. In that moment, I forgot my fear. I forgot my pain. And for the first time ever, I met the predator inside me. She’d been there since the beginning, but this was the first time we saw eye-to-eye—we wanted to kill this man.

“Goddammit, Rick! Now’s not the time!” Gruff Man’s voice held a subtle Texas drawl. “Get off your ass and help.” Rick stumbled to his feet, his arm streaked with his own blood.

Rick’s blood raged like fire beneath my skin. I wanted more. I’d never tasted human blood as luscious as this—I’d never coveted a man’s blood so much. I dropped my head down to the pavement, my limbs cinched together. Both men hoisted me up in unison and tossed me into the dark, dank cabin of the van. As my body crashed onto the rusty cold floor, I knew I had overestimated my abilities. The heavy doors slammed, leaving me in darkness.

I panted and writhed in agony on the gravelly floor. This would have been a good time to scream to the universe about how unfair my life was. About how I didn’t deserve this, but to be honest, I did deserve this. I deserved the pain, I deserved the fear, and I deserved every kick Gruff Man gave me. The truth was, I did something unforgivable.