A/N: Sorry I took so long on this update, another story has been yelling at me to write it and wouldn't give me time to write this one. Good news though, this chapter is a bit longer than any of the others:D

Chapter 5: Sunset

When I awoke it was nearly sundown. The sky outside my window was no longer bright azure. Instead, it melted from light blue to yellow as it dipped towards the horizon.

I stumbled out of my room, feeling refreshed but not fully awake. The house was empty, dark. My parents were still gone. I was surprised I had slept for so long; it hadn't even been one o'clock when I'd crashed onto my bed from the sudden bout of exhaustion.

I need to drink more water, I told myself. That heat stroke came without much warning. I was in fairly good shape, definitely good enough that twenty minutes in the sun wouldn't fatigue me to the point of collapse. I tried to think back over the last few days and determine whether or not I had been drinking enough water, but it was a wasted effort. My memory has never been good, and anything as habitual as drinking was quickly forgotten.

Determined not to fall victim to the heat of the sun again, I walked to the kitchen and poured myself a glass of water and added a few ice cubes. I leaned against the dark green counter and took a small sip. The crisp coolness cleared the lingering remnants of sleep from my head awake in an instant.

I turned my head towards the refrigerator when it started humming. It made me realize that I had only eaten one meal today. I should be hungry, but I wasn't. Probably a side-affect of the long nap. I was sure by dinnertime I would be ravenous.

I drained the glass of water, refilled it, and made my way to the front porch. It looked towards the west, and I caught sight of a sliver of liquid gold before the sun completely disappeared, leaving behind a brilliant canvas of pink, yellow, orange, and red painted across the sky. I found myself strangely nervous, as if some part of me was dreading the coming darkness. But how could such a spectacular sunset be a prelude to anything bad? I continued to watch as a violet tint slowly crept downward from the sky, engulfing the brighter colors.

I heard the phone ring in the house and I turned automatically. I'd just closed the door when I noted an odd crawling sensation in my chest, deep under the skin. At first it felt almost like a case of butterflies, only a little higher than they should be. The sensation quickly spread to the rest of my body, becoming more intense with each passing second.

I looked down at my arms, half expecting to see thousands of tiny bugs swarming over them. There was nothing; but the sensation was getting stronger by the second. I panicked. My breath hitched up a notch and I stumbled quicker towards the phone. If I could just answer it, then maybe someone, anyone, could help me. But the feeling had become so strong I couldn't even move. It felt like the only way to ease the crawling under my skin would be to rend and tear until all that was left was bone. Thankfully, I wasn't so out of it that I couldn't defy that instinct. It was hard to resist though; I clenched my fists with enough force that my nails drew blood. The tinkle of broken glass reached my ears as my cup hit the floor, shattering.

What was happening to me?

Focusing all my energy on my next action, I took a small step forward. The house spun in front of my eyes and I staggered, slamming my eyes shut, hands reaching out to catch myself as the wood floor came rushing up at me. I hit hard, my palms smearing blood across the smooth surface. In the background the phone became quiet as the answering machine picked up.

Everything was suddenly so sharp, so detailed, like I was looking at the whole room under a microscope, everything close and defined, all at once. It had been too much for my mind to handle. There were so many things to look at: the swirl of different grains in the floor and ceiling, the multitude of magnets and pictures on the refrigerator. I was even able to see each distinct line on a single leaf in the bouquet of flowers that decorated the table.

My eyes had tried with little success to take it all in at once, overloading my brain with visual impulses. Even with my eyes closed my head still spun from the shock.

I drew in a few deep breaths, trying to calm myself. The cool floor against my cheek helped, reminding me where I was. I was in my house. I was safe. Soon my parents would be home; they would know what to do. Nothing would happen to me here. Everything would be okay.

At least that's what I told myself. I wasn't sure if I believed it or not.

The crawling now seemed to be not just in my flesh, but my bones as well. It almost felt like I was being eaten from the inside out.

What the hell was happening to me!? I wondered, fuming, anger now accompanying the fear I already felt.

Vampire. An insidious voice whispered from the shadowy corners in my head. It came from the same shadows where my nightmare had been crouched all day, waiting. Now—with my mind scattered and unfocused—it jumped forward, gleeful to be free. Free to taunt me with images I didn't want to glimpse ever again: My attacker's empty eyes, pitch black at first, and then later, laced with red; his skin, glowing ominously in the moonlight.

I shook my head in denial, causing it to spin once more. No! Vampires aren't real! Jake even said so. They aren't real! I said the last part out loud, and the noise was deafening to my ears.

The voice whispered again. Then what about the one that attacked you?

A dream! It was just a dream. A nightmare. Not real. It couldn't be real, there were no foot prints, no evidence. But even as I said that, the nightmare taunted me, this time not with just images, but feelings as well: Knowledge that my life was in the hands of some unknown stranger. Intense fear when I realized I was trapped, frozen, in his grasp. Panic as my lungs burned for air. Revulsion as he ran his tongue over the wounds in my neck.

Evidence is easy to destroy, the voice said simply.

I wanted to shake my head again to deny that, but I remembered the pain that action had caused before. I focused on toning out the voice instead, refusing to listen and tried to be rational. There was always a rational explanation for things.

Maybe I had a brain tumor. It wasn't a comforting idea, but it was better than what the voice was trying to tell me. That would explain everything too: the crawling sensation under my skin, the sinister voice in my head, the severe dizziness. Maybe even the odd nightmare.

But all thoughts of tumors were washed from my mind as a wave of nausea rolled through me. It was quickly followed by an excruciating, torturous hunger that gripped my stomach. I cried out in agony, unable to hold the sound in. I scratched and clawed at the floor, trying to crawl away from the pain like a wounded animal. More streaks of blood marked the wood.

The sound of pounding thunder rocked my ears, increasing the agony. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew it couldn't truly be thunder I was hearing for the sky had been clear only minutes ago. At least, I thought so. I wasn't quite sure how long I'd been lying on the kitchen floor.

The thunderous roar stopped abruptly, and the relief I felt was instantaneous. But that relief didn't last long.

"Katie?"

It sounded like someone had yelled in my ear with a megaphone. I struggled to respond, but the only sound I could make was an unintelligible mumble laced with pain.

"Oh God! Katie!" The voice was closer and much, much louder. I tried to cover my ears.

"Katie? What's wrong?"

Through the agony the noise caused in my brain, I recognized the worried voice as Jake's. It was then, as I took in another gasp of air, that I realized the thunder was back. It was different this time though, quieter but rapid. Rhythmic. Some foreign part of me seemed to follow the sound intently, like a predator stalking prey, and the hunger that had me pinned to the ground increased. I raised my head to look at Jake, slowly opening my eyes. Once again the world spun around me, but I found if focused I could make out Jake hovering over me, an extremely anxious expression on his face.

My head spun faster from the hunger assaulting me and the rhythmic thump-thump of thunder was pounding like a drum in my ears, drowning out every other noise around me. His mouth was moving so I knew Jake was talking but I couldn't hear anything but the thunder as my vision narrowed to the pulse beating on his neck. There was a sharp pain in my gums and my tongue rubbed welcomingly against the unfamiliar objects that had invaded my mouth. The image of a vampire with glowing red eyes and fangs popped into my head. I was pretty sure I resembled that right then.

The hunger I felt jumped from agonizing to unbearable and the next thing I knew Jake was on the ground with me on top of him, my fangs digging into the soft flesh of his neck. Jake lie completely still under me. His blood was warm, a mix of sweet syrup and copper. I felt the hunger dissipate as more and more of the liquid flowed down my throat. A quiet moan reached my ears from somewhere far away.

My eyes widened as I suddenly snapped to what I was doing. I wrenched myself away from Jake, rolling across the floor until coming to a stop against a leg of the dinning table a few feet away. I shook my head in an attempt to clear the bloodlust that lingered. The coppery taste remained on my tongue. My breathing was heavy, loud. The rapid thunder was quiet in my ears.

I looked frantically at Jake lying on the wooden floor. Blood was slowly seeping from the twin wounds on his neck, joining with mine in a macabre painting.

I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. Air caught in my throat, and I had to struggle just to breathe, shocked horror surmounting even that basic function. What had I done? I had attacked my best friend.

But as I stared at him, I slowly came to realize something worse. He wasn't moving. Not an inch. He wasn't clutching at his neck in pain, or attempting to stop the blood flow. He wasn't even breathing; his chest completely motionless.

Hot, razor-sharp grief lanced through me, hacking and burning my heart until it felt like nothing remained. I was a murderer, a monster. A bloodsucking, soulless monster. How could I be anything else after what I had just done?

My vision blurred with tears and I looked back at Jake, still lying unmoving on the floor. I rushed to his side, my hands hovering over him, as if there was someway to help. "Jake!" I yelled, even though I was sure it was far too late. "Jake, please wake up. Please!" I begged.

He of course didn't answer and my sobbing increased. Tears streamed down my face, dripping off my cheeks. I watched as one by one they fell, darkening Jake's shirt where they landed.

Slight movement caught my eye and I nearly jumped a foot in the air when I saw his chest slowly rise and fall; heard him drag in a slow breath of air. My gaze leapt to his face instantly and I gasped when I saw his storm blue eyes open and staring back at me.

I froze, afraid to even blink. Though his eyes were open, Jake remained very still, only his chest continued to slowly move up and down. We stared at each other for a long moment until my focus unconsciously strayed to the punctures on his throat. My eyes widened in surprise when I found the wounds healed and nearly gone. His skin was stained bright red, but only two small scars marked his neck, and even those were healing before my eyes.

Jake's breathless voice made my eyes jump back to his.

"Kate?"

A/N: Review?