Newfangled

"Curiosity kills the cat," that's what the old folks said about being too nosey and that's what exactly happened to me on the night of April 12 at the nightclub Fangs, literally.

I wish I never saw that ominous door, guarded by a watchman donned in gothic fashion. I wish I never let my curiosity take over me. If I had known, I wouldn't have said that accursed word when the watchman asked, "What's the word?"

I shouldn't have seen his fangs glint on the strobing lights of nightclub. I curse my brain for thinking about the word, newfangled. I should've never read about that word.

When the watchman grinned at my answer and twisted the knob of the metal door, my life changed. White light shone brightly in the room, blinding me momentarily as something inside grabs ahold of me, dragging me unto the blinding room. I felt its rough skin brush over me. Its sharp nails digging through my skin, making me wince from the excruciating pain. Then, the light dimmed.

I saw the one who dragged and wounded me. It was a middle-aged woman with dark circles around her eyes and porcelain-like skin, clad in black sweater and denim jeans. She moved away slowly from me, going to a blank spot in a group of people with similar features circling around me.

I looked around the circle of people, looking at me ravenously. I saw this huge, dimly lit room, with the only light coming from the faint glow of a bulb attached to wire in the ceiling. I felt a sticky goop in my arm. Blood, coming from a huge hole in my forearm. I shook from the morbid sight and screamed, "What the fuck did you do?"

"Now now," said the girl who dragged me, smiling. "We were just making sure, you were, human."

I looked at him with confusion, wrapping my shirt to the wound, hoping it would stop bleeding.

"I sense you're confused," she said, tilting her head.

"Well, yes," I replied impatiently, rolling my eyes.

"Any minute now, you will collapse from blood loss," she said, her mouth shifting into a sinister smile. "And you'll wake up brand new, just like us."

"What," I said, trying to stop myself from laughing. "Goths?"

"No," she said in a serious tone. "You'll know when the time comes, you'll know everything."

"Just fucking tell me."

She looked at me blankly, her head tilted. "Good thing you knew about the word."

"What, newfangled? I asked.

She nodded. "You were just in time before we'll raid this hellhole."

I saw my hand drenched in blood, the sight of it making me doze off. No, blood loss is making me faint. My vision becomes blurry and I feel like the world is dancing.

"Sleep tight, Adam. And remember: we are your salvation."

"How did...," I said faintly. "you know my name?" Then, with a thud, I blacked out.

I saw our old house, the one we had when I was still a child. It was atop a mountain of green amidst the clear, blue sky. I felt like the burden is fading away. I looked at my forearm and it is there, fixed, like it wasn't punctured by a sharp nail at all.

Then the sky abruptly turned into a mess of dark red. The clouds were no longer white and cottony, it became dark like coal. The mountain's greens were burned, leaving an ugly grey of ash. The house I saw was no longer from my childhood, it was war-torn. Everything turned from the good ol' countryside into a hellish landscape in a matter of seconds.

Tears were welling up in my eyes and closed my eyes to not see the terror. Once I opened my eyes, bodies were hanged on the front of our house. Every time I blink, new type of horror is manifested. I stopped blinking. I managed to keep my eyes open for a few seconds but they were burning like my eyes were thrown into a fireplace. I closed my eyes shut and let the tears flow.

The tears felt different, they were sticky. I opened my eyes to sense something running down my face. They weren't tears, but blood. Lightning illuminated the landscape, showing visions of murder done by the people in the ominous room every time the sky lit up.

I heard voices around me, shrieks of pain and pleas of mercy. I cover my ears with my hands and closed my eyes tightly.

"Do you know what newfangled means?" Someone asked, a voice so ghoulish. "It meant in your world as "current". It can be applied to us too, but what it really means is 'new fangs'. Meaning, new bloodline of vampires. And you're a part of it."

Then everything was quiet. I opened my eyes and felt that I was laying on a puddle. Blood stopped flowing from my drenched-in-dried-blood forearm. I got up, and noticed myself being naked. Usually, at this time of the night, soaking wet with no clothing covering an inch of my skin, I should be shivering—feeling the touch of the cold night's kiss. But I wasn't feeling that. I felt...normal.

Then, the normalcy turned to something unnatural when I heard my stomach grumble—a new kind of thirst that I never knew. I walked away from the alley in short strides, my hands covering my weiner, moving towards the empty street.

Meow. A cat. I looked for it frantically, searching for the source of the sound around the perimeter of the street. Then, I saw it. Atop a garbage can, underneath the broken streetlight. I walked slowly towards it, something was tugging me towards the furry creature. In a flash, I ran towards it and immediately locked the critter in my arms. Involuntarily, I dug my teeth unto the flesh of the cat. It shrieked of terror but I'm caught up by the satisfying gulp of blood.

Once done, I let go of the unmoving cat, letting it drop unto the hard asphalt. I moved back in terror, realizing what I've done. I then recalled the voice in my dreams. "…new bloodline of vampires. And you're a part of it."