• I was a vampire, an animal ranting and raging with blood red eyes. I was a menace, and I did not want to bear this pain that was harbored inside of me! Why was I the sufferer of this madness, this plague?! Alone, wretched, and with no family left to call my own, I stood in the torrent of rain, tears streaming silently down my face. It had all seemed so perfect! What lay behind an innocent facade was a bitter and cruel revenge.
    A voice called suddenly to me from the lights of a house that was nearest the woods. "Hello? Is someone there? Hello? Do you need help?" A bright shaft of light pierced the shadowy eaves among the trees where I was hidden. "No," I breathed under my breath, "No! Stay away!" His blood hummed and my throat blazed with an unwanted thirst.
    I longed for the human blood with an angry passion, but still had enough of my reason left within me to know that it would be wrong to take an innocent life. I loathed myself and wished I could end it all. Crazed as I was, I did not want to hurt an innocent life as I had been hurt. I crouched in the dark shadows and tensed, ready to spring away should the human choose to investigate further. The human moved closer, sweeping the light in a broad range over the area where I was hiding, and as I darted past I snarled to frighten her or him away.
    I lunged into the safety of the woods and ran effortlessly through the thicket until my head was slightly cleared. The storm's fury overhead increased, and the wind and pounding downpour streamed through my hair. I did not care who I was, where I came from, or how I was made. I only wanted to be left alone, bloodthirsty and homeless, sad, and lonely.