[ TT ] All your friends and family are slowly changing . They do n't notice the difference , but you certainly do ...

It began with the day I cut myself shaving. 
 
 Maybe it was the slightly hungry look on the face of a customer, maybe it was the half-lidded eyes of the colleague I was in no way dating what are you talking about we only have the odd coffee now and then together. 
 
 Maybe it was the way everyone on the bus stared at me. 
 
 Something was immediately wrong. 
 
 By the third day ( and the cut was mostly healed ), I nicked my hand again whilst making a tomato and jalapeño and mustard sandwich. 
 
 At work, everyone was wearing black. 
 
 Did n't bother me though. Office wear. 
 
 So, in my lilac cotton shirt, a beacon of brightness in a morbid office, I sold insurance policies. 
 
 On the third week of everyone being strange, my not-my-girlfriend-I-would-have-no-chance-Carl offered to lick my thumb clean of blood. 
 
 Kinky as that was, I declined as we were at work and the plan was we kept it quiet until Carl had gotten over her dumping him for me in secret. 
 
 On the second month, I did wonder why everyone was on the night shift and I was on the day, but work got quiet anyway for the daytime, so so long as I could browse reddit when it was quiet and still get paid the same, who cared if there were no customers? 
 
 By the third month, I decided things were getting weird. But, I followed my girlfriend ( we became public once Carl confronted me about how he knew and wanted me to live a long and happy life with whoever ), and she took me to a blood bank. 
 
 She volunteered there once, and considers it important for those with a rare blood type to donate as often as was safe. 
 
 We watched a vampire movie that night on Netflix, a sequel to Blade set in an Arizona woodland, where sparking vampires battled the dhampir vampire slayer. She was into it, but I was kind of bored of Blade since they cast Chris Tucker for the role. 
 
 She gave me a little lovebite on my neck, and continued life as normal. 
 
 I was sure something weird was up, but it was probably the economic downturn bringing people down. 
 
 People just did n't eat as much, and people spent more time out at night. Dark clothes and pale faces. 
 
 Reminded me of my time as a nerdy goth in the 90s. Amusing in hindsight. We used to roleplay this vampire game, and prey on humans. However, there was this unspoken rule that vampires must remain secret or be killed to maintain secrecy. Also onto this, vampires hid amongst humans, battling their monstrous nature by sating it with blood banks, rat blood, and even careful feeding off humans combined with other abilities. 
 
 I mentioned this to my girlfriend, and she thought the idea was'sexy'. I think she did n't understand tabletop gaming and just heard the word'roleplay'. 
 
 She had really convincing fangs that night too. 
 

