Cold. That was my first thought. My body was cold, numb, a chill running bone deep. Despite that, I felt no need to shiver. I was sitting, slumped to the side. My cheek pressed against a solid, smooth surface the same temperature as me, slight shakes occasionally passing through it and myself.
Slowly I became aware of other sensations around me. The distant purr of an engine, soft leather pressing against my back and behind, occasional small jolts. The rough fabric covering me loosely from the neck down. The soft pressure of a seatbelt ran across me as I slowly came to consciousness.

It was clear to me that I was in a car, even as my eyes remained closed. 

Many things were clear in fact. For example, I was naked but for a towel, slumped over, recently unconscious, and in a strange car. However, oddly, I did not feel panic. I certainly knew I should. Any girl in this situation, any person even, should be panicking, their heart beating out of their chest, adrenaline flooding their veins. However I felt none of that. I felt…. nothing.
It took a moment for my mind to work, to be able to consider this fact. My heart was indeed quiet, feeling as if it lay still in my chest. Again the panic that should spread from such a revelation was simply, absent. As though I was utterly incapable of caring.

With an effort that felt as though I were lifting a heavy load, I opened my eyes.  The beams of the headlights were blinding as they illuminated the street ahead.
Slowly, and with several long, slow blinks, my vision cleared into sharp reality. My head still slumped limply against the window, I took in the word immediately before me. Every detail, clear to my eyes even in the dimly lit cab. The texture of the black leather interior, the small patches of stitching that held it in place, each fiber of the cord in the furthest stitch, every speck of dust, it was all so startlingly clear.
My eyes were never so good, though I may have prided myself on my sight. It was as though everything was revealed to me in the finest detail, as though I had spent my life looking through a veil that was now lifted.

Letting my sight slip to the window I looked out on the dimmed streets of a city. Shuttered shops and darkened alleyways illuminated only by the passing lights of the car, and the odd street lamp. Even at speed, with the buildings blurring past, I could see with near perfect clarity signs in the windows, the litter in the alleys, the dark shapes of those that made those same alleys their home.
Sovereigns Rest was never the safest city. Not on the east side of the river Haven at least, where I assumed myself to be. I had never spent much time in these parts of the city, I had few good reasons to wander here for long. I had always contented myself to staying on Mount Royal island, or to the suburbs to the north. So why was I here? It caused my mind to wander.

I strained my clouded and dull mind to recall. Jessica, my best and only real friend, had gone out. She had wanted to go to some club I think? It wasn't clear, like watching the scene through smoked glass. But we had gone out to celebrate, Jessica had just gotten into university, as a mage, a biomancer of all things.
I felt a tingle of warmth somewhere deep in my mind, the edge of an emotion. The first I had actually felt since waking, it felt almost alien to me. As though such things should not be in my head. Regardless I pressed on, focusing on that thought of Jessica. She was so happy, all her time spent working on her healing magic, patching the many small cuts and bruises I often acquired through stupidity or carelessness. 

We had gone out. She, as she did, had made friends with some group and was chatting. I- I couldn't quite remember. I had stepped away i think. To get a drink? It was blurry, so close but so far, and tinged with another emotion, the feeling of fear.
I tried to remember, struggled to clear the image. There was a man and-

“Don't think about it.”
Somewhere deep in my mind, a sweet, motherly voice sang out in a soothing tone. 

As quickly as it came it was gone. That fleeting idea of emotion dropping as the cold processes of my unfeeling mind. The voice was correct, I didn't need to think about it. 

Slowly I raised my left hand past the towel, the effort feeling as though it strained every joint and muscle in my arm. With the same clarity I was now seeing the world, I looked down at my hand. Slowly flexing the slim, pale fingers. Had my skin always been so pale? My fingers so slim?
It was odd, to look at a hand and recognize it as your own while not understanding exactly what you saw. My nails, always kept short, were inky black. Maybe it was the light, or had I put on nail polish at some point? That would be unlike me.  

The nails stood in stark contrast to the skin as I systematically took it in, looking for discrepancies. The scar across the top of my thumb was as I remembered it, my cuticles were in better shape then I recalled, the usual small cuts or bruises strangely absent.

Slowly I rotated my hand, my mind still in a detached state as I inspected myself. The long scar down the side of my wrist, the result of stupidity and a trampoline, was still there. Difficult to spot against the pale skin, and clearly distinct from the dark blue veins just below the surface.
Suddenly, I was pulled from my inspection by a voice. 

“Don’t worry too much dear. Just relax.”
The same, kind voice from my mind spoke from the driver's seat.

Almost on their own my eyes snapped to the side, my head following shortly after as I sat bolt upright in the seat. 
In the driver’s seat sat a woman, if I had to guess, in her late twenties. Chestnut brown hair flowing down her back to between her shoulders, framing a pale, near flawless face of angular features. A few small freckles and a slight dimple extenuating her charm.
Then I focused in on her eyes. Green like mine, but seeming to shine in the night. They were fixed on my own, as though she were looking through me. Analysing me. Observing every tiny moment. A situation much like that of a rabbit faced with a curious cat. 

Yet, once again, I felt nothing. I knew that this person was dangerous. Instinct screamed that I was sat next to an apex predator. But just as I felt that, I also knew that I was safe. That this person, this dangerous thing, would not harm me.

Tension I didn’t know was there faded from me entirely as I met her eyes. Slumping back down into my seat, my body limp once again.

“That’s good, just relax for now.”
Her eyes returned to the road as she spoke.
“I know it’s odd, that feeling of nothingness. But we’ll have you fixed soon as we’re home.”

I nodded softly. Having my emotions back would be nice, I missed being able to feel. And being “home” as she said….. I would like a proper home. The thought that she was caring for me, or at least knew what was happening, it comforted me.

We carried on in silence, soon clearing what I assumed was the east docklands, as we crossed one of the many bridges across the river Haven and onto Mount Royal. The dark waters playing with the light in strange ways, flickering and dancing in a ways that completely held my gaze. I found mesmerising.
But soon it was soon passed, and the safer side of the city started to roll by. Cafés and boutiques taking the place of tobacconists and convenience stores along the empty streets.   

 I paid little attention. I should have looked for landmarks and counted turns. Gotten a street name maybe. I knew that.
If this was a kidnapping or some such, I really should pay attention. But again, I just didn’t care. It was enough to simply exist, corpse like, in my seat.

Soon enough we climbed the small hills into the richer parts of the city. Passing shops I likely couldn’t afford the brochure for, we soon turned into a side street. Dipping down into a large underground parking lot at the base of one of the many luxurious high rises that decorated the skyline of the Mount Royal proper.

Slowly the car came to a stop in what I assumed to be a reserved spot. Given that we were mere meters from an elevator and the practical sea of polished, high-end vehicles that surrounded us.

The engine ceased its constant purr and the lady beside me opened the door, I couldn't find it in myself to move. Simply tracking her reflection as she walked around the car to my window. Letting my head lull to look out at her comforting visage.
She opened my door carefully, so as to not let my body fall. Gently holding my cheek in her open palm as my head dropped to the side.

I found her touch comfortable, it was the first warmth I had felt since waking and I closed my eyes, a feeling of total calm washing over me. With a sigh the angelic lady lent over me. Unbuckling my seat belt. Before standing once again, giving my cheek a tender pat before withdrawing her hand.

I groaned as her hand left me. A sad, guttural noise.
This elicited a soft chuckle from the woman standing by the open door as she held her hand out. Inviting me to join her.

With a monumental effort I did. Slowly raising my arm and taking her hand. That same comfort from earlier washing over me again as, stumbling, I stood. The towel that had been my only bit of modesty falling uncared for and unneeded as far as I was concerned. 

However, in a flash that I found hard to follow, the lady’s free hand had caught the thing. Gently placing it about my shoulders.
“Come along now dear, careful steps.”

Soft concern was on her face and in her voice as she spoke. She slowly guided me the several meters to an elevator. Pressing the button, we stepped inside. With a flourish the woman produced her phone, tapping it lightly against the button panel. Quickly the doors closed, and we began to rise.

We didn’t speak a word as we travelled, though I could see in the reflection her concerned eyes occasionally flicking in my direction. I took a moment to study her further. She stood an few inches taller than me, maybe 5 '8"? Athletic build, simple jeans, and loose blouse. Nothing remarkable, yet I knew in my soul she was stunning.

 I still held her hand in my own, not willing to part with the comfort it brought. Even as I took the opportunity to look from her to my own reflection in back of the polished door. My pale blonde hair was a mess. I kept it cut just above my shoulders to avoid trouble, but now it was a tangle of unending knots where once soft curls had been. My face was almost sickly pale, as though I was on the edge of a faint. My green eyes were dull, my irises almost black, a red corona surrounding them.

 I studied myself for the whole trip. Paying little attention to my petite body. That was as I recalled, pale, skinny, underwhelming. Instead, I focused on the reflection of my eyes, staring into them as though they were the void.
I was almost transfixed. Only breaking from that state when a gentle pressure gripped my hand. I would have jumped had I been in a sane state of mind.

Instead, I simply turned to look at the kindly face of my guardian as she smiled and spoke. “Welcome home”

 As if on cue, the doors slid open revealing a short hall. A shoe rack to one side, coat hooks, mirror and small bench on the other. I took little notice as we passed the entrance way into the heart of the house. 

 The stunning view caught me instantly, the open floor plan and the sunken lounge giving a near uninterrupted panorama of the moon lit city. I forgot everything as I stepped forward. My eyes taking it in. Even in that broken state, I felt the awe of looking down on a city at rest. Of being above it all, to witness it all.

 It was a singularly perfect moment. I stood lord of all, detached and superior. A ruler surveying a savage land that was fit for that taking. A hawk surveying the fields it ruled, needing only the barest excuse to swoop in and spread death to the pitiful creatures below.

 Pride built filling the vacuum of feeling. I knew, with unerring certainty, that I was supposed to be here. Above the masses, that I was a superior being. That all I need do was-

 “Catch! ~”

My self-indulgent mental tirade was interrupted by that comforting, and now seemingly playful, voice. I turned, slowly at first, till I caught movement in my peripheral vision. My attention snapped to the crimson blob flying in my direction that I deftly snatched from the air with far more speed and precision than I was used to.
I looked down at the object in my hand for a moment. A plastic bag with some short tubing. A dark red fluid within. My pupils dilated more than I thought possible, my teeth aching at the sight. My throat, dry and irritating, now burned as though I had gargled salt.

 Without thought, without pause, and with a frenzied speed. I put the bag to my mouth, my aching canines puncturing it with ease.
Bliss. Perfection. The coldness of my body faded as though I stood in the morning sun. The dullness left my mind, like colour returning to a picture. The fluid now running down my throat and dripping from my chin in my greedy attempt to devour it, was everything my body needed. Life in liquid form.

I closed my eyes. What could only be called a purr forming deep in my chest, as I lost the will to stand. Sinking to my knees with a small thud and simply letting myself drop to the side, I lay on the floor, the now empty bag held tight to my chest like a child’s favourite stuffed toy.
Slowly I licked the reminders from my lips. A feeling of glee forming as I tasted the remnants there. I was in a state of perfect contentment. The kind I had never felt before. 

A soft chuckle half broke the trance as my eyes half opened. The lady that had brought me here stood nearby, resting against the kitchen island. Phone in her hand, camera pointed at me. A smile stretched wide on her face, revealing pronounced canines I hadn’t noticed before. She looked up from the phone and down at me.

“That.” She said, barely containing a laugh. “Was absolutely adorable~”