"AAAH!" Astrid bolted up quite suddenly as she tried to take a deep breath.

"That reaction never gets old." A female voice laughed lightly in the dark, dilapidated house that they were in.

"YOU BURIED ME ALIVE!" Astrid accused her so-called savior as she tried to get the dirt out of her petticoats and hair.

"Well technically I buried you half alive, or at least three-quarters dead mademoiselle." The woman that called herself Heather shrugged it off as if it was a casual thing. "Besides if it wasn't for me you would have been completely dead. Be grateful that the blood loss was still at a point where you could have been transformed."

"Transformed?" Astrid asked a little hesitant as well as curious. She remembered little of the night except fainting after Heather had introduced herself.

"Congratulations! You're a vampire!" Heather happily told her while clapping her on the shoulder.

"I'M A WHAT!" Astrid shrieked, not believing what this woman was telling her.

"Merde, you got a set of lungs." Heather grimaced as she covered her ears. "Vampire hearing is quite strong."

"Mademoiselle Heather are you seriously suggesting that I have become some bloodsucking monster out of a fairytale?!"

"Your stab wound is gone, is it not." Heather pointed at Astrid's abdomen. Astrid looked down and gasped as she could not even see a scar.

"As I said, you are a vampire now. Which means faster healing." Heather smirked. "And for the record, vampires are not bloodsucking monsters, well most of our small population aren't. We just need blood once a month to survive and we don't have to kill our prey."

"You are talking about drinking blood like it's a casual thing." Astrid commented wide-eyed. She looked at the black-haired woman in front of her in wonder, awe, and a bit of fear.

"Oh you're a fledgeling dearie. No need to worry." Heather stated. "You will learn the vampire ways soon enough. Soon you will be soaring through the clouds."

Astrid had to laugh at that. "Mademoiselle, the day that humans learn to fly I shall owe you twelve livres tournois."

"Ah, a friendly wager." Heather laughed. "You got yourself a deal childe. I have been around long enough to see some wondrous things."

"How long is long? You look my age." Astrid commented disbelievingly.

"But look and are are two different things." Heather stated. "I stopped counting after reaching four hundred."

"Four....... Four hundred!" Astrid pointed a slightly shaking finger at Heather.

"Why yes, now come. I must teach you a few things." Heather gestured for Astrid to follow her.

"But the sun is out." Astrid commented. "Do vampires not turn into dust at sunlight?"

Heather had to stifle her laughter. "Are those stories still going on? Admittingly I'm to blame for most of them during my time in Romania but it is just funny to hear them still being told."

"So no bursting into dust?"

"No, we just get a bit of a darker tan than humans. Being Undead does have its perks. Immortality, shapeshifting, and we save a ton on food."

"Anything I should watch out for?" Astrid asked curiously.

"Oh yes." Heather said as she began ticking things off. "Holy water really does burn, garlic is an old wives tale but watch out for carrots, vampires are deadly allergic to them. And then the usual stake or axe-wielding humans."

"Alright" Astrid said as she started following Heather. "Where are we going?"

"I am going to teach you how to shapeshift. I was on my way to Ireland when I stopped in this town to rest."

Astrid looked a bit sceptical when she heard 'shapeshift' but everything was already so weird for her. The sunlight hit her and she had to cover her eyes momentarily. When she opened her eyes she looked at her hands to see no smoke coming off of them. Heather had a smirk on her face as they left the old house and ventured further into the nearby forest. Heather came to a stop on what appeared to be a small steep hill. She proceeded to show Astrid the three forms vampires could shape into. A land form of which Heather turned into a white wolf, a sea form where Heather proudly displayed a small brightly colored water snake, and her traditional flying form that was that of a large Vampire bat.

"Wow" Was all Astrid could say as she watched Heather shapeshift.

"I do not have much time to immediately teach you all the forms but you will need to master your flying form quickly because we need to hunt. While vampires can go a month without drinking blood, a fledgeling needs blood upon awakening."

"But I don't feel any different." Astrid said.

"Not yet, but when the sun sets the bloodlust will start to take over. You've been in that dirt for three days." Astrid's eyes widened upon hearing that. 'Had she really been unconscious for three days?'

"Now come over here." Heather indicated to a spot near the edge of the hill. "Remember what I told you when I was shifting? You will need to concentrate."

Astrid let out a nervous gulp. "Okay....... Concentrate....... I can do this." She mumbled as she closed her eyes. She kept her eyes closed and asked "Did it work?"

"No, you still have legs." Heather mumbled.

Astrid groaned and tried again. She closed her eyes and concentrated hard. "Anything?" She asked after a while and cracked an eye open to see Heather standing there with an amused smile on her face.

"Obviously not."

"Why won't this work?" Astrid muttered while frowning.

"I find that the greatest learning method is practical over theoretic." Heather commented before kicking Astrid off the small steep hill.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH" Astrid shouted as she fell and hit the bottom with a resounding thud. Heather peered over the top and asked "Did it work?"

"I........... will........... Kill.......... You........." Astrid growled out as she picked herself back up carefully, the broken bones cracking back into place and the bruises disappearing. She was astounded that she felt only the bare minimum pain. Glancing up from where she fell she noticed Heather watching her while twirling a lock of her black hair around her finger.

"Shall we try again?" Heather asked once more when Astrid finally managed to stomp back up to where the older vampire stood. She snarled at her, baring two pearly white fangs. "Oh aren't they just so cute." Heather joked about her fangs before throwing her off the hill again.

Astrid woke up with a jolt at the sound of the train's horn. The steam from the engine passed above the carriages but Astrid still wrinkled her nose in disgusts. She could never get used to these steam-powered locomotives even after making it to the Americas ten years ago. She sat primly in her seat as she stared out the window. So much had changed since she first became a vampire, 83 years 11 months ago. So many places she had visited. She pulled her low cut red jacket a bit tighter upon feeling the lustful gazes of several men go to her bodice. Some things never changed, and yet some things changed in the blink of an eye. She smoothed out her long yellow skirt with gloved hands as she went back to thinking as to why she had had that dream in the first place. 'She was here on a mission' she mentally repeated, clutching the golden pocket watch in one of her hands. She would get her revenge. Astrid was jolted out of her thoughts when the wagon door was kicked open as three men carrying revolvers came in. Several men in the carriage also stood up and waved guns at the stunned passengers. "Ladies and gentlemen. This is a train robbery!" One of the men that had been eyeing her shouted.

'Oh great' Astrid thought. 'Things like this just had to happen when she boarded a train.' "This is Wales all over again." Astrid groaned as one of the men approached her.

"I'll be taking that Lil Lady." He laughed while trying to grab the golden pocket watch out of her hand. Astrid was faster and caught his hand with surprising strength, showing her fangs she said "This Lil Lady is in no mood to play." before twisting his arm and sending him barreling into two of his stunned companions. Astrid stood up and placed the watch back in her jacket pocket before cracking her knuckles and facing the stunned thieves. "This can go the easy way or the hard way." She muttered while giving them an unimpressed look.