I stumbled out of the room, mouth bloody and blossoming with pain. The Warden sneered and slammed the door shut behind me. I fell and lay for a long time in the snow, unmoving, eyes closed. The wind whistled over my back.

For the next half-hour it seemed, I didn’t feel anything as the snow formed a thin layer on top of me.

Finally, I stirred and spat snow and blood out of my mouth. The snow tinged red. Slowly, sputtering, I pushed myself up. I was numb all over.

Just as slowly, I realized what had been done. My fangs were gone. I was no more a vampire than the human authorities here, even if I had never used my fangs against a human anyway. None of our kind had. It would’ve broken the treaty made in Transylvania over a thousand years ago.

My gums throbbed where my canines had been. I suddenly sobbed, startling myself. A few heads turned up from the crowd of dirty prisoners, but they went back down.

I had to get out of this place.

I would get out of this place.