Immortality for Beginners - Chapter 1

Life can change very quickly. For Donna, she first knew it was about to all change when she woke up as a bat.

She hissed at the morning sunlight peeking in through the shades – not unusual so far – turned over, and fell off the bed. But the fall seemed much farther than it should have been, and ber body itself felt strange, like a shifting dream reality.

The room seemed … bigger. She tried to get up, and her legs wouldn’t bend the way she thought they should. She looked down at herself, and screamed. Her body was covered in blue-black skin and red fur, all the proportions wrong. She flailed around, flopping uselessly on the threadbare gray carpet. Finally, she noticed her arms. Or, more specifically, her fingers, as long now as the bones of her arms, and the membrane between them.

She sat up as best she was able and stretched her arms in front of her. Wings! The world seemed to rush in upon her, and she cried out loud, "A bat! I turned into a bat! That guy who bit me last night WAS a vampire, and now I’m one too! Finally something interesting happens that isn't also godawful!" This all came out as a delighted garble of chirps and squeaks.

She carefully pulled herself up on her tiny bat feet by grasping the comforter with her thumb talon. She toddled down the hallway to the bathroom, holding her wings carefully up off the...