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.”“Good.I understand her.I wish I was like her.Oh, God, Theroen.how do you stand it? Is it always this much.tragedy?”“No, not like this, but there is always some tragedy, Two, and always some joy, and I am sometimes thankful for both.It reminds me of what it was like to be a human.You want to know what you are, Two? You are a killer.You are a vampire.You are a force of nature, like the girl sitting before us.You are cursed, and you are blessed, just like Tori.She will never know the things we know, feel the things we feel.That is her blessing.That is her curse.”Two smiled at Tori.Tori smiled back, then turned suddenly, loped off through the grass, making high yipping sounds.In seconds she was gone.After a moment more, Two stood.The cut on her finger had already healed, but the thirst still burned within her.“Let’s go into the city, Theroen.I’m hungry.”They left the clearing, moving back toward the mansion.Overhead, the moon looked down on them, cold and distant.* * *There was no need to find a criminal this time.Two was ravenous, and beyond caring.“I'm fucking starving.I don't care if it's a virgin girl about to win the Nobel Peace Prize.Force of nature, that's me.”Theroen had nodded, and headed for the city, the Ferrari roaring beneath them.There was little said during the drive.Both were occupied with their own thoughts, though both reflected on the same issue.Was there any way to avoid the coming storm?Eventually Two sighed, closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the seat.Theroen took her hand momentarily, squeezed it.“This is going to drive me crazy, Theroen.”“I’d rather you not let it.We have a surplus in that area already.”Two let herself smile a little.“I don’t think Tori’s actually that nuts.She’s just.stripped raw.I’m also not sure she’s as unaware of what’s going on as you guys think.That bit with the blood was pretty impressive.”Theroen shrugged.“It is possible.Tonight is the longest she’s ever allowed me to be close to her.”Two fed on an older woman returning from a late night at work.There was little ceremony, this time.She simply followed the woman into her building, attacked her in the stairwell, and she and Theroen pulled the body up and into the woman’s apartment, where they left it.Theroen fed from a neighbor, a woman in her mid-twenties whose cats were petrified of him, left her lying flushed and feverish in her bed, and they departed.“Why did we come so far, if it was that easy?” Two asked.“You will need to be careful with your eating habits for some time, Two.Most vampires do not stop killing out of some misguided sense of morality, but for personal protection.Sixty thousand people die every year in the city and the surrounding area.It makes for good cover.But even a small portion of vampires, killing a victim per night, would rapidly raise suspicion.Fortunately, like I said, those of our strain are the only vampires that need so much blood for so long.There are not many of us.”“Why not?”“We breed differently.Unfortunately, I do not know all of the specifics.There is very much that Abraham never bothered to teach me, and that Lisette did not have time to.I believe she may actually have withheld a great deal from me, in order to protect me until I had grown stronger.”“Lisette.”Theroen sighed, and Nodded.“Lisette.Yes.I never did finish that story.There’s nearly forty years I could talk about, but most of that is empty details.A lot of hunting.A lot of sex.Fond memories, but I wish we’d done more with the time.”“I think just about everyone does, Theroen.”“Yes, I think so too.Where did I leave off?”“She left you that first night, and you went home.”“Ah.Home.Home to sleep.Home to wait.For night.for Lisette.”* * *Theroen made his way back to the dwelling where he spent most of his time.Though he had started his life as a vampire living in tombs, this was simply meant to be a lesson from Abraham.After a week or two of sleeping on cold slabs, Abraham had brought Theroen to his home, a large estate on the outskirts of the city.Theroen thought perhaps the lesson was that Abraham could provide better than what Theroen could manage on his own.Theroen, already falling into the anger and hatred that would consume him for the next ten years, took only the knowledge that he did not need to live in the graveyard
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