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  “All right,” Two said. “I’ll go buy some stuff to wear, and while I’m doing that, you can make some phone calls and find out what the hell is going on.”

  “Very well,” said Naomi, already reaching for her phone. “Let’s go.”

  * * *

  The vampires had suggested this trip to her apartment on the third night that Two had spent with them. After she had fallen asleep on Naomi’s couch, Two had spent the rest of the night and most of the following day there. She had awoken during the following afternoon, ravenous, and treated herself to a burrito and a beer. Naomi had woken shortly thereafter, as had Stephen. Two had spent most of the second evening in deep conversation with Naomi, as Stephen had almost immediately excused himself to attend a football game.

  Two enjoyed talking with Naomi. Their experiences with Theroen gave them common ground, and from there the conversation had flowed naturally. Naomi seemed to enjoy Two’s sarcasm and outspoken nature. Two found Naomi’s more reserved approach calming and pleasant, similar to how Theroen’s demeanor had made her feel.

  Eventually both women had gone to their beds, happy to know each other and content to spend the time between then and the next council meeting as friends. For Two, it was a welcome change after months of self-imposed solitude.

  Now they were standing in a pricey SoHo boutique. The store had closed an hour ago, but Naomi knew the proprietor. The woman, dark haired and stunning even in middle-age, seemed to understand that they would make it well worth her while to allow them in to shop. She was leaving them alone, sitting at the counter with a laptop computer.

  Two had a hard time not reacting with incredulity to the price tags on the clothing she was looking at. Eight hundred dollars for a pair of blue jeans seemed outlandish even in this new world where she could afford the extravagance. Two owned a cashmere sweater that had cost her half as much, and had been convinced when she bought it that she would never spend more on an article of clothing.

  She modeled outfits for Stephen while Naomi stood in the corner, murmuring into her cell phone.

  “I like the pants, but not the sweater,” Stephen was saying. “You need something tighter. It will look good with that jacket … which, by the way, may be the only thing you own that you shouldn’t immediately burn.”

  “I have some other nice stuff, but not much,” Two admitted. She stepped back into the dressing room, removed the sweater, and pulled on a simple, long-sleeved black top.

  Stephen nodded when she emerged. “Better. You’re a little thin. Less cigarettes, more burritos.”

  Two laughed. “I guess. I’m hoping not to need the burritos for too long.”

  “Aye, but it’s always best to prepare for anything. Now try on that shirt that Naomi pointed out, the green one that goes with your eyes. That might work for the council meeting.”

  “You know what they say about men with fashion sense, Stephen?”

  “That they’ve lived for three centuries, deeply appreciate the female body, have seen dozens of fashions come and go, and are comfortable enough with their masculinity to admit that they know what looks good?”

  Two laughed. “Yeah, something like that.”

  She shopped for forty minutes in total, amassing a pile of clothing that she estimated was going to cost at least ten thousand dollars. As she was finishing up, Naomi wandered over, her cell phone in her purse, and casually glanced through Two’s selections.

  “These are nice,” she said. “You need underwear.”

  “Yeah. What did your friends on the phone have to say?”

  “While we were chatting last night, three Burilgi broke into your home. Jakob, an Ay’Araf council member, took care of them. He escorted two humans that the Burilgi had attacked to the hospital and, as of this evening, has them under guard at their house.”

  “Two humans? Who?”

  “A blind woman and her boyfriend, I was told.”

  Two’s eyes widened. “Jesus Christ! Are they OK?”

  “The woman is fine. The man suffered some injuries, but nothing terrible. Bruises, some stitches, a few broken—”

  “Oh my God …”

  “They are safe now.”

  “I need to go see them!”

  “I’d advise against it. The council feels that you should be kept with me until our meeting. The Burilgi are very aware of you, and while Stephen and I are more than a match for a few of them, if they come in numbers it could be problematic. There are things which the Burilgi are unhappy about, and some would not hesitate to take the opportunity for violence.”

  “Things like what?”

  “Like what happened with Abraham,” said Stephen. “A lot of them looked to him as something of a god.”

  “Oh. Great. So it’s my fault, and I’m a danger to anyone I’m around.”

  “That’s the gist of it!” Stephen gave Two a cheerful grin.

  “Story of my life. OK, I’ll leave Rhes and Sarah alone until this gets straightened out, as long as you’re sure they’re safe.”

  “As safe as anyone can be in New York. Jakob has them guarded during the nights. His men are very loyal.”

  “Jakob is a good man,” said Stephen.

  “Fine,” Two said. She quickly selected several sets of bras and panties. “I think we can call this done. I can’t believe I’m about to pay a hundred and fifty bucks a pop for bras.”

  “They’re very comfortable,” Naomi said.

  “And easily removed,” Stephen commented. Naomi shot him a look.

  “From me or from her?” Two asked.

  “I don’t know you well enough to answer half of that question,” Stephen replied.

  “Something you’re not telling me, Naomi?” Two asked, grinning.

  Naomi shrugged, rolled her eyes, shook her head. With an air of deliberate indifference, she picked up the pile of clothing and made her way toward the front of the store. At the counter, the owner of the shop went through the pile of clothing, ringing the items up and making comments as she went, all of them positive. Two supposed this was good business; the compliments were probably designed to ease the sting of paying thousands for perhaps three hundred dollars’ worth of fabric.

  There seemed to be little sting for Naomi regardless. She pulled out a black credit card without even checking to see what the total was and within minutes they were out on the sidewalk, each carrying bags filled with clothes.

  “What now?” Two asked.

  “Home to change,” Naomi said. “Then I believe I will go out to the club for a while, have some wine, get some dinner. Are either of you interested?”

  “Sure,” said Two.

  “Good sweet Christ, no,” Stephen said. “Every time you drag me there, I swear to every god I’ve ever heard of that I’ll never go back. I’ve no idea how you stand it.”

  “I like to watch people,” Naomi said.

  Stephen shook his head in disbelief. “I like to watch basketball. I’ll do that instead.”

  “Far be it from me to stop you,” said Naomi. “You stay home. Two and I will go out and have fun.”

  * * *

  When they arrived at L’Obscurité, Thomas gave them a wide smile and set them up with drinks. Naomi took her customary glass of red wine, and Two again ordered a bourbon with one ice cube. Naomi paid, though Two offered. Naomi only smiled. Money was not something she had to worry about, she explained. Her investments had accumulated over centuries and were more than self-sustaining. Naomi, like many vampires in New York, was extremely wealthy.

  “And I thought I did pretty well, looting the mansion and setting myself up for life,” Two said.

  Naomi shrugged. “My life never ends.”

  “Don’t rub it in.”

  “You’ll get it back.”

  “We’ll see.”

  They were quiet for a time, observing the bar.

  “She’s cute,” Naomi said, flicking her eyes toward the edge of the dance floor. The woman dancing there had straight black hair cropp
ed in a pixie cut and held back with bright pink barrettes. She was wearing an outfit that could only be described as a cross between a school girl uniform and a fetish costume, a sort of latex-and-leather skirt and blouse combination. She was dancing by herself, undulating to the music.

  “Dinner?” Two asked, watching the girl.

  “With any luck, if she’s not too drunk.” Naomi took a sip of her wine, smiling a small smile.

  “Why can you drink that? I mean … how are you able to?”

  “That is a gift, one that is fairly common amongst Ashayt and Ay’Araf vampires and almost entirely unheard of in the others. Older Eresh vampires like Abraham or perhaps Theroen could force themselves to drink a bit, but not much. I will, well, regurgitate anything solid after a few minutes, but my body will tolerate most liquids. I can also walk under the sun without any major discomfort, though it does rapidly exhaust me.”

  “What about Stephen?”

  “Ay’Araf can drink if they choose, but sunlight is very painful for them. We have scientists studying it. Given today’s technology, I doubt it will be too much longer before we understand why the different strains of blood do this, and possibly even fix the problems. Like all discovery, it’s really just a matter of time, study, and effort … and money.”

  “Money always helps,” Two said. “Are there a lot of scientists?”

  “Not among our people, no. Few of us are particularly interested. For my part, I enjoy the romance of my existence. I enjoy the magic. I live forever, never get sick, don’t have to deal with the betrayals and indignities that age wreaks upon the body. I take young men or women to bed, or just to the bathroom, and I charm them, and I bite them. Instead of screaming or dying, they typically have an orgasm and then forget me ten minutes after I’ve gone. I bring immediate, easy pleasure to someone every night. That’s pretty magical.”

  “It’s always someone new? Why not pick one person?”

  Naomi tried to smile, but the expression looked weary, as if this was not the first time she had answered the question. “I try not to form such attachments. I … what happened to Lisette, I think, was partially responsible for that. Still, I have what you might call repeat customers.”

  Not exactly the same thing, Two thought, but kept her mouth shut. She understood what Naomi was saying. Hadn’t she withdrawn from her own friends, these past months, and chosen to pursue a solitary life? Was it the same sort of thing? Two wasn’t sure. She wanted attachment. She wanted the joy of loving another and receiving that person’s love. She wanted to need and to be needed. The problem was that the man she wanted these things from was dead.

  “Theroen said that before the end, you had already distanced yourself a bit, even from him and Lisette.”

  Naomi nodded, sipped her wine, glanced again at the girl in the pink barrettes. “Yes, that’s true, particularly in the matter of sexual relations. I was excited by my own sexuality – something very few women were able to learn much about in those times – and wanted to explore. I also knew that Lisette and Theroen loved each other very much. I loved them both as well, but in a different sort of way. They needed time together without interruption, especially Lisette. She suffered from depression. Theroen was her anchor.”

  “Do you suppose he’s with her now?” Two asked.

  “It’s beyond me to guess what happens to us when we die. Would you begrudge him it, if he was?”

  Naomi was looking back at her, and Two could read simple curiosity, devoid of any malice, in her expression. She considered the question carefully before shaking her head.

  “No, I don’t think so. Wherever Theroen is, I hope he’s happy. He lived for hundreds of years trapped under Abraham, punishing himself for the sins he thought he had committed. He felt like it was his fault that Lisette died and you disappeared, and his fault that he didn’t stop Abraham from making Tori and Melissa into vampires. He knew that he would probably have to kill them someday, and that Abraham would probably murder him for it …”

  Two was surprised to find herself on the verge of tears. She took a large drink from her glass of bourbon and closed her eyes.

  “He was hard on himself,” Naomi said.

  “Yes, and then he met me, and all I really did was set everything in motion that got him killed.”

  Naomi frowned. “I doubt that very much. I knew Theroen when he was in love with Lisette. She was the reason for his existence, the beginning and the end to everything he was. If he loved you like that, Two – and I don’t doubt that he did – then he must have died a happy man.”

  “Gonna start crying if we don’t stop talking about this,” Two said. She was holding very still, breathing deeply, trying to keep her emotions in check.

  “Would that be so bad?”

  “I did a lot of crying when I was still a vampire, and it didn’t get me anywhere. I don’t cry anymore if I can help it. It’s pointless, and weak, and stupid.”

  “And therapeutic, and healthy, and natural …”

  “Whatever.”

  “It’s not good to keep all of that emotion bottled up inside you,” Naomi said, her brows pulled tight in an expression of concern. Two shrugged.

  “Don’t really want to talk about it,” she said. “Please.”

  “Very well. I’ll change the subject.”

  “Go for it.”

  Naomi was quiet for a moment before turning to Two, leaning in and speaking in a conspirator’s voice. “That man at the bar, there. Thomas. He has been observing me for nearly three years now, reporting my actions to his superiors.”

  “His … what, like the bar manager?”

  Naomi grinned. “Not exactly. He is a member of a cult that calls itself the Children of the Sun. We have known about them for decades but did not consider them a threat. They would occasionally catch and kill a Burilgi that was terrorizing a neighborhood somewhere, but we viewed this as a good thing. It helped us keep a low profile, and they did the same. Then, all of a sudden, something woke them up.”

  “What are they doing?”

  “Since May of this year, the Children of the Sun have been actively recruiting at a rapid pace. We can only assume that they intend to begin murdering vampires on a much larger scale.”

  Two looked at her, eyebrows raised in surprise. “I’m confused,” she said finally.

  Naomi looked at her, head tilted, waiting for Two to elaborate.

  “You know what he is and what he’s doing … and you let him do it?”

  Naomi gave her a gentle smile. “What would you have me do? Kill him?”

  “I don’t know. Yes? Or at least put him in prison or something. Can’t your council do that?”

  “Eliminating a single human is not difficult for us, but what would be the value? Thomas is no danger to me or anyone I associate with. His cult has only ever busied itself with Burilgi who live in low-population areas and act in ways that break our laws anyway. Thomas does not know that he is suspected. Why tip our hand? Why tell our enemies that we are aware of them when he presents an opportunity for study?”

  Two finished her drink, thinking this over. A pretty young woman with long, purple hair swooped over and removed the glass almost immediately. She asked if Two would like another drink, and Two said that she would.

  “Her blood is fantastic,” Naomi said when the girl had left. “She’s healthy, in good shape, and doesn’t poison herself with anything except a few cocktails now and then. I drink from her every couple of months. She never remembers me until I’ve bitten her, and then it’s ‘Oh, I missed you’ over and over.”

  Two laughed. She glanced over at Thomas, who caught her looking and smiled at her. Two smiled back and gave him a small wave.

  “He seems so nice,” she said.

  “He’s a fine young man who is simply misguided. You did a good job there, not showing any concern.”

  “My previous … career … involved a lot of acting.” Two rolled her eyes.

  “I don’t doubt it.”

&
nbsp; “So what are you guys gonna do about this cult?”

  “We’d like to determine where they operate from, and why they’re so intent on killing vampires. They’re very secretive. What little we know has all come from following operatives like Thomas, and as soon as they realize they’ve been compromised, they disappear.”

  “So the council is investigating things? What happens when you find out who’s running things?”

  Naomi’s eyes were full of dark mirth. “I believe we will have a little chat with those in charge.”

  “And if that goes badly?”

  “Stephen and the other Ay’Araf would like very much for it to go badly. They can certainly handle any unpleasantness that might arise.”

  Two nodded. “And it doesn’t bother you that they’re killing Burilgi?”

  “I don’t know of any better way to deal with the rogues, but I detest killing of any sort. It’s not solely my decision to wait. You must understand, Two … most of my people don’t live much more than a normal human lifetime, if that. We don’t die from sickness or age, but those aren’t the only things that kill people. It takes a great deal of caution, and no small amount of luck, to live for the amount of time I and many of the council members have. We approach every action with caution and scrutiny.”

  “So you’re pretty conservative …”

  “When it comes to things like starting wars with cults we barely know about? Yes. The Burilgi are well aware of the Children, I am sure. It is up to them to stay safe. The council is more concerned with those vampires that opt to follow its laws, and that rules out nearly all Burilgi.”

  “Fair enough.” Two glanced up as the cocktail waitress arrived with her drink. She paid, gestured the waitress to keep the change, and returned the girl’s smile. The waitress paused momentarily, giving Naomi a confused look, and then moved on.

  “That looked like a ‘where do I know you from?’ moment,” Two said.

  Naomi gave a small laugh. “I wonder what she’d think if I complimented her on her Hello Kitty bed sheets.”