so rudely interrupted, Theroen took me to the city, took me to a brownstone. Hmmm... maybe I should start at the beginning?”
“Will it lessen the deluge of words you no doubt have prepared, if you structure your thoughts first, I wonder?” Theroen’s voice was wistful as he looked up at the stars. Two laughed, then clapped a hand over her mouth, looking at Melissa with bright eyes.
“You’re no better than he is.” Melissa tossed her hair playfully. “Fine, fine. If you don’t want to hear my story, we’ll just walk in silence. Or maybe Theroen could think of something more structured. Accounting, or law, or something.”
“I want to hear the story, Melissa. Honestly.” Two tried to look apologetic, succeeded only in half-stifling another burst of laughter.
“I don’t know how Abraham found me. Neither does Theroen. Or if he does, he won’t tell me. I don’t know why he made me what I am. I was twenty-three, working in the garment district. I made clothes. I was a seamstress. It was eighteen-seventy-two, and they paid me two dollars a week. Can you believe that?”
“A week?”
“A week. I lived in that dirty, rat-infested pile of bricks in Brooklyn, and I worked for two dollars a week in Manhattan. My whole family worked there, except my father. He died when I was just a little girl.
“When I said I loved this century, I meant it. It’s so clean now! Even Manhattan. Even the dirty parts. The streets aren’t filled with mud and manure. I can drive my pretty little car wherever I want to go. I can buy perfume and beautiful clothes and, if I want, I can walk around in nothing but a bikini, and no one will even say anything. Girls do it in the summer all the time.”
Two found it fascinating, this new take on what seemed such mundane aspects of life. She realized that even given her love of art, she had remained wholly grounded in her twenty-first century world. Melissa was not of this time, and her amazement at things Two had always taken for granted was refreshing.
“One evening as I left the building, there was Theroen, standing in front of me. He said that my presence was urgently requested by a great lord, and beckoned toward a carriage. Even then, he had a taste for fast vehicles. There were six huge horses tied to that carriage, each of them worth more than I would ever earn in my life. Big wheels with wooden padding on the axles to remove some of the shock.
“It still bounced and jostled something awful, but he drove it like a madman anyway. Oh, of course I went. There was no doubt that he did represent some wealthy lord. The carriage alone proved it. And when the rich beckon, well... it was always wise to follow.
“I was totally unaware of what was going on right up until he put his fangs into me.”
She looked at Two and shook her head, her smile sad. “It was pretty disgusting, but it didn’t stop me from, you know... like right then and there.”
Two nodded, glanced up at Theroen, her face coloring slightly. Theroen seemed absorbed in contemplating the moon.
“He drained me all the way, and then gave me some of his blood. I didn’t wake up like you did, though. No, his blood was... it hurt me. Really badly, actually, even though he gave it in three or four doses. I remember I was screaming, and then it was dark, and then it was four days later, and I don’t remember any of them.”
Melissa’s voice, normally so happy, now trembled.
“I can’t even feel her!” She cried, then bit her lip in frustration. “I only know she’s there because Theroen tells me about her, and because sometimes I wake up and I know it’s been more than one day. I’ll wake up in new clothes. I’ll wake up and find horrible pictures spread out on the bed. She likes terrible things. Things with needles and knives and hooks. I’m only glad I can’t remember how she eats. I don’t want to know.”
“She is not a part of you, Melissa.” Theroen’s voice was soothing. He was still looking at the moon.
“Really, Theroen? She cut me, the other day. She cut me from the back of my wrist up to my shoulder, half an inch deep, and then... went back. Let me in. I woke up all of a sudden, standing outside in the woods, with my whole arm