see why not.”

“Great! Sarah and Rhes told me I could stay here as long as I wanted.”

Sarah spoke up. “We’re really glad you sent Molly to stay with us, Two. We’re hoping she’ll stay for a very long time.”

Two grinned. “Excellent. You going to go back to school, Molly?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. Should I?”

“We’re going to tutor her for the rest year, and start her back at public school next fall,” Sarah said. “I’m scaling back my work a bit. Shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Guess that answers that,” Two said. “You’re a smart kid. You’ll catch up.”

Molly beamed at the compliment. There was silence, not awkward, as Two and her friends sat and thought. At length, Rhes turned to Two.

“Breakfast?”

“Thought you’d never ask, big guy. Here, or out somewhere?”

“Here, I thought. We’ve got plenty of food. I’ll make eggs. You want to help, Tori?”

“Sure, Rhes.”

Rhes headed for the kitchen, Tori behind him.

* * *

Breakfast brought light conversation, catching up mostly. Rhes was still working for Sid, Sarah still teaching at the school for the blind. Two avoided conversation about herself. There was too much she could not bring herself to tell about her time with Darren, and she wanted to bring no reminder to Molly of those dark days. She talked mainly of her apartment, of Tori’s efforts to learn to read, of days spent preparing for the future.

Two offered money. Rhes and Sarah demurred. Two accepted this, expecting it, and said they knew where to come if they were ever in need. They thanked her. Molly seemed awed at Two’s newfound wealth. She asked for details, and Two declined, saying only that she had found great fortune in the past few months.

No one mentioned vampires, prostitution, heroin. They did not skirt around the topics, much, but they’d been talked about. Talked out, Two thought. She wanted to move on. Molly wanted to move on. Rhes and Sarah saw this, and so they left it alone.

Breakfast over, they made plans to visit the library. Two took Rhes aside and explained Tori’s revelation of her mother’s name. Rhes was pleased; this would make searching for records that much easier. They agreed to meet at the library in the early afternoon. Two and Tori left to go home and change clothes.

A subway ride took them back into Manhattan. Two gazed out at the lights whipping by, illuminating names tagged at great risk on the tunnel walls. Some she recognized, some were new. Vandals and artists, publicizing themselves via drawings both crude and complex in the dark under New York. Tori asked questions endlessly, in the manner of a child. How did the subways work? Who drove them? How far did they go? Were they really traveling under buildings? Two answered them absently, smiling. A life in the city made one forget the simple wonder it could inspire.

Back at the apartment, showers, new clothes. Two thought about living on her own, wondering if she could stand it. She thought of what it would be like to lose Tori, and thought again of the girl’s parents, and what they must have gone through; must still be going through. This only strengthened her growing resolve. Rhes was right. They had to find Tori’s parents and, if possible, get her home.

They set off toward the library in the full light of day, unseasonably warm and dry, and for the first time in recent memory, standing in the sunlight did not remind her of her time as a creature of the night. There was too much to do. Two felt she had some purpose again, something to do as a human. She would help this other woman who was, or was rapidly becoming, also human. That she might, by completing this task, so absolve herself of any responsibilities was not now a concern. Two crossed bridges when she came to them, and had little interest in contemplating them beforehand.

* * *

Tori and Molly were in the children’s section, flipping through books. Sarah sat reading books in Braille. Rhes and Two worked the library computers, searching microfilm reference for a missing girl named Tori, daughter of Mona. Rhes reflected that, even five years ago, it would have been an all-day project. It took Two less than thirty minutes, refining her search several times, to produce a short list of possible matches. One in particular caught her eye.

Perrault Girl Still Missing

New developments in the possible kidnapping of Ms. Tori Perrault have police baffled. Daughter of Mona and James, of Fort