seemed as if her senses were amplified at times, and yet this occurred without warning or pattern. If she could control it, she had not yet learned how.

Steps above her, the opening of some heavy door, and then Theroen was there.

“Hello Two.” He stared in through the bars at her.

Two, with a strength belying the shakiness inside her, replied back. “Nice place you’ve got here, Theroen. Love the decor.”

Theroen grinned, reached out with a key, unlocked the door to her cell. Iron grating on iron. Squeal of rusty hinges. He stepped backward, gestured with his hand.

“You’d probably like a shower. Some new clothes?”

Two looked at him, eyebrows raised.

“You turned me into some kind of monster, Theroen.”

“Did I?”

“I can see in the dark. I was crying earlier, and my tears were pink. I scraped my hands, and they healed in a couple of minutes. What the fuck did you do to me?” Two could feel anger replacing fear, and welcomed it.

“Something you will one day thank me for. Two, you have to trust me.”

“I don’t have to do anything! You bought my time for a night, Theroen, not my life.”

“I’ve given you a gift.”

“Take it back!” Two shouted. “I didn’t ask for your gift.”

“You wanted to be with me, yes?”

Two was quiet. Theroen continued.

“Yes. And not because of anything I did, either. No drugs, no magic. I gave you a taste of freedom, that’s all. A look at what it might be like to be with me. And now you can be. Forever.”

A shiver ran down Two’s spine at this. She continued her silence, holding on to her anger.

“I’ve given you immortality, Two... or at least the path to it. I’ve given you a way to be free of your addictions, free of your life on the streets, free of that pimp selling you every night.”

“If you were offering that, I wouldn’t feel like there are shards of glass in my spine. I need to go, Theroen. Now. I need that pimp. I need my fix. I never asked for any of this.”

“You asked with your eyes. You asked with your body.”

“I asked for your love. Not your ... your ...”

“Blood?”

“Blood! I don’t want this, Theroen. I don’t.”

“You don’t know what this is.” Theroen gestured at her, then at himself. “At least let me show you.”

Two considered, shivering. Was this a fair request? Was this man, so little the monster she’d seen portrayed in movies, read about in books, honestly giving her the chance to make her own decisions? She had perhaps another 12 hours before the withdrawal became unbearable.

“If you trust me, Two, I will show you a way to break from the world you are trapped in. I will give you escape.”

Two shook her head. She couldn’t see it.

Theroen sighed, lifted his finger to his lips and without hesitation bit down. Blood immediately welled, and Two felt a sudden surge of adrenaline and terrible hunger. She took an involuntary step forward, before catching herself.

Theroen held his finger out. Two took another step, stopped herself.

“I don’t want it!”

“Yes you do, and not only because of your new nature. Two, I’m sorry for this...”

Theroen moved suddenly, so fast that Two could not even react to it. Before she could even take in a breath to scream, he had grasped her, pressed his finger against her lips, and released her. Two licked them instinctively, and the blood was like fiery liquor on her tongue, hot and sweet. Ambrosia. It left her breathless. She sat down on the small bed, dazed.

“Jesus,” she said.

Theroen smiled. “No, Two. Jesus has nothing to do with this.”

Two looked up at him. The aches in her joints, the chills, the craving for the drug; all had faded far into the background. Two or three drops of Theroen’s blood had pushed the symptoms of withdrawal away almost completely.

“Let me show you what can be, Two. Will you trust me?”

Two stood, stretched, marveling at the sudden strength in her limbs. She looked again at Theroen, and saw in his eyes the same man who she had felt such strong feelings for the previous night. Two made her decision.

“No, Theroen, I won’t trust you. Not yet. Maybe not ever.”

Theroen looked crestfallen. He opened his mouth to protest, and Two held up her hand, smiling slightly.

“I won’t trust you... But I’ll let you show me.”

* * *

The dungeon was in the basement of what must have been a mansion. Two had never seen rooms of this size, rooms that seemed to stretch