of it like trying to gain weight. If you burn every calorie you take in, there is no change. When you take in my blood, your body converts it to a compatible form with its own. Right now, your blood is not complete.

“When I finish you, I will drain you as far as you can go, nearly to death. Then you will drink from me. Your body will be so desperate for the blood that it will absorb it without conversion. You will effectively replace your blood with mine. Over time, and with repeated feedings, that blood will work within you, changing you. Some of the effects will be immediate, but most will only be a shadow of the abilities you will one day possess.”

Two raised her eyebrows. “Repeated feedings?”

“Our strain of vampire is very powerful. The ruling class, effectively. But the nature of the blood differs from the other strains. Our fledglings must drink, periodically, from their masters, or risk reversion.”

“I can be human again?”

“You can.”

Two contemplated this.

“You’ll need to explain this all to me some day, Theroen. How vampire bodies work.”

“What I know, I will tell you. Unfortunately, Abraham has limited my access to writings on the subject, so there may be questions I cannot answer. I will try my best, though, and there will be many years in which we can learn, after you are complete.”

If I let you complete me, Two thought, but she found that this carried little weight. The idea of returning to humanity was vaguely interesting, but she no longer held the belief that vampires were monsters. Not all of them, at any rate. She was not so unenthusiastic about the prospect of becoming one.

If Theroen heard any of these thoughts, he gave no indication.

Two was not prepared for a lecture on vampire physiology at the moment. She was still too warm and content from the blood. It would put her to sleep. She changed the subject.

“Where is Melissa?”

She had seen the perky young vampire here and there throughout the past few weeks. Melissa would stop by periodically to say hello, although she seemed to have knack for catching Two at a bad time, and her visits were usually restricted to a greeting, a short expression of sympathy, perhaps a few questions. After “let me know if there’s anything I can do for you” (which Two believed to be genuine sentiment), Melissa would leave to hunt. For the past few days, though, she had been simply gone.

“Melissa stays in the city sometimes, if she’s in the mood. She will return eventually.”

“Ah.” Two lounged on her couch, happy to be where she was. Thoughts of drugs and needles, pimps and hookers were far from her mind. That life was gone. Dead. The last remnants of it had largely left her this week, with the end of the withdrawal. Her mind instead looked toward the future. A life of luxury and power. Miraculous how things changed.

Change. Two was wearing a pink dress and a diamond necklace that must have cost more than she had earned in her entire life. She had not put on a pair of jeans since her bath with Melissa, only a series of gowns and robes. Theroen had not forced these things on her. Two had chosen them. She enjoyed it, this expression of femininity, so rare in her previous life. She knew it wouldn’t last. She liked wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Liked pulling her hair back into a ponytail and forgetting about it. But for now, she was content with the dresses.

Theroen rarely left her side. Only to feed, and then only in as quick a manner as possible. The withdrawal, it seemed, sometimes pained him more than it did her. His sorrow at seeing her suffer filled Two with an odd happiness. It proved that he cared. It proved that the love they sometimes whispered of together, in bed in the dark, was something real.

“Is there anything you would know, Two?”

Two considered this question. For days now, she and Theroen had hardly uttered a word to each other. There had been little need. He could read her mind. His expressions, his touches, these were enough for Two. They had forever for talking, and in the time before forever she wished only to enjoy his presence.

Now, though, she was curious. “There’s a lot I’d like to know, Theroen. Where should I start?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“How very Zen.”

Theroen smiled, nodded, continued to look at Two in his direct manner. From anyone