also to be shaping her mind, maximizing it, bringing it to its full potential. She was now able to read far more quickly, comprehend on many more levels. Poetry that had once left her confused and frustrated now fascinated her.

Two sat down with the book, reading, glancing on occasion at the door, waiting for Theroen.

* * *

Two’s ears picked up the noises several minutes before her brain truly registered them. Shuffling from down the hall. Heavy breathing. They came not from the direction of Abraham’s chambers, but from Melissa’s.

She glanced at her watch. It had been more than ninety minutes since Theroen had left. If he was much longer in returning, Two would have to go hunting without him. She stood, set the book on the table, crept out the door, edging toward Melissa’s room. She hoped to determine which of the two women inhabited the body before making her presence known.

The cry startled her not only because it was unexpected, but because the voice belonged neither to Melissa, nor Missy. It was a woman’s voice, gasping for air, but a different tone than that which Melissa spoke with. Two heard fear in the voice, but also pleasure, longing, desire.

“No. Please wait!”

Two crept toward the door, curiosity overwhelming her. Light shone from the interior of Melissa’s room, spilling gold and amber onto the carpeting of the hall. Two glanced through the crack, into the room, eyes wide. On Melissa’s bed lay a girl about Two’s age, naked and sweaty, bleeding from a wound on her neck, and another near her navel. Melissa, or Missy, straddled her, unclothed as well. There was blood on her lips.

“Wait?” It was obviously Missy. The tone of the voice was enough. “Do you really want me to wait?”

The girl was stammering, panting, staring up at Missy with huge, confused eyes. Missy didn’t give her a chance to form a coherent answer, but reached instead behind her, between the girl’s legs. The girl cried out, arched her back, immediately matched the movement of her hips to the rhythm of Missy’s hand. She leaned her head back, gasping, baring her throat. Missy moved her head down without hesitation, feeding. Two felt her own hunger roar to life despite her horror. The blood, the sex; she could smell them on the air. Missy pulled away again, licking her lips.

“Not tonight. I can’t finish you tonight, but I can start you. Theroen thinks he can leave me here by myself. Theroen and Abraham and Tori and that stupid bitch who uses my body can all go fuck themselves. You’re mine, Samantha.”

Samantha looked up at her, semi-conscious, dazed from passion and lack of blood. Dark brown hair, olive complexion, smooth and curvaceous body. Her nipples stood hard, and Two noticed that there were bite marks on her breasts, too.

“Drink,” Missy said, and ran a sharp fingernail across her own breast. She lowered it to Samantha’s open mouth. The girl latched on to it like a child intent on feeding. Missy gasped, turned her head, and caught sight of Two. Their eyes seemed locked. Missy smiled, but in those eyes there was only malice.

“Mine,” She said.

Two turned and walked back to her room on legs that felt numb.

* * *

Three and a half hours had passed since Theroen’s departure. The hunger was gnawing at Two, but she was afraid to leave her room. Afraid that Missy might be waiting for her, might be looking to show off the awful progeny she was creating. Would her blood taint the girl’s mind? Would she and Theroen find themselves now the only sane beings in an even larger brood of vampires?

The door to her room opened. Two whirled, expecting Missy, unsure of what she might do to avoid confrontation. Theroen stood there instead, looking at her, calm as ever. “You waited.”

“You... we... there’s a problem, Theroen. It’s bad. Really bad. Something really bad is happening.”

Theroen nodded. His expression didn’t change. “I am aware of it.”

“But you didn’t stop it?”

“I wasn’t able to. I was with Abraham. I believe he knew.”

He came into the room, sat down in a chair, looked out the window. Two waited for him to explain.

“There is nothing to explain,” Theroen said after a while. “Abraham knew, yes. I’m sure of it. He knew where Missy was, and what she was doing, and now there’s another half-vampire lying unconscious in a cell in the basement, and Melissa’s been crying for the past hour.”

“Melissa?”

“Missy let her back in, as soon as she’d