done it. Melissa woke up naked, lying next to the girl. It didn’t take her long to figure out what had happened, but she couldn’t make herself kill the girl. Perhaps it’s maternal instinct. Perhaps it is Missy exerting her will. I do not know, but Samantha is her child now.”

“Couldn’t she just leave? You said that half-vampires eventually revert.”

“They do. It doesn’t matter. They are bonded now. What will the girl do, if we take her somewhere and leave her lying unconscious? She will wake up and return home. Missy will eventually wrest control of the body away from Melissa. When she does, she will go to the area of the city where the girl lives. Tracking her from there will be simple.”

“So what do we do?”

Theroen laughed. There was little humor in the sound. “Yes. What do we do? We go hunting. Then I go to Abraham and tell him what he already knows, and find out how he wishes me to proceed.”

“Would he care?”

“I do not know. The possibility exists that this is some sort of test, or lesson, or final parting gift. He might tell me to do nothing. He might tell me to slaughter the girl. To be honest, I’m not sure what the best course of action is. He may have arranged this entire event, that he might exercise one last bit of control over me before I abandon him forever.”

“Would you do it?”

Theroen’s gaze did not leave the window. He shrugged. “She might well be better off. Melissa would certainly be better off. In truth, it might be better for all involved if my parting gift to Abraham was to slaughter those of his descendents whom I am not taking with me.”

“Theroen, no! Melissa? She...”

“She shares her mind with something which has become progressively stronger with each passing day. Something evil that was never meant to be. Something which is slowly taking over the body that once was hers.”

He turned to Two. “The question is not whether Melissa will die, Two. It is whether she will die by my hand, or Abraham’s, or Missy’s. She will eventually be absorbed. This leaves Tori, who is almost certainly better off dead, and the half-vampire in the basement, whose name I do not even know.”

“Samantha.” Two’s lips felt numb.

Theroen looked at her, and there was a momentary dizziness. Two’s vision swam, and images of the events with Melissa seemed to flicker past behind her eyelids. Then it was over.

“Yes, Samantha. My apologies, Two. I should have asked before doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Normally I receive thoughts passively. I shut most of it out, in fact, for a variety of reasons. Occasionally though I harvest. In this instance, I’m now aware of what you saw and heard.”

“How do you do this stuff, Theroen?”

Theroen shrugged. “All thought is energy. All energy can be harnessed. I do not know how my mind does it, only that it can.”

“Theroen... what do we do?”

He sighed. “My largest concern is not determining Abraham’s desire, but whether I should carry out those actions regardless of his wishes. The people who will be left in this mansion, Two, are largely better off dead. Melissa knows this. She’s known it for years.”

“That’s why she cried last night. When you finished me.” Two felt cold and frightened. She felt as if some momentous even was passing, something beyond her ability to control.

Theroen nodded. “Your birth into darkness was the beginning of the end. It was the beginning of the end of everything she has ever known.”

* * *

Two could hear muffled sobbing as they left her room. She turned instinctively toward the sound, but Theroen’s hand guided her back toward the staircase.

“There’s little we could do for her right now, Two.”

Two looked up at him, angry. “You’re talking about your sister, Theroen.”

He closed his eyes; put his hand on his forehead. “I know exactly who I am talking about, Two.”

“The person you’ve shared a hundred and forty years with.”

“I know, Two.”

“The least you could do is...”

“Is what?” Theroen asked, looking up at her. There was anger in his eyes, and his voice was strained. “Sit next to her? Hold her hand? Tell her everything is going to be okay? Is that what I should do?”

Two was momentarily taken aback.

“I have hated myself, Two, for things broken that I could not repair, for three hundred and fifty years. Hated myself. I know now what I must do, and may God forgive me for it, because I will never forgive