* *

For several months, Theroen spent every waking moment of his time with Lisette and Naomi. It took little time for Lisette to coax Theroen into the fullness of his own sexuality, and evenings frequently began with feeding, perhaps a show, and ended in lengthy stretches of passion. His early teachings came from Naomi, and with Lisette’s guidance the two learned rapidly. Naomi took his virginity from him, gave him her own, in a bed of satin, Lisette’s soft whispers a soothing backdrop to the heat of passion, the heat of blood.

After this, their lovemaking was frequent, spontaneous, shared. Theroen and Naomi, Theroen and Lisette, Lisette and Naomi, the three together. Naomi would be a fledgling someday, Lisette explained. Her body was young, yet, but the time was nearing. Naomi, for her part, was content for now with the ministrations of her vampire lovers.

Days blurred into weeks, weeks into months. Theroen saw nothing of Abraham, delved no further into the darkness that had held his soul for the past decade. Mental, physical, spiritual, Lisette was his teacher in all things, and found Theroen a most willing pupil.

“All my life,” Theroen told Two, “I had been searching for someone to truly learn from. I had thought it was Leopold, and later Abraham. It was Lisette, though, who was the great teacher. Her lessons remain with me to this day.”

A year. Another. A third. When Lisette brought Naomi to darkness, Theroen was there, watching like a proud father. The process was more difficult for her than it had been for Theroen, and Lisette explained that this was due to differences between the vampire strains. There was pain, but Naomi bore it, and in the end was nearly unchanged by the transformation. She gained strength, speed, the ability to see in the dark, but no evil touched her, and she did not lose her sexual abilities. She remained their constant companion, a fledgling learning from her mistress, and from her friend.

They made quite the trio, strolling the streets of London after dark, dressed in the latest fashions, hunting as it pleased them. There were events to attend. The theatre, the symphony, the opera. Time passed, as it does during the good times, in what seemed a blur.

In her third year of vampire life, Naomi discovered the pleasures of coupling with her victims before she fed. This was a bittersweet occurrence. Her time with both Theroen and Lisette became less frequent, much to their disappointment. She still lived with them, still enjoyed their company, but now hunted alone, and most of her lovemaking was with humans. Simultaneously, this left more time for Theroen and Lisette to be alone together. They used it, growing ever more skillful in the pleasures they brought to one another. Naomi was a welcome addition when she wished to be, a companion otherwise.

More years. Five became ten, ten became twenty, twenty became forty. Abraham was a distant memory. Lisette, Naomi, they were reality. Theroen’s companions. He had come to love his immortal life with them, to cherish it more than he could have thought possible.

But in the forty-first year of his new life, Theroen found these things he cherished, his entire world, shattered beyond repair.

* * *

It started in a grove of trees, under a full spring moon. Lisette and Theroen, walking in the park, talking quietly, warm from the kill. They entered a small grove, away from prying eyes. The glint in Theroen’s eyes had made Lisette laugh. “Someone will call the constable!”

“Let them.”

Skin against skin, lips at each other’s necks, warmth flowing between them, growing to a fire. No one had called the constable. When it was through, they lay in each other’s arms, saying nothing. Lisette stared at the moon.

When she sighed, there was melancholy in it, to Theroen’s surprise.

“What is it, Lisette?”

“Theroen, sometimes I think I can see the future.”

Theroen was unsure of how to respond. Lisette sighed again, put her forehead in the hollow between his neck and shoulder, kissed the skin there.

At last he could take the silence no longer. “What do you see?”

No words, for a long time, and then Lisette moved her head, rolled her weight on top of him so she could look into his eyes. There were tears in her own, a first from Lisette. He felt them drop, cool, to land on his cheeks. The moon reflected silver in the tracks on her face.

“Darkness, my love. All I see for us is darkness,” Lisette whispered, and putting her head