possibility for a wide variety of reasons -- I think I can answer that. What happens when the head of a line dies? It depends on the age of his children, and the type of vampire.

“If you kill an Eresh vampire, his children may be significantly weakened. Certainly any half-vampire he has created will revert to human form. Full vampires may or may not revert, depending on the amount of time that has passed since the change. If someone killed me, Two, you would revert to human form in a matter of weeks. You’ve not been changed nearly long enough for it to ‘stick,’ so to speak.

“If someone, somehow, killed Abraham, the effects would be less drastic. Melissa and I have made the change completely and will not revert. Tori might revert, but I have no way of knowing if her mind would return with her humanity, and at this point the physical changes may not completely fade. It is possible that she would be very strong and very fast, for a human being... comparable perhaps to one of the other vampire strains. There would be no effect on Samantha, or on you, if Abraham was killed.

“So, continuing this interesting but, unfortunately, rather useless line of thought, if Abraham was killed, it would have little effect on the present situation, beyond possibly allowing Samantha the opportunity to return to her normal life, since he would no longer consider her his property.”

Two watched him, frustrated, knowing that he would not lie to her, but unwilling to believe the task was not within some realm of possibility. No guarantees on Melissa, Theroen had said, but would it not at least give them more time to work on the problem?

“It would indeed.” Theroen had picked up her thoughts. “But that in itself is not a guarantee, and an attempt on Abraham’s life would assuredly lead only to the cessation of our own. If Karma exists, I’ve been living on borrowed time since Lisette... died. But I could not bring myself to sacrifice your life so needlessly.”

“We have to do something, Theroen.”

“Yes, we do, but the choice is not ours, Two. We have three options. The first is the easiest. We leave. Melissa, Tori, and Samantha stay. The second: we stay for as long as possible, against Abraham’s will. Melissa is eventually engulfed by Missy, Samantha is kept in a state of half-vampirism indefinitely and is likely warped by Missy’s teachings, Tori continues her mad existence, and eventually Abraham’s evil drives me away. In the interim, there will be little other than despair, and the end result is no different from the first option.

“Then there is the third...”

Melissa had turned to listen to Theroen again, and her eyes said she knew what he was to say. Theroen grimaced, looked at his sister with deep, sad eyes, and continued.

“The third is a possibility that Abraham must at least have guessed at, and is likely fully aware of. Had he expressly forbid it last night, I would have acceded. He did not. He told me only that they were his, and he wished that they remain here. He leaves me to make my own decision on how to interpret that. The third option is that I risk Abraham’s wrath, and slaughter the rest of his line.”

Melissa’s eyes were hard and glassy, but if more sobbing threatened, she held it at bay. She met Theroen’s gaze, her mouth a thin, white line. Two looked between both of them, and at last shook her head.

“No. That’s crazy. There’s a fourth alternative, whether you want to admit it or not, Theroen. The fourth is that we attempt the impossible and try to kill him. We have to!”

It was Melissa who spoke.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Two. I’m going to die. Pick any scenario, and at the end of it, I still die. I’d rather not go with your life, and Theroen’s, on my conscience.”

“But if he dies, maybe Missy will...”

“Disappear? I told you, Two. I’ve known Missy for a very long time now. Abraham woke her up, yes, but she doesn’t mean to be put back to sleep. If I believed there was the slightest chance of that, I might agree with you, but even then probably not. So put it out of your head, now. You’re going to get yourself killed talking like that.”

Theroen waved his hand, dismissing the idea. “Abraham knows the difference between threat and idle speculation. If anything, hearing Two speak in this manner would only amuse