that she had returned. There might be some chance for surprise, some possibility of success.

“Coming for you, Abraham. Going to cut out your heart, eat it in front of you, and then set you on fire.”

Two snarled up at the mansion, and again moved forward.

* * *

The front entrance was lit. Too dangerous. Too obvious. Two knelt next to Tori, whispered in her ear.

“Tori, I know you can understand me if you try. Please try. Do you know if there’s a back door? A side entrance? Something?”

Tori looked back at her, confused but wanting to help.

“See that? That’s a door, but that one’s bad, Tori. Is there a different door? Somewhere else?”

Sudden understanding dawned in Tori’s eyes, and she began to squirm about, excited to have the answer. She pointed at the side of the mansion, pulling at Two’s hand.

“Okay, Tori. Good. Thank you.”

They crept along, skirting the edge of the forest on the mansion’s west end, keeping the shadows. The lawn was soft and wet, muddy in spots. Freezing water sprayed up with each footstep. The slush kept falling from the sky, and Two and Tori both were both soon soaked and filthy. A normal human might have been falling into hypothermia, but Two was still mostly vampire, and barely felt it.

Two caught sight of an indentation in the wall to her right; a door, possibly a servant’s entrance. It was unlit and quiet. There was nothing between them and the entrance except wet grass and a few cultivated trees. Rotten crabapples littered the ground, slowly returning to the earth.

Tori lead. Two kept her eyes to the ground, afraid to look at the mansion. The sense of menace was palpable, like a wet cloth that wrapped them, stifling, suffocating. It seemed to Two that she could barely breath.

They were nearly there when Tori stopped short with a sudden yipping noise. Two looked up, and at once felt her limbs go weak. There before them was a shadow within the shadows, dark and looming, a presence so powerful it seemed to beat upon her like a physical force. Abraham. There. Waiting.

“Hello Two.”

Two could not find words, could barely look.

“You’ve come back to finish this, have you? And you’ve brought my daughter. How lovely. Tori, you have been a very bad girl. I thought we had trained you better than this.”

Sudden anger blazed in Two, and she found her voice. “Don’t you talk to her like she’s your fucking dog, Abraham!”

Abraham turned his attention again to Two, focusing his gaze on her. She stood up to it as best she could, teeth clenched, holding on to her hatred as an anchor, remembering Theroen. It was the only way to keep from screaming under the onslaught of his gaze.

“I will talk to her, little girl, however I please.”

Calm turned suddenly to rage in his eyes, and Abraham bent forward, eyes blazing, snarling at Tori. She cried out first in fear, and then in pain. Abraham never touched her. Tori thrashed on the ground, wailing, left finally lying on her side, shuddering and weeping her pink vampire tears. Two heard herself screaming at Abraham. Semi-words. Half-noises of rage and hate and terror. Abraham ignored her.

“Now, Tori. Go!” he roared, and sudden strength seemed to flow into Tori’s body. She leapt up and ran, reverting to all fours, pelting across the yard to the forest, yelping. Two felt tears on her cheeks, hot like branding irons against the cold and the slush. She was growling obscenities at Abraham, over and over, unable to stop. Abraham smiled at her, quiet, in control once again.

“You’re a fascinating young woman, Two, but too good. Too good. It is in many ways a shame to destroy you, but I think that were I to break you, I would destroy the same qualities that make you so intriguing.”

“Fuck you.”

“No, little girl, don’t you remember? I’m possessed of no such abilities.” Abraham chuckled. The sound was like turning earth. Like scraping stones.

“I’m here to kill you, Abraham.”

“I know. Oh, I know. You might even have succeeded in surprising me. I must admit that this is the last place I had expected you ever to return. The very last. Yes, you might have come upon me unawares, and at least had that small satisfaction before your death. Alas, Two, you have not. I have had some help.”

Two knew it before he spoke her name.

Abraham smiled. Moved aside. Gestured. “Is this not true, Samantha?”

Two turned to meet the eyes of her betrayer.

*