"Welcome to this 14 news special report with Wendy Richards. We are on location at what we are now just learning is the former location of the Ocean Lilly Resort and Spa." The small lady reporter stood looking over the rubble of the building and turned the moment the camera light went red.

“Devastation rocked this quiet part of the beach tonight as the fifteen story building came down in what others describe as an earth shaking thunder of dust and fire.” She walked to the edge of the police tape sectioned off a safe zone and continued. “We are told by a police spokesman that the first emergency calls came in roughly twenty minutes ago, due to alleged screams within the building itself. The police confirmed with me that they had units in route and just blocks away when the building went up in flames.” Wendy motioned for the camera to follow her once more and walked over to a few people huddling under police blankets.

“Would you be kind enough to speak for a few minutes, sir?” She pointed to a gentleman in his late fifties, his hair white from age and gray from the ash that had fallen.

“Sure. What would you like to know?” The man pulled his blanket around tighter, before standing up.

“Can you describe what you saw for the viewers please?”

He shrugged, “I was asleep. Just like you reported a moment ago, I could have sworn I heard screams. It happened so fast afterward that I am still a little confused.” He closed his eyes and rubbed the corners of them before reopening them. “The screams could have been from a party or actual cries for help, I don’t know for certain.” He waved his hand over to the burning building, “I do know that the building seemed to catch fire all at once. Damnedest thing I have ever seen, I mean have you ever seen a building with every floor just igniting at once?”

“No, I can’t say that I have. Did you feel the ground shake and hear a thunderclap as well?”

“I did. I just assumed it came from the building. I was standing outside capturing it on my phone when everything happened. Fire, a shake and the building came down. In that order. Look.” He handed the reporter his phone with the video.

Wendy looked over the short video and then back to the camera. “Can I share this with everyone watching?” She waited for the man to nod his head and then handed the phone to another assistant in her news van. “What you are about to see is indeed exactly as this gentleman explains it.” She watched as the assistant gave the thumbs up, “This might be shocking for some of you to see, so please Look away if you do not want to witness the catastrophe.”

The video was sharp and crisp, the name “The Ocean Lilly” in huge blue neon, along with all of the room lights on for the top floor, and a checkerboard look of lights for the rest of the rooms. The lobby had its lights off and the doors closed. Fire suddenly erupted from the building with enough pressure so that all of the windows exploded within a second of each other. Curtains were the easiest thing to see burning, the long thick fabric adding to the intensity of the flame, right to the rings that shot out small sparks as they too burned. Panning over the length and height of the resort the little video captured the structure as it seemed to lean for a moment followed by a loud boom which sent cinder-block chunks across the parking lot, and ash into the air as the building fell into a mountain of fire and rock.

Wendy waited for a few moments and handed the phone back to the man standing with her. Opening her mouth to speak, she stopped the moment she heard firefighters screaming in the distance.

“We have a live one here! Get a stretcher!”

The reporter sprinted over to the police tape and struggled to get a look at the firefighters excavating the area. Holding out her microphone, Wendy let the events unfold live without any commentary.

“Take my hand, there we go.” The captain and two others pulled a ragged woman from the rubble. “Slowly, now.” Strapping the woman to the plastic stretcher, they walked from the pile. “Ma’am, do you know where you are? Can you tell me your name?”

“K-K-Karen Collins.”

Wendy watched and waited until the woman was lifted into an ambulance before looking back at her camera. “There you have the latest, We have a single survivor, a phoenix if you will, one that rose from the ashes - all first seen here on channel fourteen news. We will report more as the information becomes available.” Wendy waited for the light to go black before smiling at her crew. “Excellent. Let’s follow that ambulance, fuck the building. We already know that was a cover-up and no one was supposed to get out. She is the one we need, keep close but not too close.” Wendy’s driver nodded in understanding. “We are onto them now.”

Silence. Faye knew that she was conscious and could think. -Is this what death is, Faye?- Her mind said to her. -It is peaceful enough, no more pain.- She let her mind float in the quiet dark, and let the questions go. None of it mattered. -Wait, one thing matters.- Searching the dark of her mind, she finally recalled what she desired.

Eyes. Crystalline like sapphires. Warm and soulful. Twinkly and penetrating. They popped out of the fog of her inky mind and once more she felt the love they contained. Relief seemed to wash through her as the pair of eyes followed her while she floated. Faye found that with her partner's gaze constantly following her, the silence and floating didn’t seem to matter. She danced in the dark with Vivienne's gaze, silently spinning and absorbing every moment she could like a slow and silent ballet. Her mind flashed moments she’d wished happened, living a silent fantasy lost in time. -Your heart isn’t beating- Faye searched for the familiar sound and beat and knew it wasn’t to be found. Not caring, she kept dancing and even imagined a quiet kiss between the two.

The kiss.

Moments later Faye could once again feel and hear. She was no longer on the cold hard table, but on a soft bed atop a plush down and a pillow under her head. -That is the news? Building fire? What?- Seconds passed and her body became hers again, pushing the dark peace from her. Once more she felt her arms and legs, and even registered that her bones were clicking back into place without a hint of pain or agony. She tasted the remains of blood on her tongue and her eyes flashed open.

-More.-

Insatiable hunger clouded her newborn vampire mind, until a soft hand grabbed her own.

“V-Vivienne?” She called out quietly.

“I am here, my love.” Vivenne gently squeezed her partner’s hand reaffirming she was present. “I moved you upstairs, you may be a little disoriented.” The ancient woman stretched her lips into a smile. “Mon amour, I thought I lost you..” Vivienne moved closer to the side of the bed, one single streak of crimson staining her cheek.

Sitting up from the plush blankets Faye curled her knees under herself and pulled Vivienne’s hands to her lips, kissing them softly. “Even in my sleep, you never lost me. I danced and did ballet in my silence, Vivienne. I could feel you, when I couldn’t feel anything else.” Faye’s voice, dulcet and soft, rang out between the couple. Lifting herself from the bed so that the two of them were within breathing distance of each other once again Faye first cupped Vivienne’s cheek in her open hand and slid a finger across her partner's ashen lips in a slow and soft dance. Once she was finished with her tantalizing finger dance, Faye closed her eyes and dropped her hands to explore Vivienne’s form.

Vivienne watched quietly as Faye slipped her hand free of hers and started exploring her unnaturally still form. When one finger slipped slyly across her lips, Vivienne gave a light puckered kiss to the digit just before it disappeared. The ancient vampire breathed deeply as Faye’s hands started to glide over her shoulders and along her arms, then released that same breath a soft moan as her newborn massaged the muscles she’d just felt.

It was a heated and sensual gasp that made Faye hesitate in her exploration of Vivienne’s form. When she peeked open her eyes the sight was enough to keep her frozen in place. Vivienne had canted her head back making her long jet locks of hair tickle and graze Faye’s fingers as it tumbled and bounced to its full length at the small of her partner’s back. Remarkable- the newborn’s mind echoed and resumed touching Vivienne’s toned body. Faye quickly reflected to herself that the woman under her hands would be a model under any normal circumstance. Her visage was near perfect with rounded cheeks, her nose without any harsh angles and with the shape to match her cheeks perfectly. -A photographer's dream, my dream- She marveled at Vivienne’s elegant and long neck that matched every slight movement of her head. -Lips that go from plump red to a hint of ashen purple? She had olive tanned skin before? Now..mercy..its milky, creamy white.- Shaking off her distracting thoughts, the Korean woman re-focused on her hands that had reached her partner's unbound and plump breasts.

-When was the last time you had someone’s hands on you, Vivienne?- Her mind gently floated under the soft pressure of Faye’s hands as they pressed and squeezed her arms and shoulders. -Too long.- She decided to herself and let her head tilt back and pressed herself into Faye’s light grip. The vampiress started to uselessly breathe faster from a sense of instinct, when her succulent teardrops were cupped and gently squeezed. Her unbeating heart jumped and a light wave of electricity pulsed through Vivienne and her nipples went taut and started to ache with each passing second Faye’s touch lingered.

-She leaned into you, Faye.- She thought to herself lovingly. A warm sensation flowed through Faye as she felt her partner’s chest tighten and grow in her palms. -This is real, Faye.- The thought of ships passing in the night no longer lingered, replaced with the subtle heat of love realized. Urged by the heat resonating throughout her body, Faye followed her instinct and moved her hands over the midnight blue silk bodice Vivienne was wearing. Desperate to grasp her partner’s abdomen, she ran her elongated nails over the thin bloody fabric until it softly shredded and exposed the ancient vampire's tummy. Pressing her hands flat, Faye felt each constriction of her loves muscles under her touch. Unknown crimson tears dropped from the corners of the newborn’s eyes knowing that the woman in her touch had surrendered herself and removed the barriers that the two shared earlier in the evening. Leaning forward, Faye placed a gentle kiss against Vivienne’s exposed pale stomach and dropped her hands to grip her partner’s curved hips.

Twitching uncontrollably as she did before, Vivienne lost control of her hands. Shaking wasn’t something that the vampire was used to since her entire existence had been about exercising control since she had risen so long ago. The loss of control while in the dainty hands of her newborn vampire was a new sensation that mixed softly with the realization that it was all flowing from the one word she knew upon seeing Faye that first time. Love. Trembling and unfocused, Vivienne let the wellspring of tied emotions free to mix with the sensation of her unbound body and started to cry tears of blood. -Crying, heart thumping. A new ache and a wanted desire. So..many lifetimes gone..waiting for this moment.-

Pulling her partner close so that there was almost no space between them, Faye stretched her small form and reopened her eyes, “Vivienne.” She whispered softly.

Taking a deep breath, the ancient one opened her eyes and righted herself to look upon the love of her existence. “Faye..” Her light accent whispered back.

Tightening her grip on the French woman’s round hips, Faye pressed and crushed herself into Vivienne pressing their lips together.

Bonded by the passion, the twin vampires gave into the desire and ache of the moment. Their lips squished and molded precisely to each other, equally. Every flex and move of their heads caused them to squeeze into each other tighter until the lines between them disappeared and they almost looked like one.

Faye’s rush of emotion overwhelmed her and the warm sensation turned to a burning passion within her chest. Her hands clenched and burned within as she curled her fingers to the point they ached with the grip she had on Vivienne. Butterflies trembled in her stomach with anticipation when she made the effort to push her small tongue out to tap lightly on her partner’s lips.

Feeling Faye’s soft and supple lips press into her own sent a shock pulse of renewed electricity through Vivienne’s body. Her awakened emotions kept her shaking like a winter breeze had overtaken her senses. Lightly thrusting her hips into her lover’s tightly wound hands, Vivienne felt the knock of her partner’s tongue against her lips through the enlightened and loving confusion in her mind. Her tongue danced out to meet Faye’s, still laden with the blood of the embrace earlier.

The Korean woman’s tongue tangled with her lovers and exchanged the sweet iron plasma that remained. Love and hunger drove the passion of the moment into a frenzy for Faye and she moved her hands from Vivienne’s hips to the back of her head, pressing them tight enough so that the newborn felt the pleasurable pain from her nails as they strained from the pressure of trying to dig into her partner. Twisting her head to the opposite side, Faye let a hungry moan escape her lips as they opened to allow the air between them to caress their swirling tongues.

Vivienne purred as the newborn grabbed her closer and willed her fangs to drop into place as she then opened a small pair of holes in her bottom lip, allowing the valuable maroon blood within her to escape into their kiss. Still purring within the twisting of their tongues, Vivienne let herself fall into the newfound strength of the vampire she’d created using Faye’s body to keep them both upright. When Faye allowed the cool air pass between their open mouths, the shared blood dribbled out of her lips and made a slight pool of sticky iron in the dent of her chin.

Licking the messy pool from Vivienne’s chin, Faye once more pressed their lips firmly together renewing the embrace, now mixed with blood. Iron, the sweet and heavy element drained down Faye’s parched throat awakening her further. A new sensation, a second love mixed with the first. -Delightful, delicate..mercy..more.- Her mind told her as she felt herself suckle on Vivienne’s bottom lip pulling as much of the rich liquid she could, drinking part of it and the other part lavishing on her lover's tongue. She felt a quick lick from Vivienne across the open bottom lip and the decadent taste slowly disappeared from the embrace they were in. Faye let out a satisfying sigh and pulled out of the kiss, allowing her tongue to linger with Vivienne’s as their lips resisted pulling apart. “M..mm.. Was that so unwise?” Faye asked in a sensual whisper as her fangs dropped and locked in place recalling the succulent taste of Vivienne’s blood.

-MY FANGS?-

Faye pulled away quickly and touched the four elongated teeth. “Why do I have fangs, Vivienne?”

Vivienne was still reveling with the electricity of the moment and didn’t realize that the kiss had really ended or that Faye was speaking. A few more pulses of energy traveled her undead nerves before the raven-haired woman stopped shaking and regained control of her senses. Reluctantly opening her eyes, Vivienne rolled her dreamy blue eyes to focus on the woman she loved. -Just kiss me again.- Her mind rang out before she shook off the thought. “Yes, well. Let us begin with the first part.” Vivienne took a step back and pulled Faye from the mattress so that the two were very close once more. “Unwise?” Smiling, she shook her jet back hair, “There was nothing unwise about that, my love.” Running the back of her fingers along Faye’s stained cheek, “I have..never been kissed..with..so much, Mon amour.”

Faye stood entrapped by the gentle touch on her cheek and leaned forward to resume what the two had been doing just a moment before. Shyly she took a nibble on her bottom lip and was reminded of the fangs she’d forgotten when Vivienne touched her.

“F-fangs, Vivienne.” The newborn’s voice wavered.

Vivienne cupped Faye’s chin once more and gazed longingly into Faye’s emerald cat-like eyes. -Green?- The ancient vampire marveled as the green kaleidoscope irises adjusted. It was only after seeing the red ring taking root that she realized that Faye’s voice cracked both from the embrace and her throat being dry as a desert. “Alas, my darling. We have nearly an unlimited amount of time, an eternity to lavish each other and answer all the questions that a dazzling mind like yours can ask.” Taking a step back, Vivienne entwined their hands as one and headed for the kitchen. “I could probably just let you feed from me, as my body would nourish you beyond what you would need for days.” She turned to look at Faye for a moment and winked. “However..” She paused to give a sentimental purr, “..I used quite a bit when I embraced you on the table and just now with that engaging entanglement.”

“Are you always going to do that to me, Vivienne?” Faye asked while being tugged along with a grin on her face.

“Am I going to do what, my love?”

“You don’t even know you are doing it. That is funny.” Faye paused for a moment as her dry tongue seemed to almost stick to the roof of her mouth. “Why is my throat so dry, it hurts.”

“I have no clue what you are saying I do, love.” Vivienne lets out a dainty chuckle and keeps heading down the stairs. “Why are most throats dry, my love? You are thirsty. We will get to that soon enough.”

“Promises, promises.” Faye said as she kept letting herself get pulled along.

Upon reaching the kitchen Faye took in the grizzly scene that had unfolded on the heavy wooden table. -Delicious blood- Faye thought to herself as she scanned the scraps of torn and plasma laden clothing hanging off the table and strewn over the floor. Following the discarded clothes to the tabletop, Faye could tell that the pools of maroon vital liquid formed a female shape identical to her own. The scent of her own blood hit her nose. -Has your blood always smelled that good?- She questioned herself. The newborn took a few hesitant steps forward to get a better look where she had been laying. One large tube of the sanguine syrup lay attached to a mostly empty blood bag that Faye rationalized had been in her arm. Tracing the outline to its apex, her sight lingered on the spot where her head had been. Reaching up to her short black and pink streaked hair, Faye felt the hardening clots and looked back to Vivienne. “How…am…” She breathed in the sweet scent of pooled iron again and felt her throat tighten, “..am I alive?”

Vivienne released her partner's hand and silently padded over to the refrigerator, pulling out the last of her reserve blood and handing it over to Faye. “That should tide you over for now, don’t question until you get your thirst under control.”

Grabbing the thick plastic bag, the Korean woman’s green eyes grew wide, and her stomach seemed to purr with anticipation. “Blood?” Faye belted out in denial and foggy confusion.

“This is where she learns to hate you, Viv.” Drake cackled from his corner. “Self-discovery sometimes drives a newborn mad.”

An image formed in Faye’s mind as the band leader spoke. Her mind pushed back the fog that had been in place since she opened her eyes minutes ago. Starting with the devilish voice that drilled into the remains of her human mind, she recalled the band leader singing with glee as he exposed his fangs to her. Torture with every bite. Her body rippled with each memory revealed. Her arms, her legs, both of her breasts. The foul creature didn’t bother drinking at that time, content with just drawing out little globblets of her life force. When he started tearing her jeans in order to expose her legs, Faye tried to fight back, kicking and screaming not from fear, but disgust. Flickering each image slowly, her mind replayed his punches to her knees, shattering them. Unwilling to give up, she’d grabbed and twisted his gory and stringy hair in her hands in an effort to pull the band leader from her inner thigh. Ending her resistance, he pulled both arms out of socket and bent her arms at the elbow until she remembered the cracking sound of her bones breaking. Unable to fight any longer, the black-pink haired woman focused on staying alive as his fangs pierced her inner thighs, stealing the blood from her.

Faye’s memory flashes stopped and replaced clarity with a distant call deep within her.

Dropping the blood bladder, a primal and wild darkness pulsed through the newborn's body. Feeling the brooding darkness take shape, the newborn took a sidestep away from the table of carnage to get a clear look at the elder vampire in the far corner.

Starting as a tiny rumbling-roar from her chest, Faye emitted a nerve piercing scream at the immovable vampire she despised.

Changes started and overtook the newborn in a few small stages. Flexing her fingers, tigerlike claws stretched and expanded until they were curved and sharp enough to render flesh from bone. Darkness flowed from her mind through her muscles, and pushed out in black sweat forming thick stripes that covered the nude newborn’s form head to toe. Lastly, the black and pink pigment of her hair faded and became as white as snow, with strands covering part of her striped visage. The transformation complete, the primal tigress bared her fangs and sprang at her target.

Drake watched as the transformation took place, his own darkness welling up within him. -Finally, after all these years. Eaten. Alive.- The band leader started screaming and babbling at the same time, “No..no, please..Stop her! Don’t let them eat me!” Drake’s mind kept laughing at him. -You can’t move. You can’t even feel your legs. Look at all the teeth. Nibble. Nibble-.“The..the meeting, Tarsy…Tarsy sent me…Oh my!” He shut his eyes and refused to watch as the striped vampire landed on him. Black and inky the darkness spread from his mind punching bits of madness through the elder vampire's skin. -Wait for it, Drake. Long and sharp, like hundreds of sharks tearing your flesh away.- “P-p-p..pocket, the lett-er, PLEASE!”

Landing squarely on Drake’s knees, Faye’s pounce shattered them. -Pull them out, feel your claws, my little tiger.- Her inky voice urged. Vengeance fueled her claws as she pulled his kneecaps out and yanked so that she held both of his lower legs in each claw.

“Faye.” Vivienne coached from a distance. “Keep saying your name over and over. Never forget your name. Tell me your name.”

Draining one of the extremities of blood, she answered as Vivienne's command wrapped itself in her mind, compelling the proper answer. “Faye Park.”

“Keep saying it between each bite, so that Drake hears you.” Vivienne reinforced her will.

Tearing the flesh from the other half leg, the young vampire licked and chewed on his calf muscle, relishing the blood that ran down her dry throat. “Faye Park.”

“Find the letter. Save the letter. Tell him your name, my love. Feast.” Vivienne ordered and paced the room.

“More.” Faye mumbled as she plunged her claws into both of Drake’s shoulders and tore the flesh away like tissue paper. “Faye Park.” She watched as his thick coagulated iron ichor started flowing out and over his leather vest. -Make him suffer with your bite, my little tiger.- The new vampire's dark voice pushed. Blood ultimately made the decision for her. Her green eyes flourished as she cupped the oozing stream of blood from the lacerations she’d made. Dipping her entire mouth into her palms, Faye quickly gulped all she could to coat her throat while the rest drained on her chin, through her fingers, and down her exposed breasts.

Drops of plasma formed on the tigresses' nipples, tickling her enough that she was reminded of the French doctor she loved standing behind her. -Oh, little tiger. We will meet again.-

The ancient vampire glared at the screaming singer as he begged and pleaded for his undead life. “You should have heeded my warn-” Vivienne had started to repeat her earlier warning when she caught a ripple of muscle from Faye. Darting her crystalline eyes to her progeny, she witnessed the cute and bloody hand cupping ritual. Every line of sanguine syrup that trailed through her partner’s fingers seemed to be taunting Vivienne. Its purplish hue spilled over one striped bicep showing its soft hump, then dripping to the floor, the tiny splatters sending the scent of Faye’s bloodlust mixed with the iron and rum from Drake’s own infusion. Vivienne took an unsteady step towards the kitchen island, holding out her hand to balance herself in the confusion of scents. -Yes, my ancient friend. Sniff higher. The table. That is her’s. What is left of her humanity clotting before your eyes.- “Cursed beast.” Vivienne quietly muttered to herself and clutched the granite island, shattering it into small chunks. Pushing the annoyance of her beast to the back of her mind, Vivienne refocused on the small nude form of her Korean vampire.

-Look at what you created, Vivienne!- Her loving mind shouted to her. The few seconds lost to the beast changed everything. No longer hunched over her meal like a tiger, Vivienne noted that Faye had settled on her knees and was surgically removing Drake one muscle at a time. The electric and luscious pulses flowed through Vivienne as she admired the outline of her newborn every time she arched her back. Momentarily biting softly on her bottom lip, Vivienne wanted nothing more than to reach out and feel the curvature of muscle, down to Faye’s shapely rear. Scanning over each of the tiger stripes that crossed Faye’s form as she kept dousing herself with blood, Vivienne gleaned a thought. “Tigerlily. My Tigerlily.” She said as she let her bottom lip free. “You are a natural, my love.” Vivienne walked over to the kneeling newborn and pulled the short knotted and clotted hair from her partner's eyes, tying it off with a ribbon of clothing left on the floor. Getting on her own knees beside Faye, she spotted the clots that dried on her partner’s tiny nipples and plucked the scabs free. “Care to share?” Vivenne playfully asked as she watched Faye squeeze part of Drake’s thigh over her lips.

Faye felt the grip of the wild suddenly disappear with the little suggestion. -What is going on here?- She questioned herself before the burning in her throat reminded her that the plasma she’d been drinking cooled and quenched the pain. “Faye Park.” She once more muttered and couldn’t fathom why she was saying her name over and over. A soft touch and a tiny pinch from her chest brought the newborn back to reality. Her green eyes looked around quickly, and focused on the screaming man next to her. -He’s the one, and now he’s the one screaming.- Her mind told her factually. She looked over the man and knew instantly that she was the one doing all of the damage to his body. Rage started to fill her mind, then she heard the voice. Vivienne’s dreamy and loving voice, the reason she was here. “C..care to what? Um..” She looked at the bloody thigh muscle in her hands, and was surprised to not be repulsed by the raw meat chunk. Turning her head slightly, she gazed into Vivienne’s eyes. -Was there always a red rim there?- She questioned herself for a moment before becoming lost to the cresting blue look. “Allow me.” Lifting the chunk over her partner's lips, Faye squeezed until a steady stream of red flowed from the muscle. Wringing the strand of meat like a washcloth, Faye emptied the contents without spilling a drop. It was the purr that came from the doctor that made Faye smile and sent a burning sensation down into her stomach, making the undead butterflies flitter. Lifting the limp muscle to her lips, Faye drained the remaining blood from the section, causing it to turn to ash. “The letter.” She felt herself saying without any control.

Searching the dying vampire, Faye found what she was looking for still in its envelope. She handed it up to Vivienne. “Here it is.”

“Thank you, my dear.”

“Did you call me Tigerlily?” Faye asked shyly.

“I did. Your tiger stripes are quite adorable, my love.”

“What?” Faye looked at her nude form covered in thick black stripes. “What the hell? Vivienne, please stop with the mystery."

“Finish off Drake first. You are still very hungry.” The ancient one cupped her partner’s chin and scraped the blood clear on it before giving Faye a light kiss.

Bites. Long and toothy. Thousands of them like piranhas nibbling at him. -Feel your flesh being pulled from your bones?- It cackled at Drake over and over. -Poor Drake, a nibble for each little nibble you have inflicted on your food. What goes around comes around.-“Arrrghh.. Please don’t let them pull me apart, Raven….no more..” Desperate to move yet locked in his body by the stake in his chest, Drake had no hope of escape. -Just let me pull one of these teeth from my flesh. Some relief..- He begged his darkness, to no avail.

Vivienne ignored the pleading and screams from the dying vampire on her floor. “Faye.”

The youngling looked up from pulling out a section of arteries from Drake’s arm.

“Vivienne?” she responded before sucking the contents of dry and licking her lips.

Vivienne smiled wide and once more gave Faye a kiss on her lips, suckling the few drops that remained from the artery that had turned to dust. Reaching out with her slender hand, she turned Faye to see her green eyes. “Good. The red is gone. I can tell you now, rather than having to wait to finish off Drake.”

Faye punched both of Drake’s shoulders, breaking the sockets. Pulling his closest arm free, she broke it at the elbow and handed the section to Vivienne. “Sharing is caring.” She winked and quickly consumed the upper arm, enjoying the cool flow across her throat. “What can you tell me?” She wiped her bloody hand across her lips, smearing the works across her cheeks.

“I would have guessed it was obvious. You are a vampire, my darling.”

“Vampires don’t exist.” Faye exclaimed as she carved out another hunk of Drake’s leg, squeezing it for both of them to enjoy.

“You say that as you are squeezing Drake’s blood into both our mouths. Care to explain that?”

“I am probably just dead, and this is my last dream. At least I get to kill him.” Faye snarls once and swipes her tigerlike claws over Drake’s face, removing his jaw. “There.” Faye grinned. “That will shut you up.” Plunging her claws into the top of the singer's head, she turned him to face her. “How does it feel, you bastard? I didn’t do anything to you, except wait on your sorry ass for a week.” She pulled off a chunk of his skull and showed it to him before tossing it across the room. “At least in this dream, I win.”

“You aren’t dreaming, Faye.”

“So I am really eating this jerk, nude and with tiger stripes on my body?” Faye chuckled and looked back to see Vivienne with a stoic and calm look in her sapphire orbs. “Y..You aren’t kidding.”

Knowing that this was a pivotal moment for the Korean woman, the French woman scooted over to her partner, and hugged her tight. “I … I didn’t have any other choice, Faye.” She pointed to the quivering mass that remained of Drake. “While I am a doctor, nothing could save you.” She kissed Faye’s cheek a few times, “I know how confused you are. It is like a misty fog over all that you have known.”

“I..I am a murderer now?” Faye’s voice quaked from the revelation. “I really killed..him?” she asked quietly while watching the corpse still bleeding out.

“Do you want him to keep suffering, my love?” Vivienne released Faye from her hug and started rubbing her neck gently. “It is your choice now.”

Faye tilted her head up to Vivienne. She felt the anger and hate push aside in favor of the woman she loved. Taking that warm feeling into heart once more, she smiled softly to herself. “You. You did it again, Vivienne.” The Korean vampire offered cooly as her mind drifted momentarily from her helpless attacker bleeding on the floor. -Little tiger…he’s waiting for you…- Ignoring the little voice in her head, Faye shook her head lightly. “I want to make him suffer until the last drop leaves him.” She paused a moment. “I hear this thing in my head calling me a little tiger. I feel the hunger and vengeance like a burning coal in my throat.” Faye searched within herself for a moment, weighing the issue of revenge. “If I do this, I am no better than he is. So, No..no..I would like to end this.”

Feeling her Korean woman trembling in her soft fingers, Vivienne kissed Faye’s cheek once more. “You have to drain him completely, my love. Every last drop, then he will be nothing more than dust.” She pointed to the barely pulsing artery in Drake’s neck. “There. Drink from there.”

“You don’t deserve mercy, you jerk, but I am not the slime you are.” Faye whispered in Drake’s ear. Opening her mouth wide, she plunged her fangs and teeth as deep as she could into the singer's neck. Tearing away the flesh and muscle, she held the meat-chunk in her mouth for a second before spitting it to the ground. Blood poured from the wound, thick and mostly purple. Faye embraced the wound and felt the few streams slather her tongue and creep slowly down her throat, cooling off the coal within. Replaying the words in her love spoke, the new vampire started to suck harder on the singer’s throat, draining the precious life fluid from him.

Staked. Drake knew he was in a flesh tearing trap with no way out. His inner dark focusing on the one fear that it knew would break him. The singer knew that he was broken in so many ways prior to his flesh being eaten away by the never ceasing bites. Replaying the horrors of his unlife through his own vision, Drake tried to find something in the myriad of people he’d killed and discarded. Laughing maniacally, the flashes turned as the ink controlled the images and sounds within the memories. -No relief. Nothing. You can’t even scream now.- Finding the twisted images and sounds of the ones Drake didn’t bother to mesmerize before outright killing them, the black cloud forced Drake to feel the bites his memory provided. -Ah, yes. So many bites. So much being eaten. Eaten, Alive. Outside, inside and in your mind. Chomp, chomp.- The inner darkness cackled. What remained of Drake tried once more to scream but couldn’t. He felt the air escape from his lacerated lungs, and the sudden rush of wind where a chunk had been pulled from his neck. The elder vampire knew what was coming, exsanguination. He’d done it his whole undead existence, relishing in the fear that he was now feeling and couldn’t escape. Drake felt as the last drop of the precious sweet iron fluid left his body. His last moments upon him, he sought one final bit of relief from the agony of the millions of bites plaguing him. He tried to cry, but he felt nothing on his cheeks.  -Nibble nibble.-

Vivienne watched as her partner turned Drake into a small pile of dust. When Faye once again leaned back on her knees and looked up worried, Vivienne pulled her into a tight hug.

“No, you aren’t a murderer, mon amour.”

Faye nestled herself against Vivienne, enjoying the comfort that the doctor’s arms provided. “Then what am I?”

“A predator.” Vivienne answered quickly.

“I am a monster, now.” Faye choked out and lightly punched at the floor, cracking the stone.

Vivienne gently cupped Faye by her chin and gazed into her worried green eyes. “No, Faye. You are not a monster.” She ran her hands lovingly over Faye’s bloody arms. “A monster wouldn’t have given mercy.” Vivienne kissed Faye’s forehead lightly and then looked back into the sparkling green eyes, noting that the red rim had disappeared. “Just now you made a conscious decision to not be a monster.”

“I still killed a person.” Faye lightly rebuked.

Vivienne snorted lightly, “Be careful about calling Drake a person.”

Faye let out a quick laugh as well and gave a half smile. “How do you do that?”

“Do what, mon amour?”

“Just make me forget everything I am concentrating on.”

“Perhaps that is my plan?”

“You are succeeding.” Faye playfully exclaimed and pushed her lips to Vivienne’s in a quick kiss. “Although that doesn’t mean I won’t remember.”

“Remember what?” Vivienne playfully quipped, biting lightly on her lower lip.

“Okay, I vaguely recall saying I killed a person, before you made me giggle. I would like to not be a killer.”

Sensing that Faye needed something tangible for her vampiric mind to adjust to, Vivienne stopped massaging her partner’s arms and once more cupped her chin and gazed into the conflicted green eyes peering back. “Faye.” Vivienne’s voice softened. “Before you can learn what you want, you have to admit what you have become.” Vivienne lifted the newborn’s sticky stained hands so that they were visible. “You are a vampire.”

“I..I am a vampire.” Faye confidently said once she looked at her hands and thought about the bloody cup she turned them into. “I..I chose this myself, Vivienne.” She looked back to the woman she loved. “B..Blood is vital, my second love.” Faye smiled and blinked her eyes.

“Ah, mon amour.” Vivienne sighed as she once more confessed her love. “I know it is difficult to accept.” She placed dainty little kisses over Faye’s bloody hands. “I will be with you every step of the way.”

-Her lips are so soft and gentle, Faye!- Her mind echoed for a moment. “I am just as nervous as when we first met, more so now.” She closed her eyes until Vivienne’s kisses ended. “I..I am scared of being a monster. Of killing.”

“You are vulnerable right now, sweetness.” She paused and stood up, pulling Faye with her into another tight hug, running her fingers in the Korean’s blood caked hair. “I cannot lie to you. I haven’t been able to since I saw you walk up to me. Faye, you will kill.”

Faye squeezed tighter as a ripple shook her small form. “W..why will I kill someone?” She asked quietly as she began to cry, making her shake harder.

Vivienne’s memory flashed back to when she was much younger, recalling the feelings and emotions tied up with killing that first time. Feeling the sobs partly wracking Faye’s body, Vivienne had to tell the brutal truth and offer hope. “It takes willpower, Faye.” She kept stroking her partner’s short black and pink hair. “Willpower takes time. I am honestly shocked that you are not still hungry. I have seen newborns feed for days. It isn’t the need for blood, but the need to stop the burning ache.”

“I..it is still..um..still burning.” Faye let out between soft sobs.

Vivienne leaned down and kissed Faye’s bare shoulder, “I have the same burn, Faye. I have had much longer to learn and control it. You are only maybe an hour old. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself about this.” “H..how do I not..kill?”

“Feeding comes naturally, you just did it. This time you went into a frenzy, which I imagine was because of who it was.” Vivienne relaxed her hug as she felt Faye gaining control of herself. “If you do not wish to kill, stop yourself from feeding. Your embrace causes a euphoric effect on the person. You simply have to pull away, blow on the wound and it will seal.” Vivienne gives a final kiss to Faye’s shoulder and pulls back so they are eye to eye once more. “They will be dizzy after you blow across the wound, giving you time to leave and they won’t recall a thing.”

“That doesn’t sound awful.” Faye looked into the blue eyes and felt the fear melt away from her.

“There is a caveat, my love.”

“Which is?”

“If you can’t stop, then you have to drain them completely, like you did Drake just now. Every little capillary, every organ. That is the only way they will turn to ash, leaving nothing to find.”

“I understand.” Faye answered and reluctantly and gently pulled out of the hug they were in. “Vivienne?”

“My love?”

“Um…” Faye darted over to the rags that once clung to her body, tearing off strips and tying them to her form the best she could. “I..just realized I am not exactly clothed.”

Vivienne widened her smile and laughed for a few moments as Faye’s modesty returned. “Naked is the word you were looking for, Faye.” An electric pulse raced through Vivienne once more as she watched Faye tie the bloody strips to her body so tight that the plasma that hadn’t dried, ended up streaking down her white skin. -It is happening again, Vivienne.- she said to herself. Frozen like she had been when she first met Faye, Vivienne couldn’t look away from the newborn before her. Thing’s with Faye had changed and only for the better. Once more she noticed her bones and how the curves went from the normal angular human to the smoothed and enchanting vampire. Vivienne had admired Faye’s hips as they were sensual and perfectly shaped before. Vivienne felt her stomach tighten and her mind cloud over seeing how those hips had taken on a sturdier and almost cat like grace. Combined with how well the blood of her meal covered her muscles, the doctor once more felt the wave of passion in her undead heart fill and pulse the tingling current through her body. “Faye.” Her voice cracked.

Faye walked up to Vivienne and got within an inch of touching her. “Vivienne.”

“W-what are you observing now?” The French woman asked warmly.

“I see you trembling. I see admiration in those blue eyes that belong to me. I was blind when this happened before. The veil has been lifted and I see you. I feel and observe that, I am complete now.”

“Mon amour." Vivienne let the words roll from her tongue slowly, feeling the exact same way. “I..we could stand here the rest of the night.”

“We could.” Faye blinked and took a settling breath.

Vivienne followed suit and took a breath along with her mate. “Let’s get more comfortable.” She reached out for Faye’s hand and turned to head to the stairs.

Before taking Vivienne’s hand, Faye spun on her heels to dart back into the kitchen and pick up the bag of blood laying on the floor. “Call it a snack for later.”

Casey lay on the stretcher within the ambulance, listening to the paramedics talking between themselves as they rushed to the closest emergency room. “Ma’am? Are you able to speak ma’am?” The young EMT asked Casey loud enough to be heard over the siren.

Pulling off the mask that covered her nose and mouth she replied, “Yes.”

“Do you know where you are?”

Casey knew the man was testing her memory and played along with the questions, “In the back of an ambulance with a very cute paramedic type.”

The man smiled and turned a light shade of red. “Very well, Ma’am. Can you tell me your name?”

Nodding and biting on her lip for a moment, “We can trade names. I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours, is that fair?” Casey winked.

Catching the dreamy brown eye wink, the worker in the back stammered an answer. “J-Jason, my name is, um.. Jason.”

Casey purposefully blinked her gooey chocolate eyes for Jason, “Alright, Jason. I am Karen Collins.” She reached up and clasped his hand, “What else would you like to know, cutie?”

The driver laughed and yelled to the back, “She must have some kind of damage to call you cute, Jay-man.”

Jason used his free hand and flipped his companion the finger, then looked back to Casey. “Sorry about that, Ms. Collins. He deserved that.”

“It’s okay, it was funny.”

“I would like to keep asking you questions, we are close to the hospital so I can give them my evaluation.”

“How else will you get to know me, Jason.” She squeezed his hand and smiled. “Ask anything you want to.”

Jason blinked and shook lightly as Casey’s hand tightened around his. “A..um, okay. I can tell that you have some use of your hands. Can you maybe wiggle your feet and tell me something about your past?”

Casey giggled and widened her smile until her pearl white teeth were exposed, then wiggled her feet. “See cutie, they wiggle just fine. The last thing I recall before the accident was that I had just come back from Sweet Swirl Ice Cream, you know the one across from the Lilly?” She watched as Jason nodded his head. “I was eating a..Pink Dream.” Casey closed her eyes and licked her lips softly.

Jason gulped and blinked nervously, unable to look away from Casey’s light pink tongue. “I..I guess that should work for the doctors, Ms Collins.”

“Please call me Karen.” She amended as the ambulance backed into the door. “Do me a favor and leave your number in case I..need.. To call you.”

Turning another shade of maroon, the young EMT nodded his head and started typing on the electronic pad for his notes and looked once more at Casey. “I will leave it just in case you have any questions about, um.. The ambulance.”

Casey watched as the young man shook and turned away from her as he realized how silly the last thing he said was. Turning to look at the driver as he left the cab of the ambulance, Casey followed the sound of him walking and opening the doors to the truck. “Ms. Collins, Jason has to buckle you in a bit while we transport you inside.” He pointed to the junior medic. “Go on, cutie pie. Let’s get her inside.”

The Emergency department Casey was wheeled into was in chaos. All the seats in the waiting room were occupied, a line at the main window had no less than twenty people standing just to be heard. People were complaining so loud that it drowned out the television displaying the news about the fallen hotel.

“This is Karen Collins. Pulled from the rubble of the Ocean Lilly. She is aware where she is and who she is, she can move her fingers and toes. We only saw minor cuts and bruises.” Jason rattled off to a nurse that approached.

“We are dealing with multiple gunshot wounds from a gang fight just by the border with Norfolk. Is there any pressing injury that I need to be aware of?”

“Possible head injuries, we rushed her here from the scene directly.” Jason answered coolly.

The nurse looks to Casey. “Um, Ms Collins.” She looks over the notes and takes a quick look over the small scrapes on the ward’s forehead. “Unfortunately, I don’t have a bed I can put you in. I do have a private cubicle with a chair you can sit in.” She shakes her head. “I will get a doctor as soon as one becomes free.”

“Sure thing. Just lead the way to that chair.” Casey warmly replied.

“I don’t even have a wheelchair to move you, so you have to lean on me, so you won’t fall.” The nurse sighed. “Just put your arm around me and I will walk you over.”

Casey complied and hopped off the gurney, waved a dainty goodbye to Jason and let the nurse lead her to the small private curtained chair. “Thank you..um..” “Nurse Jacqueline White.” She responded as Casey stammered.

“Thank you. Truthfully, Ms White, I would prefer to leave. I feel fine.”

“I can’t make that decision Ms Collins. Our lead doctor on the floor or your own personal doctor would have to make that determination. I will say that typically with a possible head injury, many doctors admit against a person's will for seventy-two hours for observation.” “Is there a phone I can use then?” Casey inquired.

The nurse points to the wired phone beside the chair. “Feel free to call who you need to.” The nurse turned abruptly as three more heavily bleeding people came bursting through the doors and the doctors started yelling for more assistance. “Someone will be here to take your vitals.. When we get the chance. Until then, hold tight.”

Casey showed off a fake smile and raised her eyebrows, before nodding. The nurse scurried off, closing the privacy curtain. The ward picked up the phone and dialed her mistress.

The news van slowly circled the small emergency room looking for a place to park.

Slamming her fist on the dash a couple times, the red headed news anchor yelled at her crew. “We lost her, damnit. What was that unit number, did anyone see? Damnit.”

“Thirteen I think?” Her cameraman offered.

“No, I am sure I followed the number sixteen this whole way.” her driver offered.

Wendy unlocked her phone and scrolled through the names she collected while she was on site. “I know the person’s name is here somewhere.”

The cameraman swallowed the part of burrito he was chewing and blurted, “Karen, Karen Collins. You had the microphone open, and I heard it.”

The reporter started to dial her home station, “Let’s just see if we can find out anything on this Ka…” and her phone started ringing. She stared at the number for a moment and looked at her two crewmembers worried before she pressed the green button. “H..Hello?” “Wendy Richards please.” The gentleman on the other end spoke clearly and concisely.

“This is her.” She darted her brown eyes to the others and shook her head partly confused.

“Hold please.” And the line went quiet for a few seconds before another voice, much deeper and serious came through. “Miss Richards. The Darla has instructions for you and some footage that has been enhanced. Sending now.”

Wendy watched as an app named “The Darla” was pushed to her phone, its icon a black heart with a sliver of red in the middle as if a hole were punched through it. “What is…”

“..You are to listen, Miss Richards. Karen Collins is not a real name. We have determined that it refers to a young lady named Casey Rivers. You are to watch and report her every move. Do not engage, do not get discovered. When you see the video, you will know why.”

“How did you..”

“...I will let you know when to speak. The Darla has plans for what is to come. Watch the video and be prepared to do the duty you swore when you took your vow. Is that clear? You may speak now.” The gruff and deep voice commanded.

Wendy’s features grew agitated as she looked at her crew. She was raging inside, being treated like nothing but a pawn in the story that she’d discovered. Now, The Darla wanted to take over. “No, it isn’t clear. I found her; I should be the one leading this. The Darla hasn’t stopped what is going on everywhere else, why am I unable to lead my team and decide?”

The line went dead for a few seconds more and another voice rang out. Feminine and wise. “Wendy?”

“Yes, Loved one?” Wendy knew her voice instantly.

“You are the leader of your team, darling. I am just taking a personal interest in what goes on there now. I have every confidence you will understand why, when you see the video. Have I lost your faith in the path, Wendy?” “No, Loved one. You have not.”

“Good. The path will bring everything back to balance, my dear.” The soft voice reassured Wendy.

“Yes, Loved one. I will do as you ask and report my findings.” The reporter affirmed and the call disconnected. She punched the button for the app and watched the video that the bystander filmed. She shook her head watching the video, “We saw this already, you have it on camera, and we played it live. Why would she ask us to wait…” She stopped talking as the enhanced video captured the upper right corner of the hotel as it went up in flames. “The Darla is right, friends. Look at that. Nothing human can do that.”

The other two nodded in unison. “That is quite amazing. Carrying two people and leaping that far? Too bad we can’t see her face.”

Wendy started tapping the screen frantically. “That one..right there..See it?” She points to the outline of a leather vest, then the arms. She slid the screen so it showed the arms a little clearer. “Yes, that’s him! No wonder she wants to be delicate.”

“That’s who?” The cameraman questioned.

“That is the guy that only goes by ‘Drake’, like it's some great thing for a band named, of all things The Flying Cannibals.” Wendy closes the video and her phone. “This just got interesting, boys.”

Faye let her mind float in silence while she followed her maker through the house and to the corkscrew stairs leading up into the manor. Through her silent haze, the new black-pink haired vampire looked over the decor of the twisted stairs as the two ascended. She concluded that the rails were made of some sort of hardwood, perhaps mahogany. Glancing down, she marveled at the metal bands that were both twisted and entwined with the same wood as the rails and hugging the heavy cut squares of tiger striped sandstone. Oddly, Faye didn’t hear Vivienne’s footsteps and curiously looked up to see the dark visage gliding up the stairs.

Vivienne’s body hadn’t been a pressing issue in Faye’s mind until the moment she looked up. Much like a percolator boiling over, Faye’s desires took a very erotic turn. Seeing her partner’s soft black leather boots Faye noted to herself that the curvaceous vampire in front was still wearing the tattered remains of ‘The Raven’. Her midnight blue bodysuit clung to her and outlined her legs perfectly. Faye noticed that her calf would gently curve up and down, exposing a bit of the white creamy flesh from the holes in Vivienne’s outfit due to the claw marks of other vampires. Letting out a little stressful sigh, Faye squeezed her eyes shut trying to focus on anything else except what was happening before her. Yet, her mind wouldn’t let her look past Vivienne’s thighs flexing tightly and releasing much like her calves were doing. Fluid and exotic, Faye couldn’t remove the smooth and curved image of Vivienne’s..-Yes, Faye. Say it. Her ass. Her ass is remarkable. Have mercy on me.- Faye thought to herself. The newborn hadn’t forgotten one important thing about her past life, she loved the look of a nice shapely bottom. Vivienne had the perfect one, and it took all the willpower the young vampire had not to reach out and touch or even nibble on the black peach teasing her with every step.

“Faye?” Vivienne’s light accent softly called to the youngling. “Come along now, it isn’t much further.” Vivienne spoke lovingly.

Faye pressed her hand to the bridge of her green eyes to remove the voluptuous image from her mind and stopped ascending without realizing it. She dropped her hands to grapple the railing, but not hard enough to crush the expensive wood in the effort to stabilize herself. “Right. I needed a moment.” The Korean lady muttered with a hint of frustration in her voice.

The elder vampire turned and looked at Faye softly, her blue eyes twinkling. “Take your time, my darling.” Her French accent seemed to echo throughout the small stairwell.

-How does she do that?- Faye asked herself and reflected as Vivienne spoke. The tones were innocent enough, but the light accent and the way it coursed through her own ears made everything seem downright sultry and like an incantation had been weaved through her senses. Seductive heat pulsed through Faye and her body suddenly got burning hot from her chest down to her thighs and back up to her sexual folds themselves, where a light sweet metallic scent heavy with musk began to emanate into the air. Finally, her mind started getting flashes of the white flesh of her maker across her lips, kissing the slight perfect curve of her ass to the back of her thigh…

Vivienne giggled lightly to herself as Faye sounded exacerbated behind her. She reached the top of the stairs and offered her hand to Faye and walked over to a set of twin doors. “After you my dear.” The doctor offered with a smile.

Clearing the steps had cleared the lustful image from Faye’s mind until she heard the French woman’s giggle and her voice once more. “Thank you.” Faye managed to half sputter out while the renewed heat that echoed in her ears challenged her resolve by images of Vivienne’s creamy skin and oddly hearing the sound of milk pouring into a glass.

Vivienne locked the doors behind them and patted her partner lightly on the shoulder as she headed to her armoire. “This room has special meaning to me.” She points to the far side where an open pocket door exposes the bathroom. “Let’s get you out of those bloody rags, mon amour.”

Faye scanned the new room after the twin doors closed and locked behind them. This room was much different than the rest of the house. This room actually felt alive. Faye could almost feel a heartbeat that belonged to Vivienne in here. The floor was covered in a sandy carpet that almost seemed to shimmer in the lowlight that was being given off by the torch lamps in each corner. Faye knew the carpet was as expensive and specialized as it looked the moment that she allowed her toes to curl and absorb the plush feeling under her feet. Faye’s eyes scanned the richer colors the walls had. They were painted a shade of off white, with a hint of the tan to offset the brightness that an eggshell would have. The walls were decorated with different scenes of farmlands and rounded hills, all with little signs that Faye could easily read with her new eyes. ‘A French day’ or ‘Hills of Gaul’ written in majestic calligraphy. Hanging on the back of the door had a lab coat with a visible tag embroidered on it ‘Dr. Moreau’ on it, while a four layered shoe rack, containing leather and thin heels that seemed to actually have wear on the soles and toe imprints in the sandals that could be seen close by on the floor.

She let her eyes scan further and that was when she noticed two shelves with little trinkets on them that had no place in this time, but more like belonging to a museum of ancient works. Faye walked over and picked up a very worn and used spoon, then its matching small handheld bowl, both made from an imperfect bronze. “Where did you find this?” Faye casually said while still trying to ignore her fuming sexual desires.

Vivienne opened the doors to her armoire, then started pulling off her black boots when she felt her phone start vibrating. Sitting down on the plush bed, the doctor answered. “Dr. Moreau. How can I help you?”

“Its me, Viv. You know Karen Collins.”

Nodding and unintentionally ignoring Faye’s question, Vivienne caught the little code Casey was using, “Ms. Collins. How might I help you?”

“I have a very hurried nurse here that needs doctor's orders to release me.”

“Allow me to speak to the nurse, Ms. Collins.” Vivienne requested and heard the phone’s movements and the various alarms and shouts within the emergency room.

The young vampire didn’t get an immediate answer and looked up to see Dr. Moreau in action. -At least you know it wasn’t her not answering thing this time.- Faye thought and smiled to herself. Picking up an old and ashen pair of leather boots, Faye looked inside at the worn padding and much more pronounced foot imprint. “These look very uncomfortable, Vivienne.”

Leaving the faded boots, Faye then picked up a neatly folded ashen leather tunic letting it fall open showing the cuts and curvature of the woman sitting on the bed. “That used to have a shirt that matched it, though it's long gone.” The ancient vampire smoothly commented from the side of the bed while holding her hand over the phone receiver so she wasn’t heard.

“Good evening, Nurse White.” Vivienne held up her hand a moment to Faye. “You have a patient in my care, Karen Collins. I need her released please.” Vivienne watched as Faye dug around her old trinkets, barely paying attention to the woman on the line. “..We haven’t done any investigation to see if she is well enough. We would need a medical..” Vivienne sweetened her voice to calm the nurse on the other end. “I will happily fill out the forms right now. I have my laptop here. Just release her to my care and I will provide transport, how does that sound? It sounds very busy there tonight. Let me help you out here.” Vivienne reached to her end table and powered on her laptop. “I won’t be a moment, Nurse White. You are so very kind to walk me through this.”

“You are doing me the favor, Dr. Moreau.” The nurse sighed with relief on the other end.

Vivienne connected to the hospital’s servers and using her lightning-fast reflexes, loaded and filled out every form that the administration would need to release Casey that moment. “Nurse White, how much has been filled out on my patient?”

“The bare minimum. She is not very forthcoming with information.”

Vivienne found the record of Karen Collins and filled out the release order with the address of her offices in the deeper part of town. “There we are Nurse White. Process her out and I will have a friend pick her up. You have been so delightful. Let me know if I can ever help you in the future.”

“The orders came through perfectly, doctor. She will be released immediately. Would you like to finish talking to her?”

“If it isn’t too much trouble, you have already done more than enough.” Vivienne hears the phone get handed over to Casey. “Ms. Collins..” Vivienne laughed and continued, “..There will be a taxi with a driver named Daniel to take you to the 17th street parking deck. The Lamborghini is parked there. You know my code, right? Use that to unlock the doors and get the extra key-fob from the trunk so you can drive out. Go home and relax. You did a fantastic job this evening. Sleep everything off and I will see you soon enough.”

“How is Faye?” Casey asked quietly.

“She is..adjusting, my ward.”

“Good. Alright Viv, I will head back and see you later. See, I told you the plan would work.” Casey gleefully announced and the line went dead.

Holding her finger up to her annoyed looking progeny, Vivienne smiled and said, “One small phone call and it is you and I.” Vivienne closed her eyes and got the image of the card the cabby from the prior night gave her. She tapped out the numbers silently and heard the same gentleman pick up. “Hello, Daniel. Do you remember me?” Her voice angelically rang into the man’s ear. “Yes, Last night. I had a very drunk friend with me…Oh how sweet, you do remember me.” She paused for a moment purposefully taking a soft and theatrical breath. “Will you do me a huge favor? The young lady I was with last night needs a ride from the hospital to the 17th street garage. I will pay you triple for the fare.” She heard the man’s excitement over the phone. “Daniel, I knew I could count on you.” She waited a moment and let her French accent roll over the phone. “Now you have my personal number, should you need to use it.” Vivienne nods and gives a few ‘mmhmms’ over the phone and then hangs up with a giggle.

Vivienne closed her laptop and placed both the phone and computer back on the nightstand. “Where were we? I do apologize for not answering before.” She wiggled her eyebrows to the blood-caked woman across from her. “I wasn’t trying to do anything, love.”

“Only time will tell.” Faye offered comically and looked at the top shelf. The hand-carved and deep brown wood above had old medical instruments, a pithing rod, an old clay jar labeled in the same script of the paintings ‘leeches’. Faye picked each of the old items up and looked back to Viv. “What is this?” The Korean asked mindlessly, flipping the ancient rod in her agile fingers.

“A pithing rod.” Vivienne stood up and opened the armoire doors, and unzipped her bodysuit, first slipping her arms free and rolling the tattered garment to her waist, exposing part of her chest and glancing over her shoulder to Faye. “It was meant to more or less kill someone.” She tapped the back of her neck at the base of her skull. “It was thought of as humane at the time. I guess today it would be used as a shiv or something.”

Faye placed the torturous device back on the shelf. “Why keep that?”

Vivienne shrugged while still trying to pick out something else to wear from the small closet. “I never really thought about it. It just seemed to fit.”

Faye knew it was much simpler and that it was a tie to the woman’s past, a past she clearly remembered and cherished but never would admit it. Moving on, the younger woman barely touched an old stethoscope, where the rubber was broken in places, then poked at what looked to be a glass syringe. She stopped being nosey after noticing a World War two jar that had a bright red cross and the label of ‘blood’ on it.

Below the ancient trinket shelf sat a very fifties looking medical bag that seemed to be clean and still being used. “You actually carry a bag, Doctor?” Faye laughed and spun her head back to Vivienne.

Faye’s next line was trapped in her throat by the visual that she’d spun to see. “Ah..uhh..” Her eyes locked on Vivienne’s sculpted and mostly pale body. The raven haired beauty had gone a step further in the few seconds of the question and was completely free of the body suit. Pulling the pins holding her hair up, Vivienne shook out the tight bun so her hair hung thick and black down to the dent of her back. Her exquisite and velvety skin peeked through the long mane with every light move Vivienne made while searching for something to wear.

Faye certainly had been in other relationships with women, and even seen them naked after a period of time. Most of the time her girlfriends enjoyed taking the time to get to know each other, and being fairly old fashioned when it came to intimacy. Holding hands in public, a quick little kiss on the cheek and the general feeling of joy when together. It sometimes took months until they found time in private to fondle and explore each other’s bodies. Faye was the one that never took the next step into sex and that had to do with the inability to deal with the nude form. Faye shivered at the revelation her mind offered. -Sex has meaning and value, sex is unbridled passion. Faye, you won’t stop.- Chewing lightly on her lips, the Korean vampire knew that was the truth. She chased all her passions with limitless energy, and was fearful that her girlfriends couldn’t handle the pressure of it all, so she never took the final step.

The last few hours and a metabolic change turned Faye’s life upside down. A chance meeting with an impossibly delicate and entrancing vampire led to her family’s hotel being burned to the ground, her parents killed in front of her, and Faye being left for dead in a corner after being discarded like trash. Even consuming the very man that tried to kill her. It was all trauma and it all started with falling for the voluptuous woman across from her at first sight.

None of that mattered while admiring the beauty before her. Faye absorbed every contour that she could see from this angle. Purring to herself as she now saw Vivienne’s bare form, Faye’s dead heart roared with a flame wanting to reach out and touch Vivienne’s round and balanced shoulders. One burning touch wouldn’t be enough, she wanted to roll her fingers down the soft slopes until she could cup both of her partners' perky breasts that had a heavenly violet hue to them, rather than the rich pink she’d seen in other women. -Oh how I want to have them both in my mouth swirling under my tongue- Faye’s mind panted. Viv tilted her head slightly exposing her long, luscious neck to Faye, causing the youngling to take a steady step backward, holding onto the table where the doctor’s bag lay. -Does she even know what she is doing to me?- Faye’s hot rush and flush stained her cheeks, by imagining placing her lips once on the length of her love’s muscular and creamy neckline. Just one opportunity to lightly bite and lick on where her blood should have been pulsing, enjoying the feeling of just being so close to her again. Lost in the hungry haze of heated wonderment, Faye heard the woman of beauty speak out of nowhere. The comment almost lost to her because of her gazing at the woman she claimed as her own. “W-what?”

“I said, I like carrying that bag. It has something that is missing from what I think of as a doctor nowadays. I look at that and see a simpler time for myself.” Vivienne gave a minor exhale with a light chuckle.

“I-I can’t think, Vivienne.” Faye stammered and closed her eyes, still engaged with the creamy vision of Vivienne taunting her willpower to crumble and tackle her partner into a bundle of desire.

Vivienne gave a look over her shoulder, the blue eyes blazing with lighted crystal that bore the idea of desire right into Faye’s stomach. Faye crouched down, doubled over and extended

her tiger claws so she could clutch at her internal butterflies while still trying to get Vivienne’s sexy eyes and shapely form from her mind. “Stop doing that.”

“Doing what exactly?” Vivienne asked, then thought to breathe in from her nose. Catching the obvious gentle scent of sex heated with a bit of blood and Faye’s natural sea salted scent.

“Ah, that.”

“Yes, that.” Faye grunted and fought back the urge to tackle Vivienne again. “While you are at it, you could put some clothing on to help me not, well you know.”

“It didn’t even occur to me, Faye. I am used to being nude.” Vivienne then pulled out a slender and body-hugging sky-blue robe that almost matched her eyes perfectly. “I often forget how people here think about the body in its natural form.” She wrapped her robe tightly against her form and closed the doors to the armoire. “You still look a mess, my love.

Let’s take care of that.”

Nurse White walked over with a smile on her face and a thick set of paperwork in her hand. “Ms. Collins. You have a very dedicated doctor.” She winked and handed Casey a copy of the release orders. “Typically I would go over what you need to do. This time all that I have to give is the instructions on meeting with Dr Moreau at her office later.”

“Thanks for looking out for me. I just want to get out of here and into a hot shower.” Casey scratched lightly at her frizzy and ash covered hair.”

“Protocol says I have to take you out of here in a wheelchair, but there are none available. As you can tell we are still very busy. The exit is right this way.” The nurse turned and headed for the exit.

Casey pulled the hood on her jacket in the attempt to hide her face from the cameras in the hospital. Giving a quick and forgetful wave, the ward walked out of the hospital and spotted the taxi immediately. Walking quietly to the driver’s window, she knocked lightly and the gentleman rolled the same window down just enough to talk. “Are you Daniel?” Casey asked quietly.

“Yes, Ma’am. Your friend from the other night paid a handsome amount so I could get you safely to 17th street.”

Casey nodded in approval to the cabby when he voluntarily mentioned the street number. She slid into the back seat and pulled her hood fully over her youthful visage. “Thank you for helping us, it has been a very long day.”

Daniel gave Casey a thumbs up and closed the small window between them, letting go of the breath he’d been holding. “Whew.” He exclaimed and took another breath of fresh air. “Smelled like a brewery last night and tonight smells like soot and rot.” he muttered to himself as he wrinkled his nose.

Casey pulled into her college parking lot for the second time in one evening. The swimmer shut off the engine of the expensive sports car and laid her head on the steering wheel and let the events of the evening pass over her for a couple minutes. Her exhausted mind didn’t replay the actions of the evening, rather she started to feel the emotional toll of it all. -You wanted excitement and to be reckless, Rivers. You got it, didn’t you?- Until this evening she’d never killed anything, and what frightened her the most is that she did it without hesitation. “What does that say about you, Rivers? You did what you were told to do, not to think.. Just act. Now look at you.” She whispered to herself, a small tear running down her cheek. Smearing the streak of water from her cheek, she reached for the door handle. “Fuck, you don’t have your crutches.” Casey decided to forget about the illusion of her injuries for the moment and get into her dorm room. Walking the well-lit path up to the building, the ward couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. Turning to look through the planted trees of the student courtyard and using her new heightened sense of sight, the young ward focused on the shadows and only glimpsed a couple sitting on a bench kissing. She shook her head, “Now you are seeing things in the dark.” Sighing and rolling her eyes, she showed her student ID to the guard and went to her dorm room.

Closing and locking the door behind her, Casey made her way back to her chair where she dressed earlier in the evening. Tossing her jacket on the floor, she flopped in the soft chair and expelled a heavy breath.

“Casey?” Brian sleepily muttered.

“Hey.” She replied, her voice lacking any enthusiasm.

Brian pushed himself up and peered in the direction of the chair, scrubbing his eyes.

“Everything alright?” He inquired gently, having memorized his girlfriend’s overtone.

“Just a very long night, Brian.” She echoed and thought, -Long night doesn’t remotely describe it, Rivers.-

“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked just as the scent from the corner reached him. “What the hell is that smell?”

Casey groaned a moment and started pulling off her shoes. “That’s me. Give me a second and I will take a shower.”

“Should I even ask why you smell like that?” Brian asked as he finally focused enough to see the ash-blonde in the corner. “Jesus, you look..”

“..I get it.”

Brian smiled and walked over to his girlfriend, “No. You don’t.” He wiped a soot stain from her cheek, then leaned down giving Casey a quick kiss. “I was going to say..Jesus, you look like you need a kiss.”

The ward sighed once taking in the hulking form of her boyfriend before stripping out of the mess of clothing she was wearing. “Brian.” Casey’s voice cracked as she hugged him tightly and whispered, “Hold me.”

Brian watched for a moment as Casey held on for dear life and started crying softly in his arms. “Whatever you need, Casey.” He whispered back, kissing her forehead.

Vivienne gracefully glided over to where Faye was crouched over and crushing her eyes shut. She gently placed her hand on the younger vampire’s shoulder, running her hands over her olive toned skin. Feeling the sheer amount of heat pulsing from her partner's shoulder Vivienne knew that she had to soothe Faye in order to preserve the blood she was using with her emotional desire. “Faye, my dearest.” Vivienne soothed, “You are using the blood within your body, fighting what you are feeling. We only have one container of blood left for you. Come now, let me have your hand and feel the cool touch of mine. Try to focus on my hand and its chill, bring yourself back to your new nature.”

Faye placed her hand within Vivienne’s and pulled herself upright. The newborn started to feel better and took a breath out of habit to steady herself, causing her body once more to flare up. "You still aren’t making this any easier. I can smell you, feel you, see your eyes in my head.”

Vivienne caught Faye as she tried too once more double over. “Allow me to suggest one thing that might help. Don’t use your nose. You can breathe enough to talk to me, otherwise you don’t actually need to breathe.”

“What about your eyes? They are entrancing.” Faye bleakly expressed.

“As are yours, mon amour.” Vivienne reassured.

“They are?” Faye asked sheepishly.

“I see the sparkle there. I see what seems like an array of swirling green mixed with the maroon of a hot iron ring surrounding them. Your eyes are so enticing and open to me, that all I want to do is bask in them for a century. I see a vast intelligence there. I feel the hope of love piercing into me. It is like you see every part of my old existence.” Vivienne catches another breath and takes her other hand, placing it on her cheek. “I see eternity in your eyes. I don’t want to look away.” Vivienne teared up the second she squeaked out the word eternity, and the small crimson drop added another line of blush to the other streaks that had dried to a dull red hue on her cheek. “I ache down all over when I don’t see them.”

“I am aching now, but it is a good ache. One I cannot give up.” Faye whispered between them, preserving the moment.

Disturbing the silence between the twin vampires, the small clock radio in the room started playing music and the soft tones of Fleetwood Mac caused the couple to sway through a few lines being played.

“Have mercy, baby on a poor girl like me,

You know I'm falling, falling, falling at your feet,

I'm tingling right from my head to my toes,

So help me, help me, help me make the feeling go,

'Cause when the loving starts, and the lights go down,

And there's not another living soul around,

You woo me until the sun comes up, And you say that you love me..”

When the last line of the simple song passed between them, Vivienne slowly spun Faye away from her and winked before heading to the bathroom. “Lovely dance, mon amour.” She blew her a kiss playfully.

This room was much like the one downstairs, except instead of a shiny copper tub, it was a very dark granite looking tub, without a shower attached. The inside was meant for two people and to be filled and used like a jacuzzi. Vivienne stepped back and then pushed Faye inside the room first, pressing softly at the base of the young vampires back.

“Don’t be shy. What is mine is yours now. I find that the jets in the tub are interesting to have running. The person that sold me the tub said it would be relaxing.”

“That was code for, I am adding another six-hundred dollars.”

“Perhaps. All the same, the heat of the water with the salts and the lavender I find soothing and keeps – it – at bay.”

“It?”

“Yes. I will explain more after you shower.” Vivienne points to a glass door to the right of the tub. “Get out of those bloody rags and let’s get that lovely form of yours a little less war torn and more civilized.”

Faye bit her lower lip a moment, finally enjoying the pressure of having her fang there. “I am still nervous about my body, Vivienne. I know you have seen me..bare..” Her voice catches as she looks over the gruesome scene that is all over her. “..I guess modesty is out the window at this point.”

“That is one way to look at it.” Vivienne cooly added as she pulled her partner to the shower and opened the glass door. “I am not going to do anything that you are not comfortable with, Faye.” She caught the Korean woman’s chin with her thumb and forefinger. “There isn’t a time limit anymore. We can go as slow or as fast as you like.” Vivienne gives Faye a soft and gentle kiss on her cheek. “I would enjoy knowing more about my Tigerlily.”

Faye felt herself beginning to heat up from the small touch and kiss, almost doubling over once again as her loins started to burn and ache in sexual need. She quickly reflected on Vivienne’s words about using up blood reserves and once more gazed into the soothing eyes of her companion. “I wish this confusion would stop making me so..excited.” Faye shivered and panted.

“There is a way.” Vivienne offered stoically.

“What do you mean, and please don’t be obtuse like you have been. Be direct, because I want to look at you and not immediately want to be wrapped in your arms.”

“I am confused as to why that is a problem, Faye. You gave me a kiss that I am still thinking about.”

“You are?” Faye smiled and kept her fang firmly in place on her lip.

Raising one sloped eyebrow, Vivienne gave a pleasant look back. “You are too much, mon amour. You know I am thinking about it. Just like you, I can think about lots of things at once.” Vivienne reached around Faye and turned the dials on the shower. “Let me do this for you Faye.”

Faye watched as Vivienne adjusted the dials until the water started spraying out water hot enough to produce fresh white plumes of steam. Faye only used the puffy clouds to distract her from what was really on her mind. -She’s barely touching you, and you don’t want to stand.- Vivienne’s last words echoed in her mind and all she found herself able to do was shake her head and softly add, “What do you want..to do?” Faye stood in silence for a tense moment as the hot water had already started melting the clotted blood from her feet. “Pamper you, let your mind rest. Let you get comfortable with us.” A French accent brushed lightly against Faye’s ear, sending a deathly sensual chill along the Korean’s body. With the guiding pressure from Vivienne’s soft touch still residing at the base of her spine, Faye immersed herself in the heavenly stream coming from above. The thermal and glistening shower streams absorbed into her gore ridden black and pink streaked hair. Faye took a habitual deep breath with the feeling of the water permeating her skin. Her mind caused her body to tense anticipating the sweet scent of her partner.

“Focus on the water, mon amour. I am here, I will not let you fall.” Vivienne once more whispered into Faye’s ear. “I am going to just pick some of this mess out of your hair.” Vivienne pointed to the shower wall and the different items within a small copper basket. “There is obviously my soap in there. I am not sure you will like the scent, but it is infused with cucumber to supposedly make…” She clears her throat having watched too many commercials and fakes an ad. “..Your body feels open and alive. The cucumber gives you the woman of the wild the clean feeling..” Vivienne gets her French voice back, “..whatever that means.”

The little joke caused Faye to chuckle and forget about the myriad of sensations her girlfriend had been bringing out of her. She wanted to give Vivienne something other than the desperate thoughts of sex and desire from the tiger she felt padding just outside of her mind’s vision. She wanted to give her maker a level of confidence, reassurance that the ancient vampire deserved. Faye nestled in the warmth of the shower and its match within her chest before speaking. “Will you wash my hair, Please?”

“Nothing would please me more. I only have the shampoo there, Herbal Essences. It is a grapefruit and mosa mint. Kindly pass it to me, please.”

Faye picked up the bottle and when she read the label, a rush of blood pulsed into her pussy scenting the shower in a light sexual musk. “Of course. A naked volume, Vivienne I swear you have to be doing this to me on purpose.”

Vivienne wobbled for a split second as the mouthwatering fragrance of Faye’s sex interrupted the quiet moment the two were having. “I..I” She stammered and nearly dropped the bottle of shampoo that Faye handed her. “Étoiles au-dessus, mon amour” Vivienne softly exclaimed then continued, “It is taking all my willpower to just stand. So who is doing what on purpose, I should ask.”

Faye giggled and turned her feet inward and tightened her thighs. “Sorry, I didn’t know that would happen.”

Vivienne regained the strength in her legs and poured a healthy glob of shampoo in her hands, before massaging the short black and pink hair Faye possessed. “Nothing to be sorry for, Faye.” She purred lightly, “I am wondering what else we will discover about each other.” Her hands pulled through the locks, removing the bits of bone and flesh. “How does this feel, my love?”

-Miraculous- the word blinked in Faye’s green-eyed mind. Faye stood frozen in the fear and excitement of this woman doing the simple act of cleaning her, starting with her head. The sharp nails flecked away the clots of blood that had attached to her scalp with the simplest of ease, followed with a faithful pressured touch that reassured the Korean woman. “Your touch is so..magnetic. It feels like...like…familiar and intimate, something I could bask in for hours.”

“If that is what you want, mon amour. Having you beside me like this, I want to do this for hours.” Vivienne delicately sang the words. Vivienne looked at the soap and noted it had taken on a maroon look. She reached for the shower head and disconnected it and started to flush the essence shampoo from Faye’s scalp. “There we go. I think at least one more gentle scrubbing is in order, for you.”

“Do you plan to wash my body too, Vivienne?” Faye asked with a hint of desire.

“Perhaps that is unwise?” The doctor played back.

“You did it again.”

“Did what, mon amour?” Vivienne giggled and started scrubbing Faye’s hair once more. “I couldn’t resist. I will wash you, if that is what you want Faye.”

Reaching for the cucumber soap and a loofah, Faye infused the liquid until it had suds all over. Starting with her shoulders, Faye took a sensual step back, so that she felt Vivienne’s breasts pressed into her back. “The advertising for this is quite good, the scent is relaxing, and I certainly want to be open and alive.” She teased. Faye heard Vivienne clear her throat and felt her hands stop massaging her scalp a minute. “Are you alright back there?”

-Not really.- Vivienne’s mind laughed at her as she realized she’d frozen in place much like Faye did moments before. The sensation of Faye pressed into her caused the electric feeling to calmly spark through her nerves and locked her hands in place. Vivienne knew only one thing in her non-beating heart, the vampiress needed Faye with her. “I will recover, Tigerlily.”

-That name!- Faye returned her own purr to match the one softly coming from Vivienne. Feeling comfortable and knowing she had plenty of time, Faye casually changed the subject back to the soap she was currently using to clean her arms. “Anything is better than using hotel soap. My parents didn’t want to buy anything we already had. So, I smell like hotel hand soap.”

“I didn’t really notice.”

“Everyone notices that horrible stuff. It was the cheapest stuff ever, labeled like it was luxury spa soap or something.”

“I was looking at your eyes.” Vivienne cooed lightly into Faye’s ear before adding to the small talk. “I picked the cucumber because I liked it.”

“You have likes, other than my eyes?” Faye gave a pleasing wiggle when her creator mentioned her sparkly green eyes again. “You have been rather clinical most of the evening, it is surprising that you have things you like.”

“I am a doctor.”

“Was that a joke too?”

“Apparently a bad one. You were saying?” Vivienne once more flushed the shampoo from her partner’s hair then slipped her arms around her waist, pulling them together.

Faye had her eyes closed and let out a drawn out and heartfelt sigh when Vivienne’s hands clutched them together followed by simple kisses to her shoulder. Faye lost grip on the sudsy sponge she had been using to reach behind her and started caressing Vivienne’s shapely hips. The questions swirling in her head vanished and the newborn instead found herself in a renewed sense of delight with her girlfriend pressed intensely into her. Faye struggled with herself to find a way to answer the simple question Vivienne asked a moment before, but instead found herself unable to think about anything but the warm and gentle hands holding her. It was the touch that sent all the signals to her body, the rush of love and belonging.

Pressed against Vivienne this tightly, the Korean woman pushed back the sexual heat of her partner's touch, replacing it with the comforting heat of knowing that Vivienne would never willingly leave her. She nestled deep within her own feelings and found the knowledge that while the claim was said that she belonged to Vivienne, Faye knew that Vivienne belonged to her as well. Letting an approving rumble from her throat, Faye turned her head and managed to give a light kiss to the French woman’s cheek. “I have said a bunch, then you pull me into you, or kiss me and I forget myself.” She kept rubbing Vivienne’s hips. “Say whatever you want to, just don’t let me go.”

A simple kiss to her cheek sent a ripple of energy through Vivienne, scattering her thoughts. Her body instinctively used part of the energy to push herself into Faye’s exploration of her hips and thighs. Her fangs locked into place and started little prickles on Faye’s shoulder. Vivienne knew what was just below the supple wet flesh she was kissing. -Faye’s taste. The taste of love.- Part of the vampire knew that she could just take the blood Faye had, or even order her to give it up. She banished the thoughts immediately and focused on the moment between them. Faye had given Vivienne trust twice now, first in allowing her to change and second, right now. “Je ne lâcherai jamais prise, mon amour.” She whispered without thought in the energy of the moment.

“Mmm.” Faye purred hearing the French words spill from Vivienne. “What does that mean?”

“Loosely translated? It means; "My love, I will never let go.”

Faye felt the words penetrate into her chest, wrapping around her undead heart. “This is the part of you I love most.”

“What do you mean?” Vivienne asked and picked up the sponge, using it to wash Faye’s back.

A molten urge rushed through Faye as Vivienne unexpectedly started washing her, making her stumble until she regained her footing. She found herself looking up into Vivienne’s sparkling eyes, now face to face. “I..” Her comment hung in her throat once more seeing the glowing woman she knew was hers. “Y..you are, um-washing me.”

“Yes.” Vivienne leaned forward and kissed Faye’s forehead. “You never did give me an answer either way.” She inspected Faye for the traces of blood from her feeding and found some lingering between her legs. Kneeling down, Vivienne started cleaning her partner’s inner thighs.

Faye’s mind exploded into a million different directions as her willpower finally broke. Frenzied and uncontrolled, her stomach tightened with the first orgasmic pulse. Faye arched her back next, as the one pulse was replaced by beats of heat that caused her to jerk and lose her footing. She felt herself falling, though she didn’t know if it was her mind or her body doing it. She felt herself scream out, but it wasn’t the same that she knew. It was a tiger's roar mixed with her personal feminine cry of joy. Faye felt its intensity surge out from her cunny, through her veins in a burst of fire like it had smoldered for hours.

Vivienne’s mouth started watering as she sensed the sweet and light sexual scent emanating from Faye change into a thicker and richer flow to match the heat of the orgasm that shook her newborn love. Dropping the sponge, Vivienne rushed in blur to catch the wobbling young vampire and pulled her into a tight hug, whispering into her ear slowly. “I am here, mon amour. Let it out, all of it my love.” Vivienne followed each convulsion with a tiny kiss on Faye’s shoulders.

Faye registered the few words Vivienne spoke as her body let go of all the pressure that had built up. Her mind still in the fragments flashed images of the known evening. Her death and rebirth, the first smell of blood making her mouth water, eating Drake. Bathing in Blood. Embracing her tiger. All of it made her body pulse and release more than sexual gratification. The last image and the last pulse, their embrace and first real kiss. Completely drained and spent, Faye collapsed into Vivienne’s arms.

Vivienne held her girlfriend tightly as she felt the orgasm slowly fade from Faye’s body. “Faye.” She meekly whispered to her partner as she felt Faye regain her footing.

“Vivienne.” Faye sniffled and pulled herself to look up into her star blue eyes.

“Are you..I…Faye.” Vivienne found herself unable to form any sentence that made sense.

She turned off the steaming water and looked into the green eyes of her companion. “Oh, my Tigerlily. I just ..”

Faye heard the desire and concern wavering in Vivienne’s accented voice. “Yes.” She reached up and cupped Vivienne’s cheek. “There is nothing to worry about.”

Vivienne stood in place holding Faye and stroking her jet black and pink hair. “I didn’t mean to overstep my boundary. I said I wouldn’t do anything you weren’t comfortable with. I just saw the last of..his..” Vivienne half snarled with the thought of Drake, “...blood tainting you. I just wanted to pamper you, like I promised.”

Faye pulled herself from Vivenne’s loving embrace and pushed up on her toes, giving her a kiss. “You didn’t overstep anything. I didn’t know that was going to happen, Vivienne.” She ran her finger along the French lady’s chin. “You did pamper me, thank you.” Faye blinked her green eyes and pushed herself back into her companion's loving arms.

Swaying the couple in their gentle hug, Vivienne swallowed and spoke softly. “I have a confession, Faye.”

Faye heard and felt the troubled tone from her partner. “You can say anything to me.” Faye simply offered, still enjoying the embrace they were in.

“It comes from years of being aloof and disinterested with most everything around me.”

Faye pulls back a moment and looks up inquisitively, “I don’t understand.”

“The way I handle what I say. I am aware that it can sound..clinical.”

Faye suddenly knew what her partner meant, “I understand what you mean, though I am confused as to why you are saying it.”

Vivienne takes a moment to watch the kaleidoscope effect in Faye’s verdant eyes. “I work with nurses and other doctors. They are clinical, fake.” She takes a moment to lick her fangs and takes a deep breath. “All I see is illusion and lies, for a very long time. Blood has been my only truth. Their blood, I hear it pumping all around me as they try to talk to me.” Running her fingers lightly through the black-pink hair Vivienne continues, “I closed myself to everyone. That was until I saw you, Faye. We both knew it immediately.” She keeps stroking her partner's hair, “I never want to be clinical or closed to you, mon amour.”

Faye focused for a moment and her own fangs slid into place, then smiled. “Then I will make sure that you don’t.” She scraped her tongue over her needle-like teeth, reminding her of their use. Suddenly, her throat scorched at the thought of drinking more of the irony sweet fluid. “Which will I love more, you or blood?”

“My heart wants you to love me more, but I don’t know if that is the truth. Faye, I have never been in love before. This is as new to me as it is to you.”

“May I have the bag of blood I brought upstairs?” Faye inquired, while an idea started forming in her mind.

Vivienne stopped admiring Faye’s eyes and looked for the rustic ring of hunger along the rim of her irises. “You don’t seem hungry my love, your eyes are clear.” She gave Faye a quick kiss, “You can have anything I have, mon amour.”

Faye takes Vivienne’s hand and steps out of the shower, then points to the large jacuzzi tub. “Why don’t you get that started while I do…something.”

Vivienne raised one eyebrow questioningly at her newborn. “..If I am reading that look on your face correctly, you are up to something.”

Faye bit lightly into her own lip, then licked the tiny drop of blood that formed. “You just get the water running and leave the rest to me.”

Tilting her head to the side as the Korean woman teased her with a single drop of blood, the good doctor leaned over and started filling the tub. “Would you like me to add something to this, Faye?”

The newborn had darted down the circular stairs, and into the kitchen when she heard her maker ask the question. “No. Leave it like it is.” She quickly dug around for a large bowl and found sponges under the sink. “While I am doing this, do you mind if I ask some questions?” Faye screamed at the top of her lungs.

“I can hear you just fine, Faye. Speak normally.” Vivienne giggled and swished her hand under the small torrent of hot water. “What would you like to know, mon amour?”

“Two questions really.”

“Yes, and I will answer them non-obtuse as you asked me to do earlier.”

-She did it again- She told herself, chuckling. “You have mentioned two things. First was something about the scent of the lavender keeping -it- at bay. What is it?”

Vivienne watched as the hot water started filling the tub, its white plume of heat swirling. “That is unique to each vampire as I have come to understand it. Yours manifests itself as a tiger of some sort, given that you ended up with tiger-like stripes on your skin.”

Faye filled the bowl she had with a small puddle of water and wet the sponges she found, before walking to the table where she’d bled out. “I didn’t know what was happening to me, Vivienne. It is all such a blur still.” Faye muttered as she started to smear her blood off the table and into the bowl. “I recall a voice calling me a little tiger.”

“Sounds about right.” Vivienne recalled the conversation from earlier. “Yes, you told me what it called you after you first calmed down. I call mine a beast and imagine it as a caged animal wanting to escape.”

Faye kept swooshing her blood off the table and squeezing the captured blood from the sponge, noting that her blood didn’t make her throat burn. -Interesting- She thought to herself and made a mental note to ask her girlfriend about it later. “I think it had control of me. Is it really a beast, Vivienne?”

Vivienne left the water running for a few seconds and went back to her wardrobe, picking up her raven bodysuit. “I have always called it a darkness within. I didn’t know what Drake’s darkness was until I heard him begging and screaming to thin air. His was about being eaten alive, since that is what he was yelling at the time. Poetic justice I suppose.”

“A darkness huh?” Faye’s voice had the hint of reflection as she kept dutifully cleaning the thick liquid from the table. “That is how you came up with Tigerlily?” Faye asked and suddenly the cloud of her mind lifted for a moment to the name ‘Cyberlily’ and she sighed. “..I..I just remembered something.”

“What is that, mon amour?” The doctor questioned as she placed the blood-stained letter on the bed and pulled the final thing from her tattered suit, a set of half-broken rounded glasses. Vivienne placed the small trinket on the shelf with her old stethoscope and headed back into the bathroom.

“I used to go by the name Cyberlily. The rest is still shrouded from me.” Faye closed her eyes and said her screen name a few times, trying to get some sort of memory back. Reopening her eyes and frowning in frustration, she kept to her diligent task of cleaning up the sanguine mess on the table that she’d left. Wringing out the sponge one final time, the newborn looked over the table and smiled. “So, um..how do you control it, um.. In my case the tiger?”

“There is no real way to answer that. The way the darkness will talk or attempt to control you will be different each time it tests you.” Vivienne sat on the side of the tub and stared into the hot and fog like water. “I have another confession, Faye. It is about your first entanglement with your tiger.” Vivienne took a deep breath and watched as her hand started to shake again as her nerves betrayed her. “I…I did something that I am not proud of, and it might change how you feel about me.” The doctor clenched her hand into a fist and willed her body into compliance. -Focus. She needs to know this, regardless.- “When I saw the stripes pop out on your…” Vivienne grinned to herself as she recalled Faye’s shapely form covered in black stripes. “...I commanded you to say your name. You didn’t have a choice.”

Placing the bowl on the table, Faye walked over and cleaned the sponge with soap and water. She watched as the red ran from the porous material like a rich red paint. “Commanded?” She inquired and her sharp mind recalled something that Vivienne hinted at before. “Wait, commanded? Does this have to do with you saying earlier that there was a way to control my excitement?”

“Yes.” Vivienne didn’t embellish the answer, or excuse what she’d done. “I made you, I control you. That is the simple truth.” She sighed and splashed the bathwater. -You did it because you had to.- Vivienne closed her eyes and massaged her temples. -Did you really? You see how capable she is right now. Her intellect is evident, she put together hints you made.- Vivienne waited and ached in silence as she waited for some response from her newborn vampire. Finally deciding to occupy herself, the ancient woman slid into the near boiling water. Enjoying the silence breaking hiss her body made in the water, the ancient vampire slowly sank until she was completely underwater and her hair floating aimlessly. She saw Faye come back into the bathroom holding a bowl, and she reemerged from the water slicking her long jet hair behind her. “Faye?”

The half-Korean woman silently made her way into the bathroom, and watched as Vivienne cleared the surface of the water. It took all of the fledgling's willpower to resist her partner's glistening image pasted with water slowly sliding from her normally pale skin. Gazing longingly at her girlfriend’s hair, Faye followed the black silky strands and admired how Vivienne’s black mane now outlined her neck and shoulders, the drops of water adding a steamy and glittering sparkle. Her new vampiric eyes allowed Faye to see through the water clearly, bringing Vivienne’s sculpted body into pure focus. -She really is magical isn’t she?Faye blinked and admired how the steamy water replaced the pale look that Vivienne typically had. -Unbelievable.- Flushed to the point where Vivienne looked alive, it took the ‘little tiger’ a moment to gather her thoughts beyond the deep pink and puffy nipples just below the surface of the water. -Pull yourself together. This was your idea; it is your turn.

Follow your heart.-

“Faye?” Vivienne repeated softly to the young vampire. A quick fear pulsed in Vivienne’s veins and she looked over Faye’s frozen form. Her blue eyes locked onto the reverent green ones, removing any fear the doctor might have had.

After the second time that Vivienne called her name, Faye snapped herself back to the reality of the moment. “Vivienne.” Her voice was low and wispy, “I…I was…just thinking how.” She shook her head, the short and black-pink locks swaying as she did so. “No. It’s my turn.” Faye looked down at the covered bowl she was still holding from downstairs. Gently placing the cranberry glass mixing bowl on the floor, she raised her finger a moment and disappeared for a moment, then returned just to lower the lighting in the bathroom to just above the glow of candlelight. Kneeling down at the edge of the tub, Faye revealed the hand-held bronze bowl from her partner’s shelf. Smiling softly, she curled her index finger to Vivienne signaling for her to come closer. Watching as the blue-eyed beauty graciously moved to the edge of the tub, Faye dipped the imperfect bronze bowl into the thick fluid the mixing bowl held. With her free hand, Faye slid her hand over Vivienne’s cheek once more, “You have done so much for me, in just a few hours of knowing you.” Her green eyes began to slowly form heartfelt tears of red. “The rush…the intensity…the unknown.” Faye let her emotions take control, “Hours. I still see you walking to me the first time. I…I knew what was happening then.”

“Faye..” Vivienne started to speak and was silenced by a single finger over her lips.

Shaking her head softly, “You have given so much. Let me this time.” She removed her finger from Vivienne’s lips and held up the small bowl. “Drink.”

Vivienne’s whole body started to shake so hard in the water, it caused little ripples on the surface. The scent gave away the blood in the bowl. Faye’s living blood, once more touching her lips. The ancient vampire had been smelling the delicious and rousing plasma all evening, but she’d resisted it in favor of caring for Faye. No longer resisting, Vivienne reached for the bowl that held the taste of love. She watched as it was pulled from her lips and glanced up from the desire to the green loving eyes. -She wants to feed you.- Her lips quivered softly as she nodded. When her bronze bowl found her mouth, Vivienne opened and felt the rich and thick scarlet fluid hit her tongue once more. Exactly like before, the blood had the exceptional taste of something new and exciting, along with overwhelming love. Taking the time to fully enjoy what was lavished thickly in her mouth, the sweet rustic flavor seemed to have an undertone of devotion to it as well. -Are you tasting both love and the devout?- The bowl tipped further into her lips, making her swallow the first mouthful. A cool and saplike feeling slowly quenched the scorching flare within her throat, removing the one ever constant feeling she had for a few seconds.

Faye’s hand slipped over Vivienne’s hand on the side of the tub as she kept watch on her partner. Her heart fluttered the moment the sparkle blue eyes seemed to fill with passion and relief at the same time. She tipped the old bowl completely and then slowly slipped into the water behind Vivienne. Pulling the shaking woman into her with her free arm, she once more filled the container. “Y…” Her voice faltered a moment and Faye took the moment to lift the old vessel of blood to Vivienne. “You gave your blood for me…a woman…you’d known only in a glance.” The little bronze basin drained quickly, and Faye moved Vivienne’s long hair to expose the woman’s neck. Kissing her lightly, she also dipped back into her living blood and once more offered it to her partner. “I…w…” Her own lips began to spasm, “..will..you..want..” Dropping the metal bowl into the water, Faye grabbed the French lady tightly, and flurry kissed her on the neck and shoulders.

Vivienne watched as her ageless bronze heirloom plunged into the water and started swirling Faye’s blood, changing it from a shimmering clear to a deep rose. When the Korean woman grabbed her hips and started frantically kissing her shoulder, Vivienne turned her head slightly and pressed her own soft kisses on Faye’s heated cheeks. When Faye looked up with red rimmed tears in her fantastic green eyes, Vivienne leaned over and pressed her own nervous lips onto the cherry and tremulous ones that had been on her shoulder.

Locked once more to Vivienne by her loving embrace, Faye felt the uncertainty of the moment slip away and she once more found herself in the place where nothing mattered except for the eyes delving into her very being. -Oh..was this what you wanted? To be back where it all started? Safe and loved?- Faye shook off the peaceful dark, and pressed into the kiss between them for a few moments longer, before pulling away. Her lips resisted, sticking to Vivienne’s for a second before she let out a heavenly sigh, “L..let me say this before I lose my willpower again.” Faye found the small bowl between Vivienne’s legs and once more filled it with her own blood. Swimming herself to face her partner, Faye blinked her eyes gently and for the third time started feeding Vivienne. “I..want you to have it all, Vivienne.” Her voice solemnly coaxed. “Let…what’s left of my living body be part of..yours..”

Slipping her hands up and over Faye’s shoulders, Vivienne pulled her partner close to her. She let the emotional tide of love slide gingerly down her throat, feeling it embrace her heart and meld into her. When the little cup pulled away again, Vivienne licked her lips softly. “I…” She was once more cut off from expression by the same finger. Vivienne kissed the finger against her lips and nodded with a heartfelt smile.

Faye dipped her fingers in the larger glass cranberry colored bowl and held them up as the deluge of blood coated her hands. “Inside and outside.” Faye pressed her hands to Vivienne’s neck first, coating her long and elegant neck, trailing it down past her shoulders to the top of her chest. Faye massaged her blood into her partner’s skin until it left a red hued sheen. “Can you feel it? Absorb me. I am now part of you as you are part of me.” She reached down and dipped her fingers into the small amount of blood left in the bigger bowl and held them up for Vivienne to lick.

Vivienne had just felt the lock of love surrounding her heart as Faye’s blood started to pulse in her undead arteries when her skin started to tingle. -Is it love doing this?- The parts of her covered with the maroon life force sent the sparks of electricity all through her once more, awakening her body. Puckering her lips, Vivienne slowly slid her mouth over Faye’s twin fingers and suckled the last of her partner’s living love. She lifted her arms from the water cupped Faye’s cheeks, “Oui, je vous ressens toutes mon amour.”

“W..” Faye started to mumble.

“Yes, Yes. I feel all of you, my love.” Vivienne offered and embraced Faye.

Lingering in the hug, Faye kissed the length of Vivienne’s neck. “Th..thank you.”

A tiny rumble escaped Vivienne’s throat, “What for, mon amour?”

Faye felt a few crimson tears escape her eyes and splash into the rose-colored water. “..for..for ma..making me whole.”

“Whole again.” Vivienne whispered soothing into Faye’s ear.

“No.” Faye offered with more kisses to Vivienne’s neck. “You made me whole; with you I am complete.”