Chapter 15

The vampire queen hugged the naked body closely as her victim, a pretty Asian teenager, experienced a final massive orgasm, cried out and lay still in her arms. At last, satisfied she had drained every drop, the vampire released her grip and the body slumped to the floor like a discarded rag.

The movie theatre restroom was dark, quiet and otherwise empty or so the queen thought.

As she closed her robe, the queen felt another presence. She smiled, not even bothering to turn around.

"Hello, Mother! Come to check on the new queen?"

"Your rise to queen was meteoric," opined Leonora.

"Yes, wasn't it."

"You've let your hair grow in its natural color."

"Yes, I tired of coloring it. Besides there is now no need."

The older woman looked at the nude, dead body

"You are being reckless. What if someone... ?"

"They won't. My new pawn will see that no one enters and he'll clean up this mess after I leave," she said, kicking at the body slightly in derision.

"Detective Crawford?"

"Yes. It was a real bit of serendipity that he was at the apartment when I arrived. He will serve me well, covering my indiscretions and throwing the police off my trail."

"What are your plans?" asked Leonora.

"Vanessa had the right idea: a queen of queens. It will take time, of course, but eventually I shall succeed where Vanessa failed."

"And what of Vanessa's successor?"

"I have become Elena's mentor. She will eventually become queen

-- but under my direction. As for my own successor I expect you are aware I am with child."

"Yes, how clever you were. You are powerful, but reckless -- and ruthless."

"So I am. I shall be much more powerful than you ever were Mother. If I am to become queen of queens, I cannot let a little thing like conscience bother me. Humans are chattel. We use them and discard them. It is that simple."

"Your sister..."

"Cassandra was weak, just like you. Her compassion was her undoing."

"She deserved better."

"No, she did not! She allowed her feelings to interfere with her ambitions. A mistake I will not make!"

"She was my daughter. We used her for our own designs."

"That we did. We both did. So be it. She would never have made a powerful queen."

"Perhaps not, but she might have brought compassion to the council."

"Who needs compassion? She had no drive, no ambition."

"No lust to kill."

"Killing is what we do, Mother. You of all people should know that."

"Cassandra wanted more for us -- for our kind."

"Our kind is exactly what it is. We prey on humans, Mother. They are like cattle in the field, waiting to be slaughtered."

"Cassandra wanted..."

"Enough with what Cassandra wanted! She's gone. Dead -- and good riddance."

"If it were not for her," said Leonora sadly, "you could never have become queen."

"That is so. She gave me what I knew you never would. But the child I carry will never be like her. I will raise her to be strong, to succeed me as queen of queens."

Nodding her head in resignation that nothing could or would stop her daughter's quest for power, Leonora began to fade back into the shadows. As she reached for the door she turned a final time as her daughter spoke.

"Good night, Mother."

"Good night, Linda," said Leonora and quietly slipped away.