Chapter 1

September Thirtieth

As the sun set, Dana pulled the big Mercedes sedan off of the highway and onto an unmarked gravel road. She cringed at the sound of bits of rock pinging off the bottom and sides of the car; this was no way to treat a luxury automobile. She had always wanted one, though, and Tom and Mia, her friends and lovers, had insisted on getting it for her. Living where they did, Dana now thought that a primer colored, vintage pick-up truck would probably have been a better choice.

She followed the meandering, one lane road over and around the thickly forested hills for nearly a mile before her car emerged into a clearing. At the center of the neatly kept lawn was a large, cedar home. It was a bright, airy affair; the outer walls more window than wood. The sight of it always made Dana grin. Looking at the place, no one would ever guess that it was the lair of a pair of vampires. And their sweet, innocent, incredibly insightful and beautiful mortal minion, of course, she humbly appended.

The gravel road came to an end at the two car garage attached to the house. After parking inside and grabbing the bag from her shopping excursion, Dana peeked through the door that led into the basement. The large, steel vault door on the opposite wall was hanging open; the room beyond in shadow. Well, she thought, at least they had managed to get out of bed tonight. She supposed that was a good sign.

Acting on sudden inspiration, she waddled across the basement to Tom and Mia's sleeping chamber at the fastest pace she could manage this far along in her pregnancy. The room had been built by a company that specialized in the construction of panic rooms for the rich and paranoid. Having been raised to be strictly frugal, the sight of one of the invoices for the work had almost made her faint.

Most of the interior of the room was taken up by a king sized bed and a single dresser. Along one wall was a bank of monitors that were connected to a series of carefully concealed cameras that allowed the occupants of the room to view the rest of the interior of the house and the yard outside. Along the wall opposite the monitors were a small bathroom and a large enclosure that housed a massive air filtration unit. The monitors and the air filter were never really used by them, but Tom had thought that it might look suspicious to refuse the standard bells and whistles that came with such a place.

Flicking on the monitors, she gazed from one to the other until she located her life impaired house mates. They were seated at the picnic table in the backyard, each busily draining the life from a big, fluffy bunny. Two other limp, fuzzy forms on the table indicated that the pair was almost done with their dinner. Involuntarily, Dana's tongue came out in the universal expression of disgust. She just couldn't figure out how they could eat things that were so cute.

Spared the trouble of searching for her companions, she turned the monitors back off, and tottered out of the garage and around the side of the house. As she rounded the corner into the back yard, Tom was just finishing skinning and dressing the bodies of their repast while Mia watched listlessly. They both looked horrible. There were large, black bags under their eyes, and their skin was sallow and looked like it was a size or two too big. Clucking sympathetically, Dana gathered them each into a tight hug, and gave them a peck on the cheek.

Tom attempted a smile, the expression looking grisly on his drawn face. "Welcome home," he said.

Mia merely nodded her agreement.

Fingering one of the rabbit pelts, Dana said sadly, "I still don't understand why it has to be bunnies ... Why not rats, or ... I dunno ... something else kinda nasty?"

Tom gestured at the rows of 2 x 4 and chicken wire cages that surrounded the periphery of the yard and contained their fluffy food. "They breed like ... well, like rabbits, so they're a sustainable food source," he explained. "Besides, we can sell the meat to Peter, so we have a cover business. There's not much of a market for rat meat."

With a chagrined expression, he then said, "I just realized that your question was rhetorical; you already knew all of that. Sorry ... I just can't seem to think straight lately."

Dana responded by giving him an affectionate pat on the back as she moseyed toward the back door. Halfway there, she paused to rub her back with a groan of discomfort.

"I swear the little guy has been kicking me in the kidneys all day," she grumped.

Instantly solicitous, Mia and Tom rushed to Dana's side to support her weight as they hustled her inside to the couch. There, they laid Dana on her back with her head in Mia's lap. Tom then began to massage her feet and calves as Mia smoothed coconut oil over the girl's distended belly.

"Mmm," Dana murmured contentedly. "Every pregnant woman should have a couple of vile, bloodsucking undead to take care of them."

She giggled as the vile, bloodsucking undead to whom she had referred responded by tickling her momentarily.

The unborn infant was Tom's, conceived on his last night as a mortal human being. The three had decided to raise the child together as a family, albeit an unorthodox one. Dana had originally had her doubts about the situation; parenthood just hadn't been on her agenda at this point in her life.

Mia's enthusiasm and joy had, however, proved to be highly contagious. It hadn't taken Dana long to realize that this was Mia's first and, in all likelihood, only chance to be involved in the rearing of a child as vampires were, fortunately or unfortunately, sterile. The woman had seized upon it tenaciously.

Once Dana's tummy was gleaming with oil, Mia switched to rubbing her friend's shoulders. As she looked down into Dana's smiling face, her eyes involuntarily slid down to Dana's throat and fixed on the pulsing of the carotids. Suddenly, the throbbing of the hearts of mother and child filled her senses. She felt her fangs slide into place. She glanced up at Tom and saw that he was in a similar state. Their eyes met.

The appalled shock that reverberated from both ends of the bond between them brought them back to their senses. Feeling their bodies tense, Dana glanced quickly from one shamed face to the other.

She sighed deeply before asking irritably, "Were you two thinking about biting me again?"

When Mia and Tom both responded with an embarrassed nod, she blew out a mouthful of air in exasperation. "Don't you think it's about time you admitted that animals just aren't enough?"

"We have enough rabbits cleaned and prepped to make a run to Peter's place to sell them. Maybe he'll have a couple of lambs or pigs for us," Tom offered lamely.

Dana shook her head, "You tried that a few weeks ago. You were able to keep your fangs to yourself for how long? Oh ... Yeah ... I remember. It was only for that night. And just look at you both. You would look right at place in one of those consumption hospitals from the nineteenth century. Lately, I feel like I'm living with zombies instead of vampires."

Mia nodded sadly in agreement, "You're right, animals just aren't enough in the long run. We're becoming a danger to you and the baby." She hesitated a moment before continuing in a low, sorrowful voice, "Maybe it's time we waited outside for the sun to rise."

As Tom began to voice his agreement, Dana jumped awkwardly up from the couch and spun to face her lovers angrily. "Maybe we'll just wait outside until we burst into flame. Maybe we'll just leave poor little Dana to raise our child all by herself," she mimicked sarcastically.

Glaring at the pair, she then yelled, "Don't either of you dare even think about such nonsense!"

Taken aback by Dana's display, Tom stammered, "Mia's right, if we wait too much longer, we might not be able to stop ourselves. Neither of us could stand it if we so much as hurt you."

"I wouldn't be very happy if you hurt me, either," Dana replied, "but there is another solution."

"What's that?" Tom asked.

Mia looked at Dana with surprise. Her lips curled into a slight smile, and her eyes narrowed and shifted back to Tom with amused anticipation.

"You know damn well what I'm talking about," Dana replied. "There are lots of people who the world would be better off without. Murderers, child molesters, televangelists, rapists, and employees of Fox news are all good examples."

Tom shook his head.

"We can't just act as judge, jury and executioner... ," he began.

"Why the hell not?" Dana cried out in frustration. "Mia can look through thoughts and recent memories. You'll be able to too, someday. You can know for a fact whether a person is guilty of some heinous crime or another. You were a cop for almost twenty years, Tom. Don't even try to tell me that it didn't frustrate you to no end when someone that you knew was guilty of an abominable act got off on a technicality. For that matter, what about all of the brutal crimes that go unsolved every single friggin' day? This is your chance to put things right. What you'd be doing wouldn't be murder, it would be justice."

Tom remained unconvinced. He responded quietly, "Even those who are guilty of the worst crimes imaginable have the potential to redeem themselves; to become productive members of society. If we murder them - and what you're proposing could not be considered anything other than murder - we will not only be taking from them what they are now, but everything that they could become."

After a derisive snort, Dana answered, "You know as well as I do that the nationwide rate of recidivism for violent offenders is roughly sixty percent after three years. So, most aren't reaching your precious potential ... Not to mention the fact that the same mind scan that tells you whether a person is guilty of a crime would also let you know if your intended dinner is remorseful. If so, you can always skip on to someone else. Look, the simple fact of the matter is that you and Mia are among the most loving, caring people I know, even if you are blood sucking freaks ... If some scumbags have to die to keep you alive and well, so be it."

The argument between Dana and Tom raged on for another half hour. Mia stayed on the sidelines, but the bond left Tom with no doubt as to whose side she was on. The surges of hope he felt from her each time Dana made a particularly strong point caused his resolve to falter and then crumble. Unable to face the battle on two fronts, he turned to appeal to Mia.

"We promised each other that we would live on nothing but animals," he said. He was briefly ashamed by the accusatory tone of his statement.

Mia's expression became a mix of shame and sorrow. "We tried our best. It isn't working. Now; all that's left to be decided is how badly we want to go on living."

Tom looked back and forth between the two women. Neither of them said another word, but neither retreated from the proposal. He threw up his hands in surrender.

"All right. If that's what the two of you want, I won't stand in the way," he said grudgingly.

Gracious in victory, Dana closed the gap between them with a few quick waddles and threw her arms around him to pull him into a tight hug.

She pressed her lips hard against his for a moment, and then, in a soft, loving voice, said, "Good. I love you both, and I can't imagine life without you ... And, Tom? It's not like you'll have to switch to eating nothing but criminals. You've made it this long on animals. Surely, it won't take much added to the rabbits to keep you healthy. Think of them more as an occasional diet supplement rather than a staple."

Their attention was drawn by a loud jingling sound behind Tom. Turning they saw Mia, standing with a hand on a cocked hip, spinning a set of car keys around a finger.

"Hate to break up this Hallmark moment," she said, "but the night isn't getting any younger."

"You want to do this now?" Tom asked dubiously. "I thought I would at least have a day or two to get used to the idea."

"The longer we wait the more likely it is that we're going to hurt someone we care about," Mia said without much sympathy. "Besides," her expression said more eloquently than words, "I'm not about to give you a chance to change your mind."

With a despairing sigh, Tom followed Mia out to the garage and the new Ford Flex that had replaced Tom's ancient Escort. The latter vehicle had been destroyed by Arthur, or, as Mia and Dana were fond of saying, been put out of its misery. As they approached the vehicle, Mia tossed Tom the keys.

"You're making me drive, too? That seems rather cruel," Tom commented as he snatched the keys from the air.

"Poor baby," Mia said, "I would be happy to do it, but even though you and Mark got me a driver's license with my new identity, you've never gotten around to actually teaching me how to drive."

The scorn she heaped upon the word 'identity' made it abundantly clear that the name choice still rankled. Tom grinned to himself, but decided not to rub it in.

"Oh. Yeah. Shit," he muttered.

After they were seated inside, Tom asked, "So, where to?"

"Erie is closest. We would probably have better luck in Pittsburgh or Cleveland, though."

"Pittsburgh's out. Mark got promoted to lieutenant, and I would hate to put him in the position of having to choose between us and his duty."

"Okay. Let's go to Erie tonight, then. It's already getting late."

As they pulled out of the garage, Mia asked, "Why is it that Dana got a Mercedes, and we drive around in a station wagon?"

"It's a crossover, honey, not a station wagon," Tom replied, "and it just wouldn't seem right to haul coolers full of dead bunnies around in a Mercedes."

"A crossover? What's the difference?"

The corner of Tom's mouth twitched upwards in a sardonic half smile as he replied, "Station wagons aren't cool."

From their home on the center of the border between Crawford and Warren counties, Erie was only a half hour drive. When they reached the outskirts of the small city, Mia lowered her window and peered out at the people on the sidewalks.

"Decent person ... Decent person ... Decent person," she commented as she searched the thoughts and memories of those they passed.

She repeated this same statement hundreds of times over the next few miles of their meandering path through the well kept residential districts.

"You're doing wonders to restore my faith in humanity," Tom commented brightly.

Mia reached over to give his hand a comforting squeeze. "I hate to burst your bubble, but I just mean that they haven't committed any major crimes recently enough for me to detect. Most are bubbling over with greed, envy, anger, hatred ... Well, you get the idea."

"Oh," Tom said as he slumped down with a sigh of disappointment, "Thanks for the clarification, I suppose."

Mia raised his hand to her lips. "I really am sorry, sweetheart, but, with the aptitude you've shown for our mental abilities, you'll be able to do this fairly soon. I love you too much to let you be crushed when the reality doesn't meet your expectations. If it makes you feel any better, there were some who seemed to be truly decent people."

Tom responded by squeezing her hand and running a finger gently along her lower lip. "I don't like to ask this," he said hesitantly, "but is there any way you could command me not to feel guilty over what we're planning to do?"

Mia's head twisted around rapidly to face him. Her eyes brimming with tears, she quietly asked, "Could you please pull over?"

When Tom had complied, she vaulted from her seat into his lap and wrapped him tightly in her arms. Pressing her cheek against his, she whispered, "The compulsion that's part of the bond between Master and fledgling doesn't work like that, my love. I can command you to perform physical acts, but I can't control your thoughts or emotions. Even if I could, I would never do such a thing. If you didn't feel bad about what we're going to do, you wouldn't be the man I fell in love with."

"You brought my hunger under control... ," he began in protest.

She cut him off gently, "Hunger is a physical sensation, not an emotion, and, if you think about it, you'll recall that I just kept you from acting on it; I didn't take it away."

She chewed on her lip for a moment before slowly continuing, " I love you, Tom, with all of my heart and whatever remains of my soul. When I gave you the Gift, I made myself a simple promise: if you weren't able to live with the hunger, I would face the sun with you. I will not force you to act against your nature, and I couldn't bear to live without you. So, regardless of Dana's wishes, I will keep that promise if you don't want to take a human life."

Tom held Mia tightly to him. "I love you, too," he said fervently. "I want to live, and, even more, I want you to go on living. If what we're planning is the only way that can happen, then that is what I'll do. This is just really hard for me. I spent my entire life protecting people. Going against that is proving to be a hard pill to swallow. It's a cold, cruel thing, balancing the value of one life, even my own, against the value of someone else's. But I've done so, and decided that our life together is worth more to me than the life of a criminal. If there is a God, may he have mercy on my soul and the souls of those that will die so that I may live."

The anguish that Mia had been feeling through the bond for some time burst free, and the tears began. Mia held him comfortingly until the sobs subsided. As the grief ebbed, embarrassment rose up to take its place.

Mia pulled back to stare him in the eye. "Don't you dare feel shame over crying," she said fiercely. "As long as you can cry, as long as you experience grief over what we have to do to survive, you are still human and not the monster that the hunger can turn you into."

"Does it ever get easier?"

"The first is the hardest, but it never gets easy. At least you should hope that it doesn't."

"We should probably get to it before we run out of time," Tom said despondently.

Mia leaned in to kiss him passionately before crawling back over to her own seat. She clasped one of his hands tightly in both of hers as he drove the crossover back out onto the street.

Returning her gaze to the sidewalk, she soon resumed her litany of, "Decent person ... Decent person."