“Ouch!” Detective Inspector Robert Dylan bleated. “The little fart bit me again,” he said, staring at a pair of tiny, bleeding punctures in his finger.

“Give me that,” Lily ‘Lilith’ Andersen said, grasping his forefinger, sucking on the wounds. Rough tongue lapping, she drank a trickle of blood, her saliva quickly sealing the injury. She released his hand, grinning at him. “Good thing Angela isn’t mature. Her venom would do a number on you.”

“Angela is no little angel,” he said, grumbling, but smiling, doting over his daughter, the tiny diapered blonde kicking and blowing bubbles in her basinet.

Only two months old, Angela already had her mother’s retractable fangs. She also had Alisen’s golden blonde hair and big, azure blue eyes. Robert ‘Bob’ Dylan had a suspicion the child would inherit his dimpled, square chin and big nose. He frowned at his finger, then over at Alisen, saying, “nursing her must be a bitch?”

Her mother sighed. “Sometimes. Hard to tell when she wants blood or when she wants milk. Thank goodness I heal fast. I think she’s learning to differentiate. Biting a nipple gives blood but gets mommy upset. Sucking gives milk and mommy is happy.”

“Angela Roberta?” he asked. “Really?”

“Well, Dylan didn’t seem quite right,” Alisen replied. “I’d show you, but we haven’t gotten the birth certificate yet.”

“Could get dicey, introducing Angela to her half brother and sisters,” he said, reminded of a messy divorce, his ex-wife and three children in Kamloops, relieved they were in a different part of the province. He wished his ex was in a distant part of the country. He didn’t want to attempt explaining Angela to her siblings, or having them find out about his relationship with a pair of bisexual vampires, one an Egyptologist, the other his best homicide detective. He still hadn’t fully grasped this new twist in his life.

Lily was the ancient vampire Lilith. Four thousand years past, she had been ensorcelled, then entombed in south-western Egypt, hidden away in a cavern in the Sahara. Impelled by a metaphysical force, more by accident than design, Ali had freed Lilith from mystical enchantments and stasis. She was bitten, restoring vitality to Lilith. To preserve the life of her saviour, Lilith had injected her nanite venom, transforming Ali. Now, the pair were an exceedingly wealthy couple sharing a condominium in Vancouver’s west Point Grey. Though lovers, they had diverse sexual inclinations. That was evidenced by Angela. They were also lethal killers.

“What about when she’s a toddler?” he said, thinking ahead. “Libel to bite other kids when playing, or in pre-school.”

“You worry too much,” Ali said, scooping up her daughter, tucking Angela’s face into the crook of her neck. Almost immediately, small lips started sucking. A coarse, cat-like tongue rasped flesh, then two tiny needles punctured her throat. Hardly long enough to reach an artery, they nevertheless drew blood. Angela sucked greedily.

Staring at mother and daughter, trying to absorb the fact that the baby was drinking blood from her mother’s throat, he asked, “any other problems?”

“Problems?” Ali said, momentarily puzzling. “Oh, problems. No Bob, no post-partum depression. Mo health issues. Mom and daughter are doing wonderfully. Having a body saturated with nanites, a completely altered biology and inhuman constitution helps.” She looked to Lily, grinning. “Having a talented partner is great too, but I’m running out of suitable victims.”

“suspected that,” Lily said, glancing from Ali to Robert. “No perverts or sexual abusers left on campus?”

Ali sighed. “There are a few dozen professors I’d like to drain, but they aren’t evil, just horny, or a bit twisted. Some old lechers. I might have to start hunting downtown, or out in Surrey.” She shot Bob a look. “I don’t imagine lower mainland police would mind losing a few dozen drug dealers and gang members?”

“Ali, they pack guns,” he said, shaking his head. “You might get shot.”

Lily chortled. “Hardly a problem. We aren’t easily killed. You should have seen Ali take down the CIA agent in the Sahara. He was pointing an M-16 at her chest. Slapping away the rifle, she broke his forearm, then shattered his crotch, almost ripped off his arms and damn near drained him dry.”

“Because he tortured and murdered Tom!” Ali protested.

“Yes, but mostly because I had changed your nature,” Lily said, holding up a palm. “Now, you are a huntress. No longer human. Sometimes, driven by a need to feed, we are not a creature to be crossed.”

“CIA agent? You almost ripped off his arms?” Dylan said incredulously, reaching out, stroking the silken down on his daughter’s head, looking into Ali’s eyes. Without her blue contacts, the altered, vertical slit pupils had at first been unnerving. Now, he just melted into them. “You’re ... really that strong? Who was Tom? And this CIA agent? What exactly are you now?”

“Tom was my assistant, a post-doc from Simon Fraser University,” Ali told him,, settling herself into a sofa chair, Angela still suckling from her throat. “After we got separated from the other vehicle, Momar hid us in a wadi. After a few days, we were running out of water. Our Bedouin guide knew about an oasis. Tom went with him. They left me hidden with the Toyota Land Cruiser.” She sighed. “Unfortunately, they stumbled on a small military encampment at the oasis. The CIA man killed Momar, the Bedouin guide.”

“The CIA?” he said, manifestly showing doubt.

“A CIA agent provocateur tortured my assistant,” Alisen said with quiet steel. “Lily sifted his mind. Jordan Flagg. He was orchestrating the war, funding one element of the conflict, supplying arms to another. The CIA was working for big oil in the States, trying to undermine regional governments. They wanted the oil and other natural resources, not to mention destruction of as many Islamic fanatics as possible.” She sighed, closed her eyes and tilted back her head, lightly stroking the baby. “Suppose you should hear more now, seeing as Angela is your daughter, and Lily entrusted you with our secret.” She paused, collected thoughts, then said, “Tom and our Bedouin guide had been gone for two nights. I was hot and almost out of water. Packed up and drove the Toyota down the wadi, discovered a cave and accidentally fell into a sinkhole. Ended up nearly drowning in an underground lake. Later, I discovered Lilith’s tomb.” Ali paused, reliving those moments and hours. “Well, after that, I Got back out into the wadi, emptied all our supplies from the Toyota and equipment. Shifted everything into the cave. By that time, I went a little crazy. An untouched, sealed tomb over four thousand years old.” She shot a look at Lily. “ Under compulsion, I pried open the door plug, even pried the lid off Lilith’s sarcophagus. There were gold settings with precious gems, and mystical patterns carved into the lid. They gave me a monumental migraine. It was magic. Spells. The lid toppled and broke, then I shattered Lilith’s coffin. Broke the enchantment.” She laughed. “Like the princess and Sleeping Beauty.”

“Lilith?” Dylan said, glancing at Lily. “I’ve heard that name somewhere. You were ... entombed for four thousand years? That’s ... impossible.”

Lily spread her arms and cocked her head. “I’m here. I’m real. I’m alive. So, it must be possible.” Jumping into the narrative, she said, “they wrote about me in ancient myths. Supposedly, I was the first woman. I seduced Adam. The serpent in the garden. Sexual lust and all that. I’m also a Babylonian demon, evil, and generally the villain in male dominated religions. Actually, I came into your world several thousand years ago by accident. Fell through an interdimensional gate. I was responsible for kick-starting the Chaldean civilization. Influenced a few others, like the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Egyptians. Their priests and male rulers really didn’t appreciate my talents, or that I was female. Tricked me, drugged me, and entombed me. Their enchantments were enough to keep me imprisoned, so I used what powers remained, keying my nanites to put me in protected stasis. Almost a living death, except my spirit went was elsewhere, into a timeless void. Then, Ali set me free.”