Blood Relations - Chapter 1

Somewhere around midnight, someone threw a can at the cat. The smell of tuna in oil filled the air. The cat fell silent, aside from the occasional smack while he ate. He finished and left the alley, purring in a loud rumble to announce his pleasure at having a full belly.

Fuck you, Vicky thought. Next time I see you, cat, I’ll eat you.

Which was a lie, since cat blood tasted atrocious. It was like drinking cow’s blood mixed with ammonia, in Vicky’s opinion. Still, nothing else in the alleyway stirred, and even that foul taste wasn’t sounding so bad to her aching stomach.

Hoping to stave herself off the idea of hunting for cats, Vicky let her memory drift back to three weeks before, when Marcus used Amber’s laptop to set up an internet account. He’d checked his university e-mail account and found a message from his brother, Felix, who wrote to say that Marcus needed to return home immediately to discuss a very important family matter. It was just the excuse that Marcus needed to run, and he did. He didn’t call, or write, and Amber cried for the better part of four days.

Which was how Vicky ended up stuck with Amber in San Antonio. Then Vicky’s life became complete hell...Heil...whatever.

It wasn’t that Amber pitched fits about Vicky feeding. But she stayed up every night, waiting for Vicky to return home. Always, she sat at the foot of her bed, her wide brown eyes searching Vicky’s face for the small signs that she’d fed. Amber checked every night as soon as Vicky walked in. She knew that a light bluish tint to Vicky’s skin was a sign of a recent feeding, while Vicky’s current chalk white appearance was evidence of an empty stomach.

If Amber saw proof that Vicky fed, she looked away as she undressed herself. Sometimes she felt the need to state the obvious, but other times, she just went mute and crawled into bed to avoid looking at Vicky.

Long before Marcus left, Amber stopped eating properly. She seemed to starve herself for every time that Vicky fed. Amber punished herself for every victim, letting guilt eat at her until she was pale white and far too skinny.

Vicky felt nothing over feeding, since humans were just food to her. But she couldn’t suppress an ache of regret each night when she watched Amber undress with her back turned to Vicky, revealing an emaciated frame. Her ribs showed through her alabaster skin even when she had her arms at her sides. Her chest was shrinking, her hips stretched out her skin, and her legs were boney rails.

But worst of all, Amber’s round cheeks, which gave her face a doll-like appearance, had melted away. Instead, her sunken cheeks and eyes made her look like an anorexic fashion model who had gone too far with her diet.

It wasn’t fair. One of them had to starve for the other to eat. Whenever Vicky came home famished, Amber gorged throughout the day and took cat naps. Even if she ate well, it would take her months to gain back her weight, and Vicky didn’t think she could put up with a strict diet. Not again, and not for any reason.

It was the real bitch of being a vampire. Not just any blood could work, and even the types that did sometimes weren’t nutritionally complete for a vampire. The only blood which fulfilled their every need was human blood.

A vampire could subsist on cows and pigs for a few weeks, but after that, there would need to be a few humans added in as “chasers.” Otherwise, a vampire’s muscles began melting away. They moved more sluggishly, as though they were taking on the lazy qualities of their domesticated victims.

Heavy, clumping footsteps brought her attention up to the front of the alley. A drunk was weaving into the shadows, already fumbling with his zipper while he looked for a place to empty his full bladder. He chose the other side of the same dumpster Vicky crouched behind.

Sorry Amber, Vicky thought as she rose silently. It looks like you’re the one who’s starving tonight.

Vicky waited for the drunk to finish relieving himself, if for no other reason than to avoid him wetting her knee length leather jacket. But she didn’t wait for him to zip up before she closed one arm around his chest and pinned both his arms to his sides. Her other hand rose to pull the man’s head to one side, snapping his neck. It was all she could do to make the matter less grim for Amber. She could at least promise that her victims didn’t suffer.

Spinning the body around, she pinned it to the wall with one hand and dug in her coat pocket for a switchblade knife. She dipped the blade to slash the man’s jugular vein. But without a pulse, there was no wide splash of blood, only a seeping rivulet of red which soaked into the T-shirt and sweatshirt the drunk wore.

Being careful not to use her teeth, Vicky closed her mouth over the wound. She shoved her hand over the dead man’s heart and drew back on the wound hard, swallowing blood in loud, greedy gulps.

It was still warm, and pleasantly spiced by the man’s fear. She couldn’t enjoy his struggling final spasms, but she was more than content to eat without playing with her food.

Vicky fell into a bloodlust, moaning in pleasure as her senses heightened. Then all at once she gasped and drew her head away from the wound. Her bloodlust faded, and her sense of smell dulled, taking with it the faint odor she’d picked up on the wind.

It was a scent she didn’t know, one she’d never smelled before in her life. Yet something about the acrid scent of sickness filled her with dread.

What the hell is that? she thought.

Reluctantly, Vicky dropped her meal and leaped up to grab the railing on the first floor of the building’s fire escape stairway. She climbed four floors to the rooftop and opened her mouth to pant. There was no trace of the acrid scent on the wind, but there was something else, a powerful pheromone scent that made Vicky’s heart thump like a kettle drum. She panted harder, first through her mouth, and then her nose, drawing in more of the new scent in disbelief.

A man. Not a human male, but a vampire; and damn, he smelled good!

His scent was fading. He was moving away from her into the wind, so there would be no chance for him to catch her scent. Vicky took off at a full run and leapt over the edge of the building. She dropped into the street and landed with a thump she felt all over her body. She didn’t care. She was too excited to think of her own safety, too excited to think anything but a giddy mantra, a man, a man, a man...

The  wind shifted, and she lost track of him as the air began pushing locks of her blue-black hair around her face. Her excitement became tense frustration just as quickly, and she clambered up the side of a parking garage, hoping in vain to catch his scent and his trail again.

Vicky paced the roof, her face bunched in a pensive glower. But her bad attitude didn’t change the direction of the wind, which ignored her even when she let out a loud, feral scream of bitterness.

Behind her, a rumbling chuckle exploded in the following silence.

Vicky spun on her heel, and her voice caught in her throat at the sight of the vampire. He was taller than her by four inches, and well-fed judging by the fullness of his cheeks. He wore a simple outfit of a black T-shirt, black leather pants, and black combat boots. His hands were encased in leather driving gloves which left the backs of his white hands exposed.

His face was square and pale white, with only his lips showing a light trace of blue. His eyes carried a soft amber color within bands of onyx.

Vicky wanted to laugh and say something like, “Amber is my favorite color.”

Instead she raised her eyes to stare at his silky mane of long black hair, parted on the right, and pulled back into a loose tail. It looked immaculately clean and smelled of hair tonic.

He broke the silence first, uncurling his thick arms away from his chest to drop them to his sides in a relaxed pose.

Vicky stopped breathing, because his posture was too relaxed. He’d just gone into stance.

“Friend or foe?” he asked.

“Friend, I hope,” Vicky said, keeping perfectly still. If she also tried to relax into a stance, he would be on her in an instant, and she didn’t want to start the relationship on the wrong foot.

He was, after all, the first vampire she’d met since her parents abandoned her in her early teens. “I was tracking another scent when I came across yours and followed you.” Vicky smiled and exposed her fangs. “I’m Vicky.”

“Emil,” he said and waved a hand for her to relax. “You can breathe now. I believe you.”

Vicky did, loosening the knot between her shoulders. “Did you smell it too?”

“Yes, I was tracking the scent when the wind shifted, and then I caught scent of you and realized you were on my tail. So I doubled back, and, here we are.” Emil beamed a grin, his teeth pink from a recent feeding. “I notice from your smile that you must have helped yourself to the local fare. You didn’t bite your victim, did you?”

“No, I slit his throat. I’m trying to keep my kills clean so—” Vicky’s eyes widened in horror as a thought occurred to her. “Oh shit, this is your town.”

“Something like that, yes.”

Vicky dropped to one knee, popping her kneecap on the pavement. “I’m sorry, liege. If I’d known, I would have—”

He was in front of her without making a sound, his hand slipping under her armpit to pull her up onto her feet. “You don’t need to go through the formalities.” His grin returned when she raised her gaze back to his. “You must have had good parents if you know the old ways.”

“They taught me everything they knew before they left me,” Vicky said.

“Then they’ve taught you more than most folks teach their whelps these days.” Emil leaned over, nuzzling his cheek against the side of Vicky’s neck while he inhaled deeply. He breathed in through his mouth first, and then through his nose.

He was “sampling her,” an act made even more intimate when his lips brushed her earlobe. “Why were you following me?” he whispered, pulsing cool breath over her skin.

“I’m looking for a home, and for a partner,” Vicky said honestly. “I was forced to flee from Tucson after—”

“That was your work?” Emil asked, cutting her off. He leaned backed and faked a pout, though his dark eyes glimmered with mirth. “That was ugly to read about in the newspaper. The story made it sound like a whelp walked into town right after being abandoned.”

Vicky dropped her head to hide her embarrassed expression. Once Emil was so close to her, she could tell by his scent that he was old. Emil had at least celebrated his first millennia. Vicky didn’t know her true age, but she knew she wasn’t over one hundred yet. And so in Emil’s eyes, she was little more than a whelp.

She tried to explain using a highly edited version of the truth. “I’ve been on my own for a long time, but I was wounded badly by soldiers. I took three rifle rounds to the gut, and between trying to heal and trying to cool my tempter, I got sloppy.”

Emil’s pout became genuine as he nodded. “All right, that explains a few things.” He stepped back, offering no further comment before he waved an invitation for her to follow him. Then he took off at a full run.

Vicky tried to keep up, but he was so fast that he had to stop and wait for her many times while they moved to the southwestern outskirts of the city. To say the trip was humbling would have been a gross understatement.

The house Emil led her to was huge, but it was a square white box with no personality. It should have looked out of place, but four other homes on the block were just as big, and just as ugly.

Vicky’s senses picked up the other three vampires as she entered the front yard, but she couldn’t ask questions about how many others weren’t at home. Not while she was running to catch up to Emil, who stood at the door with his hand clasped around the knob.

The vampires smelled her as well, and the trio was already standing in the foyer when Emil led Vicky inside.

Vicky couldn’t talk. She was overwhelmed with emotion when she saw the one female in the group had a greatly swelled stomach.

All three were dressed in black, a fashion quirk of vampires that they seemed genetically loathe to violate. Both the men dressed in a style similar to Emil, while the woman wore a loose black dress. She was the only vampire in the room not wearing combat boots.

Barefoot and pregnant. Is her place in the kitchen? Vicky thought, biting back on the laugh that threatened to erupt from her lips.

The pregnant woman was shorter than Vicky, standing six foot, two inches. Her silky blue-black hair was similar to Vicky’s, though she wore hers shorter, cropped at her shoulders with a curtain of bangs that hid half of her slender black eyebrows. The woman’s irises carried a similar mixture of onyx and chips of blue ice. But her jaw wasn’t nearly as wide, nor were her cheek bones very prominent. Her smooth features gave her an oval-shaped face, and she seemed quite pretty because of her expression, a combination of happiness and curiosity.

The woman’s muscular frame wasn’t nearly as defined, and Vicky guessed that she hadn’t needed to hunt for quite a while to look so smooth. The woman presented a paradox, her body’s appearance suggesting she hadn’t hunted in months, while her rounded cheeks hinted that she was well fed.

Vicky didn’t mean to stare, but for many years, she’d harbored a desire to have a child of her own. She didn’t bother speaking about it, or even thinking about it, because without a male around, there was no point.

But here, finally, were at least two males without partners, and Vicky tore her gaze away from the woman to study the men. They both stood on either side of the woman protectively. One of them was the father, but Vicky couldn’t tell which because they both stood so closely by her sides.

The man on the woman’s right was unique in a way, having natural blond hair which made his face seem even paler. His square face was also rounded by being well fed, and his feeding habits created a puffiness in his cheeks and under his enchanting crimson eyes. He was the shorter of the two males at six foot six, but he was also stockier, his chest so well defined that the ridges of his muscles could be seen through his T-shirt.

The man on the woman’s left had jet black hair which was shoulder-length, and parted in the middle, creating a silky curtain on either side of his ruggedly handsome face. His eyes were mixed with hints of fiery yellow, though the outer band was more dark grey than a true black. He was the slimmest of the three males, and he could have almost been describes as gangly.

While she dropped her eyes to appraise his lean body, she spotted a brass ring around his left ring finger, and her gaze moved to the woman’s hands, finding a matching ring on the right.

Emil pointed out the female first. “Vicky, this is Claudia. On her left is her partner, Charles, and on her right is Lucas. Please, say hello to my coven.”

Vicky stepped forward, and the three vampires surrounded her, moving in close to sample her scent and her taste. She breathed in to sample them as well, surprised to discover none were much older than her.

When they moved away from Vicky, Emil led her back through the main hall into the kitchen. He took a green glass bottle out of the refrigerator that might have once been meant to contain wine. But he uncapped the top, and the scent of human blood filled the air as he poured a glass and handed it to Vicky.

She sipped it, moving to lean on the counter while Emil put the bottle away. It didn’t escape her notice that every shelf was full of bottles. Vicky estimated it was a stock of at least six or seven victims’ worth.

“How many of those does Claudia need?”

Emil chuckled. “She only goes through two victims per day unless she’s in a frenzy, but it’s easy enough to get blood around here.” Emil closed the refrigerator and leaned against the door, folding his arms while he regarded Vicky with a bland, passive expression. “I’ve collected my coven over the last forty years. Charles was the first, but they all arrived for the same reason. They were whelps running away from their messes.”

Vicky almost coughed on a mouthful of blood. “Um, for—” She lapped at a drop leaking from the corner of her mouth and tried again. “For the record, that wasn’t entirely my mess. I just got sucked into it.”

Emil nodded, saying nothing while Vicky finished the glass. She set it aside on the counter, and he asked, “Would you like to stay with us?”

“I can’t, not tonight.” Vicky tried to think of a way to describe Amber, then decided to go with the closest vampire term that Emil might not disapprove of. “I have a pet.”

Emil made a quiet snort. “I’ll take in pets if they’re properly trained.”

Vicky laughed, a genuine relaxed laugh that eased all of the tension out of her in one outburst. “Trust me, Amber’s far from trained. The little creampuff won’t even let me snack off her unless I’m really dying.”

Emil’s smile became softer, and he leaned his head to one side, studying Vicky with an expression that seemed perplexed. “How old is she, and how long have you had her?”

“I believe she’s twenty-four, and she’s lived with me for close to two years now. She wasn’t my first pet, and I had another named Marcus until just recently. But he got tired of fighting with Amber, and now he’s gone.”

The perplexed expression faded, and Emil’s eyes glimmered with mirth as he asked, “Is Amber much trouble?”

“Loads of trouble,” Vicky agreed before she laughed again. “I’m not being fair to the creampuff. She does have her good points. Amber is part halfling, and she’s a low-power mage. She helped me to amass a bit of money with her abilities.”

Emil nodded, but said nothing. He was waiting for further explanation, so Vicky told him how Amber had used a locator spell to hunt down abducted people in high profile missing persons cases. She concluded by saying, “I know it sounds like I let her talk me into being one of the good guys, but the money was hard to turn down. We both made six figure salaries last year, and that wasn’t factoring in my real job working for the blood bank.”

“What went wrong?” Emil asked.

“We took on a job we shouldn’t have accepted,” Vicky said.

She explained how she and Amber got involved with Wendy Stoffel, and the more she talked, the more Emil’s mouth tightened in a thin line. But there was no skepticism in his expression.

In his entire long life, Emil had never seen a daemon. But he believed in them, just as he believed in all the lore he’d learned from his parents. He had also met his fair share of halflings, magi, and other “mythical creatures,” so he could easily believe Vicky’s story from start to finish.

When she lapsed into quiet, he asked, “Do you think that thing we were tracking tonight was a daemon?”

“It might be, but this scent is very different. I’ve smelled two daemons, and one of those, I only smelled as a lingering odor on Marcus. This scent is more like...like a sick animal,  I guess.”

“Two daemons?” Emil shook his head. “Back up and explain that, please.”

Vicky did, describing how she had come to meet Amber, and Annul, the daemon who had hunted Amber. But when Vicky talked about her fight with Annul, Emil’s eyes bulged wide with disbelief.

He cut her off mid-sentence with a barking laugh. “You fought a daemon on your own?”

“I didn’t have a choice. He was about to kill my frien—my pets.”

Emil chuckled at her verbal slip and waved his hand. “You don’t have to lie to me. I know from your face that this girl is more than just a friend.”

Vicky dropped her head, then shook it quickly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“That act might work on humans, but I can hear your heart from here. So when I say you love Amber.” Emil paused to laugh and nod. “Your heart bursts into a drumroll.”

There was no way to lie then, because Vicky’s heart was pounding. She sighed and raised a hand to rub her forehead. “I’ve got to be an idiot, falling in love with food.”

“A halfling is hardly food,” Emil said. “I’d be delighted to snack on one, but killing them?” He shook his head when Vicky looked up. “No, that would be like killing one of our own for no reason.”

Vicky tried not to tense up, but there was something implied in the statement that she didn’t like. “You’ve killed another vampire.” It wasn’t a question, but a direct accusation.

“I have. Sometimes vampires who have no self-control come through my city. Leaving victims with bite marks is bad for us, and so I ask them to leave or start being more discreet. If they don’t, I kill them.”

Vicky nodded, releasing a slow breath. “How many have you killed?”

“Only four.”

“Only?” Vicky pouted at him. “Your coven has only four vampires, but you’re the first I’ve seen since my teens.”

“You’re upset with me.” Emil raised his hands in a placating gesture. “I’m well aware that our population is exceedingly low, but there is an order which must be respected, or the humans will start hunting us again. You know that. It’s why you worked so hard in Tucson to lead a peaceful life. I have just as peaceful a life here. Those bottles?” Emil dropped his hand to pat the refrigerator door. “They’re filled by IV collections from pets.”

“What?” Vicky shook her head. “But then that would require—”

“I have 146 pets living in this city,” Emil said. “They would all donate at the same time if I asked, but as you can see, we don’t have much demand here, aside from Claudia.”

Vicky’s expression became confused. “If you have all these pets, why were you hunting tonight?”

“It’s good to go hunting sometimes.” Emil offered a shrug at her confused expression. “Tonight, I waited outside a 24-hour gym. I prefer looking for big targets, like bodybuilders or those late night joggers. Just a few minutes ago, I chased down a bodybuilder. He was almost as big as me, and once I cornered him in the parking garage, he put up one hell of a fight. I don’t hunt like this often, but I need it sometimes. It helps to keep me on my toes, and it lets me know where I stand with the enemy.”

Vicky nodded. “All right, I can see that.”

“If you aren’t staying here, perhaps you should be getting back to your abode. It is just about an hour before dawn.”

Vicky glanced around at the clock on the wall and nodded, pushing away from the counter. “I’ll give you the address if you want to stop by tomorrow night.”

Emil asked, “Looking for an easy meal?”

Vicky nodded and grinned. “If you’ve got bottles stocked up like that...” She trailed off at a sudden thought and laughed to herself. “Anyway, I wouldn’t turn down an invitation if you made one.”

Emil was across the room in an instant. He grabbed her upper arm and pulled her around to stare intently into her eyes. “Are you sure you aren’t feeling guilt over me killing innocent humans?”

“Does a human feel guilty for enjoying a steak?” Vicky asked. Emil kept hold of her arm, and she knew that he was looking for a direct answer. “No, I was just angry that you might put yourself at risk when you have so much at stake here. But of course you’re a good hunter, and you favor clean kills. You don’t bite, do you?”

“No,” Emil said.

“Then I appreciate your logic for hunting, and I can accept it.”

Emil nodded, understanding what she was implying. “What about Amber? Would she accept it?”

Vicky left without answering him. He let her go, but his pensive expression said that the subject would be brought up again.

Vicky said quiet good-byes to the other vampires as she passed the den, and once she got out the front door, she broke into a full run. She ran partway back across town, stopping at an all-night grocery store to pick up sandwiches and a bottle of milk.

Vicky had a plan to get Amber to eat.

***

Amber sat at the foot of the bed, hunched over with her arms resting on her lap until the door opened. She straightened up and turned her head, her eyes dropping as soon as she saw Vicky’s face. “You fed.”

“Yeah, I did, but you need to listen, okay?” Vicky shut the door. “I was drinking a pet’s blood tonight.”

Amber pouted, which drew her gaunt cheeks into deeper concave divots and cast her lower face in faint shadows. “You don’t need to lie to me, Vicky. I won’t ask you to defy your nature for my sake.”

Vicky tried to look indignant as she moved to kneel in front of Amber, but telling the lie was hard enough without adding fake anger to it. “No, Amber, it’s true. I met other vampires tonight, and they gave me dinner. They’ve got a huge stable of pets all around the city, and...” Vicky held out the grocery bags. “Here, I brought you something to snack on before we drop for the day.”

Amber watched Vicky’s face with a timidly hopeful expression. She wanted to believe Vicky, even if she still couldn’t.  “Can I meet them?”

“Sure, you can meet at least one of them tomorrow night, since I invited him here. Emil is the coven leader, and he’s offering us a chance to move in with him.”

“Us?” Amber’s face filled with surprise. “He’s okay with a human hanging around?”

Vicky shook her head. “You’re not really a full-blooded human. I explained to him about what you really are, and he wants to protect you too.”

“So let the other shoe drop already,” Amber said.

She was reaching into the bag for a package of  sandwiches, and Vicky wanted her to eat. It tortured Vicky to see Amber getting so dreadfully thin, and the idea of losing her scared Vicky worse than the thought of dying herself.

“There’s another female there, and she’s pregnant. You might want to steer clear of Claudia while she’s in a mood swing or a feeding frenzy, but the rest of the coven should be safe.” Vicky hoped she sounded convincing enough, and she had to suppress a relieved sigh when Amber nodded and opened the plastic wrapper to pull out a tuna sandwich halve.

She remained kneeling in front of Amber while she ate, and by then, the sun was casting a thin slant of light through the gap between the closed drapes.

Vicky was tired, and she longed to crank the air conditioner and crawl under the pile of comforters on her bed. She wanted to sleep, but she couldn’t, not until she knew Amber would be sleeping too.

She thought of Emil’s words again. When I say you love Amber, your heart bursts into a drumroll. Just recalling his observation made her heart speed up again, and despite his assurances, she still felt stupid for letting herself fall for Amber. There was no way the relationship could work with them constantly being at odds with each other.

Amber broke Vicky out of her thoughts when she sighed and set down the empty pint-sized milk carton. “Will we have time to go out for dinner before this leader shows up?”

“Maybe we should just order pizza.” Vicky started to clean up the mess while Amber undressed for bed.

“Yeah, that works for me.” Amber crawled under the covers, then smiled at Vicky. “And you’re sure no one there will want to snack on me?”

“Uh...” Vicky dropped the trash into the bin and crossed the room to the other bed. “Well, they would want to sample you, given how rare you are. But I don’t think any of them would try without your permission.”

Amber watched her with a look of obvious skepticism. “How can you be so sure?”

Vicky stepped out of her boots while she talked. “These vampires are respectful of family law, and...” She paused to lean over and peel off her jeans, and then she said, “Let me preface this by saying that I don’t think of you as property. But because of our relationship, other vampires will think of you as my pet.”

“I see.” Amber yawned and cradled her head on her folded arm. “So, me being your pet is enough to keep me safe.”

“It is with this coven, yes. Then again, with you being part halfling, none of them would kill you. You’re considered honorary fourth cousins, or something like that.” Amber’s soft laugh was music to Vicky’s ears, and she didn’t want to spoil the mood. But she couldn’t stop talking. “But listen, Amber. They are vampires, so they might do things you won’t approve of. If we want to live there without problems, you need to keep your tongue under control.”

“I can be good, really. Besides, they have volunteers, so they don’t hunt, right?” Vicky didn’t answer, and Amber raised her head, leaning it sideways against her shoulder while her frown returned. “Right?”

“Um...” Vicky groaned when Amber rolled away from her. She walked to the other side of Amber’s bed, passing through the beam of sunlight. She moved slowly, resisting the urge to hiss from the heat passing over her skin.

Of course sunlight wasn’t fatal for her, but it was painful, and she hoped Amber saw her pass through it. Then maybe she would understand how willing Vicky was to suffer for her.

But Amber rolled the other way again.

Vicky dropped onto the bed and grabbed Amber’s arm. “Amber, listen.”

Amber slung her arm back, and then she rolled onto her stomach in an attempt to pull herself free. “Let go of me.”

“No, just look at me and—” Amber still fought with her. “Amber, look at me.” Vicky rolled Amber onto her back, pinning her wrists above her head. Vicky settled her weight on Amber’s side to pin the much shorter woman.

Amber quit struggling, but Vicky almost couldn’t bear to watch the smoldering anger in her soft brown eyes. “Amber, please, can’t you try to understand me? I’m not human, all right? I can’t just pop by the store and pick up meat that someone else killed.”

“I know,” Amber whispered.

“Just—I need this. I need these people.”

“Why?”

“Because...because they can get me pregnant too.” Vicky was surprised she could admit the truth, but once she had, the light of understanding flickered in Amber’s eyes. Her indignant pout faded, until Vicky said, “Maybe I can even take a partner and—”

“Then you’ll forget about me,” Amber whimpered.

“No.” Vicky let go of Amber’s wrists, her hand moving down to rest on Amber’s cheek. “Please, don’t think you’re so unimportant to me that I would just forget you over a man. I...” Vicky faltered, still unable to confess her feelings for Amber. “You’re important to me, okay?”

“I know,” Amber said again, her pout becoming concerned. “You’re hurting yourself now by laying in sunlight. Please, just go to bed, and we’ll—we’ll sort it out tomorrow.”

Vicky didn’t want to leave. She got under the covers beside Amber and lay on her side. Amber rolled onto her side, and they stared at each other through half-lidded eyes, both of them caught in the grips of fatigue.

Vicky closed her eyes and thought, First, it was William, and then Ellen. Now I’ve fallen in love with Amber too. So why is it always the halflings that I can’t walk away from?