The Lady placed a hand on my shoulder, lifting my chin with the fingers of her other hand, until I looked at her also.

  “Denie, sweet,” she said, “there is more than pleasure to this for us. Nicola, for all her fickle ways, was precious to us all. Do you truly want what we are offering?”

  I felt her grip on my shoulder, the caress of her fingertips on my throat, and Samantha’s touch on the back of my hand…and I knew I wanted this transformation, more perhaps than I wanted vengeance for Nicola’s murder.

  The knowledge of her other dalliances hurt, but I had known she was fickle, had even suspected she had other lovers. If I had asked her about them instead of avoiding the question, she’d have told me, and we’d have talked it through. There was no chance of that, now, no way to soothe the sense of betrayal, except by remembering the beauty of Nicola’s nature and knowing she didn’t have a malicious bone in her body.

  I forced myself to look at the line I was crossing, and made myself decide avenging Nicola’s death was worth it, before I nodded. Pushing my principles aside, I allowed them to pull me to my feet and guide me to the living room where they scattered cushions and blankets, much as Nicola used to do. Our clothes joined the rugs amongst the cushions and they showed me what it was to become as they were.

  Light from the next day’s dawn was not allowed to intrude in its usual fashion, and I spent most of my time sleeping. By the onset of the next night, I had become more closely related to the night than I had once cared to be.

  Samantha took me to her own apartment before the hunger struck, but the Lady stayed close to ensure I caused no harm. Together, they brought back my first meal and stayed with me until the blood lust was sated.

  It was two days before they returned my weapons. The silver stiletto had to have its shining handle wrapped in black leather strapping, and I could still feel the icy burn of its metal through its thin protection. I ignored it. Bearing its acidic touch was the least I could do for Nicola.

  The Lady disappeared at dusk the same night, but Samantha stayed with me, teaching me the meaning of what I had become, and how to cope with it. She could not stop the temporary madness that came with the growing hunger I felt, and locked me in her bathroom while she stalked the closest streets for willing prey. Through the haze, I wondered just how many transformations she had supervised. Nothing seemed to faze her.

  The young man she brought back with her got far more than he had bargained for. In the aftermath of guilt, conscience, and self-loathing, Samantha told me not to worry. She told me that it became easier each time. She assured me it was much easier with practice and much more fun.

  I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry

  “You’ll be much tidier, too,” she had added, surveying the mess I had made.

  My hunger sated, I turned my mind once more to the hunt for the vampire from the alley. It took me three weeks before I was civilized enough to be allowed out in public. While we waited, Samantha helped me practice weapon drills and taught me the laws they had to live by, the laws I now had to live by. Once I was sure of the plan, I explained it to her.

  When she asked me how I was coping at being one of the creatures I hunted, I told her the extra speed and strength I’d gained did much to soothe the guilt. Nicola had been worth compromising my principles. The least I could do was to find her body and bury it.

  We fed, then headed to the door. When I hesitated on the threshold, she took my hand and led me through it, before locking the flat behind us. Beyond the apartment block’s foyer, the night waited—my first night since I had crossed the line to join the ranks of those I sometimes hunted. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

  Stepping into it, I felt different. The night breeze caressed my skin with something more than its usual cold touch. The shadows cast by obstructions to the moonlight held a tangible invitation. I couldn’t help it. The abilities I’d seen used by others were my own to play with, so I played, learning them as we went, and thinking how I would use them

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  I slipped in and out of the patches of dark, laughing at Samantha’s amusement with my behavior, delighting in my ability to astound her. We came, too quickly, to the alley.

  The alley mouth was a dark chasm between the heights of the buildings that lined it. Its depths were littered with rubbish and pot holes. Now, I could see flashes of red moving within it, the clearest sign of life at night. With a start, I realized I was seeing into the infra-red spectrum. I could not see my lover’s killer.

  I would have entered the alley but Samantha stopped me.

  “Not now,” she whispered, tilting her head to one side. “I cannot see or sense him, and it will do us no good to wait. The trail is cold. We should find another piece of ground for our confrontation.”

  “Where to, then?” I asked.

  “The Underground,” she answered.

  The Underground was a nightclub set in the bowels of the railway lines running under the central part of the city. It was an exclusive venue, that screened its clients with enough thoroughness to make royalty jealous. I wondered how Samantha expected to get me inside.

  Samantha turned out to be a gold-carded member. She was allowed to bring in one uncarded guest a night. She was also in a position to recommend me for the security inspection that would lead to my own membership—and she did. Color me impressed.

  The music in The Underground was loud but not uncomfortably so. Samantha told me it got louder later on. She also said The Underground had been one of Nicola’s favorite places. It was another fact I hadn’t known.

  Looking back, all the lengths I had gone to in order to protect Nicola from the secrets of the night, were laughable. She had already been walking with the night crowd. Perhaps she had been protecting me.

  The Lady must have enjoyed the joke immensely—forbidding me from telling Nicola of the night people, indeed. Somehow, I couldn’t appreciate her humor.

  I watched Samantha scanning the crowd already there. Taking my hand, she led me between tables interspersed by tall, potted palms and overly ornate gold pots. I followed her, taking in the room for myself.

  I noticed how the club’s interior was broken into several different areas. A raised section overlooked the dance floor. Tables bordered it, and booths crouched against a far wall forming an alcove of private caves. As we walked up the stairs leading to the elevated area, I felt the club’s atmosphere shift.

  Wings of bullet-proof glass ran half way down the stairs partially blocking the noise from the dance floor. A turn in the stair, and more glass fronting where it overlooked the lower levels, quietened it further. Quieter music of an older style tugged at my ears as we neared the top of the stairs. A small dance floor made an open space in front of the live musicians and couples drifted quietly across it.

  We wandered through this level and up another flight of glass-enclosed stairs. More potted palms screened the stairs, helping conceal the bullet-proof glass on the outside of the rails. Flowers in baskets attached to the inside of the glass provided a screen from the floors below until reaching the next level was like moving through a garden.

  Half-way up, Samantha looked back at the entrance to the club and gasped. I followed the direction of her gaze. A woman, tall but not as pale, was speaking calmly with the security guard on the door.

  I did not understand what could have alarmed my guide. The scene seemed normal enough. Booted footsteps on the stairs above us made me look up. A tall man with a shock of white hair descended toward us.

  “May I help you, ladies?” he asked.

  I jumped. His voice was deep and melodic bringing to mind the sound of howling winds and winter landscapes. It was not unlike the voice of the man in the alley.

  I felt Samantha’s hand twitch in my own, but no trace of her surprise showed in her voice.

  “Thank you, Di Nitrate,” she replied. “We’d like a table in the upper corner if we could.”

  The man bowed to her, and offered her his hand. With a shrug and a rueful smile, she took it, not letting go of me with her other hand. If our guide noticed her behavior, he said nothing of it.

  “A table in the upper corner,” he announced as he led us to a secluded nook, “Someone will be along to take your order.”

  “Thank you,” Samantha said, dismissing him.

  I noticed his lips quirk in hidden amusement and couldn’t help feeling a mischievous kinship with him. A secret shared. I looked guiltily at Samantha and saw she had seen it, as well. Now I shared the ‘secret’ with two.

  We sat in silence for a long moment. Samantha watched the entrance and the dance floor and scanned the mid-level we had passed through. I just watched.

  I saw no sign of the woman who had caused Samantha’s gasp of surprise. The waiter’s arrival with our menus disturbed our observations.

  He went away while we decided what to order, returning to seat a tall, suited gentleman at a table not far from our own. I saw what Samantha thought of that from the frown on her face, but noticed she was curious about him as well. The waiter did not react as he came to take our order.