Gothik, Maine, October 14, 1998

Susan sat in the small rented room, watching the Kine pass through the window. She wasn't hungry right now, though she knew she would be soon. There was still time to relax, to think.

Which on this one day she didn't mind doing. This fiftieth anniversary of her Embrace--which would also have been her sixty sixth mortal birthday. She smiled at her young features reflected in the mirror, at the knowledge that she'd gotten a better deal than those who would spend their entire lives as nothing more than mortals.

Her smile broadened as she thought about the date again.

October 14, 1948.

She'd never forget that date if she lived to be a thousand years.

Which, being immortal, she fully expected to.

She would exist across the centuries to come, remaining always young, desirable, the woman of every man's dreams.

They'd be lusting after her, yearning to touch her, willing to do just about anything if she'd let them make love to her.

And now and again, she would relent, let one or two think they'd won. For a fleeting moment. So like dogs with their tongues hanging out they were, and she had to let them play, that too was part of the game.

The fools never knew what was really happening.

She'd taken so many, to taste their blood...so many. But all had been kine, mortals, their faces blurred into one another over the last fifty years. Meaningless...or at most passing fancies. Those were merely to feed her Hunger, after all. Which was as it should be.

Mortals were a dime a dozen. But only one of her own kind had ever, or *would* ever, share her bed. Only one other immortal knew her deepest and most intimate secrets...all the ways she so liked to be touched.

Steven...and tonight she'd see him again. They'd be together again, for this anniversary. For fifty years ago tonight was when it had begun for her, which had led to her Embracing him two months later.

As mortals, they had been twins, brother and sister. Loving, fiercely protective of each other. They would have done anything for one another.

Then she had been taken in vampiric Embrace. From that night on she knew she had to bring him across as well. Which she had done.

As immortals, that love had grown deeper...and darker, drawing them into passions most mortals considered forbidden. She smiled, touched herself in those special ways and knew very soon it would be his hands caressing her body, his lips rousing her every undead nerve to ecstasy. She could hardly wait.

Her mind drifted back across the years to how it had all begun...such an innocent day, that last one she'd lived as a mortal. Yet significant for having opened the door to the life she had now.

* * *

Spencer, Indiana, October 14, 1948

"Susan, come *on*. Everyone's waiting." her mother's voice had issued from downstairs.

"Just a minute." she called back, impatiently. God if she had to go back down there, face all the aunts and cousins and everyone else while they fussed over her like she was some storybook princess she'd start screaming.

She'd begged her mother not to make such a fuss. It was just her and Steven's birthday after all. But no, they had to make a damn circus out of it. She'd have been perfectly happy just for her and Steven to have a few of their friends over. Mother had insisted on Dad's taking Steven out this year though, while she was stuck here. "This kind of party was only for young ladies" Mother had said. God she hated those words.

She hated the white lace ruffled dress her mother had given her. It made her look like some sort of dress up doll. In fact all the girls looked like that...another thing she couldn't stand. She'd have been perfectly happy in a t shirt and blue jeans. But *no* that wasn't being 'a young lady'. She could hear her mother saying those words in that way that got on her nerves...

Why didn't any of them *see*?? This wasn't her, inside. She knew it, Steven knew it--heck, *Tom* knew it and he'd only been around a couple of months! Except for Steven, why did no one she'd grown up with understand??

"Susan!!" her mother's voice came again more insistent this time. She knew in another minute her mother would be banging on the door.

Stuck here playing at Mother's Little Princess while across town Tom was waiting for her...oh, damn it. The heck with them all.

She stripped off the dress and pulled on her favorite T shirt and a pair of jeans.

Then she opened the window...good. The oak tree outside had a branch in just the right angle...she climbed out onto it, then shinnied down the trunk till she reached the ground.

Then it was around to the garage to grab her bicycle--careful to duck below the level of the windows so as not to be seen by anyone inside.

A few minutes later, she was flying down the street, the breeze rustling through her hair. Tom would be so happy to see her...he'd said only last night he'd have something very special for her if she could come meet him tonight.

She wondered what it could be...most guys she knew gave their steady girlfriends rings, but Tom wasn't like the guys in town. He wasn't even from here. That'd been one of the things that'd gotten her interested in him to start with. That and that he didn't try to make her be something she simply wasn't the way everyone else did.

It wasn't but another ten minutes or so before she was parking the bike outside Shelly's Diner...then walking in. Not that she wasn't a bit worried about coming in here--if Shelly was on the counter tonight, she'd likely be on the phone to her mother within five minutes. But she'd risk it to see Tom.

There! He was sitting in their usual corner booth waiting for her.

Ignoring Shelly's shocked stare as she walked by, she went straight for him and a half second later they were in each other's arms.

A long kiss and then they were sitting down..."You made it." he said simply.

She smiled and nodded. "You think I'd skip seeing you even if it is my birthday?" She laughed ironically at that. "No way. I couldn't stand one more minute of that party. And why shouldn't I do what I want on my day?" she touched his hand, no longer surprised as she once had been to feel how cool it was.

His eyes held hers...so deep so mysterious she could so easily lose herself in them. There was so much she didn't really know about him, but it didn't matter. He was the only one besides Steven who cared about her and that was what mattered. "That's just the way it should be, Susan."

"Right. Then I've got another idea." She tore her gaze away from Tom--though it wasn't easy--and glanced to where Shelly was. Heading for the phone, just as she'd figured. Crooking a finger in that direction, she nodded. "Let's get out of here before she calls out the troops."

He smiled in that enigmatic way that so excited her. "Sure. I've got the perfect place, too. Somewhere we can be...alone."

"Tom?" she wondered what he meant, there was such a strange tone in his voice. Though all it did was make her all the more curious.

"I said I had something special for you," he went on. "But I can't give it to you with anyone around...I just can't."

Was it a ring? she wondered. Naah. That was too typical. That was what all the guys she knew gave their girlfriends and if there was one thing Tom wasn't it was typical.

But she didn't care. If she didn't go with Tom where else would she go except back to that house and that sugar sweet party. And no way would she do that. Plus she was dying of curiosity to find out what Tom's special gift was.

She followed him out of the diner, and leaving her bike there she got on Tom's, piggybacking behind him. Her arms around his waist, her head resting on his shoulder...God it felt good.

"Where're we going?" she asked as they started off.

"You'll see." he replied.

Through the quiet streets he pedaled, ignoring the scandalized stares of those few people they passed who recognized her, the ones who wondered what was she doing out so late and with Tom...she didn't care, though.

She was enjoying right now too much to worry about the scene she'd be sure to face when she did finally go home...but at least that party would be over and done with.

Finally they reached one old house on the southern end of town. A house she knew had been shut up and empty for a year, ever since old Mrs Farren had died...surely Tom couldn't mean here?

Evidently he did, as he slowed the bike then stopped.

"Why all the way out here?" she wondered. "This place gives me the creeps."

He looked at her for a long moment at that, then nodded. "I know. But it's important and it's the only place no one'll be around to see us."

She felt funny about this. She could hear her mother right now, giving one of her lectures about how Good Girls Didn't Do This Sort of Thing.

That decided her. She pushed aside the funny feeling, told the inner voice very firmly to shut up and followed Tom to the boarded over back door of the house...which to her surprise Tom opened easily, yanking the board off as if it had been made of cardboard not wood.

"How'd you *do* that?" she wondered. Tom wasn't a weakling, she knew, but he wasn't some over muscled wrestling type either.

"That's...well, part of what I've got to tell you about." he replied.

Taking her hand in his, he led her over to a sheet covered sofa. At least that was what she assumed it was...she couldn't see worth a damn in here (so how can he?, her mind asked)

As if sensing her discomfort at the blackness, there was a soft click and a dim light came on. A camping lantern...but at least she could see a little now.

"All right, Tom, out with it. You drag me all the way out here, break into this place that looks like right out of some movie ... "

"I'll tell you, Susan. But it's got to be done right. First off..." he paused as if collecting his thoughts. "You keep talking about wanting out of this town, wanting to see the world. Do you *really* want that??"

She nodded. "You know I do...Steven and I both do. The minute high school's over we're out of here."

"Why wait that long? Remember your cousin Cathy and how it was with her. Two years and that'll be you. As for Steven, he'll have settled down with Becky or some other girl by then."

She shook her head in vehement denial. The last thing she wanted was to hurry up and get married. She liked being with Tom but she didn't want to end up just another housewife...there *had* to be more a girl could look forward to than that.

"I could really make you free, Susan. Get you out of this town for good--you want so much to see the world, I'll give it to you. A world you've probably never heard of except maybe bits and pieces in books."

She wasn't sure where this conversation was going, besides, she was getting more than a little impatient. "Don't beat around the bush with me, Tom. Out with it already, whatever it is."

Though the more he hinted, the more she wanted to know.

His cold fingers held her hand, while his other hand touched her cheek. "I'm talking about things like fae, Susan. And werewolves. And wraiths. And most of all...vampires. They're not just things somebody made up. They're all real."

"What...?" she started to reply, but he interrupted her.

"I'm not crazy," he continued. "It *is* true what I'm saying. Look at me. *Look*..."

She was already looking at him, but at his words she looked harder. Things started coming together in her mind. Little things she'd taken for granted until now. How pale he was...and that she had never in the entire time she'd known him seen him during the day...not even heard from him on the phone. And how cold his skin always felt to the touch--and how he never seemed to be hungry when she was around. Even at Shelly's, he'd never gotten more than a Coke...God what was she thinking??

"Don't be afraid, Susan. I'm not going to hurt you but you have to see."

A moment later he was smiling...then grinning. His lips drew back and she saw, really saw, his teeth for the first time.

The long white pointed...those weren't teeth, not human teeth. Those were more like fangs...those couldn't be real, could they? Didn't they have plastic ones that people wore on Halloween??

Which was only a couple of weeks away, she remembered.

"Oh, now I get it. This is some sort of Halloween joke, isn't it. Ha ha ha."

He stared at her for a moment then shook his head. "Not at all. Go ahead, feel them. They're real. As real as you or I or this house."

She could only look incredulously at him...and before she could form a reply he'd done that for her, pulled her hand to his mouth and guided her fingers to touch.

They felt like teeth...she found herself tugging at one and it didn't pop off the way a plastic one would.

Her blue eyes widened at the realization. "What...what are you...??" she whispered. Though she knew what it looked like...

He nodded, sensing her confusion. "A vampire. Though we prefer to call ourselves Kindred." His voice was as gentle as it always was when he talked to her and yet somehow it sent chills through her now. But it was still *Tom*...and if he really was a vampire then--

She'd read "Dracula" and a few other things, seen the movies, so she knew what a vampire was. She'd just never expected to find herself talking to one.

And now that she was there were so many things she wanted to ask...like how old he really was. He'd told her 19, back when they'd first started dating, but from the things she'd read...

"You...you're not really nineteen...are you...?!?" God that sounded lame but it was the first thing she could sort out of the zillion questions that were half formed in her mind right now.

He shook his head. "No, Susan, I am not. I haven't been really nineteen for a long, long time." Pausing for a moment to watch her expression, still surprise and confusion but now giving way to curiosity..."I was with the first shipload of settlers that landed at Plymouth Rock...and I was already old then."

Plymouth Rock?? She remembered that from history class...that'd been what, 1620?? That sounded right...a little over three hundred years ago. And if he had been old then...

He could easily guess what she was thinking now..."I've existed for almost a thousand years."

And with that simple statement he had started. A tale of things and people told from one who'd actually been there--of things and places and even people she only knew from vague references in history books.

Hearing all this was incredible...but it made her want to hear more.

Not only that, but Tom being what he was proved the world was so much more exciting than she'd even dreamed of...and that in turn made her want to see it all the more.

Not only see it, but be part of it.

Part of her did a double take at that. What'd she just thought??

But another part seized the idea.

If Tom had really lived that long, seen so many things...what would it be like to be able to go on and on like that? To see the future become the present in so many different ways...

Then it clicked. Why he'd brought her out here...was telling her all this. That's just how it happened in the stories she'd read--and she remembered what usually followed.

"That's it, isn't it?" she said slowly, as the realization sank in. "You want to--to make me what you are."

He nodded. "You want so to see the world...to know what lies ahead. I can give you all that and so much more." His fingers brushed her cheek again. "Think of it, Susan. You would live forever, never to grow old...and as a Brujah you'd have other gifts, too. You'd be stronger and faster than any mere mortal."

She could only look at him while her mind struggled to process all this. It was so utterly incredible...more so for knowing it was real.

"Tom...I..."

God she wanted this! This could be her way out!!

But what about Steven? another part of her asked.

She looked at Tom, who was waiting for her answer...and somehow had the feeling if she waited she'd never get this chance again. She'd just have to come back later for Steven.

She nodded. "Do it."

Tom's cold lips touched her neck. There was a sting, just for a second. She couldn't keep from crying out...then moaning as a warm tingling swept over her entire body.

Then the warmth faded, became cold. She couldn't remember being so cold...she couldn't seem to hold herself up anymore, she was barely aware of sagging into Tom's arms.

A black void appeared before her and it was pulling her in. Was this--was this dying?? No!! her mind screamed, fighting to live though her body was now too weak.

"Susan" came a voice from far away. "Susan".

Tom's voice, she dimly realized. "Drink. Susan you have to drink."

She felt a pressure at her lips...then warm liquid gushed into her mouth. A nectar that filled her with rapture at the first taste and ecstasy the second. Salty and sweet and liquid fire all at once.

Her body was screaming for it. She couldn't get it into her fast enough she was burning up but God she had to have it.

She realized it was blood then...but didn't care. She couldn't think of anything but swallowing as much of it as she could. It was beyond wanting it was a craving, a hunger.

It lasted she didn't know how long, time had lost all meaning...but at some point the blood, the nectar, was no longer there for her.

She vaguely remembered Tom looking down on her, smiling, before she lost consciousness.

* * *

Susan came out of blackness, to find herself somewhere else. Not the room in Mrs Farren's house. Where was she?

She stared at the strange room. Not just because she didn't recognize it, but because everything looked, felt, so different. Colors, smells, the feel of the bedsheets she lay on against her skin. She couldn't remember things feeling so intense before or colors so bright.

Her body felt strange, too. Seeing a mirror on the wall, she got up and looked at herself. Except for being a bit paler, she looked the same, she thought.

So many strange new feelings, among them, she wasn't breathing, she didn't have a heartbeat.

She was a vampire. Just like Tom.

And Tom'd lived a thousand years!

She touched her pale face, her body. Her sixteen year old body that now would never be any older. She was immortal, would look just like this forever.

But Steven wouldn't! He'd grow old and die, while she stayed young and alive. Unalive? whichever. She wasn't leaving Steven to that. No way.

A sound distracted her, she turned to see she wasn't alone.

It wasn't Tom, though--it was a stranger. But this guy was Kindred, Brujah, too. How she knew *that* she had no idea.

She tried to gauge the distance between herself and the door in case she had to get away.

"Childe." he said quietly. "You should have noticed my presence sooner."

"Who are you calling a child?" she snapped. "And who are you anyway??"

"I'm Gregory, and you're Tom's new childe."

"I'm *not* a child I'm sixteen!" Susan would have sighed if she'd still been breathing. This guy already sounded like her father. "Where's Tom?"

"I don't know." Gregory replied. "And you're here to learn what you are. You've been given so much and if you're going to survive in our world you damn well better learn what to do with it."

"My name is Susan! Will you stop calling me a child!" she retorted. "And I know I'm a vampire. I'm not stupid."

"Forget mortal definitions: they don't apply. Tom Embraced you so you're his childe. And you've got a hell of a lot to learn about what being a vampire is. We're a lot more than what's in the movies. Lesson number one: ours is a dangerous world, with many enemies. Mortal hunters--and others of our own kind. One of those came after Tom last night, he got away long enough to bring you to me. Lesson number two..."

She wondered if Tom was okay, but was more curious about what this guy was talking about 'lessons'. And there was Steven...Tom at least would have understood her wanting to bring him in, this guy might not.

(But one way or the other,) she promised herself, (I'm coming back for you, dear brother. Don't worry.)

Then turning her attention back to the present, she watched as Gregory went to the door and opened it. Two other people entered, a man and a woman. They both looked strange...dazed, as if they really didn't know where they were.

That's when she knew what that burning in her stomach was. Hunger.

And they had what she wanted....it was almost like their blood was calling out to her. She wanted it like she'd never wanted anything. Damn it that wasn't right. She *needed* it.

"I know you're hungry. They're yours. Take whichever one you want. Or both." Gregory smiled and waited to see what she'd do.

Susan found herself moving faster than she could remember ever doing before, it was as if her body knew what to do before she did.

The man's body flattened against the wall...the scent of his body, the feel of him against her, was thrill in itself, add to that the smell of his hot blood and she was in ecstasy.

Her fangs slid into his neck, his blood, warm and red, came into her like fire through every nerve his life and it was feeding her making her stronger. This was *right* it had to be...

After a time Gregory forced her away. "You must stop or you'll kill him."

"But how...?"

"You have to just know" he said, indicating for her to take the woman. "let yourself feel her strength along with yours and you will."

Susan took the woman, fed again...and he was right. As hard as it was to tear herself away from that sheer bliss, she did when the moment came. Somehow she did know when she couldn't take more without killing.

That was how her education as a vampire began. Gregory was right, she did have a lot to learn about being one of the undead. How to hunt, to kill when she had to. About the gifts of Celerity and Potence...and so many other things.

She never saw or heard of Tom again, though. As for Steven....

She'd tried to break away. She didn't mind leaving her parents, that whole damn ostrich hole of a town, without a word about where she was or why.

But she just couldn't do that to Steven. It was different with him. They'd always shared everything, from the time they'd been kids. Even talked about leaving town together.

Sure, she'd gone first, the way things had worked out, but she was going back. Not to stay, of course...just to bring him into this world that she had found so exciting.

Once that was done, Susan knew, they would be brother and sister again. And more...so much more, besides. It was just something she had to do, for his sake as well as her own.

* * *

That night came only two months later. Christmas Eve to be exact.

Susan made her way back into town, careful to keep to the shadows, to let no one see her. No one must ever know she was here, she told herself firmly. No one except the one person she'd come for. That, she'd had to agree to to get Gregory to okay this trip at all. Not that she would've skipped coming here if he had said no, it'd just have been harder to manage afterwards.

There. She was almost to the house. She crouched in the bushes and waited. She had to be sure no one would hear or see--once out of the bushes, there'd be no cover until she got to the oak tree and that was a good ten yards away.

Glancing at her watch, she saw it wasn't quite midnight yet. She'd go right at twelve, then.

(I'm here, Steven,) she thought, just as if he could hear her. (I'm coming it won't be long now.)

The minutes ticked away, so slowly, but she waited--though it wasn't easy. Finally, though, both hands pointed squarely to twelve. She ran.

One quick burst of Celerity was all it took, then she was up the tree where its own branches would help conceal her. Even now with the leaves gone for the winter, there was still enough cover from the branches themselves.

She'd climbed this same tree so many times...but this time was so much easier. Of course, the other times, she'd still been human and that made all the difference.

Good, she thought, spotting the long branch, the one that went almost to what had been her bedroom window. They hadn't cut it. That made this easier yet. She just hoped they hadn't locked the window...they hadn't.

She was in!

She paused to look around. Just as she'd left it! Her clothes, books, everything. The only thing obvious was the damn party dress wasn't on the floor. Not that she'd have expected Mother to leave *that*.

She shook her head and tiptoed to the door, still listening for any sign that anyone was awake. Nothing yet...she moved into the hall, then down to Steven's room.

He would be surprised, and not just to see her like this. She'd changed and not only physically. She'd learned a lot in the last two months and not all of that had had to do with vampires.

Slipping into his room, she stood beside the bed and looked down at him, sound asleep, thought how best to wake him without having him wake everyone else.

God he's cute, she found herself thinking. Surprisingly--she'd never thought of him that way before. But he was. The sort of guy any girl would go for.

He was her brother. Her twin. Almost like her other half, and she was here to get them back together, wasn't she?

The idea she'd just had was incredible but it just might work. It wasn't anything she'd have even thought of back when she'd still been human, but being a vampire had changed her view of things in quite a few ways.

Climbing into the bed, she placed herself on top of him.

He started to wake up, tried to say something but she cut him off by the simple expedient of a kiss. Full on the lips.

She could feel him struggling underneath her, trying to push her off. She was stronger, though. "Don't scream. It's *me*" she whispered, raising her head slightly to look into his eyes, then gave him another kiss.

This one she made last a little longer, then pulled back to watch him.

He was blinking sleep out of his eyes and starting to focus. Shock-surprise-happiness-confusion played across his face all at once.

"Sus--?!?"

She just nodded.

"Sus..what...what happened where've you been oh god I knew you weren't dead I just knew it..." He was talking so fast he was almost crying for happiness. He tried again to get out from under her, but she didn't let him.

"Let me up--what're you doing--"

She couldn't do that. He'd wake the whole house and there'd be hell to pay. But she knew just how to stop him. She smiled, then gave him a third kiss..and this time he caught on how cold her lips were. He stared at her, only now really seeing her pale face.

"What's happened, Sus? You--you feel different. You're sure acting different--"

"I'll tell you everything," she whispered, "that's why I'm here." She touched his cheek gently with one hand, then started trailing gentle nuzzles across his chest.

She could feel his heart beating, it was starting to excite her but she couldn't give in yet. He wasn't ready, she had to prepare him more first.

She could also feel his body starting to want her, just as if she'd been some other girl--and he was fighting it. Well, she could fix that. She had plenty of time.

It didn't matter that he was her brother, not like it once would've. He was a man first and she'd learned so many things about how to make men happy. She'd show him.

She caressed him again and again, in between telling him everything that'd happened from the night she'd left this house. About Tom--and what he'd done to her. How he'd made her into a vampire then disappeared.

God this felt so good, being this close to him, touching him like this. She felt his hands start to reach for her, brush against her then pull back. His body wanted to touch, to hold, but he was still fighting.

"Susan...oh, god, stop it Sus...I can't...you're making me crazy. We can't..." he murmured.

"Who says we can't?" she cooed, caressing him still more, her fingers twirling the hairs on his chest. "We can do...anything..." she kissed him again, "we," kiss, "want." Kiss again and he moaned softly, his body was getting the upper hand.

She smiled, knowing she almost had him now. She just had to push a little more...she opened her blouse with one hand, letting her breasts fall free and leaning slightly forward to let one brush against his lips.

He stiffened as if electrocuted at that contact, his eyes bugged out staring up at her. His breathing came harder now.

"I've learned so much," Susan whispered in a voice filled with erotic suggestions. "Let me show you...dear brother..." With that she slipped down his pajama bottoms...

He moaned again unable to resist any longer...he pulled her close to him where his body demanded her.

She moaned as he came into her, clinging to him as his passion came wave after wave until he'd worn himself out. It was really hard now to keep herself from giving in to it completely and taking his blood but she knew it'd only be a little longer now.

She waited until he came out of their shared ecstasy, "That's just a taste of how it could be, Steven." she said softly, cooingly. "Just the two of us. The Harper twins again. Forever....don't you see? Now we've really been together...and it could happen again. Anytime we want. There's so many things I can teach you....and a lot more we can learn about together. We'll never grow old."

She ran her fingers along his cheek again, gazing into his eyes.

He wanted this, she could tell. But he was still hesitating.

"It'll be wonderful," she urged. "You'll see. What matters is it'll be *us* again...like it used to be. Only better."

He finally nodded, and she smiled. Now it would be right again...for both of them.

"What do I have to do...?"

"Just relax...don't be afraid, whatever happens." she whispered.

She eased him back against the cushions, gave him one last kiss. His last as a mortal, that is.

Then she smiled, bared her teeth. He simply stared, wanting this but at the same time trying to understand it.

Susan leaned forward, her lips touched his neck and her teeth sank in.

Ecstasy filled her, his warm, rich human blood flooding through her, giving her life. It was somehow different, this time, perhaps because it was *Steven's* blood...but it was even sweeter than any she'd tasted before.

She let herself savor that exquisite taste...until she felt his life slip so low it was almost gone. Then she knew it was time.

She drew herself away, closed the wound...then slashed her own wrist and held it to his lips.

He didn't seem to realize it at first...she was afraid she was going to lose him after coming so close. NO! She pressed harder. "Damn it if you want to live *drink*!" she cried out, jamming her bleeding wrist against his lips.

Once he'd tasted her blood that was enough, though. He began to suck eagerly like an infant taking milk...only this was no milk. Still it was life. She could see the look on his face, that incredible Hunger...a feeling she remembered only too well from her own Embrace. Tom had brought her through that, she would get Steven through this.

This was the part she hadn't been too sure about--when this had been done to her she'd known only the overwhelming need to drink, she hadn't thought how it might've felt for Tom. But it seemed to be right...it felt right.

After a while, she could sense it, he had had all he could hold for now. Though the craving was still there, would always be with him now as it was for all their kind.

She closed her wrist wound, then kissed Steven on the lips, he was too dazed to do more than murmur her name. "It's all right, Steven. sleep now...we'll talk tomorrow night."

She could get him out of here, though climbing the tree was out. She'd have to walk him through the house...but at least their parents hadn't woken up. There were some small favors, it seemed. If they'd blundered into this she might've had to kill them to keep the Masquerade.

She glanced at the clock...4:30 am. Good. Plenty of time to get Steven to the truck stop inn where she'd had a room picked out already. A room and two truckers who'd been told to wait for her. They'd make sure she and Steven weren't disturbed during the day, and then there was tomorrow night, they'd both be hungry...

She eased Steven to his feet and carefully, so carefully, quietly, made her way out of that house for the last time, walking him beside her.

A short while later they'd reached the truck stop and she got Steven into the room, into the bed. The truckers took their places at the door, she made sure all the shades were down, the shutters were pulled, not a bit of sunlight would get in.

Once that was done, she climbed into bed beside Steven and snuggled up. His body was already cold...his skin paling. She gave him a gentle kiss then rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

Everything would be right, now...was her last thought before sleep claimed her.

* * * * *

Gothik, Maine, October 14, 1998

That was how it had begun for both of them, Susan smiled as her mind returned to the present. And it had been every bit as exciting as Tom had promised her. All the more so for knowing Steven was and would always be with her.

Of course, they hadn't spent every minute of the last fifty years in each other's presence. But that didn't matter...the blood they shared had bound them each to the other in a way that could never be broken. A bond that was reaffirmed each time they did meet. Which was only an hour or two away now, she knew.

She could hardly wait.

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