Parking the truck on high ground he stepped out and walked among the nearly deserted seaside resort, or what had been at one time. Before the vampires and their riff-raff had moved in and run all the business out some developer had built a hotel here on the edge of the water that he called New Venice, where guests could live in luxury and ride up and down canals in gondolas. Now the water flooded up over the bottoms of the streets and buildings whenever it rained and all the luxury had long been stripped and vandalized. Death prowled the streets at night and no one came here any more.

That was why he was so surprised to see several old women and a loose gaggle of children playing on the sandy shore of what had been the beach. He was surprised to see mortals here at all. He wanted to warn them of their danger, wanted to tell them how foolish they were for coming here even in the daylight, but they knew and came anyway.

A stray piece of paper blew against his foot and fluttered there for his attention. It was a picture ripped from a magazine of some beautiful young woman, a model in an advertisement. The picture was full of light and she was so… pure looking.

“I wouldn’t go up there if I were you.”

Jerry looked up, startled. “Excuse me?”

Two old women were walking arm-in-arm down the white stone promenade. “I’ve heard that’s one haunted. Do you believe in ghosts?”

He looked at them for a moment and then answered, “Mam, I believe in everything.”

Maybe this was some kind of a signal. He turned and walked through the doorway, wading through shallow water to get there. The interior was remarkably free of trash. In fact, it was remarkably free of everything. He would have expected to find people living there – junkies, prostitutes, kids who went to ground after the clubs closed for the day. There was no one, as if this place was a staked territory and marked against intrusion.

Glancing outside he could see the old women rounding up the children on the sand and getting ready to depart. They weren’t afraid to come here during the day, which meant that a very powerful presence was entrenched here, one that didn’t tolerate the filth of the outside world. Whoever it was he would find them upstairs. He hoped whatever was waiting for him was what he was looking for.

He carefully paced up the steps of the stone interior to the top floor. It was a long hike up. The door to the penthouse had been removed and he was aware that anyone inside would see him coming. As a precaution he loosened his knife in its sheath under his jacket and walked slowly inside. He was impressed by how clean it was, how bare and uncluttered. Normally lairs accumulated decades worth of strange and odd trash, relics of a life lived without meaning. Here everything was white and the windows were all unveiled. Then he understood – the interior walls, floor, and ceiling were newly painted a bright, high-gloss stark white to reflect the light of the incoming sun. It hurt his eyes, this mortal who spent his life in so much darkness. Anyone with vampire blood walking into these rooms would be blind, unable to maneuver or orient themselves. Defenseless.

Carefully he reached into his coat and pulled out his shades, but even that wasn’t much better. He turned slowly around and surveyed the property. It had once been luxury digs, now it was a big hole, and it was empty. He puzzled for a moment, he knew she had to go to ground, knew that this is where she had said to meet her, but she wasn’t there.

Walking back out towards the door he found his answer. To his chagrin he noticed for the first time that the ceiling did not end over the door he had first entered by, but extended up and back. There was a loft there, which had probably once been reached by a spiral staircase. Now it was accessible only to those who had inhuman gifts. Anyone entering at night would be descended upon from behind.

“Knock! Knock!”

In response to the sound of his voice the coiled end of a rope ladder was kicked over the edge. Jerry pulled to test the strength and hauled himself up. Tallah was sitting against the far back wall shrouded in a heavy black cowl, a spot of inky darkness in the bright. The inexperienced would have mistaken her for a heap of black rags until they got within arm’s reach, then it wouldn’t make any difference.

He pulled up the ladder, coiled it up neatly and away, and lay back with his head on his bag. He knew that she wasn’t really asleep, more like in stasis, and that she wouldn’t be herself until the night came. She was weak in this state, would be more powerful locked away in some deep and dark place, but also more vulnerable. They had both pissed a lot of people off doing Quinn, even his enemies. Here she had the advantage of the light.

He fell asleep for a few hours and awoke to find her framed against the sunset in the big picture window. There seemed to be something about her just then, almost longing in the way she stood there watching it pass. Then night came on and she was fully herself.

“Nice digs.”

“Not exactly the crypt and graveyard tour, is it?”

She smiled at him and it was creepy. “Glad you could come. I’m on the hotlist over Quinn. Not that I care…”

“Safety in numbers.”

She nodded, not saying out loud the real reason why she was glad. It was a relief not to be alone when the sun was up. She sensed safety in this man. “It will be dark enough for me to move soon. I’ll need to move around for the next few weeks until the dust settles.”

He knew what she meant. There would be a lot of jostling around of Quinn’s friends and enemies until everyone found their place. Some of them would come looking for her to exact revenge. Some would come because she was a threat. Some because they wanted to try their luck against the legendary hunter. In any case, she wouldn’t be the same locations two days in a row for some time. She probably had at least a dozen places around the area for just such an occasion.

Tallah pulled out on her bike, Jerry following a little distance behind in his truck. She made a point of driving through town. He could see people looking out of the windows of their little houses as she went by. It was her way of announcing that the resort was no longer protected, not safe. The old women and children would not be back until she returned.

She led the way to a pile of ramshackle old warehouses out in the middle of the old port terminal and stopped the bike. She did not get off, but turned around and pulled up to his window.

“They’ve been here. It’s not safe.”

He remained silent while she considered this development. Evidently someone was looking for her a lot harder than she had anticipated.

“I know of somewhere.”

She hesitated. Whoever this man was he was a lot more experienced than she had given him credit for that first night in the club. But she was accustomed to very specific lodgings. She looked hard at him and considered her choices.

“I’ll follow you.”

He drove a long way out into the wastes, where there was nothing but long roads winding from one inhabited area to another. They passed abandoned farmhouses and the occasional burned-out shell of a dead tractor-trailer, up towards some woody-looking hills.

Riding slowly behind him she caught a glimpse of light in the darkness ahead. It turned out to be a sizeable roadhouse with a long line of buildings attached to it. It was placed far back where it couldn’t be seen except by those who knew to look for it. Tallah looked at the powerful electric lights shining out away from the buildings and thought that this was a place for humans, fortified against the night, not for her kind.

“What is this?” she called in through his window.

“Pull over!”

She parked the bike and walked over. “Look, you may not have noticed, but my kind may not be welcome in there.”

Jerry leaned out over the door. “Yer right, they ain’t. That’s why we’ll be safe there for a couple of days at least. Let’s find a place to hide your bike and you can ride in with me.”

She felt very uncomfortable sitting in the front seat of the truck as they rolled in. She stayed in the cab while he went in to rent a room and could feel people staring at her through the window. They looked openly at her. She looked away.

A big man with a button down shirt and a short red beard clapped a hand on Jerry’s shoulder as he collected his room key. “Welcome back.”

Jerry gripped his hand. “John.”

The big man leaned over. “I saw what you got in that truck, Jerry.”

“She’s alright and she’s with me.”

“I don’t want no trouble here, you know that.”

Jerry nodded. “She’s in the same line of work as me. We just finished a job together and needed to clear out ‘till things blew over.”

John glanced out at the truck, which was starting to draw spectators. “OK, she’s your responsibility.”

“I’ll tell y’all ‘bout it in the mornin’.”

They stayed for three days, Tallah keeping away from the windows. It was torturous for her to hear people walking back and forth and talking between the buildings while she tried to hibernate during the daytime. She was used to absolute silence and the constantly human drone of the large place made her irritable. At least at night the music would start up in the main building and she only had to hear the occasional fist fights from the parking lot.

On the evening of the third day they were lying in bed together. He had taken to sleeping with his arms around her and learned quickly to keep his hands away from her mouth. She was becoming jumpy at the sounds of activity on the other side of the wall. A drunken, passionate exchange started up that sounded over the music.

Tallah jerked up off the bed and picked up her jacket. “I have to get out of here.”

“You’re safe here,” he answered softly. What he meant was “…safe with me.”

“I know, and I thank you.” She began picking up her things and stowing them away in her bag. “But all this noise, all these… these…”

“People?”

She stopped and looked at him. “I can’t sleep. I hear all their voices. I hear them walking around outside, hear them fighting and laughing and that!” she gestured towards the wall. “I hear their humanity.”

He understood then what she was leaving out. She could hear everything that she was not, could not join in, and could never be. “OK, it’s time we moved on anyway.”

“You should stay with your people. You belong with other people.”

“They aren’t my people. Just some friends I stay with sometime.”

She zipped her bag and looked at him with a focused eye. “What are you doing here?”

He didn’t answer at first, then just said, “That’s a long story.”

She was about to say that she had time when some commotion from the parking lot stopped the words in her mouth. Jerry jumped up and ran to the door. He could see two men on motorcycles at a standoff with John and a number of other men holding shotguns and pistols.

He ran out the door but Tallah was around him in a blur of movement, silver flashing in her hand. Then she was standing behind John, the tip of her long sword nudging up under his hair where the top of his spine joined his skull. “I wouldn’t pull that trigger if I were you.”

The dead calmness of her voice made the hair on Jerry’s arms prickle. The men waited, gunpoint-to-gunpoint, waited to see who would lower first.

John spoke first. “These friends of your, Missy?”

Tallah made a face that he couldn’t see. “They’re human, if that’s what you mean. And yes, they are very close friends of mine.”

They all stood still in the glare of the floodlights while John decided. He raised the barrel of his gun to his shoulder. “Alright. They have ten minutes to be out of here."

Tallah flipped her sword up over her back and let it slide into its sheath. “What are you boys doing here?”

“We could ask you the same thing.” Then men on the bikes looked like standard biker trash but they spoke with familiarity to her. “Some of Quinn’s friends rolled into New Venice two days ago. They…”

He didn’t get a chance to finish. Tallah was pelting back towards the room where she had been in hiding. “Jerry get your gear. We’re leaving now!”

The two men cleared their bikes around and cleared out, knowing that their welcome was about to be up. Jerry drove Tallah as far as the woods where her bike was parked. She did quick check of her equipment and then rapped her gloved knuckles on the door of the truck. “I’m going back. Follow me as fast as you can. I may need your help.”

Her bike raced quickly out of site, passing the two men who had come looking for her. She feared the worst – town burned out, people dead or taken. The reprisals for Quinn’s killing would be heavier than she had ever thought they would be. The thought of what she might see when she arrived sickened her.

Tallah pulled up outside of the outskirts of town. She saw no lights shining forth, heard the sounds of no voices. She waited.

After a few minutes the two men caught up to her. “What happened?”

The older man whose name was Sean blinked and pushed his glasses up his nose. “They came two night ago, about forty or fifty of them, several tribes together. Burned out your tower, took over the town. They were looking for you. They killed a bunch of the men, took some of the women with them. We found the old people and children barricaded in the store basement.”

The other man, Mark, unzipped his jacket. We’ve been looking everywhere for you. Most of your places around here have been torn up. We didn’t know where to find you.”

“Do you know who it was?”

“Malthus, that’s all we know for sure. But I think Jarood and Evangle were him.”

Tallah spit on the ground. She had expected that in Quinn’s absence his followers would erupt into open warfare, a struggle for dominion. Evidently Malthus, an old European import with a small following, had managed to rally some of the local blood to his cause. They waited until Jerry’s truck caught up with them and then slowly pulled into town. The streets were deserted; everyone left behind was in hiding. They parked the bikes in the glare of the truck’s headlight and walked towards the churchyard. Tallah counted up the newly dug graves.

Jerry stepped up next to her. “That’s rough.”

“I never should have left.”

“What could you have done?”

“Faced them.”

“Why? So they could kill you?”

“They did this to get to me – because of me!” She was growing angry as she read the names off of the wooden placards. “These people trusted me, protected me… I let them down.”

Mark and Sean opened the little wooden gate and stepped up to the door of the church. Several people were inside. Jerry recognized the old women from the other day. They knew Tallah couldn’t set foot inside of the fence so they came out when they saw her.

“I’m sorry,” she said to them. “I’m so sorry that I brought this on you.”

Jerry turned away and went to explore the rest of the town. Several of the houses had been burned down, he saw smashed windows and doors on the rest of the buildings, and on the front of the market many hands had scrawled savage-looking symbols across the white paint. These symbols were the signs of the many tribes of vampires that had been represented in the raid, easily five or six different groups. He heard Tallah’s light, cat-foot treads coming up behind him.

“There were a lot of tribes here the other night. I thought that all these little gangs were at war with each other.”

“They were, always have been. Looks like Malthus’ united them; wants to move up into the penthouse.”

“I suppose it’s useless to try to keep you from going after them alone.”

“They took prisoners. I can’t let those people go.”

“What are you gonna do then?”

“Make a deal with the devil.”

He glanced up at her. “I don’t think I like the sound of that.”

They got back on the road and put some distance between them and New Venice before sunrise. Going to ground in a rented room at the back of a shabby motel in the city, sleeping three to a bed with one on watch. When it was Jerry’s turn to watch he cast a look back at the bed to see the three of them sleeping at close quarters. He turned back towards the window.

That night they found their way into the heart of the Old City, long abandoned by the living, away from the clubs and the nightlife. She pulled her bike up the steps of the City Hall, an imposing building rising up from a derelict green, swathed in stone and brick. Tallah was aware that they were watched even though the place appeared deserted. She could feel them, their burning eyes, and she could feel the presence of The Durslain. She stopped to take a deep breath and exhale, and knew that he was aware of her too. Not only aware, but knew her identity and maybe her intentions as well. She heard the three men behind her pull out their weapons.

“Stay close to me.”

Tallah led them through the great wooden doors, through the dusty corridors to the heart of the building and stopped before an obscure sign that read, “Maintenance Corridor – No Admittance.”

She pressed her left hand against it, expecting to meet some resistance. It swung open, revealing a gentle blast of cool, thick air. They followed her down what turned out to be a labyrinth of underground tunnels. Most likely they ran under the entire original city and then some. She could see in the dark, the others needed flashlight and shapes loomed up at them unnaturally. The passages wound further and further underground. The heavy silence was beginning to unnerve them. She stopped.

“This next room,” she whispered. “I’ll need full guard. You two take the door. You,” she tilted her head towards Jerry. “stay behind me.”

They entered the next room and set their lights facing the far door. Mark and Sean stationed themselves on either side of the threshold, guns drawn and pointed towards each other. Jerry stood behind her, shotgun raised and levers cocked. The Durslain was near to them now and getting closer. She would wait for him to find her.

“What are we doing here?” Jerry whispered in her ear.

“Into the lion’s den.” She reached up and loosened her swords. “If he kills me I want you to get out of here and never come back, understand?”

Before he could ask what it was she thought they were about to face the door slowly opened. The light from their flashlight ended abruptly at the threshold, as if darkness were holding it back. Cold air came swirling out like mist and he became suddenly aware that something was on the other side of that dark doorway, something very old and very powerful. He was seized with a sudden desire to turn tail and run out of there. He sucked it up.

A very young man stepped through into the light. He stood blinking for a moment, exactly between Mark and Sean. He was dressed in dark velvet that had long ago faded to shades of gray. The youth looked barely out of his teens, if that, with fine brown hair to his waist, a light growth of hair around his mouth, and very large dark eyes set in a gentle face.

Tallah knew that her guards would never get their shots off. At that exact moment the nerve impulses left their brains he would be on top of her. She might be able to draw her swords before he struck her down, might.

Suddenly he was there, in front of her, whispering. “What could possibly bring Tallah-Ahn-Ri to my home?”

“I need the help of The Durslain.”

“Come inside.” He was gone, and the darkness receded with him. Inside the door they could now see a large room full of people.

“What in the hell was that?”

Tallah did not look around but whispered. “I’m going inside to ask The Durslain for help with Malthus. Stay out here. You go in there you don’t come out again.”

She walked forward and stepped smoothly through the door. The heels of her own boots echoing in her ears. A million sensations flooded in on her at once; sweat, decay, sex, death, darkness. Hundreds of minds probing for her. They made a path for her to approach a large chair set at the other end of the room. There were easily five hundred vampires in here. If one of them were to touch her she would go up like a rocket.

She approached the throne-like chair where the young man who had greeted her at the door was now sitting slouched on one arm. Indeed, he looked as if he had not moved at all.

“I know why you’re here,” he said softly. “Cut off Quinn’s head and a hundred more sprang up in his place. Started a war, did you?”

“Malthus has banded together the smaller tribes. They took New Venice a couple of nights ago.”

“Trying to get you to come out? Why? They had no love for Quinn. What you did favors them.”

“They killed most of the men, took some of the women with them. I have to get them back...”

“That is the way!” He cut her off. “That will always be the way, you cannot change it.”

“They’re running people out. My people are leaving because they’re not protected. You can appreciate that.”

The Durslain tapped his finger on the arm of the chair. The room grew ominously silent. “What would you give in return for our help? Would you swear fealty to The Durslain?”

“You know I can’t do that.”

He sat up. “Then why should I go to war on your behalf?”

Tallah knelt down before him and placed a hand on his arm. “Because you know he won’t stop with my people. Because you know what it means not to have to hunt. Because I am asking you to.”

The young man gazed down at her. Finally he reached out and traced his fingertips through her hair. “Long I sought you. Much I desired you. All I would have given you; peace, security, my kingdom, to turn your back to the Sun.”

“I am not ready to watch my final Dayrest. My battles are not all fought. My road not run. If I were to seek the Eternal Sleep,” she pressed her face against his hand. “I would do it at your feet.”

He looked long at her, reading her thoughts. “Your guards may stay in the upper floors until the next nightfall. They will miss the light too much I think. Tonight you will stay with me.”

He held out his arm for her. Reluctantly she bit into it as a token of her submission. She offered up her own arm, which he took while keeping his eyes on her own. Then he leaned down and kissed her with bloodstained lips. The door at the end of the chamber swung closed.

The next evening Tallah emerged from the front doorway to find the three men waiting for her. Jerry pulled her aside.

“You mind tellin’ me just what I’m about to get into?”

She walked out to her bike, motioning for him to follow. “The Durslain are a very old people, very powerful. They live under the Curse of Eternal Life on Earth. They’ve lived so long that the outside world has become meaningless to them, confusing. They cannot walk abroad or speak with mortal man and understand what they see or hear. Some of them are angry and bitter, but cannot yet die. Others have retreated into the Eternal Darkness, never to walk under the night sky. A few live with the clan because they have nowhere else to go. They are all very dangerous.”

“Who was that boy who came out last night?”

“That,” she emphasized the word. “That was The Durslain. He’s the oldest, nearly the oldest that I’ve ever seen. No one knows what his name is. He’s forgotten it himself. But he’s gathered together many of the Old and Powerful under him and they are known together as The Durslain. After I lost John he came to me and offered to take me…” She stopped.

He waited. She had stumbled.

She unzipped her jacket and tucked handfuls of small gear into the inner pockets. He could see bite marks where her black tank top didn’t cover the skin. “The clan is going to help us take on Malthus and his group, rescue my people. We need to get moving. They can fly. We’ll have to drive.”

She seemed to know where Malthus would be. There was a large cemetery on the outskirts of the city. Parking on a hill above they could see a bonfire burning among the elegant stone mausoleums.

“Doesn’t look like they’re trying to hide.”

“They’re not. They don’t feel that they have anything to hide from.”

“Except that bunch from city hall.”

“It’s been a hundred years since The Durslain have come out. Why would they?”

“How do they feed?”

“They have a Dark Deal with the mortals who live in the old city. The Durslain’s presence keeps other tribes out. They don’t kill, they don’t hunt, they don’t turn. In trade the mortals pay a tithe in blood, not lives. For that they live as safe as any mortal can in this part of the world.”

“So if someone like Malthus and his gang moved in…”

“The mortals would move out and The Durslain would be forced to hunt again.”

“What did you pay?”

“They’ll be here soon. Watch the sky.”

Together the four of them leaned back against the side of the pickup and scanned the darkness above them. The full moon swept over the horizon, huge against the silhouette of trees. Presently Jerry spotted something that looked like a river of darkness suspended in the air, blotting out the light.

“What in the Hell is that?!”

“They come!” Tallah fired up her bike and sped off down the hill, not waiting for the others.

They thundered through the crowd on the wings of the oncoming storm. Tallah was like a bolt of black lightning, merciless, running down those who were not quick enough to leap aside. Heading straight towards the center of the gathering where she knew she would find Malthus, Jarood and Evangle.

Malthus was waiting for her, standing with his back to the fire. As she roared up he sprang forward like some great cat, knocking her off the bike which crashed into the crowd, leaving broken bodies in it’s wake. She was on her feet the moment they hit the ground.

“Bastard! Bastard!” she screamed at him.

“I’ve been waiting for you, Tallah!” he spat back at her. “I knew you’d come. You won’t find me as soft as Quinn was.”

He charged at her again. She sprang up and flipped over him, landing on her feet. She knew she wasn’t fast enough to take him hand to hand. She wanted to keep his focus on her, distract him from what was really happening.

“You took my people! For that you are gonna pay!”

“You think so?” He almost giggled the words out. “You think so? You and your little mortal band? I’ve got three hundred vampires here. How many do you think you can kill by yourself Tallah?!”

A great darkness had come over the scene, blotting out the stars and the moon. Vampires on the ground were running, screaming.

“I don’t have to kill many as long as I see you die tonight, Malthus!”

He drew up to his full height over her. There was a mad light in his eyes. He was somewhat deformed and more than a little crazy. Tallah stepped back. “Let’s see you do it then! Come on!”

Something dropped to the ground behind him, something that glittered in the firelight.

“No,” came a soft voice. “I make the rules here and you are on my land. You will answer to me!”

Malthus turned slowly and stared at the figure before him. The Durslain stood there arrayed in glittering battle armor, his long hair pulled back, a long, thin sword in his right hand. Five hundred of the beautiful, terrible Durslain were descending upon the camp. Malthus stood for perhaps twenty or thirty seconds with his mouth open, unable to make himself believe what he was seeing.

“Oh, shit!”

Then his body came apart in three pieces, the head rolling away towards the fire and the body falling in two with a shower of black blood. She had never witnessed anyone move like that – not her teacher, not her creator, and she certainly wasn’t capable of it herself. All Tallah could see was a flash of glittering metal in the air; she hadn’t even seen him move.

“Fitting last words.” The Durslain took to the air to direct the rest of his army. “Find your people!”

Tallah raced away on foot towards the mausoleums. They were the ideal place to hold prisoners with iron gates that could be locked and left unattended. By this time Jerry, Mark, and Sean had caught up with her. “We have to find them before anybody else does!” she shouted. “They have to be here!”

They ducked as The Durslain roared above their heads like a loose fireball, cleaving bodies in its path. The tribes were scattering in terror. They tried gate after gate with no success. Suddenly Tallah spotted a vampire trying to force one of the iron doors about three sites down.

“There! They’re in there!”

He turned and fled as they ran up. Tallah kicked the door hard. It took two or three blows for it to give. Inside they found half-dozen young women frightened and screaming. She reached out and grabbed one of them. “It’s all right! We’re here to take you home!”

They found the rest of the survivors in the next few buildings. Frightened, hurt, but alive. Twenty-six in all. The next building down they found four dead. Tallah knelt by them.

“I knew them.” She touched one girl’s face. “I knew all of them.”

“Tallah,” Mark called from the next door down. “You might want to see this.” His voice didn’t sound encouraging.

Tallah stepped round him through the open door. There were two girls huddled inside. She could see from their eyes they had turned.

One of the girls recognized her. “Tallah, what’s happening?”

Tallah took each girl’s face in her hands. “No matter what happens, I want you to stay in here. Do you understand me? Do not go outside, no matter what.”

“The Durslain will finish off most of this crowd.” Tallah shouted over the noise of the storm. Lighting was coming down onto the field now and the sound of thunder was bouncing off of the marble walls. “Make sure that no one gets in at them.”

It was a terrible battle, the remaining leaders and their most powerful vampires rallied around the fire in a last act of defiance. But The Durslain had an evil blood lust upon them and tore them apart in their black rage. Tallah was worried that they’d break open the crypts and kill the people she had come to save.

Finally the clouds burst open and a cold, clean rain began to fall over the bloody scene. The Durslain finished their work and settled back down to earth. Tallah walked back to the fire where she knew he’d be waiting.

“I shall ever be in your debt.”

“It is still not too late to come back.” Her took her hand. “Live with me. Be my Queen.”

“There’s one thing that I cannot leave undone before I retire forever from the light.”

“I know. I fear that quest will be the end of you, and I would not have it so.”

“Have I not lived in the half light longer than anyone expected? I will come back to you in time.”

He pulled a pendant that hung from a gold chain about his neck and carefully dropped it over her head. “Take this as a token of your welcome.” Tallah looked down at it. The Durslain’s crest was set in diamonds upon a field of sable.

“I thank you. And I have one more request to make of you.”

“Tonight I am fell enough to be generous. But I would not deny you in any case.”

“Two of the women I came for have been turned against their will. I cannot take them home. They would be a danger to their families. They will not live long in the outside world.”

“I understand. Send them to me. We will take them in and teach them how to live.”

He took her face in his hands and kissed her. The he floated up. “We must return to our beds ere the break of day!” The rest followed. They flew up above the storm and were gone.

Tallah turned away, sharply aware of the eyes that were on her. “Mark, Sean, I need you to take those two back to City Hall. The Durslain has agreed to take them in. Jerry, you and I need to hire out enough cars to get the rest back to New Venice.”

Mark walked past her. “What about the four that were killed?”

“Torch their bodies. I don’t want to take any chances.”

She found the two women who had turned and gently told them that they weren’t going home.

“But why?” they cried. They were very frightened and didn’t understand what had happened to them. “Why can’t we go back?”

“I’ve got a family!” The older one grasped her arm pleadingly. “My children and my husband are waiting for me! I have to go back!”

“All the more reason for you not to return. They would never be safe around you. I’m sorry that this was forced upon you, but you have to forget that you ever had another life. That’s all gone now.”

They started to cry and she understood their grief. It was as if everyone they had ever known and everyone they had ever loved had been killed and they had been left alive and alone. “I want to die! I want to die!”

“You can’t make that decision yet!” Tallah shook them both firmly. “Maybe someday you will, but not now, and not in this place! Look, I have a friend who’s going to take care of you. He will teach you how to live. You’ll be safe with him and you won’t be alone. I promise.”

She watched the go on the back of two of the bikes. Her own bike was too damaged to ride, so they pulled it up into the back of the truck. When the sun came up Jerry went to hire out some local drivers to take their charges back to New Venice while Tallah slept out the daylight locked in a crypt.

Later, her people safely home and the bike pulled in for repairs, Tallah settled down next to Jerry as he ate a plate of food one of the grandmothers had brought to him.

“Looks like I’m grounded for a few days.”

“Um, hmm…” He was too busy eating to reply. The food was home cooked and very good and he hadn’t eaten anything that didn’t come out of a can in a long time.

“Thank you, by the way. That was a tremendous thing you did. Saved my life, followed me down into those catacombs.”

He wiped his mouth. “Sean and Mark followed you. Figured it couldn’t have been that bad.” He noticed that she looked rosy, as if she had just eaten.

“Sean and Mark are crazy! I wouldn’t follow them anywhere!”

Jerry almost choked with unexpected laughter.

“Besides, they live without fear.”

“Fear can be a good thing. I don’t know if I would have gone down there if you’d told me where we were going.”

“Not many mortals have ever seen what you’ve seen.”

“Uh, um.”

“Was she pretty?”

Jerry stirred the food on his plate.

“I see it in you. No one gets into this line of work without a grudge to pay off.”

“No, they sure don’t.”

“Tell me your story.”

He picked up a can of cold beer rescued from the store cooler and cracked it open. “In the morning. I’ll tell you in the morning.”