Randy watched the sunlight play across Joan's hair.
He spent a lot of time
watching her, he realized. Wondered if that was always the case.
Wondered if
one of the tables in the store didn't have their initials carved into
it, with
him acting like a highschooler in study hall... They had all worked
tirelessly
in the three days since they had awoken with amnesia, yet there was
still so
much they didn't know.
He did know that he didn't live with his Dad. There had been no
sign of
clothing Randy's size in Rupert's apartment, so Randy had taken to
living in
the cellar of the Magic Box. Not a bad place for a vampire, he
thought. Even
a vampire with a soul, a noble vampire, needed protection from the
sun. Which
brought him back to the topic at hand. Sunlight. Joan's hair.
He loved-
The thought brought him up short. Randy felt like he loved Joan.
In the past
72 hours, he had never been far from her side, needing to keep her
in his
sight, close enough to touch. And she had seemingly felt the same.
But the
books he had been reading voraciously said that vampires could not
truly love.
But, he reasoned, a vampire with a soul... a vampire who fought other
vampires,
aligned himself with a small band of valiant fighters... surely such
a creature
could love. And for a vampire to love a vampire hunter; the romantic
in his
soul nearly swooned.
As the woman in question over a large dusty tome, Randy continued to
contemplate the sunlight that played across her golden head, gilding
the skin
of her shoulders and neck. Soft, smooth skin, flawless.... almost.
There, where tendrils of her hair caressed the joining of throat and
shoulder,
there was a scar. It looked like... ye gods, it was a bite.
A vampire bite.
Something in him howled at the realization. Something dark, primal.
Something
not altogether unfamiliar. Something disturbing.
But there was still so
much missing from the picture, he dared not jump to conclusions.
Shaking himself out of his reverie, he applied himself to the equally
large
tome on the table in front of him. Surely, together they would
find out why
they had no memory, and remedy the situation. Until then, Randy
the Noble
Vampire and Joan The Vampire Hunter, would watch over Sunnydale as
a team.
***
It was dark in The Magic Box. The sun had not yet set, but the rest
of The
Band, as they had begun to call themselves, had filed out to find nourishment.
Randy sat with a mug of warm blood, reading. A passage caught
his eye, making
some of the liquid slosh over his hand when the mug clattered
to the table.
***More powerful Vampires often have human thralls in addition to their
minions.
Scarring is common in this situation, as in Mating. Due to their advanced
age,
they rarely take human mates.***
Randy stared, horrified, at the book. Slamming his current book
down, he
sprinted up the ladder to pull another volume from Dad's collection.
Index...
okay... Vampires... blood rites, capture of, decapitation of... there!
Enthrallment by page 246.
***Enthrallment by a vampire is a seductive, gradual thing. Humans,
and other
suitably-blooded demons can be enthralled by a vampire...***
No. Multiple bites needed. That's not it.
Back to the Index. Fire and...
Gem of Amara... why did that make him wince? Korach blood and...
Mating! On
page 549.
***Like the creation of childer, mating requires the exchange of blood.
However,
unlike Siring, Mating will leave permanent scarring. ***
Mating. Master Vampire. Scar. Mate. The words, and some
disturbing
accompanying images roared through his head, distracting him. Randy
didn't hear
the bell above the shop door when it rang. He continued to read.
***The process by which a Master Vampire selects and secures a Mate
is of great
speculation. There is little to no anecdotal record, and no empirical
evidence.
See Chronicles of the Vampyre by Leonard Pryce. ***
That particular book was surprisingly small, novel-sized even.
In the style
of, how he knew this he didn't understand, turn- of -the- century 'penny
dreadfuls'. The cover was a lurid sketch of a fanged man bent
over the neck of
a partially clothed woman, both in clothing appropriate to about 1880.
He had
just begun to read when-
"Geez, Randy. Bodice-rippers? Nice taste in reading!" Joan
chirped, looking
at the book cover.
"Gah!" Randy yelled, startled, the book falling to the floor.
He glared at
her, shaking off his gameface. "Don't sneak up on a vampire,
Joan, unless you
want to kill him!"
"I'll remember that" she smirked at him good-naturedly. "But,
still, whatcha
reading that trash for?"
"Um, research?" Randy hedged.
"Riiiiggght. And I'll just rent "The Lost Boys" and we'll call it even."
"The what?"
"'The Lost Boys'. Vampire movie. Lots of handsome guys..." Joan teased.
"How is it you can remember the name and content of a movie, but nothing else?"
"Your Dad explained it... its..."
"Please, Joan, I've had my fill of Dear Old Dad today." Randy groused,
"I
should wonder what he was like before I was old enough for him to lecture."
"Suck it up, Deadboy. He's your Dad. And Dad says we patrol
tonight. You good
to go?"
"Um. Yes. No. Um... Joan, we need to talk"
"Oh god, we really ARE dating and you've just now remembered you want
to break
up with me, right?"
"No. Well, not exactly"
"Not exactly WHAT?"
"I don't want to break up with you, Joan. Quite the opposite.
And I think
there's more to it... Um, hence the book." He picked the book
up from where it
had fallen. It fell open to a sketch.
"Eww, Randy. Nice book. Vampire porno? Gross!!" Joan
was fascinated,
repelled, unable to look away.The illustration on the page was labeled
"Mating"
and showed a naked woman, presumably human, in flagrante delicto with
a
vampire. While the accompanying text made no mention of preferred vampire
sex
positions, the artist had chosen to portray the couple in a large wing
chair.
The woman was impaled atop her vampire lover, facing the reader; the
vampire's
hands cupping her breasts, his fangs deep in her throat. Her head was
thrown
back, not just for easy access, but in obvious ecstasy. For a simply
drawn
piece, it was compelling.
Randy could feel the heat from Joan's blush; hear the increased rate
of her
heartbeat. The hand she had put on his forearm to look more closely
at the
book clutched into his sleeve. He feared she was repulsed.
Closing the book
with a snap, he hurried to explain.
"Joan," he began, "Even though we've lost our memories, there are deep-seated
feelings that remain between us, all of us. Yes?" At her
nod, he continued.
"You may not remember why, but you do KNOW that I would never willingly
hurt
you. And so do I, for that matter. So I ask you to hear me out
on this, before
considering any -um- irrevocable action."
Joan was clearly puzzled, and appeared to be growing nervous.
Randy hurried on
with his thoughts.
"Your scar," he said, reaching out to trace the mark with gentle fingers.
" I
noticed it today and felt- something. Something worrisome.
Do you know
what kind of mark it is?"
Joan covered Randy's hand with her own, and then gave a small shiver
as the
contact zinged across her nerves. "I didn't notice it until now. Until
you-
until WE touched it. What is it?"
"I'm afraid it's a vampire bite. And I think its mine."