Touching her throat, Cindy stared into the mirror at the two small dots.  "Fang marks," she thought in wonderment.  "Fang marks from a real, live, breathing vampire."  With her right forefinger, she touched one of the marks.  Was there the hint of and electric shock?  She wasn't sure but there was certainly no pain.  She opened her shirt and looked at herself.  She smiled.  She'd never been overweight, but like many, felt she could shed a few pounds.  The mirror revealed that she had lost some weight.  Running her hands approvingly down her body, she tingled in a pleasant, sexual way.  "Wow," she thought, "I'm turning into a real slut."  Her face sobered.  Eliza was, is, a vampire and she was in love with a vampire.  "My best friend is a vampire," she quickly amended the thought.

She put her hands on the sink and leaned forward and started into her own face in the bathroom mirror.  "What do I do now?" she asked herself. "Just what do I do now?"  She went into her small kitchen and brewed some coffee.  Glancing at the clock on the wall, she noted that she still had plenty of time before she needed to be at the library.  The fresh coffee smelled and taste good and she hadn't really slept too well last night.  She gotten home late - having a vampire for a best friend was hard on your "day" life.  She liked Eliza.  She really liked her.  She blushed thinking of having sex with her.  She'd never thought of herself having sex with a woman.  Cindy really like men but Eliza was different.  It wasn't like she was doing it for the thrill or the experience or even doing it for any special reason.  They were just together and one thing seemed to lead to another and the next thing she knew, they were kissing.  She wasn't sure who kissed who; they were just kissing.  

Cindy squirmed in the chair and tossed the cooling coffee down.  She couldn't sit here all day, getting horny.  It was time to get ready and go to work.

Eliza stared at ceiling.  The sun had not yet set but she was awake.  "I'm not even a good vampire," she thought.  "I"m supposed to sleep all day and be up eating people at night."  She sighed a huge deep sigh.  "Instead it's the middle of the day (it wasn't) and I'm wide awake wishing a certain person would eat me!"  She lie, staring at the ceiling, trying to sort out her feelings.  

She was still having nightmares about torturing Leroy to death.  She knew he should not have been allowed to live, but her entire being had rebelled against what she'd done.  What really bothered her was how much she'd enjoyed it.  She had gotten so turned on that she'd rushed to Mark to satisfy her needs and she very, very firmly closed her mind to the things she'd been thinking.  She could not allow herself to even remember considering them

She thought of Cindy and smiled.  Cindy had joked about being her hero but, sometimes when she looked at her, she wondered.  She'd offered Eliza so much and she'd asked for absolutely nothing.  Eliza realized that she'd do almost anything for Cindy.  She smiled.  If she felt that way about anyone else, she'd be scared but they absolutely trusted Cindy.  Cindy would never, ever ask her to do anything she would be willing to do.  She just knew that.

Absent mindedly scratching Toby's belly, she thought of Mark.  Now there was a hunk!  He'd done things to her that she'd only dreamed of when she was a mousey little librarian.  She grinned.  She'd done some things to him he'd probably not be talking to loudly about, too.  They sure went well together.  Eliza frowned.  It sort of disturbed her that it they only met two places, the bar and his apartment.  In the bar, they'd drink and fondle each other.  In his apartment, they'd drink and fondle each other. "If I told anyone that all we do is drink and, well, if I told them, they'd probably say I'm shallow."  

The room was dark now and Eliza hadn't solved any of her problems.  She got out of bed and listlessly dressed.  It was much warmer now, so dressing wasn't nearly the problem of winter.  She chose a soft, black leather wrap around skirt that came almost to her knees and a comfortable, loose, deep purple blouse.  She considered a scarf but decided against it.  Leather, open sandals and she was ready to go.  She wasn't sure where she was going but the park would be a good start.  She needed to feed; the urges were rising and she didn't want to make further demand on Mark or Cindy.  Besides, she needed time to think and one thing she did realize is that a well fed vampire is a vampire that can cope.  She was at the mercy of the moon and there was no changing that, but even so, if she fed, she was much more stable.  The moon was waxing and it was close to the third quarter.  She was feeling better than she had in a long time, not great but much better.

She dragged the spring air into her lungs.  There was a hint of growing things and it smelled good to her.  She turned her face up and bask in the dim light of the rising moon. She loved it when the moon rose as darkness fell.  It just seemed more right to her.  The sun was intimately connected to daylight and she innately felt that the moon should be connected with night, but of course, it wasn't.  It just should be!  She giggled.  If she was going to design the universe, she'd do it right, she vowed.  None of these haphazard moon rises!  The moon would be regular and it could be counted on!  

The park had several walking paths and she chose her favorite, one that reminded her of almost a tunnel.  It was very, very dim and very secluded.  She not only loved it for its darkness and mystery, it was a good hunting ground too.  She had encountered several 'donors' here and she had a good feeling about tonight's foray. She stopped, closed her eyes and used her other senses.  First, smell; yes, there was a warmth and tang to the air.  Someone has recently passed.  She smiled.  Fleshily bathed but not perfumed.  A lightly scented soap, lilac, she guessed.  It was nice, feminine.  She then concentrated on sound.  Further along, she imagined she could hear something.  It was faint, but it was a human sound.  She opened her self to the presence of life and she could feel many small creatures of the night in the woods and there was one feeling of human life.  It was strange.  

She was curious now; curious and hungry.  She glided along the narrow path and finally she heard the sounds more clearly.  She was hearing muffled sobs.  She stopped and frowned and tried to sense the nature of the sounds she was hearing.  As she opened her mind, she felt an overwhelming sadness.  At first she wasn't sure if it was her sadness or from the person she was approaching.  Then she remembered how much more upbeat she'd been so it had to be the person she was sensing.  She turned and started to leave.  She really did not want to be pulled into that morass of emotion, but as she turned a hint of lilac stopped her.  It was such a hopeful smell, she couldn't just walk away.  

Eliza turned, and masking her presence, walked around the bend and saw a young woman kneeling on the damp ground staring at a small gun she was holding in her hand.  She lifted the gun, tears running down her cheeks and placed it at her heart.  Eliza's first thought was that was a stupid way to try to kill yourself and her second thought was that it just might work!  "No," she whispered.  "That's not the way."

The young woman looked up, startled, but Eliza was not visible in the dark.  "Who's there?" she asked, her voice hoarse and choked from crying.  Her eyes were wide, sad and scared but she held the gun steady at her breast.

Eliza allowed her presence to be felt and her form seen.  In the dark, she knew that she'd only be a dim shape to human eyes.  The woman stared at her and tried to see her.  "Why are you here.  Are you death?"  Her hand relaxed a little and the gun sagged.

Eliza felt her fangs deploy.  The intensity of emotion was stimulating her.  She realized that she was feeding on it and it was making her so alive.  She felt sorry for her but what could she do?  Eliza nodded.  "Yes, I am death," she replied.  "You called me."  She wondered what was making her say these things.  She did not want to torture this poor girl.  She stepped forward, into a clearing where she was lit by moonlight.  

"Oh my god," she whispered as she saw Eliza's fangs.  She dropped the gun and stared, but she made no attempt to escape.  

Eliza glided to her.  With a sharp talon, she pricked the hollow of the woman's throat, drawing a drop of blood.  She wiped the drop from her throat and licked it from her finger, her fangs gleaming in the moonlight.  "I'm what you want, aren't I?" Eliza asked.

The woman only nodded.  She held her arms up to Eliza, inviting her embrace.  Eliza easily lifted her and she threw her head back.  "Please don't hurt me," she whispered.  As Eliza sunk her fangs into the very soft flesh, the woman's arms went around her and hugged her tightly.  "Hold me," she said as her consciousness faded.

Liala, that was her name and she was 20.  Eliza walked around her apartment and tried to learn as much as she could about her.  She found a journal and devoured its contents.  She peeked into the bed room and she was sound asleep.  She would be for some time.  Eliza had taken more blood than she had intended.  The intensity of the emotion and Liala's desire for death had a very profound effect on her.  She almost lost control and went too far.  When someone want's to die, it is very difficult not to take them she realized.  It was like sliding down the slippery slope of orgasm.  The closer you come, the more you want it until you feel like you're going to explode.  But she couldn't do it.  She didn't want to take one so young and so innocent, and innocent is what she was.  Her journal proved that.  

"What the hell am I going to do now?" she asked herself.  Eliza really wanted some brandy but she didn't want to leave until Liala awakened.  She searched the kitchen and found a bottle of gin.  It was 1.75 liters and it was almost empty.  It would appear Liala have poor taste and high capacity, Eliza mused.  The gin was harsh but at least it quelled her blood thirst.  She looked into the bed room and felt her fangs deploy again.  She shook her head.  Liala was a meal waiting to happen!  She stood in the door way, drinking from the bottle, wondering what she was going to do.

The moon shone into the window, a third quarter moon, lighting wide eyed Liala and highlighting Eliza's fangs.  Liala looked wildly around the room, her room, and started at Eliza.  She shakily stood and walked towards her and extended a shaking hand and touched her.  She recoiled at the contact with Eliza's cool flesh, but she didn't run, she just stood there staring.  "Am I alive?" she whispered. 

Eliza nodded.  "Yes," was her quiet answer.

"Am I a vampire?" she asked.

Eliza shook her head.  "No."  The stared at each other.  Like a snake staring at a rabbit, Eliza thought.  Eliza briefly wondered who was which.  "No, I didn't do that to you."

"What are you going to do to me," she asked listlessly.

Eliza handed her the gin bottle and watched as she swallowed three times.  "What should I do to you?"  Eliza really wanted to know.  She'd not felt this uncertain of anything for a long, long time.  

Liala looked at her. "I liked it," she said licking her lips.  

Eliza inwardly groaned.  "She likes it," she thought.  

Liala opened her shirt, exposing her throat and breasts.  Eliza stared at her.  Her breasts were large and full, with dark tiny nipples.  She could she Liala's heart beating and her eye were drawn to the pulse in her throat.  "Damn! She looks good," was her only thought.  Eliza could only see the pulse throbbing in her throat.  She raised her arms, welcoming Eliza, and Eliza found herself moving forward, She felt her lips on the warm flesh of her throat and the hot rush of blood into her mouth.  Liala's large breasts pressed hot against her and she wished she were naked.  Eliza felt the sensual rush of beginning to feed and she projected her lust and satisfaction to Liala.  She felt tears on her cheek and realized that Liala was sobbing.  

Eliza withdrew her fangs and carefully licked the wound closing it.  She pushed Liala back and looked at her.  Her eyes were glazed and she'd been in the grip of enthrallment and she was loose and smiling even though tears were running down her cheeks.  "I shouldn't do this," she thought.  "I don't know if I can control myself.  She'd too willing, too anxious."  Eliza dimly realized that Liala was overwhelming her.

Liala opened her eyes and smiled.  "Oh," she breathed, "that is so good.  I never imagined it could be so good.  More?"  She grabbed Eliza and pulled her to her breast.  She cupped her breast and put her nipple to Eliza's lips.  It was hotter than Eliza had expected and she could not resist.  She projected and felt her fangs slid into the softness that was Liala.  She accepted the rush of copper tasting fluid and teased the nipple with her tongue.  Liala made sounds of pleasure and wrapped her arms about Eliza.  They staggered across the room and landed on the bed.  Liala lay back and pulled Eliza on top of her.  The blood was warm and so sweet and Eliza felt safe.  The flow from Liala's breast was light and the danger of draining her was minimal but the taste and the closeness was there.  They were joined and they were one, hunter and prey, savior and saved.

Eliza felt her skirt lifted and felt Liala's hands on her buttocks.  Her hands reached on the inside of her thighs and then crept upwards.  Liala sunk her fingernails in to the soft flesh and the sudden, sharp pain make Eliza gasp with pleasure.  She reached down and felt the softness of Liala and wondered when she'd taken her skirt off.  

Eliza looked at the sleeping girl.  Could she leave?  Eliza chewed her lip.  She leaned over and sank her fangs into the soft neck and concentrated.  As he tasted the blood and knew better than any lover ever would, she wove memories and dreams into an alternate reality.  She removed spots of pain and strengthened some of what was weak.  She'd never tried such a thing before, but with Liala's willingness and openness, it was easy.  She'd read the journal and knew some of what was wrong so she tried to shield her from those things.  Someday, someday they surface but maybe then she'd be ready to handle them then.  Right now, she was putting a splint on a broken arm, offering a crutch to a injury, not trying to cure.  Time would provide a cure and Eliza would provide some time.  

Liala woke up and stretched.  She sighed and got up.  She'd really been bummed out yesterday, but things were a little brighter today.  She brushed her hair and frowned into the mirror.  She found the salve she was looking for and rubbed in on the two marks on her breast and throat.  She shook her head.  "I'm too old for pimples," she told herself.  

Eliza smiled as she heard Liala hum a little tune as she locked her door on the way out.