Taylor watched Isaac sleep. He watched his chest rise and fall with each breath. He watched the drool roll down his chin, and listened the heavy breathing that was near snoring.

Taylor closed his eyes. How could he have forgotten what a good brother Isaac was? How could he have lost sight of their bond? He swallowed hard, and reflected. He remembered his first night with Venisa and every single thought and feeling he'd had at the edge of the river. And he remembered the turn too. He remembered the pain, the confusion, and the blacking out.

He got up abruptly and in a frantic spasm he raced out of the room. Once out side he stood just outside the doorway. He closed his eyes shut, and remembered. He remembered the cavity in him that the doctor called depression. He'd begged for the doctor not to tell his mother, and he had agreed. He shouldn't have, but of course he had to. What goes on between a doctor and a patient is confidential. But it wasn't depression, it was a demon sucking him dry, and it was that demon that had chased him to another demon that made him a demon.

He stood there, at the edge of the back, his toes dipped into the freezing cold water. 'All you have to do is breathe it in. It won't hurt any worse than what's hurting you now.'

"Does it hurt a lot?"

He'd turned around, annoyed and scared. "Does what hurt?"

"Whatever's hurting you."

"No, I'm fine. Leave me alone."

"You're lying." She had glided from the darkness, until she was right in his face. "You're hurting badly, very very badly." She had touched his cheek and not knowing to withdraw he had let her hug him. "I can't make it better for you."

"No you can't, the only way to make it better is to leave it completely behind."

"What if I told you that I could take it from you, let you leave it all behind and you wouldn't even have to die."

"That's impossible." He had been crying.

"Would you let me try?"

"What have I got to loose?"

"I had everything to loose! If I'd taken that stupid medication and gone to the stupid therapist I would have been fine. I'd have gotten through it." He was furious with himself. "This is why I hate being me! I want everything to be perfect, and when I try to make it perfect I just end up ruining it."

"I can't see, please help me, I can't see you!"

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. It's all normal."

He screamed in agony. "There is no way in hell you can tell me this is normal!" Tears were forming in his tightly shut eyes and suddenly his entire body locked. It hurt so bad.

'I can't move,' he wanted to say. But of course, since he couldn't move he couldn't speak either.

But he could feel, he could feel Venisa's strong and rough hands sliding over him. She was probably saying something but he couldn't hear her.

The pain had subsided, and he could hear a soft thumping noise inside him growing softer. His heart?

Then he had blacked out completely, and when he awoke, Venisa was waiting for him to take her.

He opened his eyes and took a deep breath. "I should go back in, I can't leave him there. Now while she's in there. I may have messed things up for Zac and me, but I can save Ike." He rested his head against the wall. Then he heard the door slam. He rushed back into the room and saw Isaac sleeping, still peacefully. He glanced over the room, looking for her, but she wasn't there. He went back outside. She was running down the street, wearing the same black cloak over her back as she'd worn when she came to him. The same cloak she only wore when she fed. "No, not another one." He followed her.

He thought they'd be going to the river, to pick off the sad children that lost their way in life. But he was surprised when she stopped at an abandoned building. He hung back, careful in the distance, and watched her sneak in. Then he crept to the door and peered in. Zac clung to the body of a girl, whose body was barely clothed, bruised, and broken. Venisa stood in the doorway watching Zac who was completely unaware of her presence.

"Why didn't you turn!" He screamed.

"Zac, don't cry." Her voice was melodic and sweet.

He looked up. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought you might want a friend right now."

"As soon as she wakes up, I'll have a friend."

"Zac, why are you running from me? I was good to you. I complete you, and I compliment your disposition."

"You're a Taylor lover."

She ignored the statement and took a new position standing behind him and let her hands run forcefully down his back. She pulled him back, so he stood, leaning against her chest. "We could control the world."

"You're not interested in that."

"But I'm interested in you."

He scoffed, "No, you're just desperate."

She flew into a rage. "And you're not? You picked up on a girl at a party and then sucked her dry over time, saving her for nothing more than the company. You did to her what I did to Taylor." She looked to the ground and the looked back up, her voice soft once more. "It didn't work for me, and it won't work for you."

"But you picked Taylor! Taylor had too much soul, he made a bad vampire. You babied him and softened him and that's why he turned out this way. I taught her to be cruel. She'll be beautiful. Just like me."

"Zac, she won't even turn."

"Yes she will." Even the words, as he tried to force them out strongly were mixed with the horrid truth of uncertainty.

"She was too weak, you let her get too frail. Her body wouldn't be able to take the transformation." He hung his head. "All I wanted was someone who could belong to me."

"I could belong to you, if you let me." Taylor wanted to run into the room and beat them both shitless. She was lying, why couldn't he see that she was lying? Instead he kissed her. It was a disgusting, pornographic, sloppy kiss. "Zac, lets go."

He nodded, "What about her?"

She shrugged, "I wouldn't worry too much, problems like these tend to take care of themselves." She flicked a lighter and held it to the curtain that hung off a window. The flame roared into life. "Places like these are just coated with gasoline remnants."

Taylor hid around the side of the building as Zac and Venisa left. As soon as they were out of sight he rushed into the building, now being swallowed in flame. He ran to the floor and picked up the girl.

He carelessly carried what he thought would be a limp corpse out into the alley. Instead he found that she was stiff and warm. He set her down on the ground and stared at her in confusion. He leaned in closer to her, and peered at her face, as if to figure out if she had indeed turned.

Her hand shot out and grabbed his hair. Her mouth dropped open; a ghastly black opening that released a gasping scream.

"Holy fuck."



The Nineteenth Night

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