Lyra watched the people in the bar with interest. She often hunted in such places, usually finding one or two people who lusted for the death she brought them. She felt that kind of despair tonight and searched for its source. She found it in a man sitting alone at the end of the bar, his long platinum blond hair dragging the counter top as he slouched over his beer. The pain in his soul was unbearable as he searched for answers in the bottom of his glass.

She looked at him more carefully and realized that she recognized him. He was a musician in quite a famous band. Listening to his body though, she knew he would be dead by the end of that night. Already, the alcohol and pills he’d taken were numbing his body into oblivion. She sighed. Many nights as she’d walked, his music had followed her, his screaming guitar sometimes haunting her thoughts.

As she approached him, her only thought was to spare him that final agony of a prolonged death. She touched him gently on the shoulder and said, “Steve?”

He turned to her slowly and looked up. As soon as their eyes met, she was in for a shock. The soul she saw there was gut retchingly familiar, even after three hundred years. They’d been together so long then, she couldn’t believe she hadn’t felt who he was now.

Looking into her eyes, Steve was stunned. His eyes opened wide as he whispered, “Lyra? How? I thought you were only a dream!”

“You know me?” she asked softly.

“You’ve haunted my dreams for the past month. Every time I close my eyes...” he stumbled and fell into her arms. She looked around, desperate now to get him alone. She had to talk to him before he lapsed into that final coma. She nearly carried him into the alley and tried to keep him awake.

“My love, please, speak to me!” she begged, tears of blood trailing down her pale cheeks. His eyes opened and his cloudy gaze met hers. “Do you know what I am?”

He nodded, whispering, “Vampire, luv.”

“Will you come with me?” She asked urgently. “You must agree to become one of us, or I’ll have to let you die here!”

“Waited my whole life for you...I love you Lyra,” he said, his voice slurred and sleepy.

“Please, Steve, will you join me?” she asked insistantly.

“Yes, luv,” he whispered as unconsciousness took him. She tore frantically at his shirt as her fangs descended. No time for the pleasure the blood could bring her as she bit into his white flesh. As her fangs sunk home, she tasted the salt of his blood running over her tongue. She held his thin body tightly to her as she drained enough to bring him to the point where he would die without her blood. Then she tore viciously at her own wrist, causing the blood to flow freely. She opened his lips and allowed the blood to pour in. At first, she was afraid he’d been too far gone to come back, but slowly he stirred as the taste of her awakened him. His hand grasped her wrist and he drew blood deeply from her body. After a few moments, she pulled away from him gently and snatched at a rat that scampered nearby in the darkness. She bit into it, ignoring its squeals as she drained the blood she needed to recover. Steve slumped against the wall, exhausted from their exchange, as a homeless vagrant wondered into the alley. Regretfully, for she normally hunted thugs and killers, Lyra jumped up and grabbed the old man.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered as she lowered her fangs into his neck. She would need all her strength for what would come next. She lay the man’s lifeless body down gently and turned back to Steve’s inert form. She’d heard his friends were recording in Dublin and knew that was where she had to go. She gathered him in her arms and took to the sky.

The other band members were still in the studio when they heard a quiet knock at the door. Joe opened it and found a small woman with long dark hair standing there cradling Steve’s body in her arms. Steve looked half dead and Joe showed her into the room. Just as she lay Steve down, his body began to convulse. Joe knelt by him and yelled to Sav, “Call the ambulance!”

Lyra grabbed Joe’s arm and said to Sav in a commanding voice, “NO!”

“What’s wrong with him?” Phil asked. Steve was his best friend and Phil hated to see him like this.

Lyra looked up at him and said calmly, “His body is dying.” She still held Joe’s arm and as he tried as he tried to pull away to call the police himself. Looking deeply into Joe’s eyes, she whispered, “Peace, Joe, he will be fine.”

After one final spasm, Steve’s body lay still and silent on the floor. The band gathered around him silently, then watched as an amazing change came over his corpse. Every trace of all those years of alcohol and drug abuse vanished. The body on the floor looked ten years younger. The men stared at each other, then turned as one to Lyra.

“Who are you?” Joe asked. “No, wait, what are you and what’s happening to our friend?”

“He’s becoming a vampire like me,” she said softly. The remark was met by terse laughter.

“Sure, honey, now why the fuck did you bring him here instead of taking him to a hospital?” Joe asked angrily.

Lyra shook her head and said, “I’d really hoped it wouldn’t come to this.”

Then, faster than any mortal could move, Lyra’s hand fastened on Joe’s shoulder. He had one glimpse of her terrifying beauty as her fangs sprouted and she sunk them into Joe’s flesh. She took one quick drink, not trying to harm him as she tasted his strength. Then she pulled away and let Joe stagger back to his friends. Sav jumped up and said, “What the fuck was that for?”

“Proof,” she said, turning to the band and opening her mouth to allow them to see her fangs retract. They backed away from her, dragging Joe with them as he sat on the floor still stunned. Sav finally spoke up, asking, “Is Joe gonna be okay?”

“He’ll be fine, maybe a little dizzy at most. I didn’t take much at all from him,” Lyra said with a soft smile. “I should introduce myself. My name is Lyra. I found Steve in a pub and he was dying from the alcohol and drugs in his system. He may have made it home, but nothing more. But now, he’ll be crossing over into my world.”

“And how many years have you lived in this ‘world,” Rick asked.

“About nine hundred fifty, give or take a decade,” Lyra answered.

“Jesus!” Sav exclaimed as he slumped back into the couch. Phil walked over and stood by Steve as Lyra looked into Sav’s eyes. She found there the soul of an old friend and mate, one she had missed sorely for the past three hundred years, and smiled gently down at him. He felt a sudden warm rush and wondered why she seemed so heart achingly familiar.

Lyra turned as she felt Steve starting to wake. She looked at Phil and said, “I wouldn’t stand so close to him, Phil. He’s going to wake with the pain of first hunger and anyone close to him will be in danger.”

“Steve would never hurt me,” Phil said confidently.

“Under normal circumstances, I’m sure you’re right, but first hunger is a madness until it can be satisfied. He wouldn’t even know...” Even as she spoke, Steve struck. Faster than his bandmates could see, he’d grabbed Phil and pulled him to the ground. There was a slight struggle as Steve pinned Phil to the ground and bit into his throat. As the other three men realized what had happened, Sav and Joe jumped down and tried to pry him off Phil, but they couldn’t. Rick kept screaming at Steve to stop. Finally Lyra threw Joe and Sav out of the way and pried Steve’s jaws open. She pulled him back away from Phil’s bleeding, unconscious body and held him in a death grip by the neck. Then she turned back to Phil and ran her tongue over his wounds, sealing them shut and staunching his bleeding. Steve lunged next at Sav, but Lyra’s grip couldn’t be broken.

Sav jumped back and screamed, “What the fuck do we do now? This is like being in a cage with a hungry lion!”

“I’ll feed him,” she said, still holding him tightly. “But really, I’m afraid I may not have enough blood to satisfy him. First hunger is a near unbearable pain and it takes a great deal to abate it. This is the reason why I am here. Steve will need your help tonight. If I am not able to meet his needs, I will need blood from one of you.”

“Are you fucking insane?” Rick squeaked.

“If I cannot feed him all he needs, he will turn on one of you!” Lyra said roughly. “And I will not have the strength to stop him again if I’m completely drained.”

Sav looked over at Joe, who seemed to be recovering well enough from his encounter with her fangs and said, “I’ll do it. Just remember, I’m just a snack, not the full meal!” He gave her a weak smile as he moved closer. Steve went for him again, but Lyra stepped between them and caught Steve’s gaze.

She bared her throat to him and said, “Feed on me, luv.”

He hesitated only a brief second before sinking his teeth into her. As she felt them break the skin, there was a familiar mixture of pleasure and pain running through her. She ran her fingers through his blond hair and tilted her head back. She looked up at Sav and their eyes locked just as she moaned, for all the world sounding like a woman on the verge of the greatest pleasure. Finding the look on her face incredibly erotic, Sav could feel himself stiffen at the thought of what might come next. He wanted that union with her, even if it meant his death. He moved closer to her, wishing he could touch her, but afraid of what Steve might do. She could read his thoughts and moaned again at the prospect.

Steve seemed to be joined to her body, never even moving as he drank from her. She felt the beginnings of lightheadedness coming on and knew she would need Sav soon. Pushing his long blond curls back over his shoulder with her free hand, she kissed him gently then whispered, “It’s time.”

Rather than the quick attack on Joe or the desperate need of taking Steve, she wanted him to be able to enjoy it as well. She looked up at him one last time as she pulled his body against hers. She could feel his hard manhood grinding into her leg and smiled up at him. His eyes showed a mixture of lust and fear as he gazed down at her. The arousal was a good thing, it would help ease the pain of her bite. She’d been afraid she would have to mesmerize him to help with that. She kissed down his jaw and his throat, finding a place where she knew the blood would flow more slowly and pulled his body fully against hers as her fangs entered his neck. He gasped at the pain and yet his body ground against hers, his inner fires raging out of control.

Letting his blood flow of its own accord across her tongue, she savored the sweetness of him. In all her near thousand years, she had only once before tasted anyone whose life-force was as sweet as the honey she remembered from her childhood. Until now. It took all her will not to drink his life completely away.

Steve’s pull at her vein was lessening and she knew he was close to ending his first hunger. He pulled away from her in a daze, looking around at the others in confusion.

Even as Lyra’s body demanded more of Sav’s sweet nectar, her mind knew she had to stop or risk killing him. She removed her teeth from his throat and lapped up the remaining blood she found there. Then she ran her tongue gently over the gashes in his neck, sealing them over as if they had never existed. She was still incredibly weak as she lowered Sav’s unresisting body to the floor, then collapsed on top of him.

Steve saw her fall and rushed to her side. Then he asked softly, “Lyra, are you okay?”

“Just exhausted, my love. You’re stronger than I remember,” she whispered. “I didn’t dare take enough from Sav to make up for what I gave to you.”

“Do you need more?” Joe asked quietly.

“If I’m to get Steve to safety, yes I do,” she answered in a voice barely above a whisper. “After a thousand years, I can withstand the sun again, but no fledgling would survive it.”

Joe made a decision and walked over to where Lyra and Sav still lay. He touched her gently and said, “Can you take anymore from me without...”

“I can, if you’re willing,” she whispered.

As Joe bent to pick her up, Steve noticed Phil’s unconscious form on the couch, his shirt stained with his own blood.

“Lyra, you didn’t...” Steve said quietly.

“No,” Rick said angrily, “you did.” Rick got up in Steve’s face yelling and Steve tried to give him a gentle push away from him. Instead, because of his new strength, Rick went flying back onto the couch at Phil’s feet.

“Be careful, luv,” Lyra whispered as Joe sat in a chair and cradled her in his lap. “You don’t know how strong you are yet!”

“I guess not,” Joe murmured.

“Are you ready, Joe?” Lyra asked.

Taking a deep breath, Joe said, “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

She pulled his lips to hers, hoping to arouse him as Sav had been. His tongue wandered into her mouth, though he was leery of those deadly fangs. She waited until she felt his passion start to rise, then trailed kisses down to his throat. She could feel his vein pulsing beneath her lips and she slowly sunk her teeth into his throat.

“Oh, God,” Joe groaned. “How can something hurt this bad and feel so good at the same time.” Then he fell silent.

As sweet as Sav’s blood had been, Joe’s tasted of his strength. Overwhelming her, his blood tore through her veins and filling her completely. She’d never felt mortal blood of his potency. She let out a passionate cry, only to be met be his moans of ecstasy. Then, her needs satisfied, she pulled away, closing his wounds gently with her tongue. She looked into his eyes for the first true time and found another well-known spirit looking out at her. She shook her head, wondering what it meant to find most of her former coven reborn together. His breath came in rapid pants as his head slowly spun. He held her tightly against him as his world came back into focus and he looked for Steve.

Steve sat on the floor, cradling Phil’s limp body. Blood filled tears ran down his face as he looked up to Lyra and begged, “Please, tell me I didn’t kill him!”

“No, luv. He’s just in shock at the moment. He’ll come around soon. He didn’t quite lose as much blood as Joe or Sav did,” Lyra said in a soothing voice.

Steve hugged Phil close, whispering, “Thank God!”

“No,” Joe said, “thank Lyra, she’s the one that pulled you off him!” Lyra pulled gently away from Joe as Sav struggled to sit up. She looked at each of them and said, “If you ever have need of me, I’ll know. One of the reasons vampires rarely leave victims alive is that taking the blood creates a bond between them and their victim. I’ll always be able to find you.”

“How will you know...” Sav started, but she said, “Just trust me, I will. And you’ll always know I’m there. But there is one dangerous part to this sharing. You’ll be able to sense one of my kind if they get close enough to you, but they’ll also sense me on you. Some of them don’t like the idea of mortals knowing about us and in my thousand years, I’ve picked up an enemy or two. They’re not strong enough to come after me directly, but they might make a try for you.”

Joe nodded as Sav asked, “What about Phil?”

“Same thing, only his links will be with Steve,” she answered. At the mention of his name, Phil began to move. He smiled up at Steve til he saw the trail of bloody tears on Steve’s face. Then horror filled his eyes and he tried to move away. Lyra grabbed him in her unbreakable grip and said, “It’s okay now, he’s back.”

“He tried to bloody fucking kill me!” Phil screamed as he clutched at his throat.

“It won’t happen again. When I woke up, all I know was the scent of warm blood, I didn’t know who I grabbed or where I was. I just had to have it,” Steve tried to explain. “I’m sorry, I would never hurt you!”

“You’d bloody well better NOT try that shit again, or I’ll stake you myself,” Phil said as he relaxed into a grin. Then he threw his arms around Steve and said, “I’m glad you’re safe, mate.”

“Same to you,” Steve said quietly.

“Listen, I’ve got to get Steve back to my place. And don’t be shocked at the news you get soon. Steve Clark died of an overdose tonight. I’ve already made some phone calls that will assure that is the story that goes out,” she said in a voice not to be argued with. She gave Sav and Joe each a kiss, then pulled Steve out the door and into the night.