Snow tickled her cheeks and the brandy was warm in her belly.  Sitting cross legged on the parapet gave her quite a view of the city, but she was more interested in her memories.  Never, not ever, had anyone looked her in the eye and said, "I killed my mother."  Another sip of brandy really didn't help and she shivered from a chill that was not due to the cold.  She sighed and wondered how Payne could stand it.  Did she dream about it?  Did she think about it when she was awake? 
    Payne had looked up at her, tears streaming down her face.  "I killed my mother, you know.  I put the needle in her arm and I did it."  She stared at Eliza wide eyed. "She smiled, squeezed my hand and just stopped breathing."  She bit her lower lip.  "Did you know it takes more than two hours for a hand to cool after someone dies?"
    Eliza could feel herself starting to choke up again.  She didn't want to think about it.  How could Payne live with such memories?  Eliza remembered her jumping from the building.  She glanced down at the alley below.  If it hadn't been for what she did that night, Payne wouldn't be living with it now.  Now she could understand it a little better.  "Imagine," she thought, "living with that between your ears.  I hope I did the right thing."

    Calm now.  Eliza came down off the parapet and made her way back to her apartment.  She had come to the conclusion that, given the same set of circumstances, she'd have done the same thing.  A vampire or not, it was not in her nature to let an innocent die.  Payne, to Eliza, was still an innocent. 

    Eliza sprawled out on the bed.  Suddenly she didn't feel at all well.  She didn't know if it was the brandy, too much, or something else.  Noises in her head buzzed and clanged.  She could hear, really hear too much.  Ohhhhh, what was happening.  Room spinning.  Hot, so hot.  Face flushed red with it.  Fever? Or something else?  "Oh, please stop the voices," Eliza screamed.  The noises in her head were making her dizzier.  She'd never felt this way.  Not since the change.
Fangs descending, but no blood lust.  Her head swimming, Eliza tried to stand, walking, staggering toward the door and slipped to the floor in a faint. 

    Hearing a noise, Payne called to Eliza.  "Are you all right Eliza?”  Listening, she heard nothing else.  No noise, no answer.  Moving to Eliza's door, she knocked.  "Eliza?”  No answer.  Knocking harder, calling louder, Payne waited.  Still there was no answer.  Payne tried the doorknob.  Locked.  "Why would Eliza lock the door?" she wondered.  Rattling the doorknob, Pane realized that the door wasn't locked but blocked in some way.  Pushing hard, she felt a heavier object moving slowly as the door opened.  As it opened wide enough for her to slip through, Payne fell to her knees alongside the sprawled out form of Eliza.  She quickly saw that Eliza had passed out.  Next, she was aware of the slick of perspiration covering her body.  Reaching out a tentative hand, she felt the heat emanating from Eliza. 
    Strange!  Vampires didn't sweat, nor did they run fevers that Payne knew of.  Granted, she wasn't up on the most current facts of vampires, believing them to be myths until now.
    Gently she picked Eliza up and laid her on the bed.  Covering her with the blanket that had been at the foot of the bed, she quickly ran to the sink and grabbed a towel, dipping it in water.  Moving quickly back to Eliza, she ran the towel over her face and neck.
    Her eyes opened slowly.  With a look of confusion on her face, Eliza tried to sit up.  Slumping back onto the pillows as the weakness hit her anew.  Closing her eyes against the spinning room, Eliza waited for the dizziness to pass. 

    Payne watched her with a look of fear, wondering if Eliza was going to die.  Vampires didn't get sick or die of illness that she knew of.  "So what was wrong," she wondered.  All the signs pointed to drug addiction.  "She should know," Payne thought.  She'd seen enough of it on the streets.  The sweating, the dizziness seemed to be the after effect of a drug binge.  Payne didn't think vampires did drugs.  They didn't need to as far as she knew.  Natural highs came from drinking blood.  BLOOD. "Oh my God, that's it," she thought.  She knew Eliza had fed last night.  Contaminated blood.  "Now what do I do," she wondered.  She watched as Eliza's eyes fluttered again.

    Eliza, again, slowly opened her eyes, hoping against hope, that the dizziness had left her.  Opening one eye at a time, the hope was realized.  She peered blearily at Payne.  Her mouth opened and closed with no sound coming out.  She cleared her throat and tried again.  Half husky and half croak, she asked what time it was and what had happened that she felt so bad?

    Payne replied, that it was 3pm, three days after they'd had their talk and that Eliza had been in her room all that time.  Hands on her almost non existent hips, she demanded to know what Eliza had been up to, to cause her to stay in her room in that state for three days.

    Eliza looked at her in shock.  "Three days." She asked, stunned.  "Why can't I remember anything," Eliza mumbled?  Looking at Payne, numbly, Eliza began recounting what she remembered.  "I remember you throwing yourself off the parapet, and catching you before you hit the ground.  I remember you telling me your history sitting on that same parapet.  I remember taking you into my apartment and watching you sleep.  I remember going on a hunt as the thoughts of all that had happened to you burned through me.  I remember feeling helpless with trying to get through to you that none of what had happened was your fault.  I remember closing in on the prey I had picked out, the same thrill as always as the hunt ended and his blood began filling my throat, so hot, so heady.  That's the last I remember," Eliza stated.

    "May I ask you something, Eliza?" Payne asked tentatively.

    "Sure, go ahead Payne, you know you can ask me anything and if I can I'll answer," Eliza replied quietly.

    "Do vampires use drugs?"

    "DRUGS!!!!!! As in heroin, cocaine and all that?" Eliza all but shrieked.  "Why on earth would you ask me that Payne?"  But as she thought about it, she had a glimmering of why Payne was asking.  She may be a vampire but she wasn't stupid.



    "Eliza, all your symptoms point to drug addiction.  I've seen a lot of it on the streets and you have all the classic symptoms of coming off a major high," Payne told her.  “If you are using, Eliza, you need to tell me how long you have been doing drugs.”

    "You've been hanging with me long enough, Payne, to know I don't need to use and as far as I know drugs have no part in a vampire's life.  If that is what this is, then it's the first time I've known it to affect me and I wonder why now?" she answered Payne.  Eliza thought back to the hunt and then ultimate ending.   She felt again the thrill of the first surge of hot blood down her throat.  The slight coppery taste and . . . yes there was an alien taste.  What was it?  She brought back the memory of his essence as she drank.  There was something that had him high on more than her.  "Oh gee, how could I have missed it, was I so high on the hunt that I never noticed?" she thought to herself.  Even now she could feel the pull in her.  She wanted more.  Looking at Payne, she shuddered.  "Now I know the pull of addiction for these addicts," she murmured.

    Payne watched the emotions and changing expressions on Eliza's face.  She saw the brief moment when the truth hit her.  She also saw the desire written, ever so briefly, on Eliza's face.  She knew that Eliza was in for a tough road, between the drugs and the thrill of the hunt.  If she ever let it out, then the populace of the city was in for a shock.  They may not have to worry about the ever increasing addict population.  Eliza would handle that on her own and probably wipe out the whole addict population.  Where would that leave Eliza, though?  Payne was afraid to think of that.  She knew the devastation drug addiction caused and she didn't want to see that happen to Eliza.  Not after she had been so good to her. " She'd have to keep an eye on her and make sure, but how could she do that? She wondered.  She wasn't a vampire and if Eliza wanted to leave her behind she would.  There was no way to follow.     

    They sat there looking at each other.  Both had the same look on their faces and both had the same sort of wonderment in their eyes.  A drug addict?  The difference was, though that those words meant two different things to each of the girls.  In one it brought horror and in the other a sort of offbeat excitement. It was something she’d never tried before.  Although if this was the aftermath, she wasn’t sure she’d want to try it again.

    Eliza tried to sense what Payne was thinking and for some reason, the ability wasn't there.  It was the first time that she could remember, since her vampire abilities came into being, that she didn't have the ability.  She tried to flash to the livingroom of the small apartment and that ability was gone also.  Oh no, she didn't like this at all.  But the pull was there to experience it again.  The high was nice.  Better than nice, it was great.

    Payne, in a weird way, knew what Eliza was thinking and going through.  She could see the desire to experience again the high.  She knew what was coming. She'd seen it time and time again with Garret.  Thinking of him still brought up painful memories.  Those she hadn't told Eliza about.  Those she would always, always keep to herself.  He shouldn't have died.  She knew it wasn't her fault, but she would always wish she'd done something more.  Garret, how she'd loved him.


    Eliza saw the play of emotions on Payne's face, but said nothing.  There were some things that were private and she had no need or desire to press the girl about them.  She had more things to worry about.  She didn't need to but she knew she was going to hunt tonight.  She knew what she was going to be hunting for.  The memory of the way she'd felt while partaking of his blood called to her.  She didn't need it but she wanted it and what Eliza wanted she got.
    The drunk sat slumped  in the alleyway.  "Did I dream this in my alcoholic fog or did I really see someone fly? No, it's not possible, I must have dreamed it, although it seemed so real," he mumbled to himself.  "If I try and tell anyone, they won't believe me.  I'm just an old homeless man, why would they believe me?" Ricardo thought.  He knew what he saw though.  He was almost positive.  The one doubt is what kept him from saying anything.  Thinking back, he saw the one hurtling to the ground.  What happened next is what was hazy.  Did he really see what he thought he'd seen or was it part of the alcoholic daze?  He'd kept watch in the alley for three days now and nothing else out of the ordinary had happened.  He'd not had a drink in that time either.  He was sober as a judge.  He chuckled to himself at that thought.  Sober as a judge.  No one who'd known him then would recognize him now.  Sitting quietly, musing about his lost life, he wasn't at first aware of the figure that had come out of the roof door and was sitting on the edge of the parapet.  He was startled when he realized she was there and he hadn't seen her come out.
"Yes!" he thought excitedly.  She was the one he'd seen but when did he see her and which one was she.  It was so far up, that all he saw was the dangling feet and legs.  He knew those small feet and slender short legs though.  He'd seen them before and knew that it had been many times.
Angry at himself, he wished he could remember which she was.  The small, pretty dark-haired one that he saw mainly at night or the other pretty one.

    He nudged the man sleeping next to him, "Harry, wake up, wake up."  "Awww, Judge, leave me alone will ya!" Harry whined at him.  "Ya know I need me sleep, got a powerful thirst goin on," the man called Harry told him.  “I know, Harry, I know,” the man he called Judge said.  “But I need your opinion.”  The Judge sat there and told Harry all he remembered of that night.  The night he’d seen Payne, although he didn’t know her name, fall from the parapet.  He didn’t know she’d jumped.  From below and in the condition he was in, it looked like she fell.  Then he told him how he’d seen the other girl, the dark haired one, jump and catch the falling girl.  After telling Harry everything, he realized just how off the wall it all sounded.  There was no way he could have seen what he thought he’d seen.  If it was true, then humans could fly and he knew that was impossible.  Although, he’d seen them hit the ground.  After a fall like that, they should both have been dead.  Shaking his head, he burrowed into his cart and unearth his last bottle.  Opening it, he went to take a good shot of the whiskey, when his hand stopped halfway to his mouth.  “There’s something I’m missing, Harry,” he mused.  “I wish I could remember what it was.”  The Judge knew that in his alcohol steeped brain, the feeling or memory would surface, but would it be too late?  “Now why do I think it might be too late,” he thought.

    Sitting upright with a start, The Judge remembered what he’d forgotten.  He’d seen the young one take the pretty dark one and carry her into the building.  There had been someone watching that had slipped away into the night when the girls had entered the building.  “Who had he seen and why did it bother him so much,” but he couldn’t put a finger on it.  He knew it was important.  Eventually the whole thing would come to him he knew.  Quietly he thought about what he’d already remembered.  Why it was so important still eluded him.  He knew it had something to do with the man that had been watching the two. 

    He had gotten the nickname The Judge as a joke, little did they know he had been a Judge before the downhill slide into the bottle had taken him.  This was really beginning to bother him and he’d not taken a drink in days.  He’d stayed away from the bottle even though he felt it was killing him.  The Judge had talked Harry’s ear off until he was sick of hearing about the whole thing. 

    Suddenly all expression left The Judges face.  He knew, without a doubt, where he’d seen the face of the man in the alley.  He had been one of the last criminals sentenced by him before he’d left the bench.  Alazar, Jorge Alazar, drug dealer.  He was extremely bad news.  How were these girls involved with him.  The Judge hoped they weren’t but it didn’t look good.  If Alazar was involved these girls were in big trouble.  He knew he’d have to talk to them.  “How though,” he thought to himself.  He didn’t know their names, or did he?  “ Think man,” he commanded himself.  This could be life or death.

    As The Judge is thinking, he hears the door to the apartment building open and close.  Looking up through his lashes, without raising his head, he saw Eliza emerge. She glanced at him and continued walking toward the corner. He stands on shaky legs, quickly following her as closely as he can. She’s walking quickly and he soon finds himself falling farther and farther behind her.  Quickening his pace, he rounds the corner where he’d seen her turn and before he can utter a gasp, feels hands close tightly around his throat.  Gasping for air, he looks up in pain and astonishment to see the slight girl, no woman, he’d been following, holding his throat tightly in her two hands.  Her thumbs were pressing against his windpipe, cutting off his air.  She leaned close to his ear and hissed, “why were you following me old man?”  She’d forgotten that she still held her thumbs to his throat and he couldn’t breathe enough to answer her.  Raising his hands to hers, he pulled futilely against her hands.  Realizing that he couldn’t speak, Eliza loosened her grip on his throat.  “Now tell me why you were following me,” she said.

    Gasping and choking as he slowly drew air into his aching throat, The Judge croaked out that he’d been trying to catch up to her to talk to her.  “What do you want with me, old man,” she again asked.  “I know who you are,” he began.  Startled, Eliza looked at him in surprise.  “You know who I am?” she said.  “Who am I then,” she went on.  Breathing easier, The Judge said, “no ma’am I mean I know where you live.”  “Oh this is just too much,” he complained.  “I can’t explain what I mean, except that I know you live in that apartment by the alley where I live.”  Shaking his head, he thought that sounded even worse.  “Look, I saw you and the other pretty girl the other night when she fell.  You didn’t see me, although I saw you and the man that was watching you both.  His name is Jorge Alazar and he’s bad news.”  Eliza looked at him and he continued with his explanation.  Neither saw the man watching from the shadows.
    Eliza listened as The Judge told her about himself and about Jorge Alazar.  He didn’t spare himself or try to excuse what he’d become.  Although that really had no bearing on what he was telling her about Alazar.  That scum was the main reason he’d fallen so far into the sewer.  His main purpose was to warn her that he was bad news.  After he was done with his story, he turned to leave.  Quietly, Eliza reached out and laid a hand on his arm.  Looking into his eyes, she told him not to worry , she could take care of herself and Payne and that she would handle Alazar if she ever saw him.  Judge opened his mouth to say something and out of the corner of his eye spied furtive movement.  Knowing someone was watching them, he slipped into the night and disappeared.  Eliza looked around, wondering what had made him leave so abruptly.  Shrugging, she moved off into the night.  She’d also seen the movement and she flashed to the point where she had last seen it.

    Alazar moved quickly and quietly after The Judge.  He thought he’d recognized him, although he hadn’t been sure until he’d heard him talking to the woman.  Now it was time for the old man to meet his maker and he was just the person to help him on his way.  Waiting until The Judge had settled himself in his worn and dirty blankets, he moved stealthily closer.  When he was standing over The Judge, he leaned down, covering his mouth and injected him with the syringe.  The shot worked quickly and quietly, without any struggle on The Judge’s part at all.  One minute he was alive and the next he was dead.  It all looked so natural, like a heart attack.  Now for the girl.  Not the one that the old man had been talking to, he’d get her later, the one still in the apartment.  He had been afraid she would recognize him and now he couldn’t take the chance.  The old fool had alerted the other one and they would be on their guard.  He moved to the door of the apartment building as if he lived there.  Anyone seeing him wouldn’t think twice at him.  He walked into the lobby and made for the elevator.  He knew exactly which floor to go to and stepped out.  Heading for the door, he took the jimmy from his pocket.  He hoped he could do this with a minimum of noise, although at this time of night no-one would notice the slight noise he might make.  It opened easily and with no noise at all.  He smiled, a thin smile and moved toward the bedrooms.  He opened the door closest to him.  Empty.  He smiled again and moved to the other door.  Opening it, he moved into the room, drawing the second syringe from his pocket.  He’d give her this shot and leave her.  Either she’d die or become the junky he could control.  As he moved closer to the bed, she stirred and he froze.  Payne settled down again and he moved forward.  He stepped on a squeaky board and froze as she quietly called out, “Eliza?”  She looked and saw the figure standing by her bed and started to rise up.  He jumped her and tried to stick the needle in anywhere he could find.  She fought like a madwoman.  He backhanded her and she came back biting.  She ripped a chunk out of his hand as he tried to put it over her mouth.  She screamed.  He saw her bare leg and injected the contents of the syringe into it quickly.  She screamed again and fell back almost instantly.  As she lay there, her breathing getting slower and slower, he grinned.  Luck was with him tonight, he thought.  Two down and one to go.  He knew he had to silence the other one also, or everything would be over.  Looking at the bed once again, he moved toward the door.  He really didn’t need to be quiet now since he knew the other one was still out.  As he opened the door to leave, he couldn’t believe his eyes.  She was there.  How did she get back so quickly?  He didn’t have the time to dwell on it, however.  She looked at him with evil eyes and stepped toward him.



    “What are you doing in my apartment?” she growled at him.  She hadn’t seen Payne yet and waited for his reply.  “Door was open and I thought I heard someone in here,” he babbled.  Eliza knew he was scared, she could smell the fear on him.  She didn’t know who he was though and relaxed her stance somewhat.  As she moved forward, he quickly tried to sidestep around her.  Eliza saw Payne and faster than he’d ever seen anyone move, she had him by the throat.  She smiled at him and he knew he was looking in the face of death.  Eliza had her fangs fully deployed and sunk them quickly into his throat.  She wouldn’t feed from him, she’d kill him if it was last thing she ever did.  “Why, why harm an innocent girl,” she cried?  “Innocent, not likely, she was a good customer of mine, her and her boyfriend,” he choked.  “She’s been clean for a long time, why now,” Eliza demanded as she tightened her grip on his throat.  “She saw me the night she fell from the roof and I knew it was a matter of time before she recognized me and turned me in.”  As he finished speaking Eliza quickly sank her fangs into his neck and twisted.  She felt the bones crack and break as the hot blood spurted.  As much as she wanted to feed, she wanted him dead.
Dropping his body to the floor, she rushed to Payne.  She saw that Payne was breathing, but oh so slowly and faintly.  Her breathing seemed to slow as Eliza watched.  Knowing there was only one thing to do unless Payne was to die, she leaned forward and gently sank her fangs into Payne’s neck.  She felt the blood spurt into her mouth.  Along with it was the heady feeling of the drugs Alazar had pumped into her.  Eliza welcomed the feelings.  She felt the flutter of Payne’s heart as she drank and drank.  Slowing, feeling just the right moment, she used her fang to make a slash in her own wrist.  Holding it to Payne’s mouth, she watched her as her own blood dripped into Payne’s mouth.  Suddenly, Payne’s lips latched on to her wrist.  She drank without being aware.
Eliza felt the weakness hitting her and pulled her wrist away.  Payne sank into sleep.  Eliza watched as the bruises faded and healed on Payne’s face and body.  Staggering to her bed, she fell across it, half on the bed and half on the floor.  Between the weakness from giving Payne her blood and the drugs she taken into her body from Payne, she was almost in a stupor.  With her last awareness, she knew she would have to contact someone to help Payne.  She didn’t want her to go through the changes she knew were coming, alone.  She knew she couldn’t stay.  She knew Payne would hate her and she couldn’t face that.  Even though it was the only thing that could have saved Payne’s life, she knew Payne would have wanted to die.  Would he come? 

    Eliza struggled to open her eyes.  Now she knew what she was experiencing, The lethargy that was drug induced.  She thought about Jesse.  She had seen or thought about him in years.  She knew though he was still there.  Sometimes she could feel his thoughts brushing against her mind.  She sent a silent call to him and heard the faint answer.  “I’m coming Eliza, I’ll be there soon,” he said within her mind.  She looked at Payne as she slept.  She knew what was going to happen and she waited for her to wake.  Looking out the window, she saw that it was almost dark.  They’d both slept the clock around.  She from the drugs and Payne from what had been done to her. 

    A quiet knock on the door and as Eliza opened it, she knew who would be outside.  Jesse walked in as though only a day or so had passed.  He looked good.  His hair was a little longer, but he looked good.  He stared at Eliza, noticing all that she’d been through.  He looked around the apartment and saw the body of Alazar.  “First, Eliza, we need to dispose of him,” Jesse said.
Then you need to tell me what’s been happening and why you sent for me.  Looking at him, Eliza felt tears start.  She hadn’t cried in so long.  Nor had she relied on anyone but herself. This time it felt good to know Jesse was there.  Her rock.

    As Eliza waited for Jesse to return from disposing of Alazar’s body, she heard a noise in the doorway.  Looking up, she saw Payne standing there.  Eliza couldn’t speak.  Payne looked at her quizzically.  As she opened her mouth, the door opened and Jesse walked in.  Startled, Payne looked from him to Eliza.  “Who are you,”she asked? 
   
    Jesse looked at Eliza and read her mind.  They didn’t need speech for all to be known.  Silently, Jesse asked Eliza if this was her first.  She looked at him and nodded, lowering her head.  She couldn’t look at Payne.  “This is Jesse, Payne. Jesse, Payne.”  Still not looking at Payne, Eliza sank onto the couch. 

    “Eliza, you’re scaring me,” Payne said.  “What is going on?”  

    At that Eliza looked up and with tears in her eyes began telling Payne about the things that had happened in the last 24 hours.  When she got to the part about what Alazar had done, she stopped speaking.  Her voice hoarse with emotion, she started speaking again.  “Payne, forgive me, there was no other way to save your life.  I know you probably would have preferred to die rather than this, but I just couldn’t let you die." 

    "Eliza, you’re babbling, I have no idea what you’re going on about.  I have nothing to forgive you for.  You got rid of scum.  I remember him.  He’s the one that hooked my friend and I.  It took me a long time to kick the habit.  Why don’t I feel any effects from the drugs, though?” 

    At that Eliza began to shiver.  “Payne, I......I’m so sorry.  I swore I would never do what I did last night.  I hope sometime you can forgive me.  I brought Jesse here to help you as he helped me.”  Awareness began to dawn on Payne’s face.  A sort of horrified fascination.  “Eliza, what exactly are you saying? Am I going to be a........a vampire too,” she asked.  Hanging her head, Eliza replied that, yes and that’s why Jesse was here.  “I’m going away, Payne and you are going to need guidance.  Jesse is the best one to give it to you.”  “Eliza, why are you leaving, I don’t mind, you know I’ve been fascinated and wanted you to do it long before now.  I know you thought I was lost in the feelings of losing my mother and my friend, but that really had nothing to do with it.  I respect you and know you wouldn’t have done it unless it was necessary.  No I didn’t want to die,” Payne told her.  “I have to leave Payne.  The drugs I took from your blood and the drugs working on me from the other addict are giving me no peace.  I need to find a way to purge them and the feeling I’ve done you harm.  I can’t live with myself, but neither do I want to die,” Eliza tried to explain.  Jesse will teach you the ways of the vampires.  Who is safe and who isn’t.  He’ll teach you about the Hunters and about keeping yourself safe.”  She watched the expression flow across Payne’s face and knew that she would be fine.  She stood and crossed to her room and shut the door.  Before it closed, she saw the fleeting look of pain cross her face and knew the changes had begun.

    Eliza reached up and put her arms around Jesse.  She gave him a kiss and turned and hugged Payne hard.  She kissed her cheek and turned to the door.  As she walked through, she heard Payne give a sob and knew that Jesse would comfort her.  Slowly she emerged onto the street below and turned her face to the setting sun and flashed to Arizona.

    There was the road to follow.  Out into the desert.  Eliza started walking.