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She woke up to the sound of a soft tapping at her door. She blinked sleep out of her eyes, and looked at the clock; the hour suggested it should be twilight. Sitting up in bed, she arranged the sheet around herself and unlatched the door from across the room with a flick of her wrist.

The door cracked open a half-foot, and Planvi stuck his head in. "Hello?" he said cautiously.

"Good evening, little fox."

Planvi pushed the door open the rest of the way and padded in, then scrambled up beside her. "You sleep during the day like Uncle Char?" He produced a comb from a pocket.

"Most days, yes. Do you remember much of last night?"

His ears folded back and he shook his head. "Not much. Only some." He curled his tail into his lap and began combing at it determinedly.

"He doesn't remember... you and Char," Rin said quietly, stepping into the room. He wore the same clothes as yesterday, and she might not have known he'd left the suite at all save for a small bag he carried. When he saw Vanya, her nude form hidden only partially by the sheet, his eyes widened, and he looked away as he continued. "Is that part of what vampires do, too? Make victims forget?"

She ruffled Planvi's head fur. "No. But I think it's part of what children do." Studying the cub's tail, she pointed to a spot. "You're missing that tangle."

He moved the comb to that spot, and tugged on it. I can't get it."

"Let me try." She gently took the comb from him, and began grooming his tail more smoothly. He beamed.

"I have the stakes," Rin said. He reached into the bag and withdrew two iron stakes, tossing them onto the bed. "They don't have to be wooden, do they? I know that's what they are in stories, but that's not what they had at the store."

"No, they don't. A pure metal like wrought iron is fine." She paused long enough to gather them up, then looked at the bag as she resumed her combing. It still had weight in it. "Is that a third stake?"

He crushed the bag to him and nodded, looking away.

"Rin," she said softly, looking directly at him until he finally met her gaze. "Is one a spare, or do you believe there's need for three?"

He took a deep, slow breath, holding the bag even more tightly, and exhaled over long seconds. Then he looked down, into the bag, and withdrew the last stake, holding it out to her head-first with a slightly trembling hand. "In case you lose one of the others," he whispered.

Wrapping her fingers lightly about both the stake and his hand, she gently drew it away from him, looking back up into his eyes. "Thank you." She set it down with the others, and resumed grooming Planvi's tail.

"I saw Wynn when I left the garden store."

Vanya frowned, continuing her work. "Did she follow you?"

"No. I don't think so. I'm not sure she even saw me."

"I don't doubt she was looking for you. But I'd assumed we'd have only last night and today before being found regardless."

"So what do we do?"

"We stay together, and run for a good place to make a stand, tonight."

"What do we do with Planvi?"

"He comes with us."

Rin's ears went flat. "I'm not going to put my child in the middle of a battle between--"

"He's already in the middle," Vanya snapped. "I have no way to protect him if I'm elsewhere, and Narith and Char will use him as a weapon against you if given any opening." Planvi had acquired a confused, worried expression during all of this, his lower lip trembling.

Rin gritted his teeth. "And where is it we're going to run to?"

"The Carlion Temple."

"That's ten miles away!"

"We'll get a carriage."

"It's in ruins, you know. They have a single festival there a year now. What makes it such a good place to make a stand?"

"It's ten miles away," she said with a faint smile. "What happens is less likely to attract immediate attention."

"And less likely to risk others."

"True," she said, although that hadn't occurred to her. "Here you go, Planvi." She handed the comb back to him.

"Thank you." The cub still looked disturbed as he fumbled it back into his pocket. "We're going to the Temple?"

"Yes." She nodded.

"We're going to meet Uncle Char there, aren't we?"

"Yes."

"Why do you wanna talk to him again? I don't wanna see him!"

Vanya pursed her lips. "We have... business, Planvi." She rose to her feet, crossing to the nearest window, and pulled back the blinds. Nearly a full moon. Anything that might be watching the suite remained hidden from her senses.

"Have you ever tried to kill a vampire before?" Rin said suddenly.

"No."

"Let alone two. And Narith is more powerful than Char."

"Yes."

Rin's tail jerked once, then swished slowly. "More powerful than you?" he said at length.

She looked back at him. "The last time he and I met, yes. Now I don't know."

He nodded again.

Closing her eyes, she concentrated on the wolf boy, calling him to her. When she felt the tug of his presence, she pulled the blinds to again. "All right, it's time to go."

"I don't wanna go," Planvi said, voice rising a little.

"She's right, Planvi." Rin's voice was less confident than grudgingly resigned. "We have to."

"But--"

Vanya knelt in front of the fox cub, putting her hands on his shoulders and looking into his eyes. "I'm not going to lie to you. This is going to be very dangerous, and very scary. But if we don't do this, you'll never be safe. I'm going to do everything I can to protect you and your father. You have to be brave."

Planvi remained silent, looking back at her for long seconds, biting his lip. "Promise me?"

"I promise you."

"Okay," he finally said in a small, trembling voice. "I'll be brave."

She nodded to him gravely, and crossed to the door, holding it open for both foxes.

When they reached the lobby, the wolf stood there, dressed much as when Vanya had first met him. He nodded to her submissively, tail tucked down; she began speaking to him without preamble. "We're going to need transportation to the Carlion Temple, leaving immediately."

"All right, mistress," he said. "I'll bring around the carriage." He started hurrying toward the front exit.

"'Mistress?'" Rin murmured, giving her a narrow-eyed look. "He's your Wynn?"

"Lecture me later," she said flatly, motioning them to follow. "We need a carriage, he owns a carriage."

He crossed his arms, tail lashing, but said nothing more.

The wolf had already disappeared by the time they stood on the sidewalk in front of the hotel. In under a minute, the carriage pulled around the corner into sight; a newer horseless model, it looked sleek and black and barely big enough to fit four people in the cabin in front of its boiler. A wisp of steam trailed behind it as it rolled to a stop.

"This is pretty fancy," Rin said as he helped Planvi up onto the rear passenger bench. "It's yours?"

"My family's," the wolf said. "In a couple decades everybody'll have these."

"Maybe so," Rin said, smiling agreeably but skeptically. Most families didn't have horse-drawn carriages. "I'm Rin. This is Planvi."

"I'm Tam," the wolf said.

Vanya paused as she swung up in the seat by the wolf. "Tam?"

"Yes," he nodded, releasing the brake and opening up the engine again. The vehicle lurched forward in several chugs, then--as it built up speed--the ride became smooth.

Vanya hung on silently, brow furrowed. After they'd gone a few more blocks, the wolf threw a switch and a new higher-pitched hum joined the steam engine's chugging as the turbine spun up. The carriage started to build up speed faster.

"So, Carlion Temple? What's there? It's all pretty much ruins."

"So I've been told. But we're going to meet people there."

Thunder rolled in the distance, a bass echo under the steam engine's hiss and whine. "Meeting someone in ruins, at night? That's kind of ominous, ma'am."

She leaned out the window, looking behind them at black clouds gaining on the carriage with an unnatural speed, roiling like a stormy sea. When she stuck her head back in, she put her hand over the one Tam had on the throttle, and pushed the lever all the way forward.

"Yes," she said.

---

According to Vraini legend, Carlion was the half-divine son of Kirinaltha, the goddess responsible for transforming their small, four-footed, unintelligent ancestors into the Vraini. They held that it happened all at once, only thirty-odd generations ago; unlike other creation stories, theirs had been buttressed rather than undermined by science: evidence existed of Vraini going back in their modern form just under six hundred years, and no more. Vanya suspected their "goddess" was one of the faerie folk, beings nigh unto gods themselves. Most people didn't believe in faeries; the tales were simply too fantastic to be credible.

Most people didn't believe in vampires, either.

The temple the carriage sped toward was not, and had never been, a place of worship--it was rather a place of remembrance. Under its roof, so storytellers said, Carlion drew his last mortal breath, and was restored to divine life by his mother. Truthfully, though, no one knew who built Carlion Temple; scholars estimated it had been standing a thousand years before the first settlers in what would become Pravell laid eyes on it.

This was Rin and Planvi's first time in a turbine horseless carriage, and only Vanya's third. All three would have enjoyed it more under different circumstances. The cobblestone road had given way to gravel as they'd left the downtown area, and as that gave way to packed dirt for the last two miles to the temple, the howl of the rising wind had eclipsed the roar of the turbines.

"That's them?" Rin yelled, leaning forward toward Vanya. "They've found us that fast?"

"Narith's powerful," she said simply.

An unnatural keen sounded from the left side of the carriage; Planvi shrieked. A pair of green eyes winked out abruptly as Vanya and Rin both looked out.

"It's all right," Rin said hoarsely, hugging his son again. The words had barely left his lips when the carriage banged sharply to the side, then began rocking violently. Tam held the steering wheel more tightly, hunkering down over it, ears flat.

The side windows went black, and the roar of the wind faded to the roar of a thousand wings. Hawk-sized bats raced alongside and over the carriage, crowding it, obscuring the beam of the headlamps, threatening to bear it off its path.

"Keep on the road," Vanya hissed at Tam.

"I can't see the road!" he protested, jerking the wheel to the as the tires started to touch grass. The carriage lurched again, and he backed off on the throttle. The bats didn't slow down, becoming a blurry river of wings rocketing past them.

"We're almost there," Rin called.

Abruptly the stream of bats ended, and the travel become smooth again. The temple loomed ahead; its pale stone seemed to gather moonlight, casting it back out as a spectral glow.

As the carriage bumped upward the final stretch, Tam backed the throttle down, then cut the engine and, right in front of the fence surrounding the temple, pulled the brake lever. The vehicle lurched to an abrupt halt.

As the carriage's sounds died out, the solid chunk of the door deadbolts seemed unnaturally loud, set against only the hiss of wind in distant trees. The black clouds that had closely followed the carriage up the path were nowhere to be seen.

"It's quiet," Planvi whispered.

"I know," Vanya said, looking around, mostly up. The moon had a red haze around it. "Tam, stay here with the carriage."

"I... all right, mistress," he said, clearly uncomfortable. "If someone comes, I'll... uh..."

"Call for help," she said, taking his hand briefly. "But they're not after you. Just stay in the carriage."

He nodded, and climbed back up into it.

"Stay very close to me," Vanya instructed the two foxes. She marched toward the temple, toward the heavy oaken gate padlocked on one end set into a barbed wire fence surrounding the property. A sign hung from the lock: Temple of Remembrance of the Divine Child. Open Dusk to Dawn.

She didn't slow as she approached, clasping her fists together and swinging hard at the gate. It shattered down the middle, the two halves whipping back against the fence and splintering with secondary cracks nearly as loud as the first.

"Cool!" Planvi said, eyes wide as he looked back at the broken wood. The mouse took both of her companions' hands and led them along the stone-lined path toward the temple proper. She glanced over her shoulder at the carriage; it had become fuzzy and indistinct, all but invisible unless you knew precisely where to look. Far from her best charm, but it would have to do.

The temple had the decaying grandeur of all millennia-old structures. Wide polished stone steps rose twenty feet to the floor of the temple's open foyer, a ceiling another thirty feet high supported by unadorned square columns. The rest of the temple consisted of a single room past that, a sunken floor three steps under the level of the foyer open to the sky. An intricate tile design covered the whole of that floor, laid there after the building's original construction to tell the story of Kirinaltha and Carlion. Vanya had never seen it in sunlight, though, to see the scenes sparkle one after one another as the sun moved across the sky; she'd only seen it like this, long ago, lit in the muted greys and blues of moonbeams.

She slowed, leading them onto the floor, and looked around. Not even the sound of the wind could be heard now; when they went still, the only noise was that of their breathing.

"I don't like this very much," Planvi said. Even though his voice was a near whisper, it seemed to echo loudly.

A haze drifted across the sky, obscuring stars, dimming the moon. The light inside the temple shifted from pale blue to darker red.

All at once the wind resumed, building from a breeze to a gale in a matter of seconds. Trees around the temple swayed, branches cracking; the howl of the storm gained staccato accompaniment as pebbles and rock chips skittered across the temple steps and down the tiles.

"Hold on," Vanya said, voice barely audible over the wind as she strengthened her grip on Planvi's arm.

"I wanna go!" Planvi squealed abruptly. He squirmed his other hand free of his father's, and flailed toward the outside, straining against Vanya's hold. He seemed to be looking straight at... something outside.

"What is it?" Rin said, almost screaming.

Vanya pointed. Two figures stood outside the temple, by the fence; one had an arm raised, appearing to be holding out his hand. He made a beckoning motion, and Planvi struggled more desperately.

"I am not letting you go, child," she said, her voice carrying more clearly over the wind than before.

Someone laughed, the sound carrying just as clearly as Vanya's words. The figure's hand dropped, and the wind stopped, even more abruptly than it had started. Planvi went limp.

Both figures walked toward them, revealed by the red moonlight as they climbed up the temple's steps. One, the one whose hand had been out, was Char. The other figure, another human, wore the clothes of Achoren gentry--the high fashion of a hundred years ago: embroidered black tunic, similarly colored breeches, high black boots, and a wide gold belt. He stood tall, taller than Char, long brown hair tied in a neat ponytail behind him.

"I knew I'd see you again some time, my dear, but these were hardly the circumstances I'd have imagined," he said, voice low and clear. "The lioness keeping watch on the lamb."

"You should be over here," Char said. "With us. You know that." He held out his hand to Planvi again. "Come over here," he said to the fox cub.

Planvi whined, and twisted his hand free of Vanya's. He took two steps forward and then stopped. "I don't think I want to," he said, whimpering.

"How's the burn?" Vanya said.

Char's expression immediately darkened, and Narith sighed. "That was... unnecessary, you know."

"He would have killed Planvi."

"Would you have?" Narith said, lifting his brows and turning to Char.

"Of course not," Char said, clenching his fists. "I'm not the one who's killed children here."

"You will," Vanya said calmly.

"I'm not you, mouse," Char hissed.

Rin glanced nervously toward Vanya, and Narith laughed. "Surely your self- appointed guardian angel has told you how much she likes children." He walked lazily forward, then crouched, so his eyes were level with Planvi's. "The first was very much like you, Planvi. Close to your age, and a Rilima like Vanya. I believe the wound she made was from here"--with a quick, light motion he touched the right side of his neck, just below the back of his jaw--"to here." He traced the finger to a point barely touching his left shoulder.

Planvi looked back at Vanya. The mouse gazed back at him impassively.

"You see," Narith continued, standing up again, "your Rilima friend over there isn't as nice as she's told you."

"Char fed on him," Rin snarled. "Planvi, come over here now."

"Let him make his own choice," Narith murmured. He glanced up at Char, who stepped forward, holding out his hand toward the fox cub.

"Planvi," Vanya said softly, dropping to her own knees, and catching and holding his eyes with hers. "When you're a vampire it's very easy to hurt people, and very, very hard to know when you shouldn't."

"Did you... kill... the other mouse?" he said, voice small.

"Yes," she said after a few moments. "I did."

He whined. "Why would you want to hurt people? Why would Char?"

"Because--because we both made mistakes, and let Narith use those to hurt us," she said. "He told me that I could be a good vampire, even though being a vampire makes you want to do bad things. And then he told me I could do bad things and still be good. Because the more I did that, the more control he had."

"Oh, spare us," Narith said, rolling his eyes.

Vanya raised her voice, speaking over him. "And what he wants now is for Char to hurt your father by hurting you, because if Char breaks your father and enjoys it, Char will be broken, too--"

Char suddenly snarled and leapt at Vanya, knocking Planvi out of the way. The two vampires landed together, rolling across the floor. "Shut up!" he yelled, slamming the Rilima's head against the tiles with a crack that made both foxes cry out.

"I don't want to hurt the foxes, but I want to hurt you," he hissed, drawing back enough to lift a hand over Vanya's face and form a fist.

"Don't," Rin growled, charging forward and grabbing Char's arm. The action surprised the vampire enough that the Vraini moved the arm a few inches before Char yanked it away and hissed.

Then Char hurtled backwards. He hadn't gotten his hands on Rin before Vanya had slammed her fists up into his stomach.

The mouse sat up, rubbing the back of her head, then rose to her feet.

"Come here, Planvi," Char wheezed, sitting up from where he'd fallen. The fox cub whimpered, staring in the human's direction.

"Don't even try," Vanya snarled.

Char grinned nastily, breathing hard as he staggered to his feet. "Did you know vampires can call lightning?" he said. "Narith didn't teach you everything." He took a deep breath, and brought his hands together. Lightning arced from his hand to Vanya--but she wasn't there. The bolt cracked into empty tiles, breaking and blackening them.

Vanya's arm went around Char's neck from behind. As he cried out in surprise, her other hand went to his stomach, claws pressing against it--then being driven into it, through his shirt, like spikes. He bucked and screamed. "Did you know vampires can become mist?" she said in his ear. "I've been doing this for a lot longer than you have, child."

Blood poured out of the wounds she'd made; when she pulled her hand free, it made a sickeningly wet noise, and he fell to the tiles at her feet.

"What is it you're planning to do?" Narith snapped, sounding less angry than impatient. "Do you want to extract a promise from us to leave these two Vraini alone? Just ask."

Vanya set her sandaled foot down on Char's chest; when he tried to get up, she stomped down hard enough to make cracking noises. "Your word is meaningless."

"You can't... kill me," Char gurgled. "Even vampire magic... can't kill vampires."

The mouse dropped into a crouch over him. "Is that what Narith told you?"

He nodded, trying to catch his breath. The blood from the stomach wound had stopped flowing, but he still looked horrific.

"He's right." She held up one of the spikes. "This isn't magic."

Char's eyes widened.

"Vanya!" Narith said, shocked.

The Rilima jammed the spike down into Char's chest, and drove it all the way through him with the palm of her other hand. Blood gushed out for a moment, splashing over her, then became a steady flow, the pool spreading quickly.

The vampire began to scream, struggling furiously, kicking. Vanya gritted her teeth, holding the spike in place for the few seconds it took for him to slump, blood flowing out of his mouth.

"I wouldn't have killed him," he whispered. "I'm good. I'm good."

"I couldn't take that risk," Vanya said, her tone flat.

His eyes met hers, but he fell silent.

"Damn you," Narith said, softly, sounding almost hurt. "Do you know what you've done?"

Vanya stood up, looking at Rin and Planvi. The cub had huddled against his father now, whimpering, eyes shut. Rin held onto him, staring at the mouse fixedly.

"I had plans for him," Narith said, voice rising. "So much promise. And you've--you've killed your own kind!" He stepped forward, expression incredulous. "For what? Do you think this will save your pet foxes?"

"Not yet," she said, turning to face him. "I'm not finished."

He stared at her, expression growing even more incredulous. "You plan to fight me, child?" The wind outside began to pick up once more.

"I don't see that I have a choice."

"You can come back home," he said, voice full of anger and promise. "I'll--find some way to forgive you for all you've done, if you atone."

"I don't have anything to atone for," she said, keeping her voice level.

"Oh, do not play this game with me," he snapped, sweeping his arms to the side. A blast of cold wind blew the leaves and stones away in swirling vortexes. "You haven't changed. You wanted the power I offered you."

"I didn't know--"

"The cost?" he broke in, tone now mocking. "You knew it full well. You knew what you'd no longer be able to do, and everything you'd now have to do. You paid that cost willingly."

Vanya gritted her teeth, and her voice shook. "You've already tried to break me once. You're not going to do it now."

Narith laughed, and hundreds of chittering voices, unseen, laughed with him. Planvi looked around wildly and burrowed against his father, tail curling down. "Try? Don't lie to yourself, mouse-child. I broke you a century ago. I broke you when you opened the throat of your little brother."

Vanya closed her eyes, pain clouding her features.

"And you drank," he continued, stepping closer, voice lower, triumphant. "And you enjoyed it."

"Shut up," she hissed, clenching her hands into fists. When she opened her eyes again, they glowed dimly, the same color as the moon's unnatural haze.

"Don't fool yourself, child." Narith said, smirking, taking another step closer. "Don't blame me for what you did. All I did was show you what you are."

Vanya raised her fists over her head and brought them down as if slamming them against a table. Lightning cracked down not from her hands but from the sky itself, striking the ground with a searing, impossibly bright line that lit the entire room as bright as day for an instant. The tiles under Narith exploded from the strike.

As the light faded, Narith coalesced into solid form several yards away from where he'd been. "And I've been doing this a lot longer than you," he said softly, his smile almost regretful now.

Rin grabbed Planvi and dashed toward the back wall, taking cover near one of the columns. "You won't be safe over there," Narith called, voice almost sing- song. "She'll still be able to find you. When she stops pretending she's a protector of the innocent, then what, hmm?"

Breathing hard, Vanya raised her hands again. This time Narith raised his, too, in a flinging gesture. The Rilima flew backward, crashing into one of the columns hard enough to chip it and collapsing in a heap by it.

He walked leisurely toward her as she staggered to a sitting position, eyes blazing.

"Well, well," he said with a mocking smile. "The stone mouse finally shows emotion again. And hatred's such a comfortable one, isn't it?"

She launched herself at him.

Neither of the two foxes could follow her motion, and from Narith's momentarily startled look, neither could he. One moment she was crouched; the next moment, he flew backward, Vanya's hands around his throat. They slid several yards together after he hit the ground.

They rolled over, his hands now around her throat as well, and he kicked her hard enough to make her grip loosen. He threw her backward and sprang to his feet. "I haven't had this much fun in years," he muttered, rubbing his throat.

Vanya got to her own feet and whirled toward him again. He spread his arms wide, and flew backward under his own power, feet just an inch off the tile floor, right toward Rin and Planvi. Rin growled, grabbing his son, and started to run--but Narith was there already, in the way. The elder Vraini backpedaled; Planvi screamed.

"Get away from them!" Vanya hissed, running.

"I keep saying, she's the dangerous one," Narith responded, tone conversational again. He glanced down at Rin. "Here, let me show you." He waved a hand, and Rin's knees buckled, his hand dropping off his son. Instantly, Narith leaned over and grabbed Planvi by the scruff of the neck, hauling him up.

"Let him go!" Rin snarled.

"You'll get your turn in a few minutes, I'm sure," Narith said. He shoved his boot against Rin's shoulder, knocking the fox back again. "But this is between Vanya and I."

Vanya came up short, just within an arm's length away. "I won't let you do anything to him," she said, voice tight.

He held Planvi out in front of her. "Says the woman with bloodstained clothes, glowing red eyes and fangs," he said dryly. "You can see her fangs now, can't you, Planvi?" He pointed with his free hand; both foxes looked at Vanya's muzzle. Her normal square incisors had all but vanished, wolf-like canines visible instead. "You should have stayed with nice Uncle Char. With him gone, I'm afraid Aunt Vanya's going to rip your cute little throat out."

Vanya looked directly at Narith and growled. There was nothing mouse-like about the noise at all.

The elder vampire fixed his gaze on her. "Don't pretend you're not thinking about it. How have you lived all this time since you left me? Have you lived well? You've tried to forget how much pleasure there is in your powers. But you can't forget, and you can't stop." He smiled knowingly. "You still charm people, like that wolf toy out in the carriage. A look. A touch. A kiss. And they're yours. You play with them until you're bored, and then you eat them." He said this in a perfectly reasonable tone: of course that's what you do.

"Put. Him. Down."

"She wants to kill you," Narith whispered in Planvi's ear. "Don't be upset with her, though. She can't help it."

"No!" the fox cub yelled, twisting and trying to punch at the human.

"Just look at her," he continued to whisper, turning Planvi back to face Vanya, holding his head there until the cub looked as transfixed with fear as Tam had with love and lust. "You can feel it. Don't tell me you can't."

Planvi began to wail.

"Oh, no. Don't do that," Narith said, stroking a finger along Planvi's neck. "Fear's as good as blood."

Vanya closed her eyes again, shaking violently.

Narith stepped forward. "You can feel it too, can't you?" He touched Vanya's shoulder and her eyes snapped open. They had become solid red.

Planvi started to scream, then stuffed a paw in his mouth, eyes wide. Narith raised the cub up, then tossed him forward.

Vanya caught him reflexively, then looked down at him, expression cold. Planvi shrank back, scrabbling to get away, but she put her arms around his waist, lifting him up in front of her, and bared her teeth like a wolf, mouth opening wide.

Rin made a choking noise. Narith crossed his arms.

Planvi whimpered, very quietly.

Vanya began to tremble, and slowly lowered Planvi to the ground. She dropped her arms away from him, stepping back, taking a long, shuddering breath.

Narith's expression grew confused, then, over several seconds, outraged. "Fool," he spat. He swept his arms hard to the side again, and this time the wind caught Planvi, the child flying backward as if struck by a wrecking ball. He slammed into the temple's wall a full four feet off the ground, dropping down to the stone floor in a heap.

Vanya stared at Planvi's crumpled form, making a soft, strangled noise, then looked back at the human. Her eyes no longer showed fire. Now they showed ice.

She began to walk forward.

Narith raised both hands, and bats streamed into the temple, pouring in from the sky, swarming around Vanya, shrieking angrily. After a moment a thunderclap sounded, and the bats flew in all directions as if caught in a bomb blast.

Snarling, he rose into the air over her, flinging both hands down. Lightning arced toward her. She didn't turn to mist this time; instead, a wall of blue sparks abruptly encircled her, and the lightning dissipated.

Narith's eyes widened, then narrowed. He dropped down directly at her, his own wolflike teeth bared.

The mouse leapt straight up into the air, narrowly missing him with her body--and backhanding him as she passed by. His dive became a tumble, and he hit the tiles below on his side and shoulder, letting out a cry of pain.

As she dropped back down toward him, his form blurred and flowed, reforming as that of a huge, black wolf, eyes glowing an unnatural green. She didn't realize how huge it was until it sprang to its feet, growling, teeth bared; she didn't even come to its shoulder.

She crouched, and the wolf circled, almost sneering. Then it lunged for her. Vanya swung her fists together at its head, knocking it in the jaws; it staggered, then lunged again, faster than she could swing again. Its huge muzzle fastened around her waist, lifting her up into the air. The teeth dug in painfully. She might be able to recover from being bitten in half, but it was best not to find out. She flowed out into mist--

--then flowed back, as the wolf parted its jaws and inhaled with unnatural strength. She turned back to normal and stopped moving backward abruptly, the wolf making a gagging noise; she found herself in its mouth, legs partially down its throat, her upper third sticking out.

Narith-wolf shook his head violently, shaking her, too, then growled, biting down. Or he tried to. Vanya braced her hands against the wolf's powerful jaws, and pushed back with all her strength.

His growl became one of pain. He shook even more violently, but she didn't let go, forcing his jaws open, and open even more--

The wolf disappeared, and Vanya hit the ground, partially covered in drool.

Narith reformed as a human some yards away, chest heaving, looking like he was going to throw up.

"I wouldn't have thought of eating someone so literally," she said, catching her own breath.

"Well," he wheezed. "You're just not creative enough."

Vanya rolled to all fours. "Have you seen this one?" She slammed a fist against the tile floor.

A crack raced from her fist toward Narith, the tiles shifting and fracturing. When the crack reached him, it widened sharply. He tumbled into the newly formed pit.

"Fool," he wheezed again. "I'll just--"

As Vanya stumbled to her feet, the pit filled with flame.

Narith's threat became screamed obscenities. He'd managed to pull himself halfway out by the time she reached him.

He tried to grab for her feet; she slammed one down on his hand, hard, then dropped into a crouch and rolled him over, his legs still in the fire. She held the second stake over him.

"You don't hate me enough for that," he said, staring up with a dull expression.

"For a long time, hating you was what kept me going," Vanya said, still breathing hard. "But you're right. I don't hate you. Not now."

He smiled, hollowly, knowing he'd lost the physical battle but seeing one last opening.

"What you showed me is what you are. You can't be anything else. I don't hate you for that. I don't pity you for it. But it ends now." She grabbed the stake with both hands and plunged it into his chest, hammering it in hard enough for the tip to exit his back.

He roared, clutching fingers at her arms, digging them into her flesh enough to draw blood. The wind howled frantically around both of them; he growled like the wolf he had been, and tried to throw her off him. Lightning crackled around her, setting her clothes and fur to smoldering.

Vanya held on to the stake, holding it in place, as his struggles grew more frantic.

He flooded her mind with memories and dreams--of her brother, of the romance he and she had once shared, of past kills, of everything she could achieve with the power she had. He was content to amuse himself here in Pravell with those he could catch; she could do anything, if she chose. She could rule the Empire from behind the scenes--

The thoughts he'd tried to overwhelm her with became fragmented, incoherent with pain, and finally she got to her feet, swaying unsteadily, looking down at her former master. "Goodbye, Narith."

He died with an expression of genuine confusion frozen on his face.

Vanya stumbled toward Planvi. Rin had crawled to the cub, and cradled his son's form to him. The little, crumpled yellow flower he'd tried to give Vanya lay nearby, along with the rest of what had been in his pockets, scattered when he'd struck the wall.

Rin looked at Vanya haggardly, oblivious to the blood and scorch marks covering her. "I can't... hear anything..." he murmured. "Is he... going to be..." He searched her face despairingly.

She gathered the cub into her arms, clenching the flower in one fist. Even this close, she couldn't detect any breath in him; she could sense all the wounds inside. Shutting her own eyes, she slumped against the wall, holding Planvi tightly. A second later, Rin let out a tortured, ragged breath, and she felt his head hit her shoulder.

"This isn't fair," she whispered hoarsely. "After all this, you're not allowed to die." She hugged Planvi's body to her tighter still, and buried her muzzle in his hair. Rin began sobbing almost silently.

She didn't know how much time went by, the fire in the pit slowly dying out. Then she felt Planvi's nose press against her lips. Vanya drew back, startled, letting go of the flower and nearly letting go of Planvi as well.

Rin sat bolt upright, staring at his son. "You're--you're--" He hugged Planvi as tightly as Vanya did, both of them at the same time. Planvi licked both of them on the nose weakly.

"I... thought you weren't gonna make it there," Rin said, voice still choked.

"I don't feel very good," Planvi whispered. He looked at Vanya. "But I knew you wouldn't hurt me."

Vanya pressed her cheek against his, closing her eyes.

"You fixed my flower," Planvi said after a moment.

"What?" Vanya drew back again.

Planvi touched his hand to hers. The yellow rose she held looked almost freshly picked now, no damage other than dust.

"I couldn't have," she said, staring at it.

"But you're magic."

She shook her head, looking down into the cub's eyes. "Vampires... vampires can't heal, Planvi."

Rin reached up to her cheek, wiping away a line of tears. "Can they cry?" he said softly.

---

Rin's apartment, despite being a two-bedroom flat, wasn't much bigger than Vanya's hotel suite. She sat on the couch, a Vraini to each side of her; it was past midnight, and long past the time Planvi should be in bed. But neither she nor Rin would be chiding him for that tonight.

"I don't want you to leave," Planvi whined, for at least the eighth time in an hour.

Vanya sighed, smiling down at him. "I know."

Rin set down his wine glass and took one of Vanya's hands in both of his. "You don't have to leave," he said, looking fidgety himself. "I... wish you'd stay, too."

She squeezed his hand lightly. "And what do you think would happen if I stayed? We'd go on dates in the dead of night? Would I move into your spare room, keeping all the shades drawn?"

He smiled lopsidedly. "Neither of those sounds like a bad idea to me."

Touching her fingers to his muzzle, she tilted it toward her and gave him a soft kiss. "Meet someone you can watch the sunrise with, Rin. Someone who'll grow old with you."

Sighing, he gave her a tight hug. "I may still be mortal, but I can't go back to the old life I had now, you know. You've changed it."

Vanya closed her eyes, saying nothing.

"You have to come back, you know. When you can."

"I'll try to."

Planvi tugged on her tail. "Promise!"

She broke the hug and looked back at the cub.

"Promise!" he repeated.

"I promise, Planvi. I'll be back every year."

The cub's brow furrowed, and he ran to his room.

Vanya looked at Rin uncertainly. He shrugged and said simply, "A year's an awfully long time."

She smiled at that, but said nothing.

Planvi ran back out of his room. "So you won't forget," he said. He handed her the yellow rose, still uncrumpled. "You keep it."

She took the rose and carefully put it in her breast pocket, the flower sticking out like a corsage, then leaned over and gave Planvi a kiss. "I will."

When she stepped outside, down to the street, Tam opened the carriage's passenger door for her.

She paused before getting in, and touched his arm lightly. "Tam?"

"Mistress?" he said, looking startled.

She leaned up and gave him a light kiss.

The L'rovri jerked slightly at the kiss, as if he'd been shocked, then looked around as if he'd just woken from a dream. He stared at her for several long seconds, and rubbed at his neck with two fingers.

"Am I free to go?" he whispered hoarsely.

She nodded once, and stepped back from the carriage.

Tam kept looking at her for long seconds, expression unreadable, then walked around to the driver's side door and got in. Vanya started to swing the passenger door shut, but he leaned across and said, "Where are you going?"

"I don't know. North, maybe."

He looked past her, at Rin and Planvi's house, then back at her. "Get in."

It was Vanya's turn to stare.

"You don't want to be traveling alone. There's a lot of dangerous things out at night," he said with a faint grin.

After a moment, she laughed, and climbed in.