The bright blue drink on the table was bubbling pleasantly. The food was steaming. Pasta with red sauce and sausage sat on the table in front of her. As did a single gold mor.

  Somehow, that had found its way into her possession. She wasn’t even sure how. It had just been in her pocket when she woke. Well, she did know how. Magic, obviously. But nothing she had done consciously.

  She’d told the robots to drag a table out to the street so she could look at the ocean while she ate. They’d only protested a little. In time, she’d really have to see about rewriting these things to be a little more compliant. Although, that was definitely outside her skillset.

  “But I got the time to learn.”

  The robot next to her turned its digital customer service smile her way.

  “What would you like to learn? We have many programs–”

  “Shh.”

  The robot stopped talking.

  “That was a hell of a time. I wonder if they’re all going to be that exciting.”

  “Here at the resort we have many exciting–”

  “Shut up and listen. Actually, consider this a diary entry. Record it, don’t do anything else.”

  The robot’s face nodded and then transformed into a microphone icon. Lhexa had preferred the face. The illusion of an audience would have been welcome, but there was nothing to do about it.

  “Old Las Vegas. With vampires. Who’d have guessed? So, am I going back in time? That seems wrong. Didn’t see any non humans. Probably an alternate Las Vegas? Mmm.”

  She took a bite of the pasta. It really was great. Luxury food, made fresh just for her. She’d told the robots to shut down every restaurant on the pnet save for ones she asked to open just for her, and store all the food for as long a term as possible. If she truly had eternity, she’d run out eventually. But, she had lifetimes worth of preserved food in the meantime.

  “What was with those emotions too? The bloodlust was intense. Was all that coming from Marie? Every time I decided not to go killing people I had to really fight the urge for it. Now that I’m here, I don’t feel that way anymore. Not that I regret any of it. Just, I don’t think I’d have to struggle with the choice.”

  The robot’s icon changed to an excmation point. Lhexa rolled her eyes in response.

  “What?”

  “If you would like to speak to a therapist about desires to harm yourself or others–”

  Lhexa kicked the robot.

  “No. I told you to listen.”

  It went back to diary mode.

  “Vampires though, huh? I wish I knew more about them. They suck blood, and can’t go out in the daytime. Sleep in a coffin? Hope that’s not a rule. What else… Can they turn into bats…?”

  For a few minutes she just sat and watched the sea, lost in her thoughts. It was just a little unsettling, knowing how far down the ocean went, even just right there at the fake beach. The sand was held up on a floating ptform, and under it was miles of water. With the prison below empty, she’d need to find some other way to keep up maintenance before too long. If all the isnds on this world eventually sank, it’d be a problem for her.

  It was so exciting. She had a whole new life to live. Two! One here on this pnet, and one in Marie’s world. She’d have to figure out how dividing her time worked better. Could she be in two pces at once? How would that feel? Even if she had to pick and choose, she could go be Marie any time she wanted. Py around in that world to her heart’s content, and then come back here to think.

  Well, and be pampered. She wasn’t looking forward to waking up under all that garbage, but knowing that she could come back here and take a bath in a replica hot spring definitely made that pill a little easier to swallow.

  The pain had been nearly unbearable in the moment too. But, now it felt like a dream. Even then… Something deep down inside her smiled. It wasn’t as if she liked the pain and misery exactly. But it was… something. It was life. It wasn’t boring. All of her days as an idol. All of them had been so boring. Now her life was exciting. That was all.

  “Life is measured in absolute value after all. And I want to live.”

  That was it. Her one true belief. She held it in her heart. She wanted to live. And all of these extremes? They were what life was. She was starving for it. She wanted more. All of the joy and horror of it. She wanted to feel something, instead of nothing. No matter what the something was. Even better if it was a bit of everything.

  No wonder her spell had taken her to Marie. They had a lot in common. Girls devoured by the society around them. But, more than that her potential was amazing. The potential for wonder, and the potential for horror. Would she end up getting her revenge and living the high life as a vampire, or would she get tracked down and tortured to death by the vampire mafia?

  Lhexa ughed. And that was just the first world she visited. The first one! Her heart was full of excitement just imagining all of the pces she would see, all of the experiences she’d have.

  “Thank you Ena. My goddess. This gift has been everything. Watch me close, ‘cause I’m gonna get even more interesting from here okay?”

  There was no reply. But, Ena was a goddess. So, naturally she’d be watching. Right?

  Her meal was done. Robots came to collect the dishes, and clean the table. She had to grab the mor to make sure it didn’t get taken away and trashed. When she touched it though, something happened.

  She felt… her body. Like being asleep and dreaming, and being aware at the same time that you can feel your physical body in bed. It was a strange sensation to have while awake. But, she thought if she leaned into it… she could probably go back.

  That was good. But she wasn’t ready yet. So, she pocketed the tooth and turned to the robot.

  “Hey, stop recording. Tell me everything you know about vampires.”

  The robot instantly switched back to its smiling digital face.

  “Of course! Would you like me to begin by reading you a cssic vampire novel?”

  Lhexa sighed.

  “No. Just aggregate information about vampire myths and stories and tell me about the common aspects.”

  “Very well! Vampires from legend came to exist as an amalgamation of stories from cultures all over the world. Although the vampires we are familiar with today borrow heavily from European tales in particur.”

  “I don’t care where they’re from. Tell me about what they can do. Powers, weaknesses, that sort of thing.”

  “The cssic vampire must drink blood to survive. It may or may not be able to consume other foods as well. Vampires often have supernatural powers including shapeshifting, charming people with magic, flight, supernatural strength, and the ability to read minds. Cssic vampires also have a number of weaknesses, including the inability to enter pces without permission, the inability to cross running water, garlic, holy water, crosses, and most notably burning under the light of the sun.”

  Inability to enter pces without permission? Garlic? Crossing running water? What?

  “Well that gives me a few things to think on at least. I’m going to be sleeping for a while. Lead me to a bed. While I’m asleep I want you to bring me clothes in several styles that will fit my body comfortably.”

  “Very well! Right this way!”

  The robot puttered off, and Lhexa followed. It was time to go back. Time to be a vampire for a while. Time to get some more answers.

  Lhexa opened her eyes.

  She was standing in front of a pool. The smell of chlorine barely reached her nose around the stench of the garbage that clung to her. Sticky fluid was congealed on her face and neck, running down her shoulder and back. She reeked. But she had no more tears to cry. No more vomit to expel. Her hair was matted and uncomfortable.

  But, the pool was right there.

  Why didn’t she wake up in the dumpster…?

  Then she remembered. It all came back in an instant rush.

  She remembered waking in the dumpster. She remembered screaming, cwing her way to the surface of the can and the fresh night air. The light of the sun was still visible on the horizon. She remembered falling out of the can and onto the concrete next to it, and hurling. Thinking she would never be clean again.

  The only thing that got her moving was when the man running the gas station had come to see what the noise was about. So she had run. Run into the night. The city was getting darker by the minute. The bright lights of the city center were visible from almost anywhere, and it seemed to cast the rest of the town into even more darkness. Most roads didn’t even have streetlights, so it was easy to stay away from people. She could see just fine, but her power had otherwise left her. No strength, no jumping, no anything. She was hungry too.

  It was a pleasant little suburb. Although the desert air made her feel awfully dried out. She could see the lights of the Vegas strip from here, luring in its victims to drain them dry. Not so different from her.

  But she was aimless. She wasn’t sure where to go. Her power had faded, and she was forbidden from seeking her revenge. So she simply wandered in her misery. Wandered until she found herself at the pool.

  Then, she had awakened.

  Lhexa was dizzy with the memories. What the hell was that? She hadn’t done any of that. The body was still active while she wasn’t inhabiting it? Well, it’d be better than it being comatose she supposed. Was that… Marie? Someone or something else? She had been forbidden from acting in certain ways? Ways Lhexa had decided not to act.

  For now she shook it off. The pool was in front of her. Tantalizing. She could get clean. But weren’t vampires not supposed to cross water?

  She experimentally waved a hand over the pool. Nothing happened. She knelt down and put her hand in the water. It felt cool to the touch, and a thin film of gross left her skin to float at the surface of the water in an instant. It felt… fine.

  Was it because it wasn’t running water? Or was that part just a myth? Either way, Lhexa couldn’t stand it anymore. She jumped in.

  The first sensation of the cool refreshing water washing over her skin and separating a vast amount of filth in the process was bliss. The second sensation of sinking like a stone was the opposite of that.

  Lhexa’s eyes opened. She stared up through the blurry water to the surface, and tried to swim. Her feet remained firmly on the bottom of the pool. She jumped, and made it barely two feet. The pool was deep. Her fingers didn’t even breach the surface.

  Panic flooded into her heart. She was going to drown. Just like that! The very first thing she did after her escape! Drowning in some backyard pool in suburbia! She spotted a dder made to make getting out of the pool easier.

  Salvation!

  She walked along the bottom of the pool, the air in her lungs feeling like it was straining to break free. She jumped again, and barely, barely grabbed onto the dder!

  A horrible wrenching tearing sound was loud enough for her to hear underwater, as the dder broke free and fell into the pool with her.

  She screamed, and the air inside her finally burbled its way out. And then… nothing happened. Ten seconds passed. Twenty. Consciousness didn’t leave her. Water didn’t rush into her airways and strangle the life out of her. Well, some did, and it hurt a little. But, only a little.

  Right. She didn’t need to breathe. She just felt like she did. The fear was overwhelming for a minute. The feeling of suffocating, but without any of the physical effects. The physiological panic surged through her and instinct screamed at her that she was dying.

  But she wasn’t. Lhexa focused. She wasn’t an animal to be controlled by instinct. She was stronger than that. With great effort, she forced herself to take control of her body back. She wasn’t dying. It just felt like she was dying.

  For a brief second, a feeling welled up in her. Life, measured in absolute value. This, as horrible as it was, was fulfillment too. The feeling passed.

  It was time to get out of this damn pool. She reeled back, and punched the wall of the pool hoping to make a hand hold. No use. Her strength really had left her. But more than that, being underwater limited her movement a lot as well.

  She tried climbing onto the dder for a better jump. It crumbled underneath her. Why was she so damn heavy? Why was it so inconsistent? It was beyond frustrating!

  There didn’t appear to be a shallow end of this pool either. It was just a rge basin. Well, shit. Shit shit shit! Was she just going to have to wait here for something to happen? Someone to notice her?

  …Or, she realized with dawning horror, for the sun to come up?

  Nope. No. No way. That would be such a stupid way to die. What if she removed her clothes and made a rope to tie onto the nubs left by the dder? Stupid. They’d rip. If she could even do that.

  A spell? With what components? How was she supposed to sing? No. That wouldn’t work either.

  A spsh caught her attention. The surface of the water had been disturbed. A barbell with a rope tied to it sank to the bottom of the pool. Lhexa wasn’t going to question it. She grabbed the rope and tried to pull herself up. Instead, she just succeeded at pulling the rope down.

  Fuck.

  She tried again. There was more resistance the second time, but the same thing happened. She was thinking of what to do, when she felt two tugs on the rope, and vaguely heard a voice. Something about staying put and holding on?

  A minute passed. A minute and a half. If she was an ordinary human, she’d definitely be dead by now. But, she wasn’t. So, she held on. Suddenly, the rope was yanked forwards. She held on as tightly as she could. Her body was pulled to the side of the pool in an instant. She pnted her feet against the wall and held onto the rope.

  It was hard. But she had to climb the wall. Somehow the rope was being pulled out. It was so hard to hold on! Her grip was slipping. Slipping. The rope was burning her skin. Just when she thought all was lost, the barbell came back into view. Lhexa pnted her feet on it as it rose, and finally her fingers breached the surface of the water. She scrabbled as hard as she could and pulled herself out onto the wn.

  Water forced itself from her airways as she coughed and coughed it out in horrible spshes. The smell and taste of chlorine was going to be inside her for days, she already knew. But as air finally rushed its way into her lungs again, and she rolled over onto her back to see the stars in the sky, she felt the relief rush over her. Gncing around, she saw the truck that had been used to pull her out, the rope still tied to it securely.

  A woman’s face came into view. An older woman with a tired expression. Faded red hair in a messy ponytail. Lines on a face that spoke more of sterness than joy. But bright green eyes that looked down at Lhexa with a mix of worry and curiosity.

  Lhexa couldn’t help it. She ughed. Laughed at the absurdity of the situation, at the look on the woman’s face, and at the sheer joy of being alive and relieved of the disaster.

  “Are you okay, miss?”

  Lhexa’s ughter gave way to giggles.

  “I’m alive, ain’t I?”

  The woman’s face made her seem unsure.

  “Sure…”

  Lhexa sat up, and shook off a little. The stench of garbage was still clinging to her a bit. But the worst of it had come off in her struggle. Her clothes were ruined, and she was a mess. But she was alive.

  “You uh… wouldn’t happen to have some clothes I could borrow would ya?”

  The woman seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and some of the tension drained from her.

  “Come on dear. Let’s get you inside and dried off. Can you walk?”

  Lhexa nodded in reply and got to her feet. But as she followed the woman, something started to overtake her. She was hungry. Before she knew what she was doing, she was reaching forward. Her hand was almost at the woman’s back. She just needed to grab her, pull her head to the side and–

  No. She shook herself out of it. No. This woman was helping her. She was in a bad situation. On the run. She needed a pce to hide. She needed help. She should try to get as much help as she could from the woman. Then she’d eat her. Maybe.

  So, she followed, pushing down those desires. The floor creaked a little when she stepped into the house, but nothing broke. The chair she was led to though was not so lucky. The woman gestured Lhexa to an old wooden chair next to a dining table, and the moment she sat down she was met by a loud groaning noise and a snap. The chair didn’t colpse, but it was clear it was struggling. Lhexa gave the woman a nervous smile.

  “I’ll get you a towel and some warm tea. You sit right there and don’t move a muscle okay?”

  “Sure! Sorry for the imposition.”

  The woman waved her hand and left the room for a minute, coming back with a towel. Then she put water on the stove while Lhexa tried not to wiggle too much and get dry at the same time.

  “You got anywhere to go? Someone I should be callin’?”

  “Uh… No Ma’am. Actually, if you could avoid mentionin’ me to anyone that’d be real nice.”

  That was met with a stern look.

  “Be on the level with me. You on the run?”

  Lhexa nodded. No use keeping that a secret. If it was a problem she could leave. Or bite into the woman’s neck and— No. She could leave. Lhexa would get control of these stupid urges. Although she knew she’d need to eat something sooner or ter.

  “From the fuzz?”

  Lhexa shook her head.

  “No! From some bad guys who want me dead. I got two timed and now I’ve got these schmucks after me!”

  The other woman sat down across from Lhexa at the table, and gave her an empathetic look.

  “Do they know where you are?”

  “I don’t think so. I managed to get away by hiding in a dumpster all day. Then I was so desperate to get clean I dove in the pool.”

  “Is that what happened? I just heard noise and fought to get you out. What happened to you down there?”

  She was giving Lhexa a strange look now.

  “I don’t know. I couldn’t get back up.”

  She lied. The woman shrugged it off too, thankfully. The kettle on the stove started whistling, so the woman got up and poured the tea. It smelled magical. Lhexa was so starved. As the woman was putting the cups in front of each of them she spoke up again.

  “Well, you can stay here for a while if you like. My home isn’t much, but my te husband left me enough to get by. I doubt any ‘bad guys’ will be looking for you at a reclusive woman’s house.”

  Lhexa stared at her in disbelief.

  “R-really? You’d do that for me? We just met and–”

  “Think nothing of it. My name’s Faye. What’s yours?”

  “It’s, um… Marie. I think.”

  The woman– Faye, almost ughed at that. It was the first time she’d seen her crack a smile.

  “You think? Don’t even know your own name?”

  “It’s just kinda complicated…”

  Lhexa was trying to stammer out an expnation, but tears were coming from her eyes. What the hell? Why was she crying? She felt so… hurt? Her heart hurt? And felt good at the same time. She didn’t understand the feelings. But they were pouring out of her. Faye said she could stay? Such kindness. It was overwhelming. And she had been thinking of eating this woman! She couldn’t do that!

  “I– I can really stay?”

  “Of course. We’ll see about getting you some new clothes in the morning too.”

  Oh shit. The morning. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. Don’t let that fuck this up for her. A pce to be.

  “Ah, um. I… actually can’t go out durin’ the day. I have a… crippling… sunlight… allergy?”

  Faye stared back at her.

  “Is that some kind of joke…?”

  “No Ma’am. It’ll really mess me up. The sun. I only got the nights to work with.”

  “Hmm.”

  Faye stared her down for a few seconds, then shrugged.

  “Alright. Well, I’ll get your sizes then. We can get it figured out.”

  Lhexa scooped up the wisps of magic that had formed from her intense emotion, and held them close to her chest. Thin as fabric, light as air, and a feeling that hurt because it was so lovely. Oh, to be a victim of such kindness. The tears fell, and Lhexa held onto the magic.

  “I’ll get you into a room. I’ve got a couple open, but we’ll have to cover the windows real good. You’ll have to tell me if I’ve made it dark enough.”

  “Thank you so much! I could always just go to the basement or somethin’.”

  Faye smiled at her again.

  “Nonsense girl. But just so I know how to help, what kind of monster are you exactly?”

  Lhexa spit out the first sip of tea she’d been taking. Both because of the question, and because it felt like poison the instant it touched her tongue. She coughed and coughed, but Faye just stared at her.

  “I’m not gonna judge. I just want to know.”

  “That’s… a bit of a yered question.”

  Faye’s face was back to a stern expression. Although, Lhexa was starting to think she just looked like that when she was rexed. Then the woman breathed out heavily.

  “We’ve got all night.”