Forgiveness and Punishment

55

Karen stares morosely at the walls of the house. They've lived in the small town for almost a month now, and Karen still has yet to leave for anything other than hunting. "We'll be returning to the seethe tomorrow. You need time with Melissa. After that we'll come back here if you still wish." Cliff tells her coming into the room where she sits staring at the walls.

"It doesn't matter, Cliff." He had made sure that she stopped calling him sir, he didn't like the formality.

Cliff frowns. He thought that by now Karen would be not only in need of her maker, but able to eat on a more stable diet. He takes a closer look and finds the bond between Melissa and Karen very faint. At first that could have been attributed to Melissa having needed help in turning Karen, but not now.

"Tell me, Karen, do you feel the need to return to the seethe for any reason?"

Karen gives out a bitter laugh, short and sharp. "No, that place has only been hell for me. I miss Melissa and Tad and in the end Timothy had been nice to me, but the others would have preferred me dead to having made the transition. They only reason they didn't let me die that night was because it would likely kill Melissa. I know that. I am aware of just how unwanted I am there."

"Tell me, Karen, who told you about that night? You were unconscious for almost the whole time after we came back from the fund raiser. You were conscious only long enough to tell us it would be better to die."

"No one had to tell me. It was all over their faces when they saw me. It was in how they treated me. It was in their thoughts..." Karen trails off.

"Fuck. Pack your things, Karen, I don't know how you managed to hide it, but you are a psychic vampire. It explains why you haven't gone into a blood lust when you haven't eaten enough food or blood to keep any one else alive."

"It's not possible. Timothy looked at me carefully after I woke up and asked me a ton of questions to figure out just what kind of vampire I was."

"Karen, Timothy is a great leader, but sometimes he's not the most observant of people. He should have understood once he knew that you couldn't keep food down. I should have understood at that point. Hell you've been living with me for over a month and I still didn't notice or pay much attention to how little blood you've taken. Not even with the sex you've had would it be enough to sustain you without you going into a full flown frenzy. Not with you being a baby. I might be able to but never a new born."

"Cliff, do me a favor, and kill me?" Karen says hopelessly.

"I can't, Karen, I'm sorry. Melissa would kill me and likely start a full blown purge to take her anger out."

Karen manages to cough out half a chuckle but that was all. "Right." Her voice is filled with disbelief.

Before Cliff could say anything else the doorbell sounds making Cliff frown. "Are you expecting any one?"

"Me?" Karen looks at him and rolls her eyes.

"Right, the original introvert. You know vampires don't make good introverts.

"Then let me show you the first introverted vampire." Karen mutters under her breath, but it's loud enough that Cliff hears her and laughs.

For this town Cliff had changed his looks to that of a young man to be closer in age to Karen in looks.

He opens the door and loses his amusement and says angrily, "What the hell are you doing here? Haven't you done enough damage to her?"

The person hands him an envelope and waits as he opens it and reads it. "Shit! You better come in, but she's not going to like it that you are here." Cliff says moving out of the way and allowing the vampire into his home.