A/N: I'm not sure yet if this is a sequel to Empty Reflection or merely a companion; but regardless, it takes place after ER. There are some obvious differences: I changed the point of view. (It's in 3rd person instead of 1st.) Elyse/Emma, although an important character, will probably not be the main one, since the chapter begins with her first fledgling's transformation. And there is slash. (I just couldn't resist.) But I hope you'll like it (I know I do.) Please review!

-K

A Different Kind of Desire

The body slides to the ground with a thud in front of the sixteen year-old girl, who flinches and draws back into her long black hair. She is young, but old enough to understand the concept of murder, to realize that the corpse by her feet was just killed by the woman standing over her.

"Feed, sweetheart. Go ahead." The girl hates the smirk on that woman's beautiful lips. The stranger is mocking her. Her forehead tingles uncomfortably for a brief second. "Corinne. Drink."

How does the woman know her name? Before a few hours ago they'd never even laid eyes on each other.

"You killed him," Corinne protests. She realizes this argument is stupid when she closes her lips and remembers she isn't breathing, either. "You killed me," she whispers.

The woman before her laughs aloud; her eyes shine in the scant light of the streetlamp. "I changed you, Corinne," she purrs, her voice sickeningly sweet. "There's a difference."

Corinne hates this woman, but can't ignore the burning in her stomach. It is not quite hunger but something else…a thirst, and when she turns her attention to it, the body in front of her looks inappropriately inviting. She licks her lips. Her eyes roam over his face, follow his jaw line down to his neck. She leans forward involuntarily and realizes he is not quite dead yet; she can hear his heartbeat, excruciatingly slow. The sound is enticing. Her hand inches forward, her palm scraping across the gritty asphalt, the pieces of loose gravel sticking to her skin. The young man's skin is still warm.

The woman's hand enters Corinne's vision and strokes her prey's throat. (Her prey? When did she begin calling it that? Why does that not sound right?) Two elegant fingers flex and a pair of sharp, manicured nails cut into the flesh of the neck; thick, red blood oozes out of the cut. Corinne shudders, entranced.

"I don't…"

Her objection is less than feeble; the sight of the blood is entirely too lovely. Without missing a beat, the sixteen year-old is suddenly upon the corpse, her lips latched onto his throat like a hungry leech. It isn't a choice, but more of a reflex that makes her push her teeth into the man's vein. The blood spills over her tongue and she swallows it without a thought otherwise. It is so good, and she comes to the realization of how painful the thirst ache was as she fills her belly with crimson life.

He's drained before Corinne is satisfied. She lifts her head, sits back on her haunches, stares at the woman that made her like this. Blood paints Corinne's lips and drips sluggishly down her chin.

"Who are you?"

The woman tosses her dark gold curls back and smiles viciously. Her teeth glisten in the moonlight, white, unlike the red-stained teeth of the child. "Elyse, my child, obedient little one. You are my fledgling."

Corinne accepts this with barely a blink of an eye (she is transformed). She licks her lips again, laps up the remainder of the blood. "I want more," she murmurs in reply. The bloodlust is still growling in her gut. She knows it won't leave her alone unless she feeds again.

Elyse smiles and holds out an icy hand. "Get up, my fledgling." Corinne reaches bloody fingers towards the woman from her position crouched on the ground (like an animal). When she stands, the grungy light reveals that her white shirt is smeared with the man's blood.

"What do we do with him?" The question is drawled and as casual as if she were asking what to do with the leftover food from dinner: do we put it in the refrigerator?

"I'll take care of it," Elyse whispers, baring her teeth. And she does. As Corinne watches, the vampire picks up the lifeless body and wipes off the blood on his skin as if caressing him, then dumps him ungraciously in the dumpster that shares this side street with them. She closes the top, sliding it shut with a clang.

Corinne giggles. "Somebody will find him."

A shrug. "There is no evidence." She looks down at the girl's shirt. "You might want to get rid of that; it might alarm the mortals."

"There is nothing underneath," Corinne objects, but the problem is solved when her sire slides off her jacket and hands it over. The younger girl takes off her shirt and pushes it into the dumpster after the man, unbothered by the fact that she is nearly naked in front of another woman. She puts on the coat and buttons it, then meets Elyse's eyes and smiles.

"What now?"

-vVv-

Elyse contemplates setting her new fledgling loose on the city they are in, but she knows that would only result in disaster. She has to teach the child to hunt (when she was never taught herself).

The girl's porcelain skin is almost transparent in the darkness as they walk down the street together, gaits aligned and equally silent. Elyse swells with pride at the fact that she chose such a beautiful fledgling. And a strong one, too. Corinne was independent before her change, living alone because her family disowned her. She would not be missed (another plus). Now, her lovely, wine-red hair hangs straight down, framing her delicately sculpted face, and her ebony eyes shine with the bloodlust. Excitement emanates from her; she no longer doubts the fact that she must drink human blood. Elyse is wondering if that is because she has given into instinct, or she really has no qualms about killing, about draining someone dry for her own contentment.

The older vampire is a whisper in the new fledgling's mind; she smirks with the information she finds, leads her down the street, onto another. The roads turn and turn, melding into one another, making Corinne's head spin. Her thoughts are fully concentrated on the prospect of another meal; the thought of the blood is like a drug she cannot wait to take a hit of. Twisting side streets should not be a concern.

They walk into a bar. Corinne blinks at the noise, her vision focusing on the couples in front of her. Men grinding other men, two girls pressed up against the wall, faces less than an inch apart. The crowd downs drinks like water and absorbs the music, making it their own with the way their bodies sway. Corinne cannot help but lick her lips.

A gay bar? She laughs, throwing her sire a sultry glance. You are…quite daring, to take me here on my first hunt.

I know what I saw in your thoughts, Elyse retorts, her tongue sharp. She pushes the girl into the crowd, then leans back against the doorframe to watch, a dangerous sneer lingering on her lips.

Corinne has been to a place like this before, once. She tries to push out the memory, because she has no wish to remember her best friend at a moment like this. The memory does remind her, however, of how easy it is to pick up someone at a gay bar. Her eyes sweep the crowd, but she is shorter than most and cannot see clearly above their heads. She opts for the bar.

Elyse's jacket stretches tightly over Corinne's breasts as she climbs onto a stool; immediately, she feels eyes on her. Almost laughs. It is the barista staring at her. The young vampire meets the human's eyes and cricks a lip, leans forward slightly.

"You want something?" The young woman asks, coming over to Corinne. The fledgling rips carelessly through the human's mind and finds the desire, the need for physical contact, and grins.

"Nothing, unless you feel like taking a break." Her voice is a purr, just audible above the music's roar. The bartender blinks, her full lips settling into a smile.

"I can do that." The lust is so obvious, barely contained in her husky voice. Corinne nearly laughs.

She follows the human out a side door into an alley, the bloodlust leaving no room for guilt at what she is about to do. She lets her prey take the dominating role, allows herself to be pushed almost violently against the alley's wall. Warm lips smash hungrily against hers, the human's desperation more than tangible. This girl's need to be loved, if only for the 15 minutes of her break, is unbelievable. Corinne slides her tongue between the human's lips, revels in the excitement of kissing a complete stranger. She allows her prey's hands to wander, letting out a soft moan when the girl yanks Corinne's hips to her own. The vampire's hands dance at the nape of the girl's neck while the human fumbles with the buttons of Elyse's jacket.

This is Corinne's opening, and she knows it. Goes in for the chance, lets her lips leave the girl's and instead trails kisses down past her cheek, nibbles on her earlobe, feels her shiver. The pulse is strong and heated beneath the skin of her throat and there is heat between them as the human slips her hands onto Corinne's ice-cold skin beneath the jacket, beneath the bra. Before the distraction infests her, too, Corinne coats the human's mind with assurance and bites into the throat. The blood is fresh, so much better than the half-dead man's she consumed moments ago.

She drinks the human dry. Elyse did not tell her how to feed and keep her prey alive.

Corinne knows she is finished when the girl shudders in her arms and the fingers on her breasts go stiff, turn cold. The body falls limp; Corinne swallows and drops it. Wiping her mouth, she emerges into the streetlamp's light, in front of the bar's entrance. The fluorescent light buzzes, the electricity gone rampant. Elyse? Her sire comes at her silent call, pushing through the bodies in front of the door to reach her fledgling. She looks Corinne up and down and the young vampire smiles a crooked smile.

Sated, she meets Elyse's gaze. The streetlight zaps out. "And now?"