Things changed after Willy left. For the first time since he'd stepped into the Sundown, Mitchell thought about leaving. There was a new bandleader, of course, one of the vampires who'd played in the band, but just wasn't the same, and he found himself thinking about killing - proper feeding - more and more. He slid Willy's song into the mailbox of a club the vampires in the band said had one of the best bandleaders around. He would have given it to him in person, but no one answered when he knocked and he wanted to avoid the crowds.

By the time he got back to the Sundown, it was nearly three o'clock in the afternoon, and the place was deserted. He let himself in - he didn't have to go through a doorman to get in anymore.

He started to help himself to a drink at the bar when he heard stirring in the girls' dressing room. He wasn't alone after all, it seemed.

He slipped into the dressing room. Ruby was sitting in front of a mirror, tweezers in hand, plucking her brows. She paused and looked in the mirror, expecting to see one of the other girls in the reflection, but she saw nothing. She turned as Mitchell approached her.

She jumped. "Mitchell!" she gasped. "Gosh, you scared me!" She laughed.

"Sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to." He smiled. "You look pretty."

"Oh, I'm a mess," she said, turning back to the mirror. "My makeup isn't done yet."

"You don't need it," he said, placing a hand on the back of her neck. He could feel her shiver.

She looked at him. "Did Cobbs send you in?" she asked.

"Oh," he said, looking back toward the bar. "Yeah. Yeah, he did."

"Oh, well, I wish he had told me. I would have gotten ready sooner." She smiled, and stood up. "Well, that's fine," she said, reaching for her spike necklace on the vanity.

He grabbed her wrist. "You don't need that," he said. "Don't you trust me?"

She looked up at him. "I... of course I trust you, Mitchell, don't be silly."

"Good," he said.

Mitchell wiped the blood from his face with the palm of his hand. He could hear someone entering the club - one of the other toadies, he guessed, getting ready for another night at the Sundown. Ruby was on the floor, halfway under the vanity. She was dead, as dead as you could get, and he felt great.

Charlie walked into the dressing room, carrying a box. Probably costumes or feathers or cosmetics. Mitchell smiled at him. There was no way he could see Ruby from where he was.

"What're you doing in here?" Charlie asked.

"Oh," Mitchell said, "I lent one of the girls my watch last night... thought it might be in here." He looked at the vanities and back at Charlie. "I guess it's not."

"OK," Charlie said.

Mitchell walked over to him. "Poker later tonight," he said, "I ain't lettin' you walk away with all that." He patted him on the side of his face. "You're going down."

"Heh, we'll see about that!"

"You're going down, mate," he said with a smile as he left.

Charlie shook his head. He put the box down on a chair near the vanities and opened it. One new costume for each girl. He pulled one out for Ruby and turned to place it on her vanity. That's when he saw her. He dropped the costume and rushed to her, falling to his knees beside her.

"Christ, she's gone cold," he said aloud in a panic. He looked around, unsure what to do, when he tasted blood on his lips. He touched his face, the spot where Mitchell had patted him. The blood was everywhere. And it was in that moment, kneeling over a dead girl, his face smeared in blood, that Bebe walked in. She didn't scream, she didn't cry, she didn't hesitate. It was over for Charlie in an instant.