Chapter Seven

Lacey was home when Manny arrived back at residence. She came bursting out of her room--not like Tanya, Manny noted, but like a burst of fire. She was only half-dressed in pajama bottoms and a bra, her hair scattered every which way and one large hoop earring still in her ear.

"In the middle of getting ready for bed?"

"Oh, don't distract me with questions! You were out with a boy! I want details! I'm using the best friend forever card and demanding that you give me all the hot details! I already know what happened that first time from Beth and Tanya. I want to know what happened with him tonight!"

Manny shook her head and put down her book bag in the kitchen. The aroma of Lacey's tea wafted around the kitchen and Manny helped herself to it, using her favorite mug. It had a picture of Poppa Smurf on it and a funny saying which had since rubbed off, but the little blue man remained. "There's not much to tell. He abducted me after classes and offered to drive me home. It just turned out that he meant his home."

"And then he drops you off here after midnight!"

She nodded, not bothering to tell her that it had been Professor McGugan and her Nissan, not Joshua of the red sports car, who had dropped her off home. "Lace, where's Beth and Tanya?"

"In bed. Why?"

Manny hesistated over sugar for her tea and decided not to add it. She was still on a bit of an adrenaline rush from being with Joshua, his blood leaving behind a residual feeling of calm energy that beat the pants off any amount of sugar. "Do you know people named Poppy and Ash Redfern?"

"Honey, I knew Poppy back when she was still Poppy Snow." Then Lacey clued in. "Oh! Good! They made it! Did you like them?"

Manouchka felt floored. The hand holding the tea gave a slight tremor. She forced herself to put it back down before she broke her favorite mug. "Lacey do you belong to this Night World?"

Lacey blinked, and then she looked crestfallen. "Oh, Manny..." Manny didn't try to move away as Lacey embraced her. In her arms, she knew that she'd be safe. "Oh, babe, I didn't know it had gone that far. If it had, then I would have cancelled my plans and stayed here to be with you, to make it easier for you. They didn't scare you too much, did they? Ash can be cruel, and sometimes Poppy can be a little overly dramatic."

"No," she replied thoughtfully, after having given it a moment or two of thought. Compared to how Joshua had initially frightened her, Poppy and Ash had been rather tame. "But when they were talking, I was trying to figure out how you fit into everything, and why you hadn't told me about it yourself."

Her friend's impish face was pained. She took one of Manny's hands in both of hers. "Come on into my bedroom. Why don't we talk in there in case we wake our other roommates up? They don't need to be drawn into this too."

"Then Beth and Tanya, they're not..."

"Night Worlders? Well, Tanya's perfectly human. Beth, on the other hand, is a werewolf."

"But... But I've seen her on full moons. She doesn't change or go on a..."

"Killing spree?" Lacey laughed. "That bit is just human lore. All a werewolf really refers to is someone who is part human and part wolf. She can change her shape at will, and be one or the other."

Lacey motioned for Manny to sit on the bed, and she helped herself to the chair at her desk. After throwing on a sweatshirt she began taking out the other earring and told Manny to tell her everything Ash and Poppy had explained to her about the Night World. Sometimes she winced, thinking of better ways in which things could have been explained, but mostly she just nodded. When Manny finished, she was still nodding.

"And so you really do know why I couldn't tell you, don't you?" she asked, but Manny was stubborn.

"No. I don't see! I mean, even if you couldn't tell me about the Night World, I don't really care what religion you are. You could have at least told me you were a witch, or Wiccan or Pagan or whatever you call it. You could have introduced me to your other friends and not have told me that they're vampires and stuff. If you really are one of these Daystrikers..."

"Daybreakers," Lacey corrected.

"Whatever. Then you could have at least told me some of it, because they let you break the rules a little right? Poppy and Ash broke them to me."

Her eyes flashed dangerously, wild red hair making her eyes almost glowing in contrast to the burgundy color. "Poppy and Ash can break the rules because they're high up in the community. I'm not. If the Prime Minister and Joe Blow broke the law, which one do you think the government would put more money and effort into saving?

"Besides, Manny, if I told you, then I'd be putting you in danger. You're my friend. If I told you what I really was and the world I really come from, and then you found out that because I told you, you could be killed for talking to the wrong person, do you think I could have kept you as a friend? Because I didn't think I could."

She looked at her friend seriously, and the eye contact made Manny feel nervous. Unlike Joshua's eyes, there was no pull in her gaze. It was refreshingly normal, like talking to Professsor McGugan. "You're my friend because of who I am. Where I come from doesn't change that. I don't sacrifice babies or cute fuzzy animals. I like pizza and movies on a date. I'm still the same person I was before you found out about the Night World."

"Why now? Why have Poppy and Ash tell me about the Night World now? Did you know that Joshua was a vampire when you prodded me into dancing with him at the bar?"

Laceys eyes lit up. "He's a vampire? Oh, way to go girl! Vampires are oh-so sexy!"

Manouchka was honestly beginning to wonder what it was with people and thinking that vampires were a big catch. She still thought they were scary, and didn't see the big attraction to them. Sure, they were all beautiful thus far, but Manny would trade a beautiful vampire for a normal, non-blood-drinking human boy any day. Then she thought of the pang she felt when she last saw Joshua, the way her heart had thumped unexpectedly, and found herself reconsidering. She was fairly certain that if she had the choice between a vampire and a human boy she'd pick the latter. The attraction of not worrying about waking up with bite wounds was a definite plus.

"But did you know?"

"No! I just thought he was cute, and I know how flattering it is when a man looks at you the way he was looking at you." She straightened a little in her seat, making Manny sigh. Short, elfish, and red-haired, Lacey had drawn several eyes her way in her life. "I just thought it'd be a confident boost to dance with a hot guy like that. Vampires and shapeshifters, the latter especially, are very good at being able to tell if someones a human or something else. Witches can tell, but not without spells. I actually called Ash and Poppy in because well, because of the murder you saw.

"I told you, didn't I? Id believe you, no matter how extraordinary the story became, because I know that there's a lot out there that humans can't explain, but I can. Although, I do admit that if you had involved aliens in your story, I probably would have doubted you a little. When I heard your story, I thought that it sounded like there might be a Night World involvement, so I called Daybreak to have someone check it out. Poppy and Ash were the closest, so they were asked to come here and make sure that everything would be okay."

Manny squirmed uncomfortably. "Well," she drawled, "your instincts were right. He was a vampire. The man he killed was apparently a vampire, too."

"He was? How do you know? Did Poppy and Ash find the killer already?"

She shook her head. "Joshua's the killer."

Lacey was shocked into silence. Once her mind processed it, her voice turned shrill. "What?! The same Joshua you were just out half the night with? That Joshua?! He's the killer?!"

"Lacey! Shh! You were the one who didn't want to wake up Tanya and Beth!"

"I know, but good grief, Manny! He killed someone and then he started harassing you, and now what? You're dating him?"

Manny's face burnt with the force of her blush, nearly invisible against her creamy, dark skin, but she felt it nonetheless. "Lacey, it's not like that. I don't even like him! I've been spending so much time with him because he wants to do bond me to him so that I can't tell anyone about what I saw."

Her face paled. "Oh Goddess I never even made the connection. Tall, right?"

"Compared to you, yeah," she teased.

"Blonde, fairly deeply tanned for a blonde, and a vampire and grey eyes?" Manny nodded. "Drives a red sports car? Oh, Manny! He came to me and asked me to do the bonding ceremony! I never even made the connection! I didn't get a good look at his face on Halloween, and I was looking out for a man with violet eyes, not oh, it's perfectly inexcusable. Manny, I told him I'd do it!"

Manny laughed--she laughed so hard that tears ended up gathering in her dark eyes, making them glisten and shine. "Lace, man, I'd die of happiness if you could do the ceremony to tie us together right now! Instead, he told me that to do a witche's ceremony, we'd have to wait until nearly Christmas! So instead he's entering into a blood bond with me."

Lacey's face glowered dangerously. For half a second, Manouchka could almost see faint wisps of smoke clinging to the ends of Lacey's dark red hair. Then Lacey turned her face and Manny couldn't see it again. She must have been imagining it. There was no way that Lacey could be so mad she'd actually start to smoke right?

"You're entering into a what with him?"

"Blood pact. Did I get the phrase wrong?"

"No, no. You got the phrased right, Arsenic. I just want to know how a smart girl like you... I mean..." Unable to put her thoughts into words without insulting Manny, Lacey leapt up from her chair to pace around her bedroom, her small hands clutched into tight balls. Her voice was a sibilant hiss when she spoke, in a determined effort to keep from yelling and wake up the other girls.

"People try to avoid entering onto pacts like those with vampires! They do it for a reason! It's because it's dangerous! If the vampire in question is strong in telepathy, then it's a complete and total surrender of your free will. Look, has he used telepathy on you at all?"

She nodded her head and clutched her Smurf mug closer for the warmth offered by the tea. "I hate it."

"Well, if he completes this blood bond with you, then he won't have to use telepathy on you. He'll just tell you to do whatever he wants, and you will. You won't even be able to resist it. You'll be like a mindless slave."

Manny thought of Heather McGugan. She seemed to be in control of herself still. She shook her head. She couldn't believe that. But then she thought of Joshua, and the thump in her heart when she had seen him sitting in his office

"You've already felt it, haven't you? Manny, how else did you think that he was going to get you to keep his secret? He's just going to tell you not to--and you'll willingly comply because of some strange compulsion-infatuation mix. The question really is, why would he do that?"

"What do you mean?"

Lacey gestured to her. "You just told me that he used telepathy on you, so clearly he has that talent. If he's strong enough that he thinks he can make a blood bond with you and make you keep your word, then I would have thought he'd be strong enough to use telepathy and just make you forget?"

"You mean just having him make me forget could have been an option, too?" Manny huffed up in anger and sulked as she sat on the bed. "That choice sounds like the best one so far. So why didn't he do it?"

She smiled wryly. "That's what I just asked you, you silly gooseling. What has he asked you to do telepathically?"

"Oh sleep, mostly. Sometimes he'd get me to come closer or be quiet if I were going to scream. He... he tried to bite me while I was awake last night and got me to tilt back my neck for him. I don't like it when he uses telepathy because it hurts." She rubbed her temple, just thinking about the way her head ached whenever Joshua used telepathy around her. "It's like a pinching in my brain."

"Telepathy that hurts is new to me."

"So then you don't know why it hurts?"

"Could be that he's just very old. The more human blood you consume, or have consumed, the stronger a vampire is. If he's had a couple hundred years to drink human blood, he could be so strong enough that telepathy is overwhelming for an unprotected mind. But then, if he's that strong, he would have been able to not just wipe your mind of a few simple memories, but knock you out before you even had a chance to run back to residence. Unless..."

Manny leaned forward, unable to follow Lacey's mental leaps. "Unless want?"

"Unless you happen to have a natural resistance to telepathy."

She blinked. "That can happen?"

"Of course. Some people are just born with the ability to resist telepathy. I like to think that it's natural selection. If the vampires always go after the people who respond to telepathy, and they happen to die, then they're slowly removing those genes from the gene pool, leaving behind only people who can resist their telepathy."

"That sounds so simple... Ugh, I don't even know what telepathy even is, and already I'm sick of it."

Lacey took her seat back. "So what are you going to do? Are you going to go through with this blood bond thing, or wait until a ceremony that'll just keep you from talking about it?"

"No. I'm sorry, Lace, but I can't stand the idea of waiting until Christmas. There's no way that you can do the ceremony sooner?" Lacey shook her head no. "I didn't think so. The thing is, he's almost paranoid about me spilling the beans. If I wait, then he'll just keep coming over and kidnapping me to bite me so that until the ceremony happens he won't have to worry about me telling anybody what happened. The less biting involved, the happier I'll be."

"Even if it means the loss of your free will?"

She recalled Professor McGugan again, and frowned. "I think I'll only lose my free will if he asks me to. Joshua's... I don't think he's really the type to actually exercise that influence over me, unless he has a good reason to."

"And what good reason does he have for pushing you around and killing somebody?" Lacey demanded bitterly.

Manny thought a moment before answering. "Protecting someone he loves."

She woke up the following day feeling tired. Apparently the energy she'd received from Joshua's blood didn't last as long as she had suspected, but then she had stayed up until three am talking with Lacey. Between having her blood drunk the night before and then only four hours of sleep, Manny felt grumpy.

They had been up so late because Lacey had been explaining more of the Night World to Manouchka, seeing how she had already been thrust into it. For the first time since they had met in grade school, Manny knew all about her friends religious practices, and had even been promised to come and watch the Equinox party.

They had also been talking about Joshua. Lacey still thought that what Manny was doing was a bad idea, but Manny was just tired of being bullied around by him. She wanted it to be over. The sooner she could begin seeing him only once a month, the better, she thought.

But Lacey had convinced her to talk once again to Ash and Poppy. She grew even more concerned when Manny refused to have them in the apartment again. With Lacey's involvement in the Daybreak organization, she was willing to trust them a little more, but as far as she knew, Joshua was still going to be keeping an eye on her. She didn't need to get into another argument with him because he saw her with Ash and Poppy.

Beth offered to drive her to the dinner where they'd be meeting for lunch. Manny accepted, and when she they got into the car, Beth had only just pulled out of the parking lot when she began teasing her.

"So, I hear youre meeting with some of the big guns?" She nodded. "So this killer you saw was one of us, huh? You know, that could explain why there was no body or blood at the crime scene."

"It does? I'd just assumed that with his superhuman speed and stuff, that somehow Joshua had been able to cover it up."

"More than likely, but the possibility remains that he might not have had to." Beth shook her dark hair and leaned back in her seat, one hand on the steering wheel, the other hand on her raised knee as she drove. "You see, there are two types of vampires, Manny. There're vampires that have been made--you know, turned, just like in the movies. They were once human, but some other vampire turned them, for whatever reason. And then therere lamia. Those are a special kind of vampire that were actually born vampires. They were never human, but they age like a human. They're the ones that are harder to detect, because you can actually grow up with them. They can even have children, like humans or animals do.

"A lamia can stop his or her aging at any time. If they want to be five years old for the rest of their life, they can--but as soon as they start aging or they die, all those years kind of gang up on them at once."

She saw where she was going with this. "Which might be where we get the myth about them turning into desiccated corpses?"

Beth nodded. "Exactly what I was thinking. So, if this Joshua killed a very old vampire, there'd be very little blood to clean up, and there would only be basically a fleshy skeleton to pick up as he returned home. I've never been able find out about this part, but I find myself wondering: if the body was old enough, would it really just turn into dust like it does on Buffy? If this man Joshua killed was that old, had you stuck around you might have seen it turn into nothing but dust, in which case all Joshua would have needed to do to clean up the crime scene was a bit of wind and to retrieve his knife."

Manny stared out the window, thinking. "Lacey didn't suggest any of this."

Her dark-haired roommate grinned, revealing white teeth which, for the first time, looked a little too strong. "That's because Lacey is a witch. I'm a werewolf, or a shapeshifter, if you prefer. We think differently than witches."

She pulled up into the parking lot of the nearby Burger World. "Good thing I don't have to park. This place is always freaking busy. I'll just drop you off at the side door. Is that kosher?"

Manny nodded. "Thanks for the ride, Beth, and for the things to think about. I'll see you later today."

"No problem. Do you want to call my cell and get a ride home? I'm home free from classes all day." Manny told her she'd be fine taking the bus back to residence. She wanted the time to herself to think. "Okay. I'll see you later, kiddo."

Burger World was crowded, but then it almost always was. Personally, Manouchka preferred the breakfast (freshly made Belgian waffles with whip cream and preserves) but she had suggested it because it was a very public place. She could take security in the knowledge that no one would try anything because there were lots of other people around, so if Joshua did try to check up on her and somehow managed to track her down, he wouldn't dare make a public display of it.

Poppy and Ash were sitting in a table in the middle of the restaurant, for which she was grateful. She would have felt awkward in a booth with them. Ash's clothes were a little wrinkled, as if he'd fallen asleep in the same shirt he was wearing, and he drank a coffee, wincing now and then at the bitterness of it. A little bleary-eyed, the way his hair was ruffled was utterly adorable. She wondered if his Soulmate had ever seen what he looked like first thing in the morning and knew how rumpled he looked.

Poppy, on the other hand, was bright and chipper. Wearing jeans and a brightly colored green shirt that hung off of her loosely, she looked a little like a hippy. She tapped her foot along to the music and was reading the menu, chewing a little on her bottom lip as she decided what her body would like for a snack, even if she wouldn't be able to get any nutrients from it.

"Hey guys," she said, taking up one of the other empty seats. She chose the one closer to Poppy, far away from the mercurial Ash. He still looked too close to Joshua for comfort. "How're you doing?"

"Okay," Poppy answered, sounding distracting.

Ash turned blue-green eyes to her. "Did you know that a werewolf just dropped you off at the restaurant?"

"Well, I found out last night that's what Beth is, so yeah. I knew. Why?"

"Oh, Ash, don't start that now." Poppy noticed Manny's curious expression and sighed. "Ash Redfern's a bit prejudiced about the different Night Worlders. Because they're part animal, the shapeshifters and the weres have been kind of frowned upon. People think they're less intelligent just because they sometimes go off of instincts and not think rationally. The truth is that they are what they are, and we know some very smart shifters, don't we Ash?" He shrugged noncommittally.

With a shake of her head, she gave him a good sharp kick in the shins under the table just as the waitress came along. Ash ordered another cup of coffee, and Poppy ordered a cheeseburger, medium-rare, with lots of pickles and cheese... just the way she had liked it as a human, she confided in Manny once the waitress was gone.

Manny took a quick glance at the menu and was about to order a salad when she noticed the cheeseburger listing. Her mouth salivated. She didnt even like cheeseburgers, but Poppy's order had sounded really good. She ordered the same thing, even the burger being medium rare. As the waitress took the order, Manny noticed a strange flicker in Poppys eyes, but the vampire said nothing.

"Beth is a Daybreaker, yes?" Poppy asked instead, reaching into her purse and pulling out a pen, which she handed to Ash. An eyebrow flickered over the raised coffee mug, but then he shrugged.

"That's what Lacey told me."

"Lacey right, your other roommate, the witch. Manny, we don't mean to scare you, but it's imperative that unless you know the person is a Daybreaker from a source you trust explicitly, like Lacey, please dont get into a car with them, particularly if it's a shapeshifter or a werewolf."

A crease appeared between her thin eyebrows from the force of her confused look. "I thought from what you had said a moment ago that you don't harbor ill-feelings towards them, like Ash does." Ill-feelings sounded like a friendlier word to use than prejudice.

"I don't." But Poppy shifted nervously in her seat. "Look, if you get into a car with a strange vampire, unless they're crazy or ravenous, you'll wake up with only part of your blood gone. If it a hungry werewolf, they need to eat whole body organs to feed."

"You mean..."

Ash smiled grimly. "Remember the old urban legend about the man who wakes up in a bath tub full of ice and a missing kidney? Let's just say that it's not based on fictional events like some of those other urban legends."

The idea was perfectly ghastly. "But how do I tell if someone's a human or not? I mean, not that I should be accepting rides from perfect strangers anyway, but even in conversation, how do I tell if I'm talking to a human, or a Night Worlder?"

"We in the Night World have devised a very simple way to tell one another apart since sometimes even we get confused." Ash's grin widened, thinking himself clever.

He reached over and took Poppy's hand. She wore a wedding ring made of gold, and an engagement ring. Instead of a diamond on the engagement ring, there was a series of black gems--Manny didnt know what they were, but she presumed onyx--set into the shape of roses.

"Made vampires wear black roses to identify themselves. People like me, on the other hand, called lamia..."

"Right, the vampires that are born." She grinned at his confused expression. "Beth explained that bit to me on the way over. Please, continue. This part is new to me."

"They wear black irises. In fact, black is really just a reoccurring theme, so expect anything you see to be that color." Ash rolled up his sleeve so that she could see his watch. The face had a black flower on it, and the strap had the same flower in an embossed pattern--probably, Manny figured, so that it wouldnt look too girly. "As for witches, they wear dahlias."

Manny tried to remember if she had ever seen Lacey wearing a black flower, but she didn't even know if a dahlia was a flower. "What's a dahlia?"

"It's a flower," Poppy clarified, while Ash bent over a napkin and began doodling. "Whoever came up with this system must have thought that plants would be a kind of universal symbol, but you'd be surprised how many people don't know what a dahlia looks like."

Ash spun the napkin around so that she could see his sketch. Apparently the witches flower was a small bud covered in spikes. As soon as she saw it Manny could place it. Lacey had studs in both of her ears with strange, blown glass shapes in them. Manouchka had just assumed it was the style: made of blown glass, she had seen them in a wide variety of colors and for various piercings. She had often wondered why her friend hadnt chosen something a little flashier, given her outgoing nature, but now she understood. The earrings werent supposed to be flashy.

Ash was also a very good artist, which she told him. He shrugged uncomfortably and then folded the napkin over so no one else could see the picture. "I've had a bit of practice."

Their food arrived early. Manny swallowed greedily at the aroma of her burger, which was crazy. She didn't even like burgers! She lifted it and bit into it... the pickles, the spiciness of the mustard, crispness of the lettuce, and the chewy tenderness of the burger felt like so much more to her than it normally did.

The male vampire watched her eat calmly. He took another sip of coffee before he spoke up. "You mentioned Joshua was exchanging blood with you?"

Manny nodded, unable to speak because of the food stuffed in her mouth.

"Just how much blood has he exchanged with you?"

She shrugged and swallowed. "I don't know. I don't exactly have a way to check. We've done it twice, within a few days of each other."

Ash's face was normally so closed off that Manny doubted she would have ever been able to pick up on the fear that turned his eyes grey, except that she had seen the same shiver pass through Joshua at times. Had they not been so much alike and she so accustomed to reading Joshua, it would have passed unnoticed. Instead, she felt goosebumps run up and down along her arms. What was so scary it made someone like Ash afraid?

"What is it?"

Poppy answered her question gently when she saw that Ash was stubbornly avoiding looking at either of them. "Exchanging blood like that is how one makes a vampire. It means that until this bond is established and you go without drinking his blood, you're slowly becoming less human and more like Joshua. As soon as you stop drinking his blood, you'll go back to being a human again, but until then... It's like youre suspended between both. I think that's why you craved the medium-rare burger."

She tilted her head, her curly red hair pillowing around her cheek and her slanted green eyes eyeing her. "I don't think you're as far along as I was by the time I was ready to make the transition, so don't worry. If you start finding that you can only have semi-liquid foods and you can't stand the sight of any food that's not red, then you have a problem and it's become dangerous."

Gesturing to her food, she eased the tension by winking at Manny. "As you can see, you get over it soon enough. I missed cheeseburgers."

Manny sourly pushed her plate towards the red-head. "You can have mine if you want. I suddenly lost my appetite."

Joshua's blood was turning her into a vampire. The idea made her stomach churn. Did he know what his blood was doing to her? Joshua claimed and seemed to be an old vampire--even Lacey agreed with that--so surely he must know. Why would he do something that would change her so? She wasn't like Poppy; she didn't want to change.

She felt violated. She felt angry and abused, like he was taking advantage of her. There was no flash of support from her mind, no defense raised in his mind, and she wondered if it was because his blood wasn't as potent as it had been the night before.

His blood was turning her into a mutant.

She thought of something else that she'd spoken to Lacey about. "Have have either of you tried to use telepathy on me? Am I immune to it?"

They looked puzzled and glanced at each other, Poppy still chewing her burger. Ash answered, nodding slowly, making his blonde hair sway gently. "Ah. You're wondering why he didn't just blank your mind. It's entirely possible that you're immune to it, but because of the blood bond you've started to make, we'd get skewed results."

"Because his blood would defend me, right?" she asked, wondering if he'd lie to her about that. But Ash nodded his head, and Manny actually felt herself relax a little bit. He might have avoided telling her that his blood was actually changing her into a vampire, but at least he had been honest with her about somethings.

"What else can you tell me about the Night World?"

"What else would you like to know while Poppy pigs out on cheeseburgers?"

"How about your history? Where did you all come from?"

Ash leaned back in his chair, coffee in hand, smiling. "Ah, now that much I can explain to you, Manny. It all begins, as George Lucas got half right, a long time ago, though he messed up on the in a galaxy far, far away part..."

Manny sat in front of a computer, pen dangling from between her lips, staring at a computer screen. She was struggling to edit her paper for Professor McGugan still. It wasn't working out very well. All she could think about was the history lesson Ash had given her over lunch in Burger World. She could see them now: beautiful Maya of the vampire race, the blonde and soulful Queen of the witches, and dragons--dragons!--that had created the shapeshifters.

Her work wasn't coming along very well.

There was a knock at the front door of their residence apartment, and she heard Tanya moving around two doors down. For a moment she wondered if her senses were getting better, but then she laughed at herself. Tanya was energetic and a klutz, a dangerous combination. In her attempt to get to the front door, she;d probably tripped over her own bunny slippers, her garbage can, and then forgotten to open her bedroom door before she went through it, causing her to run into it.

Still laughing, Manny got up to answer the door and to fetch herself another drink, hoping that maybe a shot of sugar into her system would give her the boost she needed to edit the English paper. She was pouring herself some Pepsi when she heard Tanya shuffle out of her room sheepishly, her foot still stuck in a garbage can. Manny burst out laughing and, distracted, accidentally overflowed. She was beginning to clean it up when Tanya got the front door open.

"Hello?"

"Is Manouchka home? Good grief, girl! Is that a garbage can on your foot?"

Tanya giggled. "I thought Beth was coming home and was really, really anxious to greet her. Manny's in the kitchen getting herself a glass of Pepsi. Come on in. Are those for her?"

"Yeah."

In the kitchen, Manny froze, forgetting that she was holding a dishrag wet with sticky Pepsi-cola. She knew that voice. Professor McGugan! She just hoped that Lacey wouldn't come home. Thank God Tanya didn't know who Professor McGugan was! She didn't want to have to explain why her teacher was showing up at her front door at seven at night apparently holding flowers.

Frowning gravely, Heather shoved the flowers at Manny, who was still frozen with her hand over the sink, dripping soda. Heather either didn't notice it, or didn't care. "These are for you," she announced.

Manny began to move again, faced with the surly continence of the professor she remembered from lecture. She wrung out the cloth and washed her hands of the Pepsi, knowing full well that her teacher was tapping her foot, waiting for her to take the flowers from her.

The bouquet was all daisies and red flowers, including a few tiger lilies. Manny knew that they were colors which accentuated the depths of her skin tone. She took the flowers from Heather and looked for note, but couldn't find one. She took in Heather's frown. "I guess that these aren't from you?"

"No. I've been turned into a messenger girl. Apparently that's really what a BA and a Masters is worth these days: being told to deliver flowers to people when they're too scared." Her frowned lessened a little once she had gotten some of the bitterness off of her chest. "Joshua asked me to deliver these for him. He wanted me to tell you that he saw you this afternoon in Burger World with two other vampires. He's worried that you might slip up and tell them something which would put yourself or them in the same situation as Ansel."

"His enemy?" asked Manny as she searched the kitchen for a vase for the bouquet.

"Dead."

Her head shot up, jaw slack. Then her eyes hardened when she saw how serious Heather was. "Oh. I see. Well, he can remain assured that I didn't let anything slip. They were explaining things to me, not the other way around."

"Joshua would appreciate it if you wouldn't talk to them."

Something in Manny snapped. She stopped looking for a vase and faced her professor. Her brown eyes were aflame with ferocity. "Why did you bring me the flowers if you didn't want to?" she asked. Heather didn't answer right away, so Manouchka pressed her point. "If you didn't want to be made messenger girl; if you thought that this was beneath you; why didn't you tell Joshua to stuff it and to stop ordering you around and bring it himself? If he's as old as we seem to think he is, then he should darn well be mature enough to show up and to ask me not to do something that he thinks is dangerous rather than send someone else!"

Heather looked positively aghast. Her eyes actually widened and her jaw actually dropped. Manny's worst fears were confirmed. "Tell Joshua no? I couldn't!"

Great, she sighed. I'm dealing with an old, strong, telepathic vampire who's not just a bully, but a spoiled brat! No wonder he didn't stop when he wanted to exchange blood the day before! The idea that Manny might have been the first person to tell Joshua no in a few hundred years was frightening! But also laughable.

"Why couldn't you say no?"

"Because... because he asked me to.''

She arched an eyebrow suspiciously. "You mean he told you to."

"No," she snapped, agitated. Heather was a grown woman and didn't like being corrected by a little girl, particularly one who was also her student. Had it just been a young girl it would have been embarrassing; as her student it was demeaning. "He asked me to do it, as in he asked me: Heather, would you be kind enough to take these flowers to Manny on your way home? And then I said yes."

"But why say yes when you didn't want to?"

"Because I couldn't," she admitted, though not with defeat. She was still defending him, saying she couldn't say no because he'd asked so politely, been such a gentleman. After her conversation with Lacey, Manny could not accept it as coincidence. It was a form of manipulation, and she simply abhorred the idea of him using it on her.

She handed the flowers back to Professor McGugan, and her voice was a hiss so venomous that it actually frightened her. "Take these back to Joshua. Tell him that he can shove them where the sun doesn't shine for all I care! I'm not his pet that he can order around, and I wasn't doing anything! I want to know just what kind of a mess I'm getting into here, and since he can't seem to tell me anything about this Night World, then I'll get others to tell me about it. And the next time that he has a problem with something I'm doing, he can damn well come and tell me about it himself rather than sending a messenger!"

Manny slammed the door shut in Heather's face, who was still too stunned to react. She stormed off to bed, but ended up staring at the ceiling, too angry to sleep.

To be continued...