If Jean had to guess who she and Alice would have to talk to about the potential involvement of a killer vampire in Ballarat, the Tynemans would be the last ones she would have thought. Alice was still relatively new to Ballarat, and she had of course heard of the Tynemans—the name was on half the shops on the high street—but she'd never met them. Jean had been in Ballarat a long time and she had seen Patrick's father buy up land and develop it and make an obscene amount of money from the commercial properties, and she had seen Patrick grow the fortune from his various business enterprises.

The Tynemans were the wealthiest and most powerful family in Ballarat, and Jean had always tried to avoid them. She saw Patrick and Susan at church, on occasion. She'd given a friendly nod here and there, said hello when they were nearby. Once, she had even helped Susan with their very rowdy son, Edward. As a boy, Edward was quite spoiled and loud and often rude. Jean did not approve of such things, but she could see that Susan was trying her best. Jean had, on occasion, given a little push for Edward to listen to his mother when he was apt to do quite the opposite. Not really controlling him, per se, but just helping him decide to be still and quiet during Mass. After all, Jean was trying to enjoy her Sunday at Sacred Heart and Edward interrupting Father Morton with a temper tantrum would have been difficult for everyone.

But that was a very long time ago. Edward had grown up and gone away to school in Melbourne, leaving Patrick and Susan to their well-to-do life in Ballarat on their own. Jean had not been to church as regularly once she and Lucien had settled into things, but she still saw Patrick and Susan on occasion. The church had a dramatic society that Patrick sponsored, and Susan was always the star of every production. Jean thought she might like to do something like that, to act and sing and perform and such, but of course she could allow attention to be drawn to her. And Susan might have been a bit full of herself—even more so in her own mind, as Jean had seen, than she portrayed outwardly—but she was not a bad actor. If Jean thought she could do better, she kept it to herself.

"These people sound awful," Alice commented, obviously having read Jean's thoughts as they walked through town together.

Jean sighed. "You really must stop doing that."

"You should do better at shielding your mind," Alice responded for the millionth time.

"Yes, well," Jean said, changing the subject, "the Tynemans really aren't too terrible. I've just been here a very long time. Patrick is very powerful and likes it that way he, but he is also very charitable and a kind man, from what I've seen. Susan just likes being the center of attention. And just because we're not like that doesn't mean it's a bad trait."

"I suppose that's true. Your Lucien likes being the center of attention."

Jean chuckled lightly. "I don't know about that. He certainly likes being the cleverest person in the room, but he isn't one to seek out public praise like the Tynemans do."

Alice hummed in agreement but did not otherwise comment. "So how do you propose we go about asking them what's been going on in their abandoned barn outside of town where a girl was killed and Lucien was attacked by a vampire?"

One thing Jean had only recently gotten used to was Alice's blunt manner. But it was quite useful on occasions like this when they had a job to do. "I was hoping we might just talk to them. I don't know them well, but I'm not a complete stranger to them."

"Like I am," Alice interjected.

"Yes, exactly. I could probably keep them occupied and you can read them to see if there's anything we should know. Or if that fails, we could always just both read them and alter their memories so they think the four of us had a nice tea together."

"I think I like that option better."

Jean nearly rolled her eyes. Of course Alice would prefer to not actually converse with people. "Well, let's just see how things go."

"I'm still surprised it's so easy for you to alter memories. I have to concentrate really hard at it."

"Perhaps because you were with other vampires for so long, you were just told that some things are easy and some aren't. I never had that. I figured it out for myself without many preconceived notions about what was or wasn't possible." Jean did not enjoy being reminded that her powers were so different from Alice's or what she'd experienced with other vampires in the past. It wasn't enough that Jean had been isolated from the world by virtue of being a vampire; now she was isolated from other vampires because she was so different from all the rest of them.

"I'm sorry," Alice said softly, having read Jean's mind once again.

Jean didn't answer. They had arrived at the Tyneman house.

A shiver of foreboding came over Jean. Something felt off. She had never been to the mansion that Patrick and Susan and their servants called home. But something didn't seem quite right. And Alice must have felt it, too. She stopped short on the front walkway. "Is the front door open?" she asked.

Sure enough, it was. "I think something's wrong," Jean answered, eyes darting every which way, trying to see what was going on.

"This is why I wanted to talk to the council," Alice lamented.

Jean paid that no heed. "Come on," she insisted, nudging Alice into going inside the house with her.

The door was ajar, so they just pushed it open. The silence was deafening. There were no maids or butlers or anyone else around, and Jean knew that there should have been. There were no voices, no signs of movement. Alice was half a pace behind Jean as they quietly and slowly made their way further into the foyer.

Then, a muffled thump came from one of the rooms further down the corridor. Jean did not hesitate going to see what it was. Some sign of life. Something.

No one could have been prepared for the scene before them. There were three people in what looked like a formal parlor. It was immediately clear that the sound Jean had heard was Patrick Tyneman with his great imposing form falling onto the floor. He was sprawled out looking pale and weak. His eyes were closed, and he was breathing raggedly as he lay crumpled next to the sofa. His jacket was tossed on a nearby chair, and his white shirt was stained with drops of blood coming from the still-bleeding wound clearly visible on his neck. Two puncture wounds. The bite of a vampire.

Beside where Patrick lay discarded and barely alive, Susan was held in the arms of a man nearly as large as Patrick. Susan was faring barely better than her husband. Her eyes were open wide but glassy. Unseeing. Her head lolled back on her neck like a ragdoll, and her lips were parted in a silent scream. The man who held her had his head bowed to Susan's neck.

Everything happened so fast. As soon as they walked in on the horrific tableau, Alice gave a small yelp of surprise. The man lifted his head at the interruption. He turned to the intruders. His eyes were afraid, at first, and then angry almost instantly. Jean immediately felt the assault on her mind that Alice had so often—and less violently—attempted on her, but Jean was quicker this time. She shielded her mind from invasion, and Alice surely did the same. And then the man's eyes were afraid again. He surely realized what Jean and Alice had done. And he surely realized what that meant. The vampire had been confronted by two others of his kind.

Upon knowing he was amongst other vampires, he dropped Susan to the floor and fled. His vampiric power allowed him to move impossibly fast as he ran past Jean and Alice out of the room. They were too surprised to do anything about it. But Jean recovered quickly.

"Alice, help Patrick and Susan. Make sure they're alright and make sure they don't remember this. Once they're settled, call the police and come up with something to tell them," Jean instructed.

"And what about that vampire?!"

"I'm going after him."

"Jean, you can't do that! What if—"

But Jean cut off Alice's warnings. "I can," she insisted. "We know who he is now."

"Who?" Alice asked in shock.

Jean answered grimly, "Their son. Edward Tyneman."