No one spoke for a long time. Jack was a little deflated by the realization that her hero was, in fact, only human. Imam smiled because he knew that if a murderer could care for a sibling, it was proof that any soul could be redeemed. Fry and the others wondered if she was psychopathic like her brother. And Johns...Johns was the first to break the silence.

"Holy fuck!"

Angela frowned at him. "Do you talk to your mother with that filthy mouth?"

Johns was almost hyperventilating in fury. "Two Riddicks...as if one wasn't a curse to humanity, now we have two!"

"Calm down, Mr. Johns," Imam tried to diffuse the situation. "You don't even know her."

Johns took deep breaths. He wasn't going to lose control. In his business when you lose control, you make mistakes, and that wasn't an option around Riddick. He smiled to them. "Alright, Imam. You're right, I don't know her, but I'm keeping my eyes on both of them, and I suggest you all do the same."

The Riddick siblings shared a look and smiled. Each knew what the other was thinking. Riddicks=1. Johns=0.

"Mr. Johns," Angela called to him.

"What?"

"The water is this way." She turned, and they all started a march to the bone valley.

So we would have found the water after all, Johns groused to himself. Bitch. He silently vowed to make her pay for tricking him into releasing Riddick.

The siblings stayed well ahead of the group, talking about old times. She seemed reluctant to talk about her time here and where she'd been all these years. She was content to listen to her brother's tales of where he'd been, what he'd done, and the "family" they shared back home and how they were doing last time Riddick had seen them. Though Angela only listened with half an ear. She was worried about what would happen when they reached the camp.

Riddick noticed her preoccupied look. "What's wrong, Angel-girl?"

She stopped. They were at the base of a hill at the end of the valley. Over that hill was the camp. "We have to tell them."

Riddick glanced back at the group, who stared expectantly at the siblings. "Is that wise? They wouldn't find out. Hell, Johns doesn't even know."

"What's the holdup?" Johns called out to them. "Forgot the way?"

"Actually, Mr. Johns," Angela snapped at him, "we were debating whether to kill you by strangulation or a knife to the throat. I prefer strangulation, myself. I'll get to watch you suffer longer."

"Lousy bitch," Johns muttered as he raised his gun and fired two quick shots. Riddick stepped in front of Angela, and both bullets exploded into his chest. He was dead before he hit the ground. Angela didn't blink.

Johns shrugged off his missed mark. At least I got rid of one, he thought smugly, even though it meant getting only half the original bounty. "Now take us to the water, or you're next."

She smiled. "Just wait."

Johns advanced on her but stopped dead in his tracks when Riddick lurched upright, swearing a blue streak. Angela took the bone knife from him and used it to pry the bullets out of his chest, causing more pained swearing.

"Did you have to do it that way? You coulda just told them."

"Yes, but they wouldn't have believed me. Besides, I wanted Mr. Johns to shoot me. You're the one who decided to play hero."

"It's my job to protect you, remember?"

Fry came up to them. "What the hell just happened here?" A glance told them that everyone else was just as shocked as Fry.

Riddick peeled off his shirt to show them all the two holes in his chest...or rather where they'd been. They were just little pink scars now, and in a few seconds, the wounds would no longer be visible at all.

He sauntered over to Johns. Johns backed away nervously, raising his gun. "Whatsa matter, Johnsy? Never seen a vampire before? Might as well put the gun away, you just saw it won't work on me."

"A vampire?" Johns repeated numbly. "That's impossible. There's no such thing!"

"Aw c'mon, Johns. You've seen what's left of people when I get done...one corpse with a slashed neck and not a lot of blood to show for it."

Johns blinked, and Riddick was gone. An arm came from behind and grabbed Johns' gun hand. The other arm grabbed him by the throat and turned him around. He found himself eyes to teeth with a pair of long white fangs. His gun dropped from his nerveless fingers.

Riddick's voice was more of a growl than a whisper. "You didn't think someone who does what I do - and enjoys it so much - could be human, did you?"

His tongue snaked out and passed over the sharpened teeth like a jaguar licking its chops before pouncing on its prey. The hand around Johns' throat tightened, and Johns closed his eyes in preparation to be eaten.

Riddick threw Johns away from him. "I wouldn't poison myself with your blood, Johns. You're tainted."

"And besides that," Angela spoke up, "it's kind of an unspoken rule now that we try not to kill when we feed. Last time I was in civilization, cops were getting too good at finding us. So instead of one dead human, we get lots of humans with a sudden case of anemia." She shrugged. "Of course, it's been quite a while since I've been in civilization. Maybe cops have gotten dumber since then." She eyed Johns. "Given the evidence before me, I wouldn't be too terribly shocked if that were true."

She sat on a rock and addressed all of the nervous eyes staring at her and her brother. "There is a specific reason I'm letting you people know the truth about us. We usually keep ourselves secret. In fact my brother here is an Enforcer. It's his job to kill anyone - human or vampire - who endangers the secrecy of the community. However, under the circumstances, I'm willing to bend the rules if he is. I'm telling you about us because Richie and I aren't the only ones here. About twenty-five years ago, a geological team came. I was beyond elated when I saw them - hell, just to have someone to talk to again. I began hyperventilating when I saw that a few of the geo team members were vampires. Richie, you remember Inigo, don't you?"

"Hard to forget him. He was my first blood."

"He's here. Most of the vamps in the team were security techs. I think only two of them were actual geologists. Anyway when I found them, I told them about the creatures, like the ones that killed your Zeke. They didn't quite believe me - I guess they thought I'd too much sun and solitude - so I showed them. They still didn't see them as a real threat because they're afraid of light. It hurts them, so they stay in their tunnels. I knew an eclipse would be coming, though. They'd come out and kill everyone."

Her voice turned bitter. "The idiots still weren't afraid. They refused to call their company to come and get them - and me - out of here before it was too late. They figured that between metal walls and their security force, they'd be okay. When the eclipse came, the fools locked themselves in the coring room. Thought they'd be safe, except that they'd forgotten they had drilled right into the nightcrawlers' tunnel system. They were all eaten, and out of over a dozen vampire security techs, only four are left, not including me."

Riddick put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's not your fault, Angel. The entire human race has a terminal case of stupidity. Don't blame yourself for their deaths."

But she did. Riddick knew how much she valued human life, just like their dead brother Nicholas always had. She would blame herself for every drop of blood that was shed because they hadn't listened to her.

Fry spoke up. "If you were here before the geological team, then just how long have you been here? How did you get here in the first place?"

She sighed and clasped the hand on her shoulder. "Do they still use cryo-chambers for deep space travel?"

"No," Riddick answered. "Stopped using those about a century and a half ago. They use a kind of suspended animation now, though they still call it cryo-sleep."

"Well, I left civilization in the year 2113. I used the name Angelique Bertoia at the time-"

"The first cryo-flight," Fry interrupted. Everyone look at her. "2113 was the year that they first used cryo-chambers for long space flights. Radio contact with the vessel - the Del Rey I think - was lost about three months into the flight. The ship was lost, everyone was presumed dead. The head physician of the ship was Dr. Angelique Bertoia."

Angela gave a humorless snort. "So I've made it into the history books?" She shook her head. "The flight - it was the Marina Del Rey by the way - was supposed to be a twelve month trip from Earth to New Belfast. A total of twenty people in cryo, plus the captain and pilot on deck. Everyone was monitored by computer, and if anything went wrong, I would be the first one thawed out."

She sighed. "I don't know what happened. When I woke up, we had already crashed here. The chambers had completely failed, even before the crash. They only reason I'm alive is because I'm immortal. Even if the chambers hadn't failed, those people would never have survived the crash. I never found the bodies of the captain and pilot, and what was left of the computer told me that the emergency skiff had been jettisoned almost a month before the crash." She looked up at Riddick. "Exactly what year is it now, Richie?"

"2395."

"282 years," she sighed. "That's a long time." She closed her eyes. "Seen father lately?"

"Not lately," Riddick smiled. "Last time I saw him, he was hunting me just like Johns here. He was a region captain in the merc forces last I heard from him."

Angela laughed. "Lucien Lacroix, a law enforcement officer? That's rich."

"Nah, just the only way he could hunt and kill legally. A lot of vamps join the MAE."

"What's the MAE?"

"Mercenary Association of Earth...and strictly speaking, they're bounty hunters, not law enforcement. I should know."

She nodded thoughtfully.

"Well if bonding time is over," Johns called out to them, "I'd like to go get that water now."

Angela shook her head. "No, Mr. Johns, Richie and I can get the water. In case you didn't hear me before, there are four other vampires living on this planet, and they're expecting me to return with food. We've been feeding on nothing but nightcrawlers since we came here, and human blood would be an unexpected but welcome treat. Richie and I will go ahead. I'll explain to the others that we have guests, not hors d'ouevres, and Richie will bring back some water for you. Would that be satisfactory?"

"Do we have a choice?"

She smiled, and then she and Riddick turned and continued towards the camp. Johns followed as far as the top of the hill, where he saw the remains of the geological outpost. He watched the vampires walk side by side down to the camp, then turned and went back to the others. "I don't trust those two."

"It doesn't matter if we trust them or not," Fry said. "They're our only hope for survival. They've lived here for a while, especially her, and they seem willing to let us live too."

Johns snorted disdainfully. "Things that have admitted to not only killing, but eating people are our only hope for survival. That's great, that just fucking great."

None of the human survivors saw a pair of golden eyes watching them from the top of the ravine.