With the declaration of the word 'vampire' her attention became fully alert. Rose glanced at Samantha and her body language affirmed that she totally believed what was being said and was hurt and angry to have it dismissed in this manner. Rose was assured that this was not some strange joke. She glanced at Miriam who was grinning at her. When they caught each other's eye, Miriam winked and silently mouthed the words 'I told you so.'

Rose stood up and walked to Mrs. Cavendish and looked closely in her eyes and said calmly but forcibly, "Thank you Mrs. Cavendish, I think you should go out with my assistant Miriam. She has some tea or coffee and snacks, I'm sure you'll enjoy. Your daughter and I need to have a little privacy, thank you."

Mrs. Cavendish meekly nodded her head. "Yes, I will, some tea would be very nice." She gathered her things and quietly followed Miriam out the door.

Rose sat down across from Samantha and smiled at her. "First of all, you may call me Rose."

"Wait a second, how did you do that?" Samantha demanded.

A little confused Rose replied, "I'm sorry, how did I do what?"

"Get rid of my mother like that. I've never seen anyone brush her off like that. How did you do that? All you said is have some tea or coffee and she just went along. You must have a trick, was it hypnosis? Can you teach me how to do that? It would make my life so much easier."

Rose smiled, she really could empathize with the girl, "I'm sorry Samantha, it takes years of experience. However, we're here to talk about what happened to you."

Samantha slumped back in her chair, "What's the point? You won't believe me, no one does."

This time Rose stared Samantha in the eyes and, with the same voice she used to speak to her mother, spoke to Samantha. "Samantha if you promise to tell the truth, I promise to believe you."

Samantha sat up more alertly and said, "Actually you seem different than the rest. Alright I'll tell you everything."

"My friends and I were hanging out at Central Park. We had gone to the Art Museum, it was getting late, and we were heading to the nearest subway station. I noticed a woodpecker banging on one of the trees and I stopped to watch. My friends went on and we became separated. I was just about to run to catch up, when this man grabbed me from behind and dragged me off the path. He placed his hand over my mouth so I couldn't scream, and then he placed a knife against my throat, and said he would cut me if I made a sound."

"Rose, I was so frightened I couldn't do anything. I think I might of fainted or blacked out for just a second, because I found myself with him in some bushes nearby, and I'm not sure exactly how I got there. He was fumbling with my clothes trying to take them off, and groping me at the same time. I started crying and begging him to let me go. He talked real soft but it scared me anyways. He said such horrible things in such a matter of fact manner I really was frightened out of my wits. He said he could find out where I lived and if I didn't stop fighting he would track everyone in my family down and kill them, but if I were good to him, he would be good in return. Something about his way made me believe he would do everything he said."

"I mean, what could I do? Like I said, I was really scared, I just wanted to get away without being hurt, so I tried to lay still like he told me, it was awful with him touching me like that. Then, suddenly, he was off of me. I looked around and he was leaning against a tree quite a distance away. He had a kind of broken doll look and there was another man standing just above me. Then all of a sudden he wasn't there anymore, he just disappeared and then reappeared by that awful man and picked him up like he didn't weigh anything and threw him against another tree."

"Well, I saw my chance and got up and started running away. I heard the man call out to me to stop, and that he wouldn't hurt me, but I just wanted to get away. Then I saw a woman join him. She appeared out of nowhere like the other guy. I ducked behind some rocks nearby and hid. When I realized that they weren't chasing me I circled around to get closer to them because I realized they wouldn't hurt me, and I wanted to know what they were doing."

"I got as close as I could, where I could hear what they said to each other. The woman said to the man who had attacked me, 'Tell me your story, what do you do to these women?' She just spoke like that, calm and matter of fact. Then the man just did what she told him to do and described to her the things he did, horrible things. He was a monster. He tortured women as well as rape them. He made me sick. I hated him. I'm glad he's dead!"

"How do you know he's dead?" asked Rose, fascinated with the story that was being told.

"I saw the woman kill him, that's how. She's a vampire. After the man told what he did to women she bent over and bit his neck. She was there for quite a while, it seemed. The man struggled at first, then he went limp. Then the woman got up away from him and wiped some of the blood away from her mouth. The man with her said 'I really don't like doing this on impulse. It's better when we have it all planned out.' Then she said 'Some things can't be planned, Damon, you know that. Anyway, we can't leave the body here, we'll need to take it and dispose of it.' Then she and the man, I guess his name was Damon, took that monster away and I ran away to join up with my friends. The thing is, no one believes me. Those two were vampires, I know it, and they saved my life, because when that man was talking about what he did to women, sometimes he ended up killing them."

When she finished her story, Samantha stared defiantly at Rose waiting for signs of disbelief, certain that Rose would break her promise and not believe her story. Rose was so stunned when she heard Damon's name that she was momentarily speechless. Then without thinking, she remarked, "I'm surprised they didn't hear you sneak up on them."

"I was trying very hard to be quiet."

"No one is that quiet," Rose commented.

Of all the reactions Samantha had received from the telling of the story, Rose's was the most peculiar. "What do you mean by that? What do you know about it?"

Rose realized she had made a mistake as soon as she had spoken. She decided to try to pretend she had never said anything. "You're sure about the name Damon? Did you hear what the woman's name was?"

"Yes I'm sure, she said Damon. No, he never said her name." Demonstrating that Samantha had inherited a portion of her mother's willfulness, Samantha challenged, "What did you mean about nobody being that quiet. It's like you know something about it. What do know?"

"Give me a second, dear, I need to think. You must realize you have just related a truly incredible story."

"Yes, but you believe me, I can see it in your face. You know something that makes you believe me. You have to tell me."

"Hush for just a minute, will you? I have to think." Rose stood up and paced her office, thinking furiously. Could it really have been Damon, her Damon? Of course it was, how many vampires were there named Damon? If so, who was the woman?

Rose pivoted and confronted Samantha. "How good a look did you get of the woman? Can you describe her?"

Rose's urgency behind the question startled Samantha. "It was getting dark," Samantha observed doubtfully. "She was a little taller than me, and I'm 5 foot 4, she had dark hair, they both were white, by the way. Her hair was moderately long; I think it reached down to her shoulders. I could tell she was pretty. Other than that, I couldn't say."

Rose turned away from Samantha thinking hard. It could be Elena, but there was no way to be sure. It had been eight years ago. Rose had been sure that Elena was destined for vampirism and that she and Damon were meant for each other. If that were so, it sounded as though Elena had adjusted well to being a vampire. 'I shouldn't be surprised,' she thought, 'with Damon as her teacher, she should adapt well and Elena was a very tough girl.'

Suddenly, it occurred to Rose that she would have to do something about Samantha. Her first thought was to simply compel her to forget everything, but things had gone too far for that. Samantha had already told too many people. For her to not remember anything all of a sudden would cause her problems, perhaps serious problems. Rose quickly decided what she needed to do and sat down next to Samantha.

"Listen sweetheart, I believe you. I know there are vampires, and therefore I know your story is true."

This time Samantha jumped up and began pacing. "I knew it!" she cried triumphantly. "Vampires saved my life, they're heroes. How many are there? Are there many?"

Rose nodded, smiling. "There are quite a few, I'm afraid. Regarding being heroes, well I wouldn't make any global judgments based on just your experience. There are some really nasty ones around, you can trust me on that."

"But, my vampires saved my life, so they must be good."

"They also took a life, remember?"

"Yeah, but he was a monster. You didn't hear what he said he did to all those other women."

Rose thought for a moment and then replied, "Listen, you know that vampires all used to be human like us don't you?" Samantha simply nodded her head in agreement. "Well, are all humans good, or all humans bad?"

"Of course not! Mom is good, she loves me, she's real annoying, but she's a good person. But that man who attacked me, he was real evil."

"You understand that both good people and bad people can become vampires, right?"

Samantha snapped her fingers with understanding. "I get it, bad people make bad vampires and good people make good vampires, right?"

Rose nodded. "It's really not that simple, but it's good enough for now. The thing is, Samantha, its really better if you lay low about having seen vampires, like I do. Neither the good ones nor the bad ones want people going around talking about them as if they are real, do you understand? The good ones may simply erase your memory - you wouldn't want that. The bad ones, well, you can imagine what the bad ones might do if they thought you were going to be a problem."

Samantha's eyes grew round. "They can erase memories? How do you know so much about them?"

Rose glanced at her watch, "Listen Samantha, we're almost out of time. Here's what I want you to do. When we have your mother come in, tell her that you may be wrong about being rescued by vampires, but stick to your guns about being attacked. That really happened and you shouldn't ever have to pretend it didn't. Tell her that your seeing vampires were probably a vision from the shock of being attacked. You're sure you were rescued, but it probably wasn't a vampire. You do that and you can come back next week and I'll tell you what I know about vampires, okay?"

Samantha thought for a second and then replied, "Okay, I guess so. It's easier now, knowing that someone believes me. But I want to meet them, the two who rescued me. I want to thank them."

Doubtfully Rose replied, "That may not be possible Samantha. Don't go looking for vampires. They can be very dangerous and they generally don't like being found. The two who helped you did you a great service, but if you become a threat, don't assume you will always be safe with them."

Rose called Miriam and said, "Miriam, send Mrs. Cavendish in please."

As they were waiting, Samantha said, "Okay, what you've said makes sense. I'm not promising never to go looking for them, but I'll not do anything for now so long as you promise to tell me what you know. Is that a deal?"

Rose smiled. "Sure, of course you're mother will have to be willing to schedule more sessions for us to talk."

"She will. She'll be thrilled just to see me give up my vampire story. She'll like the vision angle a lot. It's funny how easy it is to not talk about it when I know someone like you can back me up. The more people kept telling me I was crazy, the more I wanted to prove them wrong."

"I understand, Samantha. That's why I decided to level with you in the very beginning. I don't tell just anyone that I know about vampires, you know. It would be bad for business." Samantha giggled in agreement. "Oh, by the way. What was the police officer's name who took your statement, do you remember?"

"His name was Officer Roderick. I'll never forget him. He was real sarcastic. I think a girl would have to be beaten near to death before he would believe anything. He really made me mad."

"Did you tell him the vampire's name?"

Samantha shook her head. "To tell you the truth, I had forgotten I had heard his name until I was telling you the story."