Katy Whitman was looking out the window of her room again. Through the beige curtain, she could see twilight. Her room gloomed with serenity. Her company pulled into the driveway. She went to meet them. When she got to the car, they said "Ya ready, Katy?"

"Yeah!" she said.

* * *

Ambrosh had an awakening in a cave, but the awakening was subtle. They (others) were added to the group of vampires. He went out to hunt every evening. When he breathed, it sounded like hissing.

It was as if a shroud draped about him that shielded him from the wind. He walked in sorrow. When he drank, he felt free! Free of his cares and free of the shroud. But when reality sank in, again he was trapped.

The shroud felt like a damp cover: it inhibited him. He was always thirsty. Only when he drank did the shroud momentarily leave him. When the shroud would momentarily leave him, he felt happy! He was the oldest vampire in existence, about as old as Regimore was.

The vampires took the lives of mortals every night, while the hunters searched for them in the daylight hours. These two men were as different as the times they did their work, day and night — Regimore and Ambrosh.

* * *

Katy was fixated on the dead that summer. She was a rebel. She would go at night to sit by the water to have peace.

Katy Whitman lived in Pesdonia.

* * *

The hunters knew of the vampires. They knew of their ways, of their methods, of their marks. They knew of the living dead. The corpses' disappearances from the morgue every night were because of them. Regimore worked in the morgue too. That was his second job. He didn't live in the village. He was also a watchmaker in the city. He spent most of his time in the back room, creating a number of watches. He was a big, robust man who spoke softly yet surely.

Katy sometimes spoke with him. Regimore thought it was a very dangerous thing that Katy did.

* * *

At night, a shadow would throw itself upon this town. Pesdonia would use its streetlights for light at night. The inhabitants of the town would be exhausted. They would sleep, unaware of the night breed. Everyone slept, except for Regimore, Katy, and Ambrosh.

Slowly their eyes would roll open, as slower still they would revive. They would all arise at once; they moved swiftly, like cats. They were true children of the night — the vampires.

* * *

One night, Ambrosh went to the docks and saw Katy there. He spared her then. He looked at her through the reeds and tall grass.

He was caught! The one glimpse of her got him hooked, and he wanted more. It was like he saw a leaf and wanted the whole forest. He felt free and alive. The shroud, for that moment, felt like it had fallen off him. He didn't regret that he had nothing to drink in the morning.

It was as if looking at her released a swan; however temporary, it was beautiful. He would have loved for this feeling to stay; it would have filled him with joy. Yet time was limited, and soon dawn would come. Back to the cave, the shroud, the dirt.

He wanted to sit beside her, to sit adjacent to his other swan. He had to run "home." He felt compelled to vanish. He extended each leg further from the ground until they lifted up and kicked into a run.

He made it back before the sun came up.

He would have liked to see her again. Yet he had to eat/ drink.

He chose his prey carefully.

First, he lingered behind their steps, stalking them. Then he swiftly overtook them as they were unaware. He gripped their necks and sank his teeth into his victim's flesh. It sounded like paper being crumpled. He indulged plentifully. In the process of drinking, he felt like he was traveling through their bloodstream.

Blood gathered in the center of his lower lip and dripped slowly. Then he let go of the lifeless victim. The moon above glistened. He traveled onward from raw instinct to the next. The cloak charged him a plentiful price, and he would be forever in its debt.

"You're working on one of these today? I knew you would be." Katy said.

Regimore replied, "Yes, one of those. Been working until late these past few nights?"

Katy was silent.

"I have to go, Regimore." And she left. She was distant.

It was still light when she got back to her home. She had to get ready to leave, and so she went to her room.

* * *

He watched her from his tomb and tried to whisper to her. Yet she was protected, and the wind never carried these words to her ears.

* * *

She traveled through the thickets and twisting paths. She weaved her way through the barren trees. Come on, legs, she thought to herself.

She found a clearing and sat down surrounded by tall grass. It was like she was in a trance. She fell back.

"Your winds glide my sails 'cross glittering seas ..." She kept thinking.

Ambrosh tried to speak to her.

Then it started to rain, and she went home.

* * *

The sun dried everything up, and Katy was in her room.

She was recalling the night before and the words.

She recalled, "Your winds glide my sails 'cross glittering seas ..."

And she repeated, "'cross glittering seas ..."

She stopped suddenly. She got on her bike outside. She got on the bike and rode. She saw the ground beneath her steadily advance under the tire. She rode to Regimores'.

* * *

He was walking along the beach; the waves were crashing at his side. He saw a small child sitting alone, looking down at the stick in his hand. He stood over him and said, "What ya doing here, little guy?"

The child was about one year old. Regimore placed a hand on the boy's head, and the boy smiled and giggled.

"Donald? Donald?" trailed his mother's voice in the distance.

* * *

Now Regimore was sitting in front of the shop. He was sitting on a chair. Upon hearing the front door open, he looked up, peering through his glasses, and said, "Katy, what a delight to see you."

"Regimore ... What is it? What can it be?" Katy was confused.

He said, "Yes, Katy, what can it be?"

Regimore was before her, while the sea was in her mind.

She said, "The sea ..." She was confused and thinking of her experience.

Pausing after a moment, he said, "Is not the day most appealing, Katy?"

Then he said this, "Katy, just remember this ... You were not made for the night."

* * *

Ambrosh returned to his domain. He walked indifferently.

Outside, the sun had risen. It was damp outside. Now everything was vibrantly lit; all traces of night were gone. Those eyes were demanding. They were purring. They wanted Katy.

They wanted her for her purity, longing to corrupt it. Ambrosh was not listening to their pleas. They did not suggest life.

"Silence!" he demanded.

His voice caused their purring to cease. They were hungry.

"Nothing, there is nothing tonight ... Nothing!" They stopped.

Now he exited his chamber. He was thinking of them and of Katy. Then he screamed, and it echoed through the place.

Night fell upon the land. She went out again, but she found no delight in her escape. The scene no longer held her attention, and she wanted to leave. Then the wind blew; it kept her there as night fell more fully. The crickets' chirps penetrated the scenery. Hours passed. Everything became silent, then Katy stood up.

Cupping her hands, she called,...