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“You’re a vampire.” He told him that he was. But a very young one. “Is Dork a vampire too? I heard tell he was a shifter and that’s kind of like one. Tell me so that I can blackmail him into giving me some more money.”

“If you do this right, you can have all his riches. After you kill your sister.” He’d not heard that he had to kill her. “You’ll see. It will be worth it to have her gone. She will be standing between me and my getting what I want.”

“What you want? What about what I want?” He said that he’d get what was coming to him too. “Good. I don’t know about killing off Rosie. She’s my only chance of having any money. I have to pound her around a bit, but she will come through. If I have to kill her, I won’t have shit.”

“You’ll have it all. I promise you. All the riches you deserve. Would you like to be a creature of the night? I can do that for you easily.” He said that he liked his days better than he did his nights. “Why are you so contrary? Don’t you want to live forever?”

“Not really? I don’t want to die either, but the thought of being around forever is something that I’d not like. I mean, being an old man forever would be just too much. Besides, what about my friends? They’d die off and not me, and where will that leave me? All alone. Nah, you keep your forever part, and I’ll die when it’s my time.” He told him it might be sooner than he thinks. “I don’t think so. I have things going in my direction, and I’ll be fine.”

They didn’t speak anymore, and he was fine with that. He could see his sister’s home from the road and was surprised by all the lights that were on. He would have thought she’d be in bed by now, but the house was lit up like Christmas morning. Phillip didn’t know what he was supposed to do now. His plan was to wake her up and hit her once, then get his money. Now she was awake, and it messed up his plans. He called for the voice, not knowing his name; he just called for him like that. The man appeared in front of him in seconds.

“If you can teach me that popping in and out thing, that would be great.” He told him it was his magic that did it. “Oh. Well that’s all right then. I’d probably get into trouble with it somehow, and that would be all she wrote.”

“You do babble on, don’t you? Is there a time when you’re quiet?” He said that he liked to hear voices as they made him feel less lonely. “I prefer my own company so that I don’t have to hear people emptying their heads all the time.”

“That must be nice.” He looked at the house. “What am I supposed to do now? I just want my sister to come out, but you want Dork to come out too. What do you think is going to happen if he sees you here with me? I mean, you’re not friends or anything, are you?”

“No, we’re not friends. I loathe the man.” Again, he didn’t know what that word meant, but he figured from his speech that it meant he didn’t like him. “And you’d be correct. He killed my father.”

“Dork did that? He doesn’t strike me as a killer. He’s a might too young for him to have gotten any kind of practice at killing people. Are you sure it was him?” He was told that not only was it him, but he’d killed hundreds of his kind over the decades. “You don’t say? Wow. I never would have thought of him as anything but a pussy boy. He don’t even have any muscles to speak of. Have you seen him with his shirt off or something? I’ve not. That’s okay then though. I’m not into men.”

“He kills both men and women. When they go rogue, it’s his job to take them out before they kill a lot of humans.” Phillip thought that was a good thing, but apparently the voice didn’t. “No, I do not. If he’d given my father a chance, then he would have been able to come out of his funk and raise us children. But York killed him before he was able to. For that he must die.”

The plan was getting more and more complicated as he stood there. He’d been only going to have Dork come out of his house, and the voice would talk to him. Now he wanted to kill him, and that wasn’t what he signed up for. Just as he was going to tell the man that he’d changed his mind, the front door opened, and there stood the two of them.

They didn’t come out on the porch like he thought they would. They stood in the doorway right where the door thingy hit the walls. He started forward to talk to his sister when he was stopped by the voice.

“There she is.” He told him something was different now and that he couldn’t save his sister. “What do you mean, I can’t save her? I just want some money from her, and that’s what you said I could get. You’re not making any sense.”

“She’s one of us.” He looked at her, and she looked the same to him. Calling out to her, she waved back and then smiled. “She’s a vampire now. I didn’t expect that to happen. And she’s stronger than myself.”

“How do you know that?” He just looked at him. “You know, you’re not all that smart, are you? Of course she’s not a vampire. If she was, I’d know. And I know that she’s not one of them night things.”

He looked at his sister and thought about what the man had been saying. She could be, he supposed, but not likely. Rosie wouldn’t want to be one of them monsters that kill people for blood. He started to protest again to the man, but he was gone. Phillip walked up to the house and told Rosie that she was going to be giving him money.

“No, I’m not. You should go back to the jail, Phillip, before they find out you’ve escaped. If they do, then there is hell going to be paid.” He said that someone had let him out. “I know that. And he’s planning on killing you when you’ve done what he wants. However, it’s not going to work. York or I, neither one of us is leaving the house. We’re safe in here.”

“He’s a pussy. Why on earth would you want to be around him?” She said because she loved him. “Bullshit. You don’t know how to love somebody. And he’s nothing more than—that other guy that was here. He said you were a vampire. Is that true?”

“Yes.” Nothing more than just a yes, and he wanted to smack the shit out of her. “I love it too. I’m much stronger than I was before. And I’m happy. Have you ever been happy, Phillip? It’s a wonderful feeling.”

“You’re sappy. Christ. Just give me some money, and I’ll leave you alone for today.” She said she’d called the police. “Why would you do something like that? You’re a bitch, Rosie. I know that I’ve called you that before, but you are. Now I’m going to have to wait on that guy, the voice, to come back and let me out again.”

“He won’t be able to. Not as long as I’m around. I like you being in jail.” He asked her what difference it made to her. “You’re not going to be able to come in and hurt me like you think you are.”

He rushed her at the door and found that he couldn’t get past the front of the place. Asking her what she’d done only had her laughing. She told him that he had something like ill will in his heart and he couldn’t get into her house.

“Are you telling me that you put some kind of hex on me?” She said that it was on the house. “That’s even worse. How am I supposed to live with you after Dork is gone if you do shit like that?”

“You’re not. And there is nothing going to happen to York. His name is York, not Dork.” He told her that he liked Dork better. “Whatever. You’re not coming into my house, so you might as well give up on that. And I’m not going to be giving you money either. Get a job. Or better yet, go back to jail so that you can work in the prison system. I hear it pays you to have money in your account.”

“I heard that too. Can’t even get a nickel out of them to pay child support either.” She asked him if he had kids. “Why would you think I have kids? I don’t want any of those snotty bugger eaters around me. Christ, that’s just gross.” He shivered when he thought about having a kid around him.

“There they are now. You’re going to have to explain to them how you got out of jail. And if you mention the voice or whatever you called him, they’re going to think that you’re nuttier than you really are.” He told her that he was no such thing and demanded that she take it back. “I don’t think so. You have a nice life in prison, Phillip. I know that I will with you being gone.”

The rush of air around him had him sick. Falling to the floor, he looked up at the shocked look on his sister’s face. Unable to form any words, he reached for Rosie and saw that his hand was bleeding. Or something was. He looked up at the police when they said his name.

“I’m hurt.” Rosie didn’t step out of the house because Dork was holding her back. “Rosie? What’s happened? Come here and help me.”