"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Miranda asked, not bothering to conceal her apprehension.
"Mia amata," Mariah smiled. "You know, it seems like you ask me that lot."
"I wonder why that would be?" Miranda snarked back.
"Fair," Mariah said. "OK, it's a terrible idea, but it's the only idea that works."
"We're almost out of this," she continued. "We just need to find the Villareal Files and we can put this whole thing behind us."
"And how does meeting with Ms. H tonight help that?" Miranda demanded.
"It keeps her from getting too suspicious while we wait," Mariah said.
"I hate the waiting part," Miranda sighed.
Walking to her meeting, Mariah could admit it wasn't her favorite part of the plan either.
Genie had a good idea where the Files might be hidden in her family's mansion. (It was only years living in a Tartosan villa that prevented Mariah from being shocked at the idea of Genie having a mansion. Aadi, whose family rented a two-bedroom apartment in the City, had had some things to say on the matter.) Genie had convinced everyone that the best time to be looking for the Files would be the End of Term party her parents were throwing. The party would give them a ready-made excuse to be on the estate and, since it was really another fund-raiser for Mr. Elderberry, it would be crowded enough to let them sneak away to search. Snow and Control had both agreed with the plan.
Unfortunately, it meant waiting a little longer and, for Mariah, that meant keeping up appearances with the Altos and Ms. H. 
"Try to be safe, OK?" Miranda had said as she left. "There's something in the air tonight I don't like."
"I'll be fine," Mariah had assured her, heading resolutely out the door into the dark.
As she approached Ms. H, she hoped she'd been telling the truth.
"Mariah, I'm so glad you could come," Ms. H smiled.
"Just breathing hard from the stairs," Mariah joked.
Ms. H laughed, the moonlight glinting off her fangs, "So tell me, your classes are almost finished for the term?"
"Yeah," Mariah nodded. "One step closer to my Psych degree."
"An interesting field of study," Ms. H smiled. "The matters of the mind and the heart."
"I suppose so," Mariah said. "You know, I've actually got a lot of studying to do... end of term and all."
"Don't be in such a hurry, my dear," Ms. H purred, her voice whispering in Mariah's mind. "It's such a lovely, warm, spring night. We should enjoy it."
"Yeah," Mariah smiled suddenly. "We should."
I shouldn't be doing this, Mariah thought, the words a stab of pain through the warm haze of her mind. It was hard to think. Part of her wanted to just sink into that haze, into the warmth and the yearning. Another part of her mind struggled, fighting back, surprised by the subtle strength of the vampire's compulsion. She felt as if she could drown in the touch of H's lips, of her hands. Even the sharp sensation as her fangs pierced her mingled pleasure with pain. 
Ms. H gasped in pleasure, pulling herself away as Mariah's hot blood dripped from her lips. It would be so easy to just take, to drink her completely. The girl was willful. She had such strength. Even now, H could feel her struggling against the compulsion, bolstered as it was by the dark of the moon. To drain that strength would be a joy, but it would be a waste. She had other uses for Mariah Basso. Uses that demanded she give, as well as take.
"What?" Mariah gasped, pushing through the fog around her mind. "What did you do?"
"So, pushing off my control," Ms. H mused. "That's no easy feat, but I suspected you could. Like I suspect you've been doing everything you can to shield your heart from me."
"What did you do?" Mariah demanded.
"I took your blood," Ms. H replied, "and I gave you mine."
"What?!" Mariah gasped.
"Yes... daughter," Ms. H smiled viciously. "My power is in you now. That pain you feel is my blood, burning in you. A poison that sears away your mortality. In a night, perhaps two, you will turn. You will be mine!"
"Why?" Mariah said, shocked. "Why did you do this?"
"Even now you resist me," Ms. H smiled, "but soon, you won't be able to. Soon, you will be Vampire... blood of my blood. You will be unable to resist my power over you. Your little balancing act between me and your love for Miranda is over. Oh, you thought you could hide that from me. Fool child. You will be mine! My weapon, aimed at the heart of Miranda Silveroak-Goth. You're going to help me get everything I deserve!"
"No," Mariah snarled. "No!"
She hurled herself at the vampire, drawing on all her strength, on the martial arts she'd learned over the past months and street brawling of her youth.
But Ms. H had decades of experience and the strength of the dark moon.
"Fool," the vampire hissed. "You can't defeat me... but I appreciate the attempt."
"Run, Mariah," Ms. H hissed, her words still echoing in Mariah's head. "Run back to your dearest love. I give you the ending of your life together... a gift, to my new daughter."
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