"So, what shall we talk about?" Ms. H smiled slightly. "You know you can't defeat me no matter what bravado you show your friends. You are mine."
"You know, that's another thing I've been thinking about," Mariah said. "You said, once I turned I wouldn't be able to resist your control... but you haven't tried to control me. I've been trash talking you for a while here and you haven't even tried to get in my head."
"Perhaps I find you amusing," Ms. H said.
"Yeah, I'm just cracking you up," Mariah snarked. "You know what I think... I think you're afraid you can't control me. I could resist you when I was mortal... now I'm a vampire. I can... feel it. That power. Cold and dark inside me."
"I gave you that power," Ms. H snarled. "It's a part of me!"
"Not anymore," Mariah said, defiant. "Now it's mine. You can't control me, and I'm not afraid of you anymore. You tried to mess with my head. You threatened my friends. You tried hurt my girlfriend and, oh yeah, you fucking murdered my father! Puttana, I am taking you down!"
Mariah could feel the dark essence filling her up, black and cold, but racing with it, eclipsing it, was the heat and light of her own rage and will. She was barely aware of her feet leaving the ground as she rose to challenge Ms. H.
"Consider this your first lesson in what it means to be Vampire," Ms. H snarled.
"Consider this your last lesson is what it means to Fuck with Me!" Mariah roared as she slammed into the older vampire.
The last time they had fought, Mariah had used all her skill and training and still lost. Ms. H was older, stronger and had decades of experience. Last time, Mariah had been shaken and afraid.
"How?" Ms. H groaned, defeated.
"I told you," Mariah snarled. "I'm not afraid of you anymore. You have no power over me!"
"Kill me then," Ms. H gasped, as she dropped to the ground. "Be done with it!"
"I'm not going to kill you, H," Mariah said. "You're going to stay away from me. You're going to stay away from my family, my friends and their families. You're definitely going to stay away from my girlfriend, or I will beat you down, but I am not going to kill you."
"Why?" Ms. H demanded.
"Because," Mariah said. "I Am Not A Monster."
"Let's go home," Mariah said.
"So, it's over?" Genie asked.
"If she knows what's good for her, it is," Mariah said. "You guys OK?"
"I'm good," Aadi said.
"Aadi met a guy," Genie said.
"He was a vampire and he was going to eat me," Aadi insisted.
"I don't know," Genie teased. "It looked to me like you guys had a kind of thing."
"Well, he was kinda cute," Aadi allowed, "in a fang-y way."
"Fangs!" Mariah gasped, feeling her own. "The cure! Tell me you found the cure!"
"I found the cure," Miranda said softly. "I need to get a couple more things. I'll mix it up in the morning. You'll be OK."
"Good," Mariah said. "I was really looking forward to growing old with you."
"Oh," Miranda gasped.
------------------------
"This isn't over," Ms. H hissed. "I will hunt you down. When I'm done with you, Mariah, you will beg me to forgive you. I will drink the heart's blood of your friends and families! I will... urk!"
The wooden shaft slammed through her back, shattering her ribs as it drove into her cold, dead heart.
"No! No, no, no, no," Ms. H pleaded, clawing at her chest.
"In a way I am sorry, Marie Belle," Straud said coldly. "I have always been fond of you. That's why I've permitted you your little rebellions over the years. It's unfortunate, but I simply can't tolerate your insolence anymore."
"If I makes you feel any better, my dear," Straud continued, "you are a victim of your own success. You might actually have succeeded, at least in disrupting my businesses. I doubt you could have supplanted me at Court, but in threatening Miranda, you challenged my plans.
"I need time, you see," Straud said, looking over her smoldering ashes. "Time to heal. Time to gather my strength."
"Only when I am ready," Straud concluded, "will I face Miranda and her fellow Guardians again."
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