All of the vampires seemed in a trance.

The ones on the bed (and there were at least six, so two more must have drifted up while Sally and Lavinia were helpless with laughter) stroked the blankets, nuzzled and actually kissed the pillows and the curtains on the wall. The ones standing in the small cooking area ran their hands over the fold-back wood paneling which covered stove and sink. They opened cupboards, touched with wonder the cleaning supplies and canned goods. One held the small broom and swept the tiny portion of floor available to him with infinite devotion.

For that magic moment, Sally saw the humans they had been. About half of them had been women, three had been black, two had been Asian.

Then they saw her and became a snarling mass of evil. Cold hands pulled Sally off her feet, razor teeth snapped at her neck, hands pulled at her hair and arms.

Lavinia bellowed, “Let her go or you’re out!” Sally shrieked, “Hands off or it’s all vampires out!”

Silence, broken only by the caw of a far-off seagull. “Um, except Lavinia,” Sally whispered quickly.

She was free but her neck throbbed sharply. Keeping her glare fixed on the rows of white faces Lavinia snapped, “You okay, tiger?”

Sally pressed her hand to her neck. Two shallow punctures sat in the middle of a slippery spot but blood wasn’t running down her neck. “I think they missed any arteries or veins,” she reported.

“Alright. Now!” Lavinia barked at the vampires. “This here is our home and you’re invited to stay. But! Only! As long as you behave yourselves. That means! No drinking whatever blood I still got left. No drinking, not even any fucking touching, my lady here.”

Eight pairs of eyes snapped over to Sally, who had just taken a blood-smeared hand away from her neck. She pulled herself together to glare at them, still confused by what she’d seen and how fast it had changed. Now she couldn’t even tell which ones had been black.

“I say everything she said,” Sally told them. “You can be in a home again but I’ll kick your fucking asses out so fast your heads will ring if you touch either one of us.”

A chorus of whining started up. “Not fair! We’re hungry. You must let us drink…” A bead of blood tickled down her neck and every eye followed it.

Sally realized why Lavinia wouldn’t look at her. “Listen all of you,” she snapped. “I’m sure my blood smells as good to my lady as it does to you.” She saw Lavinia nod. “But she’s not drinking! There’s something even better and we can show it to you. Don’t you wonder why she’s a vampire with blood?”

“Mmm, yeah.” “Right, yeah, how come?” “How come you get it and not us?” Suddenly they sounded like rebellious children.

“Shut up!” Lavinia snarled. “We’re comin’ in. We’ll stay in the front part. The back is yours for tonight. Not one fingernail comes through the curtain or you’re all out.” She finally turned to Sally, ignoring with visible effort the blood which was cooling and drying. “Say it, tiger. They gotta hear it from you too.”

Sally didn’t relish spending the night with eight hungry vampires behind their heads. But the only alternative was to kick them all out, including Lavinia. So she repeated what Lavinia had said, adding, “You’re lucky. I’d really rather sleep in our own bed, but I don’t feel like having sex with my wife while you creeps watch!”

Lavinia put an arm around her. The vampires looked like teenagers imagining their parents having sex. One of them actually muttered, “Gross.”

Sally and Lavinia looked at each other. The crescent moon near the horizon left a glimmering trail of white on the water. Soon it would be much darker. They both shrugged, then climbed into the cab of the camper.

Lavinia jerked her thumb toward the rear of the camper and the two vampires in the front seat climbed over. She fixed the curtains once more and closed them tightly.

For a few minutes they heard grunts from behind the green wall. “Move over, I need room.” “Get your elbow out of my face.” Lavinia and Sally breathed in little gasps to avoid bursting out in torrents of giggles.

Gradually the sounds from the back died down into sighs and coos. Sally understood that if she looked through the curtains, she would see them in their home-loving trance again.

Lavinia gathered Sally up into her arms and held her head against her breast. Just twenty-four hours ago, Sally realized, she’d been lost, longing for those strong arms around her. She nestled against Lavinia’s body and drank in the feeling she’d thought she’d lost forever. And she looked straight up into Lavinia’s eyes. If you’re going to hypnotize me, go ahead.

But Lavinia just met her gaze, as she always had, with burning fire. She brushed a fingertip against the congealing blood on Sally’s neck. Sally raised her eyebrows: does that tempt you? Lavinia shook her head with a little smile. “Dried,” she breathed.

As the sound of breathing from the rear grew steady and deep, the night closed in around Sally and Lavinia and made a secret, quiet cave for them.

“We can talk,” Lavinia whispered. “They won’t hear us. We vampires don’t have super-sonic hearing or anything.” She shook her head. “We vampires. Jeez.” She shook her head again. “But no, I’m not feeling tempted. The sun, Jesus fuck, that was some powerful magic. Sunlight. Who knew?”

The moon nestled into the bosom of the ocean on this clearest of nights. Sally saw that glowing white light reflected in her beloved’s eyes. She was held in the arms of a vampire and she felt happy.

Dozens of things that they needed to talk about tumbled through her mind without leaving an impression or making a sound. What exactly did sunlight do? When would Lavinia need to sleep and would she still be herself when she woke up? How was she able to be herself at all? Could all vampires be called back to themselves? What were they going to do in the morning with the sleeping crew back there? Would the vampires wake up like children or monsters or adults or something stranger?

As the moonlight faded, even deeper stillness settled around them. The silence, barely broken by the deep even breathing of the vampires became so profound that speech seemed impossible. Sally had been laying in Lavinia’s arms forever and would always be here. The very movement of Lavinia’s chest, the blinking of her own eyes, the sound of her own breathing, all seemed significant.

“How can we make a home together?” she breathed at last. Once the soft words were out, Sally could scarcely remember their meaning.

Never taking her eyes from Sally’s, with the barest shaping of her lips, Lavinia answered. “I could make you a vampire.”

In the dream space which filled the night home, the words hung, seductive, inviting.

Sally felt her head tilt back as if to bare her neck for the ultimate act of surrender.