"So they sleep all day?"
   "Yeah.  But they don't have to, he just likes to.  He says hunting at night is easier."
   "But you said they sleep in a light proof room."
   "He just likes it that way.  If he wakes up with light in his eyes, he's cranky all night.  His eyes are more sensitive than usual."
   "Okay, okay, so he doesn't like light.  You mentioned hunting."
   "Yeah."
   "I assume you mean hunting people."
   "Yeah."
   "Do you kill them?"
   "I don't.  They do.  Sometimes.  Sometimes there are people they pull into their herd.  The herd are people they can do to whenever they want, to feed.  So they don't have to kill.  So the murder rate doesn't rise, you know?  The police don't get suspicious."
   "You mean they kill and then leave the bodies lying around?  A string of exsanguinated bodies is *going* to cause some concern."
   "Not always.  Sometimes he cooks them."
   "He..."
   "Yeah.  If he's cooking for us.  He's a chef.  Sometimes he hands them off to a crematorium run by someone he knows.  He also knows someone who runs a soup kitchen.  And sometimes he just dumps them in the river."
   "Wait a minute, did you just say you're a cannibal?"
   "No.  I said sometimes he cooks his victims for us."
   "Do you...  eat them?"
   "Yeah."
   "You're a cannibal."
   "Well, yeah.  I get some of the blood, too.  It's too rich for me now, but he says I have to get used to it all."
   "Explain to me the hunting."
   "I'm not really part of it.  He's really good, he's beautiful and charming, so he seduces people, takes them to a place they've decided on--that's one of his rules, never kill in your own house, though the herd can be brought there.  He takes them somewhere and then she takes me there and they feed.  Sometimes they hunt together, it's easier to get three or four people that way.  Sometimes they feed seperately several times, maybe from some of the herd, then from someone they don't need to fully drain, but they kill anyway.  They dump them in an alley or something, take their jewelry, slice them so it looks like they bled out."
   "It sounds...  terrifying.  How come you stay with them?"
   "I want to.  He says he'll take me one day."
   "You mean he'll make you a vampire?"
   "Yeah."
   "Um.  How?"
   "I don't know.  He hasn't said.  She started to tell me one day, but he got mad at her.  He locked her in their bedroom and wouldn't let her feed.  *Then* he punished her for making him punish her."
   "What?"
   "He doesn't like causing...  ugliness.  He doesn't like not being beautiful.  He nearly drained her the next night, and left her till almost dawn when he brought one of the herd over.  He had to keep her from draining the guy.  Then she fed from me.  It was the only time she has, he keeps me for himself."
   "So you're his herd?"
   "Yeah.  Far as I know, I'm the only one they don't share."
   "What about diseases?"
   "There are some they can get from rats.  As far as I know, there aren't any human diseases they can get.  Except maybe the ones humans and rats share.  And some drugs are poisonous, all the opiates.  Some prescription things.  If there's an opiate in the victim's blood, they can taste it right away and stop, except morphine.  If they drain someone's who's on morphine, they're out for days.  In sort of a coma.  It happened to her once, and he told me about someone he knew who died from drinking morphine blood.  Apparently the guy was an addict, on real heavy doses.  You know, cuz they build up a tolerance.  So I'm not allowed opiates.  Neither is the herd.  Obviously."
   "What else aren't you allowed?"
   "Caffeine.  I can have all the wine I want, but no coffee.  It has sort of a reverse effect, makes them sluggish.  He doesn't like it.  And he says it tastes bad.  So none of the herd are allowed caffeine, either, except a few who always have two days notice to cleanse themselves before they're brought in.  They're sort of...  specials.  I think they're part of a collective herd.  For more than just my two vampires."
   "That's it?  You guys, you herd, can't have opiates or caffeine?"
   "No blood thinners.  No anti-coagulants.  'course if there's an emergency and they have to be on something like that, they're out of circulation for a while."
   "No pun intended."
   "What?"
   "'Out of circulation'...  blood...  oh, nevermind."
   "Oh.  Heh.  Yeah."
   "What else can't you have?"
   "Me, personally?  There are a lot of things he doesn't like me to eat.  Garlic.  That sounds funny, I know, but really he likes garlic himself.  To eat.  But he says it adds a horrible aftertaste to blood.  Broccoli and other green vegetables, too.  No rosemary.  No beer, he doesn't like the taste it adds.  Wine is okay, and cognac and some whiskies.  But no beer, and no vodka."
   "What *can* you have?"
   "As much pineapple as I can eat.  Grains are good.  I'm not supposed to eat for a few hours beforehand, you know, like when you donate blood?  He makes broths for me, usually a sort of beef--well, *sometimes* it's beef--tea with thyme and sage and a little wine.  I don't really like it much, but he says it does wonders."