Vampires were predators. They were unnatural. Evil, perhaps. Once you weeded out the romanticized fiction written by people a little too obsessed with death for their own good, that was the underlying premise of it all.

She looked up, staring at her own reflection in the dresser mirror. Her mascara was smudged down one cheek, lipstick gone. Her hair was a tangled mess and smelled of burning cloves and sweat.

The reflection shattered as she threw one of the books at it, giving her face a hundred different facets, the same image projected at slightly varied angles.

Markus: "Did you really need seven more years of bad luck?"

Mary turned to look at Markus. He stood in the doorway, not moving, completely unimposing. Mary smiled softly at him.

Mary: "Hell, I'll never live long enough to see it. By the time this seven catches up with me I'll be two-hundred and twenty-nine."
Markus: That's a lot of mirrors."
Mary: I always was a klutz. Why are you here?"

Markus: Thought you could use a friend."
Mary: "Could I?"
Markus: "Most likely. First time angry sex with your fake vampire boyfriend seems to call for it."

Mary sighed and sat down on the bed as Markus walked over and sat in a chair next to the bed. They sat there in silence until Mary finally spoke again.

Mary: "Everybody knows?"
Markus: "Pretty much."

Mary: "I don't know what happened. I was going to kill him, and then… I didn't."
Markus: "Why were you going to kill him?"
Mary: "He's a vampire. He's been stalking me; he's essentially been running my life by making me constantly find new ways of dodging him. Everything else was falling apart… I just wanted to do something, fix something. And then… he told me James is a vampire, and that was just one more fucked up thing in my life, and I snapped."

Markus: "You needed some power."
Mary: "Yeah. And sex is power. Someone's always got to be on top, right?"

Markus: "Well, actually-"

Mary grabbed a pillow from the bed and bashed Markus over the head with it.

Mary: "LALALALALALALALA!!!"

Markus grinned and put the pillow next to him on the floor.

Mary: "You knew James was a vampire."
Markus: "Yes. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but it wasn't my thing to tell."
Mary: "Why are you still friends with him?"
Markus: "He promised not to drain my blood or that of any of my loved ones? I don't know, why are anyone friends? You choose to trust someone until they break it. James hasn't broken my trust, and I have no reason to believe he ever will."

Mary: "That's quite the gamble."
Markus: "True. But it has far better odds and far better rewards than the lottery."
Mary: "And if you lose, it costs far more than a dollar."
Markus: "Sometimes, yes. What did it cost you?"

Mary knit her eyebrows together, appearing to give the question some serious thought before answering.

Mary: "Same as anyone else, I guess. I'm just an ordinary girl, Markus, with ordinary stories."

Markus watched Mary's face as she shook her head, feeling just the slightest chill inside.

Markus: "I'm sure that's true just as much as it isn't, Mary."

Markus stood up and stretched.

Markus: "I'll tell you what. I'm going to run you a hot bath, then I'm going to go downstairs, join Serge, make us some hot cocoa and raid your kitchen. Andy's idea of Chex Mix was just… not correct. I'm starving."
Mary: "Serge is here?"
Markus: "Of course he is! If you were doing the woo-hoo with your immortal enemy, what on earth would you do to a hot gay man with good manners? I had to bring reinforcements."