Chris looked across the dance floor at James, who was staring at the two of them expressionlessly. He smiled to himself.

Chris: "He still thinks I'm your boyfriend, doesn't he?"
Mary: "There never seemed to be an appropriate point in the conversation to say, 'oh, by the way, you know my boyfriend? Well, he's not my boyfriend. He's really just a psychotic undead stalker, and I only pretended he was my boyfriend to get Mom off my back."
Chris: "You like him thinking we're together. You want him to be jealous!"
Mary: "Don't be ridiculous, that's the absolute last thing I need."

Chris: "Then why are you dancing with me?"
Mary: "You know what they say. Keep your enemies closer."
Chris: "Closer than what? I wasn't aware that you had any friends."
Mary: "Yeah, yeah, poor me, I have no friends, might as well pack it in and leave town, right? You can't play me. I'm not that stupid."

Chris: "Not trying to play you, Love."
Mary: "Yes you are. You're working for Stone. He's paying you to drive me insane. If I'm insane, Emily won't listen to me. And if she doesn't listen to me, Stone is golden. Not to mention all the time I've wasted dealing with you when I could've been focusing on more important things. He's fucking with Emily, and he's got something to do with all the messed up crap that's going on lately. I don't know how or why, but I don't really care. One way or another, it's going to stop. And as for you…"

Chris: "Yes?"
Mary: "If you were going to do anything other than annoy me, you'd have done it by now. But you haven't..."

Mary stopped dancing and stood back. They were in the corner, by the back wall. She looked up at Chris defiantly.

Mary: "So I think either you haven't got the balls, or your orders say I'm not to be hurt. Emily knows you're bad news. And as soon as I can connect you to Stone, definitively, the game is over."
Chris: "Love, as soon as you can connect me to Stone, it's game over for no one but you and me. Then who's going to watch out for your friend?

Mary smiled. Finally, she had an admission of guilt, validation of her suspicions. But as soon as the corners of her mouth rose, Chris had shoved her against the back wall before her eyes had even registered that he'd moved. His hands were pawing at her shirt as his mouth covered her own, holding in any voice she could give to her struggles. A wave of panic flooded over her before she could mentally block it. Then, as soon as the assault had started, it was over, and Chris began re-buttoning her shirt.

Mary suddenly burst into hysterical laughter as she realized he'd been looking for a wire, and she laughed harder still when she realized she should have HAD one if she was going to prod Chris into confessing anything.

Chris took a deep breath. The scent of the girl's fear was intoxicating, and he barely had the self-control to stop himself from dragging her out to the alley and drinking her dry right then and there. The tips of his fingers tingled and he pulled Mary back to him. He would definitely need a kill tonight, though the idea of abstaining and drawing this one out for a few more weeks was exciting. Stone said he was close to being finished with this game, but he wasn't clear on how close.

It was funny, Mary not caring about Stone's motives. Almost as if she was the only one who really got it, who truly understood. Human life is inconsequential, its events meaningless. Why ask why? One way or another, we're all just here for the food.