A fight between them would never be fair. She needed more than the element of surprise. She needed a true advantage. She was fed, she'd made sure of that. As she finished, pressing happy memories into the mind of the young man who lived next door, she'd called him again.

“I should probably feed before I come over,” she'd said. “It's been a few days, and I don't want to be annoying and hungry.”

“Don't worry about that,” he'd told her. “We can feed when ...