…The door to the apartment opened. “Hey, Rosie!” called a voice. A young, red-headed woman strode into the
apartment carrying a few bags. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw me and Colette. “Oh, hi there!”
she said cheerfully as she shook off her initial shock.
“Lily, these are two people I waited on last night,” said Rose. “Colette and Chris. They’re…well, uh…they
wanted to talk to me.”
“Yea, about what?” asked Lily.
“It’s complicated,” said Rose. “Why don’t you put your things down and we can talk.”
“Sure,” said Lily. She disappeared into the hallway. Suddenly we heard, “Aah! Rose!” I heard some things,
presumably what she carried, drop on the floor. Lily marched back into the room with a very angry look. “Why
is that door open, Rose?”
Rose looked nervous. “That’s why they’re here,” she said.
“What is that supposed to mean?” demanded Lily.
“Please, just sit down and I’ll explain,” said Rose.
Lily complied with Rose’s request. “Fine,” she said. “Explain yourself.”
Rose took a deep breath but before she started, Colette interrupted and said, “We’re vampires, Lily.”
Lily turned and looked at Colette. Then she burst out laughing. “Oh, yea, that’s a good one,” she said
through her laughter. “What, did Rose convince you to pull a prank on me? Good one, Rosie. Nice touch
leaving the door open.”
Colette and I looked at each other and shrugged. “Excuse me, Lily,” said Colette.
“Yea?” she replied. Simultaneously Colette and I summoned our fangs and showed them to her. “Whoa!” she
exclaimed as she jumped out of her seat. “Whoa!” she said again.
I decided it was time I read someone’s thoughts. I focused on Lily as I wanted to know exactly what she
thought right at this moment. “Right now you’re thinking that this could be fake, some kind of magic trick,”
I said. “You’re still not really convinced.”
Lily turned to me. “How did you know that?” she asked.
“We can read your thoughts if we want to,” I said. I continued to go through her thoughts though I looked
this time for more general information. Sure enough I found out some interesting things. “I’ve got a few
things I can share with everyone if you’d like.”
“Like what?” she asked with a tone of defiance.
“I’ll just mention a few things that Rose knows,” I said. “For starters, you two have known each other since
high school. You quickly became best friends and once high school was over, you became lovers.”
“Wow, really?” said Colette with a certain lack of surprise.
“The two of you share your vampire obsession with each other, but hide it from everyone else,” I continued.
“Which is why that door is locked. You two also hide the fact that you’re lovers since you think people will
judge you. But you’re not strictly lesbians, either. You both consider yourselves bisexual. In this
relationship, you’re the more dominant one while Rose is more passive.” Lily fell back into the couch. Rose
looked shocked and hurt. “I’m sorry if anything I said to upset you, Rose,” I added.
I realized that by our actions and admissions so far we had backed ourselves into a corner. Rose wasn’t going
to leave Lily. So either they would both agree to join us or neither of them would. The problem was that I
didn’t know if Colette would want Lily. I tried to form an impression of Lily as quickly as possible by
further probing her thoughts. I gathered that she was both abnormally perky and upbeat, but also had a
domineering side, as I mentioned aloud. However, as I searched further, I developed the impression that her
domineering side came from a desire to be protecting rather than bullying. I sensed that these two were
genuinely afraid of how others would view them together, and Lily assumed the role of being the protector.
Lily’s physical appearance had to be considered as well. Her red hair was quite bright and striking.
Certainly it was her most distinguishing feature. The clothes she wore were a bit frumpy so I couldn’t get a
great idea of her figure. She was taller than Rose, but shorter than Colette. Her face was very pretty. She
had dimples on her cheeks that I thought were the product of perpetually smiling.
Rose broke the silence as she said, “Lily, they want to make me a vampire like them. They want me to be a
‘bride.’”
“A ‘bride?’” asked Lily. “Are you kidding me?”
“No, we’re not,” I said. “We’re looking for more people to share in our powers.” I looked at Colette to get
a sign regarding Lily. Colette was looking at Lily intently. I guessed she was reading her thoughts, too.
Finally she looked over at me and nodded. “We don’t just want Rose, we want you, too, Lily.”
“You want us both to be vampires?” asked Lily. She looked right at me. “You want us to be your ‘brides’ like
she is?” She pointed at Colette. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Colette shudder at being regarded
in that manner.
“Yes, we do,” I said. “So what do you think?”