When I moved, with the speed of the Change, I took a rat. It wasn't much, but it would start me in the right direction. Then I challenged the sun again, braving the fire to force the bars enough to squeeze through into Rebeka. I knelt beside her, touching her pale skin, her soft, blonde hair. Even in death she was beautiful, her body only beginning to decompose. I kissed her cold cheek, then pressed my lips to her neck. It was truly unthinkable … to drink from one so long cold, and one with so little really to offer. Her last real meal had been days before, and what I had given hadn't mattered in the end. So much of herself had been spent in her efforts to live.
I bit gently, as if she might somehow yet feel it, and drank in small, garish sips, pulling back as the cold, thick fluid touche
