Unaware of the vampiric trap he was walking back into, Officer Perkins happily hummed to himself as he approached the motorcycle, “Alright. Ladies, You don’t have any…oh..” His voice escaped him when he spotted the provocative way the couple were wrapped around one another. “..I…no, warrants…” He wiped his brow free of sweat that popped up. “I..” He then tapped the camera on the center of his uniform. “..Video…yeah, um…you two b-be..” Officer Perkins opened the fp on his shirt pocket and handed Sylvie a card, then nibbled on his lip as he handed a second one to Casey. “C-careful. Speed c-can kill.” He winked and pointed to his camera, then tipped his hat. “It’s been…pleasure, my want…um, my pleasure to meet you moth…BOTH..” He sighed and looked away embarrassed for a few seconds. “Have a great evening, Miss Miakoda.” Officer Perkins took a step closer to Casey and kissed her hand. “A great pleasure to meet you as well, Miss Rivers. Call that number if you have anything you need.”

  When Officer Perkins accidentally dropped his metal ticket book, Casey gracefully hopped off of her seat and bent over to pick up the little box before the officer realized he’d dropped it. “Oh, here Officer. Since you have been so delightful.” Casey slowly handed Officer Perkins back his ticket book and held her stare for a couple of longing seconds. “We will certainly be much more careful.” Casey tucked the officer's card into her bra and smiled. “Thank you for your lovely support, I can’t wait to meet you again.” She winked, “Cute dimples.”

  Unable to form any words, Officer Perkins nodded and adjusted his equipment belt and headed back to his cruiser. Once out of sight Sylvie shook her head, “Good lord.” She blinked her new moon eyes, “You poured it on a little thick.” She ughed, “Meet him again? You just gave the man exciting nights for a month.”

  Just as easily as she got off the motorcycle, Casey resumed her seat and kissed Sylvie on the neck. Donning her helmet again, Casey licked her fangs. “Do you think I want anything other than his blood? Something about it that is rather savory.” She ughed, “Like a well-seasoned steak.” Casey spped her visor shut. “Let’s get back on the road, little country muffin.”

  “Right.” Sylvie waited for Officer Perkins to go by and waved as he slowly passed by. “Time is certainly not on our side now. That was ten minutes of you being an unfettered sex model for a cop.” Sylvie resumed her high rate of speed and finally saw a small set of signs that she recognized from her vision. “We are getting close. Maybe another half-hour.”

  “Then expin to me the technology thing that’s got you all twisted up. I mean you are about to use a big chunk of it.” Casey patted Sylvie’s shoulder, “I mean Kody is on their way with even more.”

  Still moderately confused, Sylvie did the best she could to use the highway and their travel as a partial distraction. “It won’t make any sense.” Sylvie’s voice crackled for a second over the microphone. “Sorry about that.” She then continued, “There are some things that haven’t hampered us. Like the motorcycle here. It is giving us a further and faster reach to get across a distance without using blood. Vampires didn’t invent it either. Human progress, overall the machine is benign.” Filling her dead lungs with air, Sylvie resumed speaking to Casey. “Things that Kody worked on while they were alive were certainly based around human function, but the moment Kody became undead like the rest of us it all turned into vampire tech. Forced to use blood and honestly it didn’t do much more than I can do right now. So it only served to detract from what we are.” Sylvie pressed her motorcycle between a thin line of cars, and felt her blood heat up. “Like that. If I was using the contacts, the dispy would have picked out the path before I could think of it myself.”

  “All technology does that, love.” Casey offered. “I mean people can’t really hunt all that much anymore. How often do they watch entertainment that is wrapped around things like surviving in the wild for an extended period? In some cases people quit in days. Technology has changed life big time, shouldn’t it do the same for vampires?” Casey asked softly. “I know that the misuse of Vasia’s book is the problem here, but people misuse technology all the time.”

  Misuse was the problem in Sylvie’s estimation. Every jump in human ingenuity ended up causing lots of strife along with some improvements. “I think it would be different if in most cases the tech didn’t come from a result to improve and expand warfare.” Sylvie snorted and slowed to take the exit towards Cudston. A tight turn around the cloverleaf and the two were speeding down a small rural highway. “I promise to consider your side Lite-Bright. I do know that I never want to be as out of touch as Vivienne is.”

  Reminded of her former employer's homes, Casey chuckled to herself as she went over how out of pce Vivienne’s look had been before she and Faye arrived. “Yeah, nothing seemed right. Everything was completely wrong. Pictures of supposed friends and family, but none of her. Really old art, that I am sure was the originals and down to things like setting up a room to look like the showcase from a store.” Casey held onto Sylvie’s waist tightly. “Admit it, you like being able to get exactly what you want with a simple press of a button thanks to Twilight Tonight.”

  “You win.” Sylvie slowed down and stopped. Thankful for the warning, the elder vampire had just locked the kickstand in pce when she felt herself helplessly fall against Casey.

  -No, not now. I need the blood.-

  When her ‘eyesight’ returned Sylvie found herself standing on the portal hill and looking over a barren wastend of gray and white. Ash had settled like a thick bnket of ghastly dust and reminded her of a crematorium. Where buildings should have been, pieces of charred remains poked up from the remains with their own marks denoting an intense heat. Although it was pitch bck, Sylvie’s vampire senses dominated the surroundings and she could see as though it were nearly daylight. Metal poles that should have had street mps were folded over upon themselves like withered flower stems.

  -I know this pce. It’s Colonial Heights. Cassiopeia above, is this what happens?-

  It didn’t take much longer to figure out that the dead area was not just from the result of the vast fires, but something much more intense. Instinctively Sylvie looked down and saw brittle bones of the dead all around her. Unwilling to touch any of the remains for fear that they’d turn into the same ash that covered the hill, Sylvie shook her head and knelt to feel the ground itself.

  -A pulse, like a heartbeat…no…like electrical current.-