"My mother," Justin croaked, "but she's—"

"Not that one," Lara said, "the other one."

For a second, Justin had pictured Lara communicating with the 'other side' using a Ouija board, glass moving back and forth between letters to come up with some message. Your mother loves you very much, or some such; and ironic given that Justin had seen Alice's ghost when he first became a vampire.

He and Lewis had been brought up by two women, and his other parent's actions post Alice's death hadn't inclined him to ever want to hear from her again.

"BitersLife," Lara said, naming the social media platform aimed at vampires. It hosted numerous groups. Tricks for making the state-programmed artificial blood bearable to swallow when as a vampire every bit of you revolted against it. One devoted to fan art that shipped Maya and Shayla, and made Maya laugh like a drain when he showed her the pictures.

"God, you and I should try that position for real. Are my boobs really that enormous?" (Yes.)

"There's a private group on there," Lara continued, dropping her voice as voices sounded in the corridor. "Where vampires use codes to communicate information. When they were converted, and where they used to live. People use it to find their families."

Justin grunted. The state licensing laws ripped newly converted vampires away from their families for so-called safety reasons and ordered both sides never to see or communicate with each other ever again.

"The group works both ways," Lara added, "so any humans in the know are in it too."

Lara's husband and children were long dead. But she monitored the group on the others' behalf. Trisha, the 13-year-old in her care, deserved to know about her 'little' sister, the one now the same age as her. A mind fuck if you dwelled on it too long.

Lara dug her hand into her pocket. "A name came up that I recognised. When I asked another question, I got a private message."

He stiffened. Vampirism still took a lot of getting used to. The reactions to anything and everything exaggerated. In theory, his heart no longer functioned in the traditional way. It didn't send out oxygen rich red blood to his capillaries and veins. But in the here and now, it thudded, a dull whack-whack-whack against his chest.

Lara proffered her phone. "Do you want to read what the message has to say?"

He pushed the phone away. "Not interested, Lara."

"I know this is difficult for you, but shouldn't you at least read it?"

He scowled and snatched the phone from her, skimming the words. "Hello there. I'm writing this on behalf of another—Grania Johnson-White, originally of Llandia, latterly the West Country and now in Dunrovia. Ms Johnson-White is seriously ill and desperate to see her twin sons Justin and Lewis again and make her peace with them. Do you know where they are?"

At Vamp Towers, most of the vampires shared their conversion stories and talked about the families they had left behind. Not Justin, though when Lewis surfaced, the circumstances forced him to admit he was a twin, his brother having rejected the state licensing programme. Maya and Shayla heard the story, and later Lara. No-one else.

"That was the first message," Lara said, "and there have been a few of them ever since. All of them asking the same thing. What do you want to do?"

He let out a sigh. "Nothing. They won't allow me to visit her. And I don't want to, anyway."

Lara looked as if she wanted to argue but held her hands out in supplication. "Your call. I'll let you know if she posts again."

He shook his head. "Don't. I'm not interested."

Lara patted his back and let herself out.

He lay on his bed, thoughts whirling. Maya was due back from the Argist Academy in half an hour. Justin focused his mind on what they would do when she returned—all activities that would be perfect distractions, preventing him from dwelling on his past.

When Maya let herself into his room two hours later, she appeared to have read his mind. He hardened as soon as she pushed him back on the bed and shoogled her legs either side of him.

"I've got something to tell you." He broke off from kissing her.

"Can it wait?" Human eyes differed from vampires. Most of the time his were opaque—the conflation of iris and pupil making it tricky for people to work out what went on in his head. Maya's eyes made her easy to read. What did he see there now—fear re-surging? He wrapped his arms around her and twisted over, so they lay side by side.

He stroked the hair back from her face. "Did something happen to you today? Is your sister okay? Looking forward to when you and Sharon take her outside?"

She ducked her eyes. "No-nothing happened. My sister's... fine. She wolfed those brownies down."

The words rang hollow. He stroked her cheek, and she glanced up once more, eyes bright.

"Come on, Maya. What's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing! Can we just... what did you want to tell me?"

He outlined the challenge Aaron had thrown out, adding that Dunrovia College's chancellor had granted him permission to do it. So long as Vampire Security agreed and returned all the necessary paperwork in time.

"It's a big if, but for the first time ever, I might get to cook for paying customers."

He didn't mention Grania. Why spoil the excitement?

"Oh my God! That's super amazing. They better let you, even though—no, I'm sure they will."

She shuffled closer to him. The springs on the bed squeaked in protest at every tiny movement. Often, embarrassed by the giveaway rhythmic noise the springs and the headboard made, they ended up on the floor—the physical discomfort preferable to imagining those around them hearing everything through those paper-thin walls.

"Even though what?" he asked.

"Nothing, nothing! How great is this going to be!"

"What is it, Maya?"

He pressed his forehead to hers and slid his hand around her back, allowing his forefinger to trace over the vertebrae one by one. At close quarters, her eyes were that much clearer. A greeny-blue colour like the sea on a sunny day and an entire world in there. If he was honest with himself, a huge part of Maya's appeal lay in her humanity and his longing for it.

"A vampire escaped from the Academy today." She rattled out the words.

He stilled. Could it be... "Don't the Argists lock that place up tighter than Alcatraz?"

"Yeah, but whoever escaped found a way out. Kyle refuses to tell me who. What if... if it was Freya? She might come here. She hates me."

"Freya hates most people. Don't take it personally."

Maya stroked his cheek. "No, Freya saves the bulk of her loathing for me. Because of you."

He kissed her palm. "She transferred all her affection to my twin, who, handily, looks exactly like me. And she's just spent five months locked up with him. I'm sure that affection will have intensified."

Maya cocked her head to the side. Her cheeks dimpled as she gave him a brief smile. "D'you reckon you're so unremarkable Freya settled for that substitution?"

"Whatever. But Freya is a shit vampire. She doesn't have the brains or the strength to do that much. If it is her, Vampire Security will find her. And you know what happens then."

Stake, stake you're dead.

She drew back. "There's something else. I do-don't see Lewis at the academy. At my level, we're not allowed to practise mind control on vampires. But today I, um, saw him."

Today? Maya would have told him straight away if Lewis experienced a Damascene conversion where he prostrated himself before Nell and the other Argists. "Sorry everyone, but I was wrong! Vampires should live in grotty tower blocks, heavily guarded, drinking shitty fake blood instead of the real stuff and their freedom curtailed!"

"How was Lewis when you saw him?" Months since Justin said the name of his brother out loud. His tongue stumbled over it, rusty. Loo-essss.

"Sullen, uncooperative and spitting fury. I... ah... said you sent your love."

As it wasn't something he'd asked her to do, the gesture touched him. "And he didn't say anything else?"

She looked away. "He promised me as soon as he escaped, he'd head straight for the Garshake Estate and attack the unvaccinated people and children who live there. Do-do-you-think-he'd-come-here?"

One of those rapidly-fired out questions where a person feared the answer the vampire she asked might give.

"If he does, I'll alert the authorities as soon as."

"Thank you. I know he's your brother, but he terrifies me, and I-I find it difficult to forget th-that time last summer..."

She meant that awful time when Cordelia, Lewis and their unsavoury friends had tried to kill Maya's little sister along with fifteen other children. Three hours of his life Justin wished he could wipe from his memory altogether.

"Shush," he said. "He won't get anywhere near your sister or your neighbours, I promise."

She nodded. Was that acceptance or did doubt remain? He hooked his arm around her neck, pressing his mouth onto hers. Her hair, coconut-scented and silky soft, tickled his face.

Smell, his new super-power, kicked in. State licensed vampires had a sterility to them. Your nose detected little. Everything that came off Maya smacked of life—the remnants of the dinner she'd eaten, the body lotion she slathered on, the antiseptic tingle of her spot cream. Behind all of it, the sharp tang of sweat thanks to her needing to huff and puff her way up ten flights of stairs because the lifts were still out.

He matched his lips to hers, tongue insistent on pushing hers open and pulling her as tightly as he could against him. Sometimes he almost believed that if they stayed locked together for long enough, she would breathe life back into his lungs, veins and heart.

He slid his hands under the camisole top, edging it over her head. She pushed herself back to help him take it off, twisting her arms behind her back to undo her bra, as she fell forward, engulfing him. The heaven of it. Drowning in flesh—its myriad distinct smells. The way it seemed to spill over him, encompass him, cocoon him in the here and now where he forgot their differences.

She sat up. The bedside lamp—a cheap thing with a LED bulb that kept the light permanently dimmed—picked her profile out. Shiny forehead, curved cheeks and the dimpled chin. She opened her mouth and licked her top lip, kissed his throat and wriggled down, tugging at his waistband.

The warmth of the mouth that took him in banished everything from his head, catching him in the moment where there was only this. The lips that slid up and down. The tongue that licked and the teeth that grazed.

He fought the urge to buck and exploded into her seconds later.

Maya propped herself up, lips slick. "Better?"

He squinted at her. "Absolutely. If you turn over, I'll repay the favour."

Laughter. Maya merry-eyed again. She gazed up at him as his fingers sketched their way down her body and burrowed their way inside.

All fine.

For now.

BITEPEDIA PART TWOSTATE LICENSING 

Vampire State Licensing, Dunrovia

There are numerous issues with this page. If you wish to edit it, please refer to the Bitepedia code of updating and editing.

The Hamilton Agreement, signed in 1952 [needs citation], ended the fifty-year conflict with humans and vampires by establishing a state-licensing agreement that allowed the species to co-exist peacefully. Numerous amendments have been made to the Agreement in the decades since its initial inception, many of which are controversial.

The state licensing records list all known vampires and their location. Those who sign up for the programme agree not to kill humans and in return are closely supervised and supplied with a blood substitute. Those who do not sign up are considered 'rogue' and, when found, are destroyed.

Experts have argued, in recent years, that the Hamilton Agreement is no longer "fit for purpose" [needs citation] and that the multiple amendments do not align with the principles behind the original document, which was meant to broker peace and create a more equitable society [needs citation].

See related articles:

· Vampires

· James Hamilton

· The Hamilton Agreement

· The 50-Year War

· The History of State Licensing

· The National Conservatives

· Vampire Security

· Sunshine Health

· Cordelia

AUTHOR'S NOTE - this is a new, revised version of this story (April 22, 2022.)