The two vampires were hyper-aware of the distance that crept in between them and the ten other cops in the room. Not physical, but emotional.

They were firmly cut out of the inner circle of their own unit. No one made eye contact with them, and they were treated like strangers.

Under the cool outward appearance of these familiar men and women, the distinct touches of anger, disappointment, resentment, and betrayal burned as clear and overwhelming as the smells of new paint, furniture, carpets, and old files.

Silence replaced the usual banter as they started their shifts. They no longer worked night shifts, and in the two days, since they began moving their files to the new building, neither Colt nor Boss showed up.

Even though they were officially "working out the repercussions of the change in location and designation with the brass or whomever it concerned," Gillian knew it wasn't the only reason.

With every whisper as good as a shout, snide remarks and secret innuendo followed them everywhere, and Gillian felt like public enemy number one. A week earlier, it wouldn't have bothered Elissa, but because it unsettled her, it also disturbed her sister.

***

Elissa saw these people through Gillian's eyes. Her sister's disappointment and pain communicated themselves on a level she never expected. The bond between them grew more powerful with every passing day, and Elissa she liked it.

It was a closer connection than with her other family, even with her brother or parents, for that matter. It was more than a blood tie—they were becoming friends.

Unlike Gillian, she had little experience with friendship, and she hated that their father's very vampireness robbed her sibling of something so precious, but the concept was beyond his grasp. Apart from being a father, he was a ruler and the penultimate powerful vampire, and their sentiments would be alien to him.

Attachments to humans with their fragile lives were pointless—he would expect them to be tough enough to take all of this in their stride.

Their eyes met, and it was as if their thoughts were on the same wavelength. They both got up to arrange the boards and files into the order they needed to restart their work. Elissa sensed the eyes watching them and the overwhelmingly negative emotions emanating from some humans.

"Already taking over," Dickson sniped, one of the older detectives. A man who was good at his job but too fast with his mouth. "Rich ass bitches thinking they own the world," he grumbled again.

Gillian grew still, capping the pen slowly, and her anger echoed in Elissa. She opened her mouth to interfere and closed it without saying a word. Her sister was a big girl; she would handle herself.

"Do you know what, Barry?" Gillian asked, turning to face the snickering man, her calm deceiving as she pinned his gaze with unwavering directness while bristling with contained fury.

"I'm tired of your shit. When I was a rookie, you hated me because you saw me as inferior, untrained, and a liability. When I got my creds, you hated me because you thought I got promoted just to fill the ranks, but I do this job every day and do it well." She put the pen down with an abundance of care, probably afraid she'd crush it.

"You won't stop putting me down because I'm young, female, and attractive. Your discovery that my family is loaded handed you just another pet peeve, and now you can pretend they got me promoted and I shouldn't be here."

"Even if I were twenty years older, the best detective ever, and not rich, you'd still be a dick about it. The fact that I have tits, a cunt, and brains intimidate you, and the way I look adds insult to injury for you.

"Grow a pair of balls, Dickson. Do it to my face if you have something to say to me, and get it out of your system because the next snide remark you make, you and I will take it to the gym. Make it a little one-on-one fisticuffs so you can defend your honor as a man."

Gillian's face remained completely emotionless as she said it, and Elissa turned back to the board to stifle her laugh.

She wanted to clap her hands.

Dickson and his overweight gut only managed to open his mouth once or twice, like a fish on dry land. His face mottled with red and white splotches of indignation.

"Do you think you can talk to me like you own me just because your daddy bought this department?" He sputtered, rearing upright and upending his chair.

All eyes were on the two facing each other across the ten feet separating them from each other.

"No, I can speak to you this way because if you weren't so good at your job, you'd be just another rude asshole—a guy that needs excuses to put women down because we intimidate you. I am very sorry for whatever awoke that attitude in you, but it wasn't me, and I will not tolerate it any longer.

"I did not choose this situation and would not have allowed it if I were offered a choice, but I am mature enough to play with the cards I am dealt.

"If you or anyone else can't do the same, please, ask for a transfer. The rest of the police force eagerly awaits you back at their small desks, old computers, slow networks, lab backlog, lost evidence, pay cuts, long hours made longer by technical difficulties, lack of vehicles, and lack of personnel. Whatever floats your boat.

"We're only dealing with serial killers here. It's not like we won't get another chance if we mess up this one," Gillian would have turned away, but the slow clap of two pairs of hands drew all their attention to the door.

Colt and Boss stood at ease but were not relaxed, their tension humming just below the surface and their expressions unreadable.

"I was just about to address that particular point. I have five transfer requests here, and they were approved," the unease increased as Boss tossed the files down on an empty table, "for six months from now." His tight jaw made Elissa understand why her sister would find this brooding man handsome, but he wasn't her type.

"The Police Commissioner signed them; take it up with him if you have a query. In the meantime, I see ten people sitting around as if they have nothing to do and only two doing their assigned jobs.

"Vacation is over, and so is the discussion over the financing of this department," Boss said decisively, striding over to his office with an angry cast on his handsome face.

Colt glanced at them, nodded coolly, and followed Boss to his office. At the door, she turned back and frowned.

"As in right now," she commanded, and the silent room came to life.

Elissa and Gillian avoided each other's eyes, the yellow files lying on the table like an accusation—a vote of no confidence.

"I am sorry, Gillian," she whispered, and her sister shrugged.

"It is what it is."

"You destroyed your entire life for them. You gave up what I would have killed to have, and they won't ever understand what this cost you." She motioned discreetly with her hand.

"I made my choice," Gillian said, shrugging her tense shoulders and picking up the pen again. She was surprised it didn't snap in her sister's fingers.