Rip moved to the front of the train while Blair hurried over to free the girls.

When Rip entered the engine compartment, another man in a suit coat looked up from the driver’s seat, his face showing surprise and fear.

Rip slugged him, knocking him out. He pulled the man out of the chair.

He looked at the control panel and found a long metal lever pointing down at an angle. On a hunch, he pulled the lever up and the train slowed. At the horizontal position, the train came to a stop.

“What happens if we point it up? Does it go backward?”

He lifted the lever, and sure enough the train started going back toward the room full of crates.

Rip stood to go back but Blair’s voice called out, stopping him.

“Nobody’s decent in here! Just stay there for a moment.”

He sighed, remembering the girls had been stripped to the waist.

Maybe it was to get those enhanced clothes off so the silver would work better?

After a while, Blair gave the all clear, and he returned to the front car.

The Verez sisters looked terrible, with dark circles under their eyes and glazed expression on their faces. They had their tops back on, but Rip could see black marks the silver quirt left on their arms and necks.

Blair stood, gently pulling them away from the silver bars. Rip found himself wondering how much those cost. The bars were as large as fence posts.

Maybe it would be cheaper to just dip a fence post in silver. Are those things solid?

“Girls.”

Blair snapped her fingers in their faces.

“Girls, go feed. You need to replenish yourselves. Look, there’s King Rat. You can start with his corpse.”

Liza looked down at the body on the floor. A passing lamp lit up the car, blood from King Rat’s head wound glinting in the light.

She screamed in a sudden burst of energy and pounced on the dead man, sinking her fangs into his neck.

Hilda showed some signs of life, too. She bent down and bit into this side, drinking some of the blood.

Rip watched, unable to look away, like a car wreck witness.

Blair turned her back, frowning out the window.

When they finished, the girls looked better, save for the blood smeared around their lips.

“There’s two more down there, one in each remaining car,” Blair said, pointing.

The sisters practically ran to the next car.

When they were alone again, Blair turned her frown toward Rip.

“Have I told you I don’t particularly care for vampires?”

He smiled.

“No. You haven’t said a word about it.”

“I hate vampires. With a deep passion. They don’t like me, and I don’t like them. They are vile, disgusting creatures. And I don’t trust them, even if they’re members of the RVS.”

“Okay.”

Rip wanted to say the Verez sisters didn’t seem bad, but he could tell that would lead to an argument. Or at least a heated exchange. Blair was not afraid of expressing her opinion and fighting for it. Especially if disagreed with someone else’s opinion.

He decided to change the subject.

“Hey, I need to know when we’re getting close to the end of the line back there, and I can’t really see anything. I wonder if you’d mind keeping an eye on our approach in that last car. When you see the light at the end of the tunnel, could you run up here and tell me?”

“Sure. Though, you could watch with me and run back yourself. You don’t need to be at the controls, I’m sure.”

“I knocked out the guy running things. I don’t want him to wake up and take over, and it’s more trouble than it’s worth trying to tie him up or something.”

Blair shrugged and smiled, conceding to his request. They parted ways.

When she went through the door, Rip heard the sounds of the girls feeding on the corpse farther back in the train.

That’s another reason I don’t really want to go that way, he thought.

Several minutes passed. The driver stayed knocked out. Rip wondered how far they had come. They seemed to be returning at the same rate of speed.

The door opened to the first car and the lights flashed, showing Liza approaching.

She slid open the final door and smiled at Rip in the dim light.

“I wanted to thank you for saving us.”

He shrugged and gave her an “Aw, shucks” grin.

“You’re looking a lot better.”

“Yes. We’ll split this last corpse and Hilda and I should be whole again.”

“He’s not dead.”

Her eyes sparkled and she said, “Good! That’s even better.”

Rip chuckled at her enthusiasm, despite the grim circumstances.

She stepped over the man, and placed her hands on Rip’s chest.

“I want to give you a gift.”

“Uh . . .”

“Not a vampire skill. I’m sure you’ve heard horrible things about us.”

“Yeah . . .”

“It is true that they are uniquely powerful, and they tend to . . . cause problems as they increase. And it is true that if the recipient does not become a vampire, they usually die, unable to control the changes as they progress.”

“Thanks, but I’ll pass.”

“What I want to give you is a boon, though. And that’s different.”

“Well, you don’t have to—”

She stepped up on her tiptoes and kissed him firmly on the mouth, slipping her tongue in.

It felt cool, different from any of the tongues of other girls Rip had kissed.

The sensation proved slightly disturbing . . .

She pulled back with a slight smacking sound as their lips pulled apart.

Rip’s implant lit up with messages.

[You have received a boon.]

[You have received Boon: A Grateful Kiss. The kiss of a noble daughter from House Verez has been bestowed upon you, a worthy hero who has plucked this damsel from the very jaws of doom.]

[A Grateful Kiss bestows one Skill of the Vampiric Class upon the recipient.]

[You have earned a new skill: Night Vision (passive).]

He blinked, reading through the messages.

[Night Vision] showed up in blue, rather than the typical green text.

“What did you get?”

His eyes refocused on Liza, smiling up at him.

“Uh . . . [Night Vision].”

“Oh, good. That’s a good one.”

“Okay. It’s not gonna . . . ?”

“Lead you down the path of perdition? No. Those types of skills come from our bites. Boons come from kisses. I promise you, this is with gratitude. It’s my way of saying thanks for saving us.”

“Oh. Okay. Uh, you’re welcome.”

He glanced over her shoulder into the other car, and could plainly see Hilda walking toward them in the dark.

She pushed open the doors and entered the engine compartment.

“Did you give him a boon?”

“I did.”

“Then it’s my turn.”

In one smooth motion Hilda walked up to Rip and wrapped a hand around his head, pulling his face down to hers.

She kissed him, sliding her cool tongue in as well.

[You have received a boon.]

[You have received Boon: A Grateful Kiss. The kiss of a noble daughter from House Verez has been bestowed upon you, a worthy hero who has plucked this damsel from the very jaws of doom.]

[A Grateful Kiss bestows one Skill of the Vampiric Class upon the recipient.]

[You have earned a new skill: Vampiric Speed. For one second, your speed matches that of a noble in House Verez. Skill duration increases with level.]

“What did you get?”

“[Vampiric Speed].”

“Excellent! What did yours give him, Liza?”

“[Night Vision].”

“Good. I think our debts are paid in full, Sergeant.”

“Okay, sure. But, I would have done this anyway. I mean, it's what we do, right? We’re all in this Venture Society thing together.”

The two sisters glanced at one another and laughed lightly.

Liza turned back to Rip and said, “Nobody tries to save a vampire, Sergeant Coulter, Venture Society or no.”

On the floor, the man Rip wrested away from the controls stirred back to consciousness with a groan.

The girls glanced down at him, their smiles turning into rictus grins. Rip watched as their canines grew, turning to fangs.

They pounced on the man.

He lived long enough to let out one horrid scream before it was cut short.