Life's a bitch.

Around the neighborhood they were the Dalton boys.

Edward was quiet and studious and the complete antethesis of Edward Senior, former Football Coach-the complete opposite of the people you'd normally find in the city. He lived like he'd belonged in a southwestern town-the sort of place you'd expect posse's to form. His son (his firstborn for chrissakes) liked to read and played in the garden and spent too much time with Mrs. Haverson and her damned cat next door.

He'd said thank god for Frankie. Franklin Dalton who liked to do battle and play with firecrackers. Edward and Frankie. Ed's boys, the Dalton boys. It was funny only when the neighborhood switched their sides. Frankie was a star athelete and popular right until Ed got into Johns Hopkins and suddenly the reverence of the community was on the oldest boy who-born of years in his younger brother's shadow shunned the spotlight. That's what the nieghborhood saw.

What they didn't see was Ed getting interested in sport's medicine and arranging for his brother to sneak out. Frankie looking the other way as his brother brought home Mary Beth Parker and Ed covering for Jaqueline, Susan, and the rest of them.

They didn't see Frankie snapping under the presssure to be the good son and Ed bailing him out of jail. Drunken fights,brawls, the two developed a relationship based on Edward Jr. being more of a caring parental figure then Edward Sr who regarded his children as a status symbol.

The boys were close. Different as the son and the moon, but close. And you needed allies.

Ed walked home to his apartment, slipping out of his coat and ignoring the pro vampire propaganda hanging on sidewalks and billboards.

Are you looking for a thrill?

Would you like to live forever?


Night was falling, and he did his best to skirt Officer Ramirez, his neighbor, who was adjusting his sunglasses outside his apartment. He nodded to the former human who smiled as he left the building, the fading light glinting off his fangs. The cops turned awful quick...

He'd wondered about that. If that were a choice or a requirement.

Turning, that was what they'd called it. Turning. Some people were starting to call it evolving.

Ed entered his apartment and locked the door in front of him only to stop and listen for just a moment. "...goddamnit-"

The electronics in his apartment were always half a step too slow. The lights roared to life and the TV clicked on.

Senate Majority Leader Peter Sprieg has announced his intent to turn, making the majority of the American Political System Homo Sapiens Nocturnus. Special measures have been put into place to ensure that the government can continue to operate. In other news, the vampire rights group Evolution into Night have pushed for the construction of special walkways beneath the city that would allow citizens infected with the disease to continue to function in society...

Ed turned the TV off, whirling at the sound of the front door opening, "...Y'know, you don't have to break in to houses just to prove you can Frankie."

He set his briefcase down. Carefully.