Bennett set down her glass and folded her arms across her chest. “I also said I’d answer one question, and you’re now up to three. Care to retract…or has our evening ended?”

Ruby didn’t have to think twice. “Um…forget I asked.”

“Asked what?” Bennett said, smiling a knowing smile.

***

Two nights later, Bennett stood in her kitchen, sucking on the tube protruding from a bag. Once she’d consumed the last drop, she opened the small fridge long enough to dispose of the plastic pouch in the hazardous waste container delivered with every shipment. Bennett stopped, her eyes locking on the other bags on another shelf. For the last week, she’d had a distant ache in her temples, a dull throb that seemed to come and go. It didn’t matter the time of day. It didn’t matter what she was doing, and the only thing that seemed to dull it, if only momentarily, was when she fed.

Bennett closed the fridge and stood in the dark, waiting for the pain in her head to go away, and a minute later, it did. She checked the clock on the stove, and when she saw it wasn’t even ten, Bennett grabbed an open bottle of wine from the counter and went back to the bedroom.

“I brought more of this,” Bennett said, holding up the bottle. “But if you prefer tea or water, I’ll go get some.”

“No, that’s fine,” Ruby said, keeping a watchful eye on Bennett. “It’s still early.”

Bennett set down the bottle and headed for the bathroom. “Be right back.”

“Are you all right?”

“What do you mean?” Bennett said, stopping in the doorway.

“That’s the third time today you’ve gone to…to have some blood. It’s usually only once a day. Isn’t it?”

“Yes, but I’ve been feeling a little off lately.”

“Are you sick? Can you even get sick?”

“No, I’m not sick,” Bennett said as she put some toothpaste on her brush. “And I can’t get sick. Like I said, I’m just feeling a little off. That’s all.”

Ruby moved to Bennett’s side of the bed and refilled their glasses. She slid back to her side, and when Bennett emerged from the bathroom, Ruby watched as Bennett stripped out of her robe and climbed back into bed. “I filled your glass.”

“I see that,” Bennett said, picking up the goblet. “Thank you.”

A few moments of silence passed between them until Ruby broke it. “Do you ever get bored?”

“Is that a friendly way of saying you’re done with me?”

“No,” Ruby said, catapulting into a sitting position. “I don’t mean like that. I mean…living for so long.”

“Oh, yes,” Bennett said, setting her glass aside. “Even with the ever-changing world of literature, cinema, and art, there have been a few times over the centuries when I considered offing myself.”