ing her. tall, muscular, and handsome in a dark-eyed, dark-haired, italian way.

"are you two?"

"twins." dante set her down at the table and jackie peered into his face as he straightened, her attention narrowing on his eyes. they were not silver-blue like marguerite and vincent's. they were black with silver streaks. definitely vampires then, she decided.

"open your mouth."

jackie glanced to the side with a start and found the one called tommaso standing, patiently waiting with a bag of blood in each hand.

"what are you going to do with that?" she asked warily.

"open," he insisted, setting one bag on the table.

jackie hesitated, then opened her mouth.

"teeth out."

"she won't have control over them yet, tommaso," dante pointed out and?much to her amazement?pulled out a pocket knife and used it to jab the end of his own finger. she watched in horrified fascination as a pearl of blood bubbled to the surface, then he ran it back and forth under her nose. jackie started to shrink away, but paused and inhaled deeply as the tinny scent of blood quivered up her nostrils.

"oh," jackie breathed, amazed at how pleasing the scent was, then she blinked in surprise and raised a hand to her closed mouth as she again felt the odd shifting pressure along her upper jaw.

"open," tommaso repeated.

jackie frowned and opened her mouth to ask why, only to find the blood bag suddenly in the way. worse yet, it appeared to be somehow affixed to her teeth, she realized.

"just relax. you need this," tommaso instructed.

jackie tried to scowl at him over the bag, but was distracted as she realized the bag was shrinking and her aches and cramps had begun to subside. within moments the bag was empty, and replaced with the second full one. when that too was gone, he took it away and peered at her expectantly. "more?"

jackie stared, her mind in an uproar as she moved her tongue almost fearfully across her teeth. something sharp nicked her tongue and she was suddenly off her seat, hurrying toward the only mirrored surface in the room. the toaster.

jackie stared into the reflective surface and saw silver-green eyes peering back. she blinked, surprised she'd missed that when she'd looked in the mirror upstairs, then reluctantly opened her mouth to reveal her teeth. there they were... her teeth... but with a difference. a pair of sharp canines were now protruding on either side of her incisors.