The Book of Sarah

Sarah is being targeted. She received something in the mail. It was a big, formal, rather old fashioned envelope, the kind used during the belle epoch. Inside was a  piece of  heavy, creamy obviously expensive stock bearing a seventeenth century ornate etching of a nubile, young woman embracing a leering incubus. Someone had written  'Renounce your ally or join him in Hell' on the back. There were other things as well, little things. The headless body of a pathetic, little starling was left at her back door. A man in priest's garb, but in full clown make-up stood staring at her through the glass one night as she tidied up the shop. He was there for ten minutes. She was about to call the police when he left. I brought her into my townhouse. We talked. We always talk, but this time I told her everything. Granted, she always knew a bit, but now she knows it all. We had coffee in the sitting room. Well, she had coffee. The Old Woman served her and she was not too happy about it. She does not like Sarah. She's jealous of the time we spend together. You see, when I first found her, she was not the Old Woman. She was the Young Woman. But short of transforming her into a true vampire there was nothing I could do to stop her from aging. I was merely able to retard it for a while. But that time is rapidly coming to an end. The tissues of her body are breaking down. The inevitable can only be postponed so long. I can still provide her with a few more months, maybe a year, but the tiny infusions of my blood can only do so much. She claims she wants me to stop. She claims she wants to die. That's a lie. What she really wants is for me to bring her over. What she really wants is the 'night kiss', But I never saw her that way. Before we create a companion, we see them in visions the same as we do our victims. For they  are victims too. I think she truly hates Sarah. She suspects that Sarah can achieve what she could never do. But what grandfather can do that to his beloved offspring? Not I. Not even if I had the visions. But who knows if I have the strength. The visions can be very powerful. Bob is laying low for a while. He's in Atlantic City using his two monthly comp nights. Baylah went with him. I stayed here to watch Sarah, for she is mine and I am responsible for her. I do not feel that our Enemy will attack us, not soon anyway. He has other fish to fry. Vampires are not his only prey. My guess is that he'll go for the planned parenthood center. How do I feel  about that place? Well, you know my history. I was raised to believe that abortion is a sin. It is an attempt to change the will of God. But I was raised to believe that many things are  sins. Just like our Enemy. In that way we are very much alike. So Sarah and I sit  with the draperies closed. The lights are dim. The fire warm. We play scrabble. We play gin. Let each soul choose their favorite sin.