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“So you think it’s really because I almost died?” Samantha pulled on her bottom lip with her teeth.

“It’s totally plausible. Near death experiences place you at the veil between the living and the dead. You hover between the two. So you begin to see both,” Benchley explained as he darted into the office to sit on a stool near Jeff’s desk. He craned his neck to see the journal in Jeff’s hands.

Opening up one of his father’s old journals, Jeff scanned for an entry

that had been made soon after his mother’s death. His father’s obsession with vampires had increased tremendously after his wife had been murdered and his son maimed by one particularly nasty vampire. Flipping through pages, he listened to Samantha and Benchley chatting back and forth, but really didn’t pay attention to what they were saying.

He was concerned that Samantha’s abilities appeared to be growing, not receding. Some people had very clear visions of the dead soon after a near death experience, but would eventually lose the ability.

“And you didn’t see her until today? Not even a passing glimpse?” he asked, cutting off Samantha’s summarization of all the seasons of Medium to Benchley.

She adamantly shook her head, her blond hair whipping about. “Nope. Never. ”

Returning his gaze to the book, Jeff continued to scan entries. He had a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach and it was only growing worse.

“Oh, shit. ” Benchley sat back, his expression fading to solemn. “Jeff has that look. ”

“What look? There’s a look?” Samantha leaned over to peer into Jeff’s face. “What’s that look?”

Jeff swatted her pointing finger away. “Uh, my concentrating look. ”

“No, that’s his ‘oh, we’re fucked’ look. ”

“Bench, you’re not helping,” Jeff said irritably. He found the passage he was looking for and started to read it.

“Lemme see,” Samantha said, lunging for the book.

Jeff caught her hand and gave her his sternest look. He really, really liked her, but no one messed with his stuff. “Samantha, let me do this. Give me a sec. Okay?”

With a frown, tears still in her eyes, Samantha gave him a curt nod.

“Thank you,” Jeff said, then returned his gaze to the elegant scrawl of his deceased father’s handwriting. The sick feeling inside worsened. Rubbing his brow, he glanced toward Samantha. Her green eyes were fearful and she was chewing on her bottom lip nervously. “Okay, there may be a problem. ”

Samantha fell back against the wall, clutching her stomach, close to hyperventilating. “Tell me. ”

“Apparently, when a vampire gives a human their blood, it can have a variety of side effects. ”

“It is her fault!”

“Samantha, listen to me!”

“Okay, okay. Listening. ”

“When a vampire gives a human their blood it can imbue the human with vampiric abilities in a greatly diminished capacity. Only if the vampire has some sort of unusual ability. My father documented that the mortal servant of a vampire he encountered could toss balls of fire. The vampire master was a pyromancer. Another vampire hunter reported a mortal servant that could control animals. ” Jeff paused, waiting for Samantha to say something. Her eyes had widened to the point that there was white all around her irises. “Sam?”

Turning on her heel, she stalked toward the front of the store.

“Sam?” Jeff hurried after her, slightly limping much to his consternation.

Samantha whipped about, breathing heavily, gripping her cellphone in one hand.

“Say something?” Jeff winced.

“Sam, you’re kinda scaring us,” Benchley added coming up behind Jeff.

Pointing at Jeff, Samantha fumed in silence. At last, she let out a cry of frustration.

“Samantha, let me look into it further. Maybe it will fade away. ” He lightly took her by the shoulders. Her skin felt soft and warm under his touch.