Jim caught Naomi as she passed out and lowered her gently to the floor.

Blair stood as if frozen. "Mom?"

Jim glanced up at his guide, then focused his attention on Naomi for a moment. "She'll be ok, Blair. Her heartrate and respiration are already back to normal. Why don't you get her some water, she should wake up pretty soon."

As Blair slowly backed toward the kitchen, Jim patted Naomi's cheeks. "Naomi? Wake up. That's it, wake up." After a moment, she fluttered her eyelids and looked up at him.

"Jim?" She looked around, then back at the man who still held her. "Where's Blair?"

"I'm right here, mom." Blair returned with a bottle of water from the fridge. At the look of apprehension on his mother's face, he stopped a short distance away and handed the bottle to Jim.

Jim helped her sit up and handed her the water. "Are you ok, Naomi? Do you need to lie down?"

"No, I'm fine." She sipped at the water then let Jim help her to the couch. She studied Blair for several minutes, then blurted out, "Have you killed anyone yet?"

"Naomi!" Blair shook his head vigorously in denial. "No! I haven't, and I don't plan to! In fact," he grinned hesitantly, "your plan to turn me into a vegetarian has finally worked."

"Oh, Blair, I am *so* sorry! I never meant for this to happen to you." Naomi's expression was one of distress.

"Mom? That was a joke, I didn't mean it." Blair was completely puzzled at his mother's reaction. She had acquiesced to his desire to eat meat before he'd even started school and they'd rarely spoken of it since.

"Oh dear... Blair, we need to talk. Maybe you'd better sit down." She pointed to the other couch, several feet away.

Blair walked over and sat down. "Ok, Naomi, I'm sitting. What would you like to talk about? I really do eat vegetables, you know."

"Oh yes, I believe you, darling." She continued to look at Blair nervously. "Well... I think I'd better tell you about your father."

Jim took that as his cue to leave and quietly retreated to the door.

"Jim, where are you going?" There was a tinge of panic to Blair's voice.

"Uh, well, I thought I should go get some groceries, Chief." It was the first excuse he could think of. He glanced at his watch. "It's almost ten, the store will be quiet."

"Could that wait 'til later? I'd really like it if you stayed." Blair tentatively patted the seat next to him.

"Well, if you're sure. I just thought you'd like some privacy?" Jim shifted his gaze between Blair and Naomi, looking for confirmation.

Naomi smiled at him nervously, a little too brightly. "It's fine with me, Jim. That is, if you're sure it doesn't bother you, Blair?" Blair nodded his agreement.

"All right." Jim sat next to Blair, and gave him a reassuring pat on the knee. To his surprise, Blair immediately captured his hand in a nervous grip.

Naomi looked at Blair. "You remember I told you that my mother died when I was quite young, and my father died when I was still in high school?" At Blair's nod she continued. "I went a little wild after daddy died. I didn't want to live with Richard-"

"That's Naomi's older brother." Blair added for Jim's benefit.

"-I thought he was too old for his age, too conventional. So I ran away. I thought I could be an actress or a singer, so I hitchhiked to LA.

"I didn't have much money. I pawned my jewelry and a few pieces I had that had belonged to my mother, but I didn't have access to any of daddy's money. I barely had enough money for food, I couldn't afford a hotel room. I also couldn't afford two of the things I'd wanted my freedom for, drinking and pot." She answered Jim's automatic scowl with a nervous but defiant smile. "I was going to every party I could find, to get freebies.

"Then I met Nathan. He was a little older, very handsome. He looked like a movie star. He also had money, and liked to party. I started seeing him around a lot, and pretty soon he invited me to his home, alone." Naomi shrugged. "When he invited me to stay, I thought I had hit the jackpot. He was very nice, his home was beautiful, and I was never hungry. He took me to parties and didn't mind that I sometimes bought beer and pot with the money he gave me.

"Things were great for weeks. Then one day, he told me that some old friends of his from Europe were coming to visit, and we needed to make a good impression. He took me shopping and bought me the most elegant clothes. I was a little disappointed that he was so uptight after all; but I decided it was a tolerable price to pay if it didn't last long.

"His friends were the oddest people. Jeremy and Charlotte. If they had last names, I never heard them. They stayed for several days. They would never look directly at me, but they were always quite polite. And I never saw them eating. I never asked Nathan about it..."

"Why not?" Blair asked quietly.

"The strangest thing is, it didn't *seem* strange at the time. It wasn't until much later that I realized how very odd it was. There are many things I remember now about that time, that I didn't even notice then." She looked at Blair with a lost expression.

"The last night they stayed with us, I didn't remember at all for months... I don't think I've ever remembered all of it, but what I do remember frightens me. Nathan fought with Jeremy for most of the night, while Charlotte spoke with me. I don't know what she said, but I do remember that she smiled at me once." Naomi stopped and stared at Blair. "And she had fangs just like yours."

Jim's lips disappeared into a hard line, as Blair clutched his hand even tighter. After a lengthy silence Blair finally asked, "What happened then?"

Naomi looked away. "When I woke up the next morning they were gone. Nathan spent most of that day and the next avoiding me. The second evening, he told me I would have to leave as soon as possible. I was so upset; I wondered what I had done wrong. He told me that it was his fault, that he wanted me to stay but he couldn't protect me.

"Nathan gave me a large sum of money, and I left. Two weeks later, living in Boston on the money he gave me, I found out I was pregnant." Naomi looked at Blair, a pleading look in her eyes.

"So Nathan is my father?"

"Yes," she whispered.

"Was he a vampire?"

"I don't know what he was. He seemed human when I knew him. But, I'm sure his friends were vampires."

Blair stood and paced, his face hardening each time his mother flinched as he passed her. He went to the door. "Jim? I'm going out for a while. Don't wait up."

Jim stood and quietly asked, "May I go with you?"

Blair stared at the door for a moment, then nodded abruptly.

As Blair paced by the door, Jim collected Blair's jacket and his own, his holster and keys. On his way through the door he addressed a stunned Naomi, "You can stay here if you like. If not, be sure to lock the door behind you." Shutting the door, he followed his friend into the night.