“Mary Mary Quite contrary...how does your garden grow...with silver bells and cockle shells and pretty maids all in a row...Mary Mary Quite contrary...”

“Mary Mary quite contrary...”

“Ow She bit me!”

Kimberly Cordial examined a toothy child-sized mark on her wrist in anger as the tiny offender fled.“Thatdespicable little street urchin bit me. Bloody little brats these days, no appreciation for how hard wework to get our hands on them! It’s not like back in the old days when parents just left their children outin the woods with some bread crumbs and no sense of self preservation...and I’ll tell you what else. I-”

Kimberly’s tirade trailed off as she glanced up, noticing her sister staring off vaguely into the distance.“See how they run...see how they run...quite contrary...”

Kimberly snapped her fingers abruptly in front of the other woman’s face, drawing her out of herreverie, though that absent look never left her eyes.

“Pay attention Samantha,” Kimberly reproached her, “It’s been far too long since we fed, and I’mbeginning to get wrinkles and the crone look has never suited the two of us. So if we plan to outlive thismiserable century the way we have the last five, we need to consume. Now...do you think that perhapsthey still fall for the gingerbread house trick out in the countryside? Because it would look out of placehere I should think but maybe they’re more gullible-”

Kimberly paused as she saw a flash of motion flicker past in the corner of her eye. The feeling of dangerprickled down her spine. She reached for her wand, but too late.

Before her hand had even fully closed around the weapon, the vampire was springing towards them, with the sort of speed and agility that no mortal and most immortals could never hope to match..

Fortunately for Kimberly, she didn’t have to. She had a sister who, in spite of her fits of vapid madness, was more alert.

Samantha moved in an almost lazy daze, waving her wand languidly, carelessly speaking old and powerful words. And with a final flick of her wand the vampire stopped mid-leap, suspended in the air above them for a fraction of a second, before flying backwards and hitting the nearest lamp post with a force that would have shattered a mortal’s spine. “Have you ever seen such a sight in your life....” She smiled broadly at the would be assailant’s face, “cut off your tail with a carving knife.”

Samantha lowered her wand and the pale fanged figure slid to the ground, a groan escaping his blue lips. The twin sisters stared as the fanged creature’s face changed from confusion to embarrassment as he cursed under his breath in French.

That was when Kimberly recognized him “Auguste?”

The vampire looked up, squinting a little in the lamp light before recognition dawned “Mesdemoiselles Cordials!” He clambered eagerly to his feet.

“Such a pleasure to see you survived the Pleasantview Witch trials, my darlings!” He offered a fangedgrin, and Kimberly could not help but smile back. She could never keep track of when they weresupposed to be at war with the vampires, they were old enemies on and off. Even in times of truce theydid not associate when it could be helped. But the Cordial sisters and Auguste LeNoir had crossed pathstoo many times to not at least have struck up a rapport .

“And I see you’ve been lucky enough not to encounter any unfortunately sharp stakes since we last met.Though I’m very sorry to see that you seem to be afflicted by a truly embarrassing moustache Auguste.”

“Mademoiselle Kimberly I am hurt.” Auguste spoke in an exaggerated French drawl and Kimberly pulled a face.

“Well we’re very hurt you tried to make us dinner, Auguste. After all we’ve been through, how could you? Besides I’ve already been bitten once this evening.”

“Well you do look very bitable my dear.” He gnashed his teeth at the witch jokingly, before offering a remorseful shrug “I do apologize ladies. It is simply that prey is difficult to find these days. Oh for the days that damsels wandered around graveyards weeping for their lost loves at midnight.”

“You think you have it hard with your hypnotic powers and foppish good looks?” Kimberly laughed “All you vampires need to survive is a little blood. Children squirm infinitely more than young women, not to mention that we have to consume them in their entireties to get to their essence. And then they think it’s terribly clever to try and push you into an oven, while you’re performing the ritual. Brats.”

“Not to mention-”

“Kimberly!” The witch turned as she felt her twin sister grasp a hold of her skirts as a child might a mother “I just had the most wonderful idea!”

Kimberly raised a dark inquisitive eyebrow at the other woman’s wild green eyes, which were alive with frenzy. “A most perfect idea!”

For the four following days Kimberly watched her sister immerse herself in work, scribbling over projects endlessly as Kim tried not to worry about if she was getting grey hairs. She had great faith in her sister. Sam had always been the smarter one, a genius in fact. Of course Genius was a lonely creature, and so Samantha’s madness had kindly come along to keep it company, as it often did in those who had more brain power than any man or woman should. Not to mention those who had had the misfortune to watch their mother burn at the stake for witchcraft.

In the end Samantha’s madness was a good thing, if she had been right in the head she would never have agreed to help her sister kill children and consume their essences for eternal life.

But consumed by madness Sam was more than happy to help.

“What is it?” Kimberly sloshed the liquid around the glass a little suspiciously, it was a pinkish red colour, but with a thick oozing consistency that made it look entirely unappealing.

“Eye of newt, three Raven’s feathers, essence of darkness and light, nothing unusual...” Samantha reassured her sister in that enternally calm lilting voice, she sounded more lucid than usual, creating usually went very far in helping Sam’s mind. “...and...the special ingredient of course.”

Comprehension dawned only gradually upon Kimberly “The ingridents for the ritual...”

Samantha smiled back with too bright eyes “Ritual in a bottle. We drink this and it takes only one touch, and the words and we can devour the children’s souls whole without ever touching their flesh. And we don’t even have to kill them, it will simply be as if they never wake up from sleep...Rock a bye baby rockaby... With this we can consume easily. We can grow our powers with their life force, we can, we can....” Samantha’s words faded into unintelligible sighing as Kimberly grinned her full red smile at her sister.

“Samantha Darling you are a beautiful Genius. Only...” something resembling regret passed over Kimberly’s features.

“I only wish it had not been necessary to kill Auguste. I rather liked the idiot.”

Samantha’s gleeful expression remained unperturbed as she looked at the still corpse of a man they had known for several hundred years “Oh I didn’t kill him. I just had to sedate him and bleed him and disecthim to figure out what made him tick. After all, the key binding ingredient in here is Vampire blood. Ring around a Rosey....they all fall down....” She waved her glass proudly. “He’s just fallen down...he hurt himself...The sunlight will kill him though...”

Kimberly summoned a smile “To Auguste.”

“To Eternal life.”

The twin girls clinked their glasses together before downing the mixture rapidly. It tasted like rotten meat and slime but the sensation that game with it was like a rush of adrenaline through her whole body and she shivered with anticipation.

“Come sister dear.” Kimberly looped one arm through her twin’s “I do believe we are only a few blocks from Mercy Hartigan Orphanage, what say you to a trial run?”

Samantha never noticed her sister give a slight flick of her wand backwards the second before they passed through the door, never noticed Auguste stir a little on the table where he was sprawled. Because if she had, she only would have bled him some more. Sentimentality was something Samantha had successfully repressed years before.