"Isabelle's gay?!" Tara exclaimed in disbelief as I emerged from the bathroom. "I seriously can't believe that."

I shrugged, "I don't know if she was gay. Maybe bi? Or maybe it was more of a companionship thing?"

She raised an eyebrow, "I don't know. Having a clandestine affair with Claudia from nineteen-thirty to nineteen-forty-four sounds pretty gay. And she seemed pretty devestated after it ended. Kind of sad actually."

It was just past noon on Monday. Tara went to bed before sunrise as usual, but emerged from her bedroom an hour later complaining she couldn't sleep. We talked for a bit, then I decided it was time to tell her what kind of shit we might really be up against. Then I gave her Isabelle's journal to read.

I was reading the older book earlier, but I took a break to get undressed and have a shower.

As I sat back down on the sofa next to her I sighed, "If everything she suspected is true, then you've never even met the real Isabelle. She died or something back in two thousand and eight. Whoever she is now, she's different. I told you she changed when she became matriarch right?"

"Yeah," Tara nodded as she moved closer. "That's kind of terrifying."

"Yep," I agreed.

She wound up practically cuddling against me, but despite us both being naked I got the feeling it was more about feeling comfortable and protected than anything else. We were usually dressed when we cuddled, but I wasn't going to complain. And even though we'd feel cold to living humans, to each other we felt warm.

Honestly it felt really nice.

Tara's attention returned to the journal as she commented, "It reminds me of some of the vampire legends though."

"What?" I asked. "How do you mean?"

Tara blushed slightly, "Oh uh, like some legends about us say that when we're turned, it's not really us that come back to life? Like the human soul dies and moves on, or goes to heaven I guess? Then when the body comes back to life it's supposed to be a demon that takes over?"

She shrugged, "It's just one of a hundred untrue myths. I can imagine humans came up with it to make themselves feel better about killing us though. Like if some guy's wife was turned and came back as a vamp and he kills her, the guy doesn't want to believe he just killed his beloved wife a second time? So they make up a story about how it's really demons, so they can feel good about killing the vamp."

I sighed and rubbed my forehead, "Ok. I don't think I've heard that one before."

Tara shrugged again, "Obviously it's not true. I'm not a demon, I'm sure you aren't either. And I remember all the details of my life from before. I'm still me, just dead. And a girl. And smaller."

Her expression and tone both got a bit darker when she added the 'smaller' bit. She was still upset about that, and I hadn't stopped feeling guilty about it either.

Tara got back to reading the journal after that, and I tried to return to reading the big old book. I was trying to learn everything I could, but the book was big and the writing was dense. I figured it might take me another two weeks just to get through it.

I had the old book resting on my lap but I couldn't really concentrate on the text just yet. Part of the problem might have been a contented naked Tara cuddled up against my side, but mostly it was because I'd gotten caught up thinking about a question that came to me in the shower.

Assuming everything Isabelle suspected was true, and based on what I'd observed I was starting to believe it was, the thing I wondered about now was why?

Why would someone do this? What was the benefit of keeping a population of vampires alive but weak and isolated?

I thought if I could figure that out, it might help understand who was behind it. I was sure it couldn't be humans masterminding this. For one thing they already benefited from the Covenant because we didn't hunt them anymore. But more to the point, if humans somehow seized control of the Family then why not just exterminate us? That would be even more beneficial to them, I figured.

And I couldn't see it being vamps pulling the strings. If so, why would they want to weaken the Family? If some usurpers somehow gained control of the matriarch and elders, then I'd have thought they'd want to strengthen their new Family not weaken it. Like what was the point of pulling off the perfect coup if you were just going to leave them weak and vulnerable.

I probably wasted another ten or fifteen minutes thinking about this puzzle before I finally asked, "Hey Tara? Maybe you can see a different angle to this than me. What's the benefit of keeping the Family around but keeping us weak, defenceless, and under tight control?"

She put the journal down and frowned as she thought about it.

After a few minutes she responded with a question, "Does anything prey on vampires? Like, is there something higher up the food chain? Because all I can think of is it's kind of a similar situation to farmers keeping livestock. We're kept fed and sort of busy and active, and we have a bit of freedom, but we're monitored and controlled and we can't wander too far away. Like farm-fresh free-range vamps?"

She added after a moment, "The only thing that doesn't fit is we haven't heard of any vampires going missing right? Like Carlos and Sally were killed but they weren't eaten."

That sent a chill down my spine. What was worse than being slaves? Being livestock. Being raised and kept as food. We wouldn't even do that to humans.

I felt another chill as I whispered, "Some vampires have gone missing. The real Isabelle's gone. And according to her notes, the real Claudia disappeared."

Tara looked as uneasy as I felt as that sort of sank in.

I sighed again then looked back at the large book in my lap. I started searching through it for any information about what sorts of threats we faced, if there was anything that fed on us.

Towards the back there was a section all about things to be wary of or watch out for. A lot of it was like, what kinds of weapons humans might use to attack us. That was actually handy because it also worked as a guide for what sort of weapons we could use to attack other vampires. Silver played a big part in a lot of the entries.

Then it moved out of the practical and into magic and mythology. That was stuff that felt kind of unreal and hard to believe in. Then again I'd been a vampire for thirty-three years, so I had to accept that at least some supernatural stuff was real.

The book mentioned a couple spells we had to avoid, but it didn't provide enough detail on how to actually cast them. It mostly focused on what to do to protect ourselves.

After that I finally found what I was looking for.

According to this ancient book, there was indeed another supernatural thing which fed on vampires sort of like we fed on humans. Where we consumed the blood of living humans, this thing consumed the... something out of undead vamps. I couldn't figure out the key word, but the impression I got was it was a combination of soul and spark. Like these things fed on our undead soul and whatever magic kept us moving even though we were technically dead.

I felt a little lurch as the text also suggested that the older, stronger vampires were the preferred meal of these things. That might explain why they hadn't taken all of us. They were keeping us all alive and fed and stuff, until we got old enough to be a good meal. Like fattening up the prize cattle.

It also crossed my mind that Tara and I might be more appealing targets now, thanks to that ancient blood we took a couple weeks ago.

The book wasn't clear what these creatures were, if they were some kind of demon or some other kind of undead. There was no description or illustration either so I didn't know what they looked like. And it wasn't clear what they were called, but in one spot it used the words 'Slúag Marb' which I figured might have been the name.

More importantly there was some information on how to defend against them and how to destroy them. They were as vulnerable to silver as we were, perhaps even more-so. And I wasn't sure I believed in magic, but the book suggested a way to defend against being eaten by these things, that involved marking some protective runes on our bodies.

The only thing the book didn't mention was if these things could possess us or take us over. Or if they could sort of mimic us, to take our places. All it was clear on was that they fed on us.

I figured it was possible these things evolved or adapted to gain that ability. Or maybe they always had it and whoever wrote the book didn't know about it. Either way, this was the only theory so far that made any sense to me, as much as I hated it.

Our Family had become a population of vamps who were controlled, isolated, and available. If something wanted a long-term supply of undead meals, we were almost perfect. After a hundred years none of us knew how to hunt, we didn't know our own legends and history, even the most basic information like how to turn humans to make new vamps was all tightly controlled and limited. We were dependant on the Family for all our needs, and the Family was controlled by the matriarch and elders.

The only thing they needed to do to render us entirely helpless and harmless, was to get rid of the last dozen vamps in the city who knew how to fight. And now we were two down, ten to go.

I almost felt sick to my stomach as it sort of sank in again, just how serious this was and what me and Tara might be up against.

After a few minutes I turned back a few pages and read that section again, about these slug marb things. Then I got out my phone and took a few careful pictures of those 'protective runes'.

Finally I looked towards Tara. She was practically curled up against my side as she read Isabelle's journal. I almost hated to disturb her as I asked, "Tara can you leave the journal for a bit? Have a look at this please?"

"This section here," I indicated as I shifted the book over towards her. "Tell me what you think of this?"

She set the journal aside as she sat upright then took the bigger book onto her lap. I watched as she slowly worked her way through the dense text.

Her brow wrinkled a few times as she frowned at the book, but I wasn't sure if it was because she was struggling to grasp what was written, or if she was reacting to what she was reading. Once she got to the end she sort of sat there staring at it for another minute or two, with a thoughtful frown on her face.

Then she looked up at me and said, "That's scary and weird but it might explain what's going on. If these Slúag Marb things are real, maybe they've figured out it's easier to be farmers than hunters."

I grimaced but nodded "That's what I was thinking too."

"So what do we do?" Tara asked. "How do we even begin to deal with this?"

"No idea," I sighed as I took the book back. "I'm going to keep reading though, and hope I figure something out."

She sighed as well, then got to her feet. "I'm going back to bed, maybe I can get some sleep this time. Don't stay up too late."

"Ok cutie," I gave her a smile. "Good luck with the sleep."

While she went into her bedroom I continued looking through that big old book. I flipped through the pages to some stuff closer to the front, where it talked about different vampire tricks and skills and stuff. Me and Tara already figured out the thing with the auras, like projecting an aura of fear. That was cool and I was positive that's what Isabelle did nowadays. That's why everyone felt uncomfortable around her.

That was just one trick though and I knew there had to be more, so I settled back on the sofa with the book on my lap and started reading.

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