It takes some getting used to; remembering that the Roman sun still burns as fatal as it did a century earlier. Too many months behind windows designed to make us forget. That must be the plan, one day we forget, one day we find ourselves riding threw Rome on a rented Vespa, arms clutched around a leather-clad waist, riding so long, so peacefully that we lose track of the night. How many minds were at work thinking of such a simple plan? Don’t worry the Senior Partners, they’ll just ride into the sun and burn, it will work, we know the vampires’ minds.

He tells me to hop on, waiting for me to protest, knowing I must say the words, "I’m not riding on the back." "Never used to be a problem," he says with a knowing smile, lewd flick of the tongue as I slide my fingers over his ribs, gripping a little tighter than needed, a little looser than he wants. A hundred years ago it was a thoroughbred between our thighs, not steel and wires, yet the emotion remains the same. We come seeking out the girl, the girl always between us no matter the name. Jealousy and maybe even love brew beneath every argumentative jab, but the words are masked and guarded, the only bits coming through are meaningless. We ask the same questions of each other that a child might ask of his mother. Who wins when these two icons fight? Will she choose me or you or anyone? Will she choose before it’s too late? Why is it so important anyway?

We ride through the city looking for a fight. Looking for old enemies and older urges. Something to pummel, something to distract us from our mission for just one more night. One more night before we must head back to the City of Angels and a team that can’t trust us, yet can’t leave us. Our fates are bound to each other’s, and sometimes it’s a little more than we can take. Missing the days of black and white is all we ever do now. Even here in this city of nothing but oranges and yellows the shades of dark and light remain. He and I have seen these streets through two pairs of eyes; then and now, good and evil. They seem the same on the surface, but now we feel the menace at their edges. Feel the war raging in each body we pass and wonder which side they will take when given the choice. Just hoping that now, we know which side we’ll choose.

We just keep hoping we choose the winning side.

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