Izzy startled back slightly when, in response to her question, Riley laughed. [i]Has he finally lost it?[/i] she wondered.
	She turned her head, looking at him sideways. “‘Paid and done?’” Her eyes narrowed. “Why?” Her brows rose at his answer. "Okay," she said slowly.
	She stifled the chain-reaction yawn that wanted to pull at her own mouth. Her head cocked curiously as she waited to hear what he had left to mention.
	At the first, she frowned and her shoulders slumped a fraction as she looked to the roof beneath her. So, she [i]would[/i] still run into aberrations. Be looking over her shoulder, no matter where she went, ever on alert. Only then, she would have no way to defend herself, and once she moved, there was no telling who--or [i]what[/i]--she would encounter. She looked up out toward the only town she had ever called home. And that fact went for Trevor as well as her.
	At the question of the second, she glanced to her stomach, and moved her hand from the pack to it. Was that how a vampire’s need for blood manifested? As an actual hunger? She nodded in a silent, sober thanks at Riley’s warning.
	At the last, she returned her attention to him. She rolled her eyes to the side and nodded. She could not blame him for not wanting to say the entire, lengthy second epithet.
	Izzy inhaled when he told her the third. “The [i]King[/i] of...” she echoed just as quietly. She held her breath. She opened her mouth to inquire as to how much truth rang in that, but Riley left before she could say anything else, leaving her alone on the rooftop.
	She slowly exhaled, then ran a hand through her hair. She stood there for a moment, looking out once more toward the town, the only sound the pattering of the light drizzle. The rainwater dripped down her face and soaked into her shirt, but she scarcely payed it any attention.
	She had reached a three-way crossroads so close to end of her dangerous voyage. One path ended with Cerasus returning to his full power, and her returning to humanity, only to live a life of watching over her shoulder for any aberrations she attracted, and only hoping she could hold her own against them. The second led to the option of remaining a vampire, and not returning the limbs and heart, keeping her strengths while preventing Cerasus from reaching his. The third brought her to giving Cerasus what he wanted, and remaining a vampire, capable of defending herself against whatever came her way. With a few exceptions, she suspected.
	She sighed heavily and turned toward the door with its short overhanging. She placed the heart and duffel bag beneath it, glanced to the sky to try and guess how long the cloud cover would last, then pulled her phone from a front pocket. Wiping the hand that had been holding the heart on her pants and leaning over it so her body prevented a majority of the rain from splashing it, she texted Trevor:

[center][i]We need to talk. Can we meet? Just not at the school.[/i][/center]
	She paused, thinking again to the slight hunger that, with its mention, she now had difficulties ignoring. She returned to her text:

[center][i]Or anywhere too public. The sooner the better.[/i][/center]
	She turned her phone to vibrate and shoved it back in her pocket. Gathering her “winnings” once more, she stole back into the school as quietly as she could, hoping Cerasus had not woken yet. She needed a safe place to hide the bag for the time being, and she had stumbled upon a perfect spot in the basement the other night.
	As silently as possible, she hurried through the school, waiting to feel the vibration of her phone indicating Trevor had responded, every slight sound making Izzy jump and turn toward it, expecting to run into Cerasus at any moment.