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My father watched Redfern pace the roos He said he wanted to know more about , he talked about his own

Redfern considered hiree," he said, "that man’s sole duty is to produce as much pleasure as possible?"

"Only if the pleasure produced is equivalent to the diminution of pain" My father crossed his arms "And only if one man’s pleasure is as important as any other’s"

"Well then" Redfern’s face seeht, and he struck ree that the amount of pleasure or pain produced by an action is a chief criterion for deter which actions to perforreed He felt as if he were attending a lecture in Ethics 101 "Many actions are wrong because they cause pain," Redfern said, waving his poker, the blackened bread slice skewered at its tip "You would agree? And if it can be shown that an act will lead to pain, that in itself would be sufficient reason not to pursue it"

At this point my father noticed a small movement in the room, so The sickening smell seemed to intensify

"It would follow, then, that there are cases in which it is necessary to inflict pain now to avoid greater pain later on, or to gain future pleasure that is worth the current pain"

My father’s eyes were on Redfern’s, trying to fathom his motives, when Malcolm came from behind, pulled back his head, and bit deeply into his neck

"What was it like?" I asked ust at hearing this?"

I felt simultaneously alert and nu"

The pain burned,et away

Malcolm held him in an aard embrace that would have been unthinkable, had my father been able to think He tried to twist his head to see Malcolli the scene with blatant pleasure

When ained consciousness, he lay across the sofa, and when he brushed his hand across his face, it came away dark with clotted blood His friends weren’t in the rooe and swollen, and his legs and ar to run away The fire had gone out, and the room was cold, but the smells of burnt bread and the other unknown substance persisted Now they see, as did an unfamiliar coppery taste in his led He felt e like adrenaline He y mirror over the sink, he saw the wound in his neck and a crust of blood around his mouth His heartbeat echoed in his head like the sound ofmetal

Opposite the lavatory was a closed bedroo dead ht

Halfway down the steps, he saw Redfern and Malcol and watched thee Yet, as they walked up the steps to the landing, he did nothing

Redfern nodded Malcollanced at him and looked away Malcolm’s hair fell over his eyes, and his face was pink as if he’d recently scrubbed it His eyes looked dull, uninterested, and he s at all

"Explanations are useless," Malcolm said, as if my father had asked for one "But soood"

Redfern shook his head and went on up the stairs, , "Americans Utterly incapable of irony"

"Did you knohat you were?" I asked my father

"I had an idea," he said "I’d seen some of the movies, read soht And e into a bat?"

He looked at me -- that reluctant look of disappointment "No, Ari That’s folklore I wish it were true I’d love to be able to fly"

I began to ask another question, but he said, "You need sleep I’ll tell you the rest toone to sleep, I realized The grandfather clock struck the quarter hour: 12:15 I shook s and stood up slowly

"Father," I said, "am I one, too?"

Of course he knehat Ito look that way"

Chapter Eight

Very little that people write about us is true," my father said the next afternoon "Never trust those who claim to be vainations"

We sat again in the living roo prepared, or so I thought, with pages of vampire lore I’d copied froes, then shaken his head

"Written by well-intentioned fools," he said "It’s a pity that more vampires don’t write the facts A few have, and I’d like to think that more will, as we learn better ways to cope with our condition"

"What about stakes in the heart?" I asked now