I can be dramatic in the right circumstances. [ A veritable drama queen, honestly. ] But I was also supposed to be the reasonable, responsible one, the one who kept the rest in line. I don't seem dramatic because I'm not supposed to be.

[ She says it with a laugh, as she thinks back on all of the vampires she's known, trying to remember the last time she'd felt a kinship with any of them, instead of a responsibility. It's really been that long, hasn't it? ]

When I was younger, there was a vampire working with the police. I think she may have been more recently turned, too, maybe a few years prior, but she never came off as a fledgling to me. She was kind and had everything together, she knew what she was doing and how to manage herself responsibly, and looked in on me every now and again.

Thinking back on her now, she was probably her own private mess, but it helped me then to know she was out there, and doing the best she could. Every vampire I've met since, I've been the one trying to do the best she could, and so many of them have been... I don't know. Disaffected, or cruel, or thoughtless to the harm they could do. I have much better luck with the newly turned than those who've been at this for hundreds of years.