"Oh, yes, I suppose some explanation would be necessary," Helen said, backing up a bit. She'd gotten so used to people here being aware of who and what she was that someone who wasn't aware had slipped her mind. She leaned against the counter a bit while she decided where to begin.

"When I was a young woman, my friends and I decided to experiment with vampire blood. It wasn't any vampire, it was vampire Source Blood, and we all developed certain gifts from it. Mine happens to be immortality, more or less."