Quickly ripping her suit open, Sylvie gave Cassiopeia a quick prayer for luck and reached for the first barrel. Without warning and just before her hands csped the first barrel, Sylvie chuckled with the song that began bouncing in her head. Two things raced through Sylvie that calmed her nerves and set the little adventure into a more fun experience than one of terror. First was the fact she knew that Casey was just fine, even if she were covering her worry by letting music rule her emotional security. Second was that by some grace, perhaps Cassiopeia herself, Sylvie was able to feel the song and thus able to sing it to clear her mind as she worked.

  -You are amazing Casey… R.E.M…’End of the world as we know it?’ Miss Rivers-Miakoda, you are truly a vampire inside and out. My party-princess.-

  After grabbing the first barrel and walking it over to the padding she’d id out from the remains of her radiation suit, Sylvie felt a small shiver of excitement as she thought of the way she’d thought of her lover.

  -Humm, Rivers-Miakoda or Miakoda-Rivers? Either way it sounds so wonderful.-

  After picking up the third barrel, Sylvie heard the arm from her phone as it began to chime and she quickly silenced it and instantly felt how brittle the device had become. “Fuck.” Sylvie excimed and tossed the device to the ground where it turned into what appeared to be a pile of silicate. Much like one of her own visions, Sylvie paid attention to her memory and with an eerie, sepulchral whisper uttered a few lines of the song swirling in her mind.

  “Six o'clock, T.V. hour, don't get caught in foreign tower,Ssh and burn, return, listen to yourself churn,Lock him in uniform, book burning, bloodletting,Every motive escate, automotive incinerate,

  Light a candle, light a motive, step down, step down,Watch your heel crush, crush, uh oh…This means no fear, cavalier, renegade and steering clear,A tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies,Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and I decline,… It's the end of the world as we know it,It's the end of the world as we know it,It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine,I feel fine…”

  By the time Sylvie had reached the end of the lyrics, she had the four barrels piled on the suit and thanked Cassiopeia once more, both for allowing her to finish her adventure and while it was a small relief, that the barrels were about half the size of the pony kegs she used in her bar. Using strips of the suit, Sylvie tied the ends to create a makeshift sack and then found her way to the anthill.

  -Here goes nothing. This is the first time I have carried something this big and bulky in ghost form, if this doesn’t work…I am digging out.-

  Afraid of triggering the various arms on the pyramidal mountain, Sylvie made the heavy-hearted decision to get out of the area in ghost form as she couldn’t guarantee that she could shift to her bluejay form in time to keep the barrels from falling to the ground.

  -Shortest distance is always a straight line.-

  With the map of the area embedded in her mind thanks to the vision and her few passes upon her entry, Sylvie knew it would take twelve seconds and another ten to make it as a mist to the far side of the fencing.

  -Twenty-two seconds. Fresh blood is almost used..-

  Reminded that ghost form was draining to the point where other vampires turned themselves to dust with overuse, Sylvie figured she would need an extra five seconds to clear the perimeter of the arms. “Damn. Fresh blood…If I cleanse now, then Casey won’t be able to hold the barrels on the way home.” Sylvie spoke as though Cassiopeia were looking over her shoulder. “I can’t use Casey’s blood yet, we need it for ter, once I get the barrels to the motorcycle..” Sylvie paused and almost felt a hand on her shoulder. “The other blood will get irradiated.”

  Mulling the situation in her head, Sylvie thought about the stars that made up the ‘W’ within Cassiopeia’s consteltion. “Wait. Stars don’t just flicker off like a lightbulb. They change their brilliance, their colors…but they still have power.” A second ter the mental feel of the hand left Sylvie’s shoulder. “Thank you. Lady Luck or whoever you are.”

  Quickly assuming her ghost form, Sylvie made her way through the small ant tunnels and out into the open air. On the verge of using all of her remaining fresh blood, Sylvie buried her fears and unnaturally floated beyond the confines of her would-be prison. Once she was in the open nd, Sylvie reformed and fell to the ground helplessly. Intense burning slowly disappeared as she used the remaining radioactive blood in her system to regain her senses. Immediately after Sylvie felt more like herself, she reached out for Casey’s blood through their bond and drank like she’d been in a desert for days. “Casey…Casey. Love.” Sylvie whispered hoarsely, “I’m out. I have four.” She didn’t wait for her progeny and lover to respond. “Drink every st drop of blood before I get there. I want you blood drunk until we catch the truck.”

  “Fuck me, Sylvie..You didn’t give me any warning before..” Casey felt herself beginning to lose control and ripped a saddlebag open and poured the contents down her burning throat. “I don’t have any tainted blood to clean…what’s going …” She felt her stomach turn as her body craved more blood due to the fact she was still a newborn. Quickly downing another liter of blood, Casey wiped her mouth and breathed heavily afterward. “Sylvie, love…where are you? Nothing went to pn.” She stopped again and muttered her favorite curse word, then plowed through a third bag of blood.

  Holding her head for a couple of seconds, Sylvie felt a headache for the first time in two hundred years. “This stinks, Casey.” She groaned and stood up. “The reason you don’t have any tainted blood to cleanse is that I used it.”

  “I didn’t think you could…” Casey replied and ripped open another container of blood. “I don’t understand a fucking thing that just happened.”

  “You finish off the blood and get into your suit. Once I am back and you are carrying this package, I will expin it all.” Sylvie appeared in the distance and blew a kiss to her lover. “Tell me something. Do you like Rivers-Miakoda, or Miakoda-Rivers?”