"You can't just kill people you don't like!" the woman yelled at the little girl.

The girl pouts. "Mommy, she was touching our display! I can't just let some greasy fingered kid touch all over the display we worked good and hard for!"

"Now you'd better not let the boss know about this, Annabelle. One more murder and it's back to the morgue."

"They can't put us back! They need us. Who else is going to tell kids what like was like in as a child working in London in the 1800s?"

"There are hundreds of others just waiting to have the opportunity we have Annie. Your brother worked hard to get us this job."

The girl scoffed. "Worked hard? He got sick and his jaw rotted off. That's not working! Nature did the hard part."

"You know what I mean. Your brother got the look. Now I'm not too broken up about not being able to pay that doctor to glue it back on."

"Were you even going to pay the doctor?"

"Of course I- Did you hear that?"

Shit, I had stepped on a piece of paper and it made a loud crumbling noise. The women looked at each other.

"Mum, I think we have ourselves a little visitor. Maybe I can show you that new recipe I found."

"Just like old times?" the woman asked her daughter as they neared my hiding place.

"Just like old times."

"You can't just kill people who make you mad!"

"Why not?" a tall, slender man asked, pulling at his navy toboggan in a fruitless attempt to mask the mess of auburn hair protruding. "I thought that's what we do."

His aquaintance scoffed.

"You know nothing of how we've survived all these years. And we can't jeopardize it all just because some kid has a temper."

"I was only bitten yesterday, Genny!" the man said.  "You could give me a break.  Isn't there a learning curve for new vampires?"

"Vampires?" I whispered to myself as I ducked lower behind a glass display of Greek warship models.

"Learning curve?" Genny laughed. "You definitely have a lot to learn, Jeremy."  She wrestled into the front pocket of her black jeans and removed an aluminum tin of cigarettes and a book of matches. The din of match striking book echoed in the lobby as she brought the flame toward her lips.

"You mean like how you can smoke, despite the handicap that you haven't used your lungs in, what did you tell me, 50 years or so? And besides." Jeremy pointed at a sign at the admission desk.  Genny did not have to look to know the sign stated "no smoking."

"Murder is probably frowned upon here, too," she said, exhaling a mouthful of smoke.   She tosses the match aside. The stick jumps from the ground and lands on my hand.  It was too late for me to hold in my gasp. Both vampires turn to my location. 

"What do we do about our guest?" Genny said.

"We can't let him leave. The whole town would know by tomorrow morning."

Genny smiles and takes another drag before tossing the only recently lit cigarette aside.  "At least you're starting to get it."  

As she walks slowly toward the ship display, Jeremy calls out "You can't just kill people who make you mad!"

She stops in her tracks and turns toward her partner.  "I'm not mad, honey.  I'm just preserving our place at the top of the food chain."