“She’s just not into it, you know? Her swords are gathering dust and its been almost an entire week since she’s mentioned how great of a knight she is.” Gabrielle was seated on top of the wall surrounding her house between the grasps of two thick hands of ivy.
Varsha was standing in front of her, not looking the least bit intrigued after hearing the other girl’s gossip. Typical Varsha, always so considerate of her friend’s feelings. “You sure that’s not a good thing. I mean, it’s been a lot quieter here without her around.”
“No, that’s definitely a problem! It has never, ever been this quiet before.” Gabrielle didn’t think this was an exaggeration. Her best friend, Mara, had once been the life of the dark and somewhat somber manor where the two of them resided. Brighter than the sun, and always ready to warm the cold hearts of her vampiric companions, it was strange that a stupor had fallen over her so suddenly.

“I’m fine. I’m just tired.” Mara had said a week earlier from beneath an innumerable amount of blankets and bed coverings. It might have been the fault of all the fabrics she was swaddled in, but her voice seemed to lack the liveliness that usually emphasized each word.
Gabrielle hadn’t been convinced that her friend was in good health, and the number of her suspicions grew exponentially as the other girl spent longer and longer hiding herself in the deepest depths of the manor’s interior.
She must be sick. She remembered thinking a few days after the ordeal’s beginning. Humans get colds all the time, right?
Vampires were undead creatures, and thus didn’t have to worry about ever becoming sick.  Gabrielle had busied herself with finding out as much she could about human ailments, and even after reading an unfathomable number of ancient tomes, the idea of succumbing to an illness was still inherently foreign.

“Well, if you’re really all that concerned, just read her mind to find out what’s up.” Varsha had apparently gotten tired of standing and was now seated on the sidewalk with her hands pressed against the cement, fingers drumming on the grey-colored pathway. “Poke around in her brain and stuff, you know?”
It was true; mind reading was an option. Gabrielle had been fiercely opposed to resorting to such measures in the past, especially if she’d be reading her friend’s mind without asking for permission. However, if the girl’s life was really on the line, there would be no quicker way to diagnose whatever’s been ailing her. “I don’t know, Varsha… I’m sure there’s another less evasive way to go about things.”
Varsha scoffed, throwing her head into the air in a display of her derision. She clearly didn’t have much faith in the other’s ability to find a solution without resorting to mind control. Classic Varsha, always so supportive. “Yeah, you’re right. This last week you’ve been so successful with all your non-evasive problem-solving. What was I thinking when I suggested you try doing something else?”
Gabrielle felt her nose scrunch up after Varsha had finished speaking, moving her eyes off the redhead and onto the ivy vines entangled in the mass of overgrowth at her side. She was beginning to regret ever asking the other girl for help.
“Oh, come on! Don’t give me that face. I mean, you know I’m only telling you the truth.” Varsha stood up, stretched, and brushed herself off. “Just think about it, alright? I’d really hate to see something awful happen because you didn’t try hard enough to save her.”

Varsha’s words repeated themselves over and over again in the back of Gabrielle’s mind, intensifying the weight of all the worries heaped onto her shoulders. Her backbone threatened to break underneath the heaviness before she finally decided on what course of action to take. There was no other option; she was going to find out what was wrong with her friend by taking matters into her own hands.
Mara was sound asleep when the other girl crept into her room later that night. The sleeping child’s breathing was rhythmical, lacking the stops and starts that were characteristic of someone with an respiratory ailment.
She’ll understand. Gabrielle told herself. She kneeled at her friend’s bedside, making all the necessary preparations for what was about to transpire. She’ll know that I only went through with this because I’m worried about her.
Mind reading was once a method of persuading reluctant humans to donate their blood to members of an area’s bloodsucking population. Now that vampires had no reason to hunt for their every meal, the ability was an evolutionary holdover that now only occasionally served to keep unruly foodstuffs from overstepping their bounds.
Gabrielle had never actually read anyone else’s mind, and was only familiar with the process through historical accounts of how it was used before the reign of the world’s new vampiric overlords. Supposedly, it allowed one a glimpse of the inner-workings of another with near limitless access to all of their previously experienced thoughts and feelings. She wasn’t sure what to expect when she placed her hand on the other’s forehead and tried to imagine what she was thinking. There was no turning back now.