Light.
Warmth.
The sound of laughter.
The smell of wet grass.
Happiness.
Perfection.
Her reward.
Perfect? No, things couldn't be perfect. They were never perfect. The only thing you could do was to try and make them a bit less terrible.
But that was there. Here, everything was as it should.
Well then in that case she wasn't needed here, was she?
Perhaps not. But this place was just for her. A place to spend all of eternity in perfect bliss.
Then she was certainly going back. Eternity lasted for a very long time, after all. It could wait.
For how long?
Well… for as long as it would take.
There would be a price to pay.
Not that that was much of a surprise. There was always a price to pay.
And she would pay it, whatever it was.
Kim relished the blood rushing into her mouth. It had been weeks since she'd last drank from a human. Butchers who owed her favours had been more than happy to provide her with plenty of pig, cow and chicken blood (once she'd convinced them into thinking that she wasn't actually dead, really) and that was more than enough to sustain her.
But it wasn't as good as human blood.
She'd tasted human blood only once before, shortly after her return. She'd been crazed with hunger and she'd latched onto the first delicious looking girl she could find. She'd been horrified once the thirst had been sated. The girl had survived, but that didn't make it any less terrible. She'd sworn never to drink human blood ever again.
Yet here she was, drinking from a human.
And it tasted better than anything she'd ever had before.
Kim sat on the roof of the house opposite that of the Stoppables. It was, she realised, a very Hollywood vampire thing to do, but it seemed appropriate somehow. She'd been following Ron for a while now, whenever the sun allowed. She'd been trying to think of a way to approach him, to convince him to join her in the dark.
And then she'd realised she just couldn't do that to him. Ron had a future before him. High school, college (well… probably), a wife, two point five kids, a white picket fence, the whole nine yards. He was still Potential Boy in a way, and Kim simply couldn't bring herself to rob him of all that.
No, Ron had no place in her world any more.
Or, more accurately, she had no place in his world any more.
Kim could feel Shego's embrace weakening by the drop. She was trying to keep it an embrace, but her strength was going and the only thing stopping her from falling onto the ground were Kim's arms holding her up.
Shego could still survive, she could still overcome the bloodloss. There was still time.
But there wasn't much of it.
She didn't know what had drawn her to prison. Perhaps it had been morbid curiosity. Perhaps she'd wanted to know how the inmates had responded to her demise. They'd probably been partying.
But whatever they'd been doing, they were sleeping now. Floating unseen past window after window, all she saw were villains sleeping peacefully.
Then she reached Shego's cell.
Shego wasn't sleeping. She was sitting on her bunk, knees drawn up to her chin, arms around her legs, staring at the door without seeing it.
Kim was struck by the sight. She seemed so lost, so… apathetic.
Surely she should be happy? They were each other's arch enemies. Fighting her was what Shego…
… lived…
… for.
Shego's heart stopped.
Kim drained her from what little blood she had left, then carefully lowered the woman to the ground. She sat down next to her and watched. She didn't know how long it would take for Shego to come back again. A few hours, a day, a week? She had no idea.
It was strange, really. She'd just killed someone. She had taken a human life into her arms and she'd destroyed it. There should be some guilt, surely?
But there wasn't. Simply because suddenly, Shego had something she'd been missing these last few weeks. She'd been given a life in the shadows, prowling the nights side by side with her.
Shego stirred and Kim couldn't resist the urge to stroke her hair.
They had a future spent entirely in darkness.
And it was looking very bright indeed.