When Ruben and I had first started dating, Mom had told me the story of my Aunt Penelope, her sister, who’d been seduced by a vampire overlord named Broderick. Once he’d gotten his fangs in her neck, he’d used her power as a Siphon—or Enforcer—for himself. Mom had told me the story not because she thought Ruben was like that vampire who’d abused my aunt but simply to remind me that Siphons held unparalleled power which came with a heavier burden of responsibility.
