gender roles. And periods. And why all of that is very wrong. But I have to finish cleaning up
Lorenzo and wash your bedding.”
“Anything I can do to help?”
“You’re cooking, that’s amazing. Thank you.”
“I like it,” Snod admitted, blushing softly.
Frankie smiled, blinking forward to kiss Snod’s cheek before disappearing back into the other
bedroom. A few moments later, a very exhausted Lorenzo came stumbling out, his hair a disaster, and
groaning miserably.
“Ohhh, never drinking again,” Lorenzo whined as he lumbered into the living room, flopping down
defeatedly onto the couch. “Never. Never ever again.”
“You always say that,” Frankie chuckled, blinking around to bring him a cup of coffee.
Snod smiled when he saw there was a cup for him resting on the counter.
“I left it black,” Frankie explained. “Don’t know how you take it. If you take it at all.”
“This is perfect,” Snod said gratefully, sipping slowly. “I’ve taken more than a few lashings for
coffee over the years.”
“Lashings?” Lorenzo’s head perked up, frowning over the edge of his cup.
“Strict diet plan,” Frankie interjected, moving on without missing a beat as he asked, “Do you
remember what you were saying last night? About the robots?”
“Killing Snod with robots?” Lorenzo frowned.
“No! The nano bots. The cure.”
Lorenzo stared blearily at Frankie before his memory kicked back in, gasping, “Yes! Okay, okay. I got
this. I think this could work. It could really fix you!”
Snod poured the mixture into the pan, asking quietly, “How do you fix a curse?”
“It’s not a curse, it’s a disease,” Lorenzo firmly corrected him. “Look, you know Frankie is a
vampire, right? Do you know about Bacteria V?”
“No,” Snod said flatly.
“V is what we named it. ‘V’ for vampire, real creative, right?” Lorenzo snorted a small laugh, taking
a long drink of coffee before continuing, “It’s a very unique facultative anaerobic bacteria, similar in
function to bdelloids that it requires fresh DNA to continuously replenish itself and repair damaged
cells. Doesn’t need water or any other food except the iron from hemoglobin and DNA from inside
