White Wolf was apparently pretty happy with my story "The Art of Dying," because they invited me to write one for another Vampire: The Masquerade anthology, City Of Darkness: Unseen.

So I did. And what the hell, I made it a direct sequel to "The Art of Dying," because why not? I didn't think I'd said everything there was to say about Bethany. A sequel meant I didn't need to create all-new characters, and since this was work-for-hire and I wouldn't own the characters anyway, why give away new ones?

I'm pleased with the result. I think it wraps up Bethany's story nicely.

(Some may wonder how I could include the story in In the Blood: Vampire Stories if I don't own it. That's an excellent point -- and one I fortunately thought of back when I first wrote the stories. I insisted that the contracts include a provision that I could include the stories in single-author collections without permission from White Wolf and without any money changing hands. White Wolf agreed. I don't have the rights to do anything else with it, but single-author collections are fine.)