Harrell:  How does Vicki’s relationship with and feelings for Mike differ from her relationship with and feelings for Henry?  At times it seems like she’s just scratching an itch with how she hops between their beds (Vicki's definitely not losing that way), but at other times it seems like she really cares about them in more than a “good friends with benefits” kind of way.  

Huff: Vicki loves Mike in a 'this is my other half, this is a man who understands and accepts me, this is a man who won't let me lie to myself' kind of way but she's terrified of commitment.  If she admits she loves him, she feels that gives him power over her.  While her past has made her emotionally defensive, the RP diagnosis totally cut the ground out form under her.   She's going blind and there is no cure -- she's totally freaked by that and sees Mike's concern as pity. She's always been very self-contained and independent, unable to give over control to others and the RP is suddenly controlling a part of her life.   Also, to an extent, Mike represents the job she loved and lost and, when she looks at him, sometimes that's what she sees.  Thus, as things spiral out of control, she's put up emotional barricades between them to keep from getting hurt.  .  Mike pretty much knows all this about Vicki and because he knows what's behind the barricade, he's willing to try and knock it down.   Vicki's attraction to Henry is, in part, a way of distancing herself from her feelings for Mike.  In part.  Henry's also attractive, powerful, mysterious and like nothing she's ever known before.   He doesn't pity her because he didn't know her before the RP -- also, he ignites in sunlight so in some respects they're more equal than her and Mike.  Commitment isn't an issue with Henry because they can't have a happily ever after -- he can't only feed on her so there will always be others, she'll age and he won't, he can only exist in the night while she can only see in the day.  She knows there's no future with Henry but as well as the physical attraction, she loves his sense of responsibility, his sense of justice, and his willingness to go the extra mile for those he considers his.  Henry is Mystery to her.  Mike is all the wonderfully messy things that make up Reality.    

Harrell:   Henry contradicts quite a few typical vampire myths.  Why did you decide to go against popular vampire lore, and how did you decide to keep certain myths, such as Henry burning in the sun, and to discard other myths, such as Henry wearing crosses and seeing his reflection? 

Huff:   I kept every myth I could rationalize a biological reason for and tossed everything I couldn't.   Sunrise brings changes in the earth's electromagnetic field -- thus it's within the realm of plausibility there could be a condition this acts on resulting in unconsciousness like unto death.   Sunlight's reaction with Henry's skin is like a fictionally extreme case of CEP one of the rarest variations of the genetic disorder called Porphyria where exposure to any ultraviolet light can burn skin.  Since my vampires aren't evil, there's no reason for religious symbolism to affect them.  And there's no reason at all for the laws of physics to be rescinded and for light to bend around them giving them no reflection.