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She nodded He lowered her to the pillow again The shaking eased further

"Better?"

Her eyes could not stay open, no matter how she strained to look at hi, what he&039;d do next, whether there was murder in his jewel black eyes

"You care to tell me how you planned to take on a crazed killer in this kind of shape?"

He sounded angry She wondered why

"Did-didn&039;t plan this"

"Is it better? Is it easing?"

She started to fall asleep, only to feel his hands tighten on her shoulders and lift her from the pillows

"Tell ed mind told her The end And they&039;d find her in thethe way she&039;d found Tawny Drained of her blood, lily-white, eyes staring sightlessly at the ceiling Dying of one of these attacks didn&039;t seem so terrible when she considered the alternative

She had to do soth of every muscle, into one s outward, toward the nightstand That here he&039;d put her gun, wasn&039;t it? She connected with the laently lowered her back down to the pillows Her vision was clearing She saw his black eyes search her face, saw hi hard and cold into hers

"This what you&039;re after?"

She closed her fist around the cool wood grips, breathed again

He pushed a hand through his dark hair "Keep it, if it will ease your mind Shannon But I didn&039;t coun close to her chest, covered it with her other hand, relaxed a little The barrel pointed in his general direction Her finger just barely touched the trigger Her eyelids drooped She popped the better, isn&039;t it?"

She nodded "What why are you here?" Her voice was slurred, as if she&039;d been drinking "If you d-didn&039;t coht to keep the harder

He sht, Shannon Sleep a while"

"No Not until you you leave" She licked her lips, forced her gaze to fix on hie across "Get the hell out"

Daolden fire at him And for just a second she&039;d reminded him of his oldest friend, the only man who&039;d ever had the nerve to stand up to hie of Inanna She saw hied him to battle Much as he&039;d once done She was like hied, shalloay she breathed as her body surrendered to sleep&039;s unstoppable invasion

The deht to vanquish had been death itself But fighting death was a sad exercise Death alon in the end Hadn&039;t he searched endlessly for the key to i death?

He did not want to do it With the will of every second of his nearly six thousand years, he did not want to do it But he left the bedside, went to the little bathrooht it back to bathe her heated face, her sweat-slick forehead, her fiery-hot neck He&039;d keep an all-night vigil, not out of affection or even a passing fondness, but out of siht of her burning up with fever, shaking helplessly on the bed, brought back the worst moment of his existence, when he&039;d watched his best friend die in such a si out to the gods for eance

He reminded hier And these were not death throes racking her slender body, but si

"Don&039;t"

He glanced sharply down at her, but she wasn&039;t talking to him At least, he didn&039;t think so "It&039;ll help the fever," he told her, and settled the cool cloth on her forehead again

"Don&039;t touch me" She whimpered, and twisted in the bed "Tawny, make him stop!"

Fat tears rolled down her face, and Damien couldn&039;t help the luh he kneas stupid, senseless He didn&039;t care about this woht Shannon No one&039;s going to hurt you"

It shocked him when her small hand shot upward to cover his where it rested on her cheek

"Don&039;t leave me," she whispered "I&039; to hi up with a fever and half out of her head She was drea to him

Even so, he knew he&039;d stay with her How could she possibly defend herself in this kind of state? If it was true that so on the woer

He did not want to believe that was possible And yet, part of him did Because if someone else hadn&039;t killed that other one, it must have been him And it couldn&039;t have been him

He barely recalled her face There&039;d been so many over the centuries, so , beautiful, all too ready to sink with him into a well of ecstasy But he&039;d never killed them Never He hated death

He forced hi room after the performance She&039;d slid her warm palms slowly over his chest and stood on tiptoe to kiss him And she&039;d tucked a piece of paper into the waistband of his pants before she&039;d slipped away Her address And he&039;d known he would visit her there The bloodlust that night had reached the height of its power He couldn&039;t fight it any, forcibly wrenching himself from the luscious dancers ere his assistants in the act Dragging his gaze away froain, as the roar in his er writhed inside, and his eakened

So he&039;d gone to her She&039;d been half-asleep in her bed, and he&039;d awakened her with a kiss, but never spoken a word She&039;d stripped away her nightgown and pulled him down to her in the ruht And as he&039;d pierced her body with his, as he&039;d assuaged the burning hunger at her throat, as he&039;d reached the precipice of blinding, urgent desire, there was that instant of insanity That single heartbeat in tier inside his mind

And when he&039;d pulled away frouilt he always felt He&039;d stared down at her lying still, sinking into sleep He&039;d pulled blankets over her, and silently co but a dreaht, his conscience too raw to stay there another second

Now he paced, beside the bed of another beautiful woer And he questioned the accuracy of his ownwhen he&039;d left her there, hadn&039;t she? Or had she been dying? Was there a chance he&039;d taken toolife? He&039;d believed the spark of decency that his soul still had left wouldn&039;t allow him to sink to that level And he knew, beyond doubt, that he did have a modicum of decency left If he didn&039;t, he wouldn&039;t be here with Shannon right now He&039;d leave her to whatever fate had in store and save hi risk He knew that olden blond hair away from Shannon&039;s face, felt the silken texture of it between his fingers, against his palms He&039;d make sure the threat to her was eliminated, even if he himself turned out to be that threat, and then he would run to the farthest reaches of the globe and never, never set eyes on her again Never so ain And he&039;d do it without letting himself care about her Damien Namtar cared for no one It had been that way for centuries, and that was the way it would stay

He could see, though, that he had little choice except to try to find out what had happened to Tawny Keller For if he had beco the lives of others, he knew he had to end it

All of these things circled like a cyclone in his mind as he sat with her, watched over her, took care of her He was doing exactly what he&039;d sworn he&039;d never do Taking on the roll of protector to one of the Chosen Acting on ioose flying south in autumn

It was only as dawn approached that he realized he couldn&039;t leave her there alone, unprotected

Anthar watched that building and a s once called partthe woman in his arms Unconscious? Or asleep? Perhaps entranced? Whatever, it didn&039;t ain He rubbed his hands together in glee It was too perfect Too utterly perfect Ah, the destruction of Gilgamesh--soul and body, mind and spirit--was at hand At last, the tools to carry it out had been given He&039;d awaited the, but patiently For it was not possible to co, that was the key the weakness

As long as it truly was caring

Anthar dared not attehts, lest he tip his hand It was vital he remain undiscovered, unknown, unsensed, as he observed Damien&039;s every move He had to be sure before he could proceed

A test, then Or several Whatever was necessary to be sure And then the slow torture and ultiin