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One curled into his arled to put her clothes back into place It wasn&039;t easy When he tried to rise away froht not to let hi his own apparel, he saw tears gliding silently down her cheeks
"Ah, Shannon" He gathered her up, standing her on her feet and holding her to his chest But her legs seemed rubbery and weak She sank once, then stiffened her knees as if by sheer will She cupped his face between her hands, searched it through the pools in her eyes
"It isn&039;t true I knew it It&039;s all just nonsense Bachman&039;s crazy" Her words tumbled over one another in their haste to break free "You&039;re no monster No monster could make love to me the way you just did Tell me, Damien Say it" She kissed his mouth, his cheeks, his eyes "I&039;ve never felt this way before Not for anyone, Damien Only you, so you have to tell ain she kissed hiht her shoulders to stop the madness, but she rushed on "Yes, make-believe An illusion, just like in your act That&039;s all it is Illusion Say it, Da increased, and he felt her kisses heating Not with passion, but with fever
He caught her face, held her away frolowedto shine in her cheeks Her eyes already dulled and took on that unfocused quality
"Daain"
"Jus&039; hold me" Her whispered words slurred into one another "I&039;ll be all right long&039;s&039;you hold ainst his chest
He closed his arms around her, scooped her up into them He stared down at her relaxed face, her hooded eyes" and he felt a pain beyond all endurance So his heart until the organ split into a hundred bits He couldn&039;t stand to see this, to see her suffer this way, to watch her die
He clenched his fists as he held her, and cried out loud in his agony, the words in the old language One no living man could know He cried her naods and the world and life and death and pain And then he buried his face in her hair and he wept hot, bitter tears
Her warm, satin palm rested softly on his cheek "Don&039;t cry I didn&039;t want this didn&039;t want didn&039;tat her in shock She shtly, "I wish I didn&039;t have to die to leave you like this" And then her amber eyes fell closed
"Damien"
He turned slowly, but couldn&039;t take his eyes froh to look at Eric Marquand
"Daer"
"Look at her, Eric" Da his oords "It&039;s different this time, darker More insidious"
Eric stepped forward and bent close to Shannon When he straightened again, his face was grim "I&039;m sorry Damnably sorry"
Damien looked up, brows lifted, the question he couldn&039;t voice settling in his eyes
"She&039;ll slip into coht is out She won&039;t wake, I fear The end is close"
"No" Da her li double as he held her, rocked her
"Co her to the house I&039;ve rented Bach you and Shannon, not eht" Damien didn&039;t move "Come, at least we can make her comfortable, keep her warm"
Damien nodded, mute with pain, unable to speak
Blasphemous bastard, it&039;s less than you deserve!
He stopped intoward Eric for silence Pure rage filled hisclear in his brain But fro! Watch her die and wish for death yourself, for I&039;ll bring it to you soon enough, Gilgamesh of Uruk
Just as suddenly as it had co his lanced at Eric "Did you hear it?"
"Faintly The e was directed to you"
"How many others like us are there here?" He hadn&039;t believed there were any besides the two of them in Arista, until noondered
"None, Damien We&039;d know if there were They&039;d have no reason to hide their presence from us"
"But they could? If they wanted to, they could?"
One brow bunching lower than the other, Eric nodded
"It was a vampire, Eric I&039;m sure it was One who knows hly shaken by feeling such a rush of pure hatred flashing through his consciousness He focused instead on Shannon, and the pain overshadowed everything else "I can&039;t even take her ho to raid the place in search of me"
"He won&039;t come near until dawn It&039;s still early We&039;ll be secure enough for the night, at least We can make other plans from there Come"
Moments later, Damien tucked Shannon&039;s pliable form onto the chaise in the circular room He sensed she&039;d rather rest here, near the fire, than upstairs alone in the big bedroos to the fire, as Damien sat beside her and stroked her hair
"Oh,Netty&039;s worried face, forgetting her possible betrayal in his concern for Shannon "She&039;s sick, Netty Very sick"
"She needs a doctor, she does" The wo her beside the chaise She reached for Shannon&039;s hand and grasped it to her breast
"There&039;s nothing they can do for her" Damien&039;s voice broke, and he let his head bow His neck seeer
"Youlips until he drew blood
Eric turned away from the fire "Netty, some blankets for her, if you will We can only keep her warm and--"
Netty backed away slowly, her face a jumble of confused eht!" She shook her head fiercely "He said she&039;d be all right He said it was all on account of the spell you&039;d put on her--" She broke off, eyes going even wider When Damien&039;s head came up slowly, she searched his face "But you didn&039;t put this on her I can see that now, you didn&039;t Oh, Lord, what have I done?"
Eric stepped forward, co between Damien and Netty even as Da about Bach Daain "He said no harm would come to you! He said it was all to save Shannon He told me you were you were" She shuddered and looked at the floor "Demon spawn Said she&039;d die unless I helped him"
"And you told him about the secret rooe
She bit her thick lower lip, tears coursing down her face now "Bachman said she&039;d die if I didn&039;t tell I only wanted to help the girl!"
"I ought to tear your heart out--"
"Shut up, Damien!" Eric held one ar past him Not that he could have actually stopped him "Netty, it&039;s not too late to redeem yourself I intercepted the note you left at the hotel--"
She groaned softly "I phoned him later He knows, he does"
"Tell us what Bachlancing every few seconds at Da with the reht He wanted to look at the room where you sleep"
"What he wants is to murder me in my sleep, you foolish wolared at her, then turned again to resuht now I--" He broke off with a shake of his head
"Is it true, then? What Bachman says you are?"
"Netty, what kind of idiot would believe such nonsense?" Eric asked, with a laugh in his voice "Bache Surely you&039;ve heard of this happening before, stalkers plaguing stars of all sorts" He paused, and Netty nodded, thoroughly engrossed "So, Bache identity is the real thing, and cast himself in the role of vampire slayer" Eric stepped forward, touched Netty&039;s arerous, Netty He really means to kill Damien"
"And I almost helped him do it!" she cried She buried her face in her hands, sniffling loudly "I&039;m sorry, Mr Nae her apology He was too enveloped in pain to feel anything else "Just go Go, both of you Leave us alone"
Netty broke into tears and ran from the room
Eric came and knelt beside him "It won&039;t be safe here beyond darkness You know that"
"I&039;ll take her out of here before then"
"And go where?"
Da of the words she&039;d whispered to him before her eyes had closed "I don&039;t know It doesn&039;t matter, really"
"Shall I return for you--"
"No You&039;ve done enough Keep your distance now, Eric I don&039;t need an audience, let alone any help for this grief It&039;s an old, familiar companion"
Eric nodded once, and backed away
So alive He&039;d never known anyone to be as much alive as she&039;d been The sparkle of hter Her ferocity when she felt cornered or bullied or threatened in any way
It had been a very long tihter with anyone He had with her, he realized dully Over and over again, she&039;d made him smile She&039;d filled his loneliness with her constant presence She&039;d brought joy and tenderness back into his existence
And now she was dying Leaving hi hi her friend&039;s murderer ithin reach Just when he&039;d learned of another, a fiercely angry, vampire in the city One who hated him--
He blinked slowly as he realized the iht Another vampire One who hated Damien beyond all reason
He&039;d been responsible for those deaths! And driven by his own deed them to look like Daht flickered soht of his soul He wasn&039;t a murderer The thirst hadn&039;t taken control of him More proof of that lay in what had transpired between the two of them before she&039;d succumbed to this illness He&039;d made love to her Frenzied, passionate, obsessive love to her But he hadn&039;t tasted her life&039;s blood He&039;d reed inside hi her had been siht be a killer, and couldn&039;t bear to see her suffer the saone now His other reason had been a selfish one He hadn&039;t wanted to let himself love her He hadn&039;t wanted to risk the kind of hurt he&039;d known before
But it was already too late to avoid that And if she were immortal, maybe he wouldn&039;t have to lose her at all
He looked at her, stretched out on the chaise like an offering to a deod Would she want it? Would she have accepted the dark ic if he&039;d offered it to her while she&039;d been able? Could she bear a life without daylight, without the kiss of the sun? Could she abide the notion of her eternal soul bound forever to her eternal body?
He swore viciously and turned away He couldn&039;t make that decision for her He couldn&039;t! No matter how much he loved her, hoould tear hiht
Tears swam in his eyes He didn&039;t battle them He buried his face in his hands and felt his shoulders quake with sobs And then her hand rose, touched his back
He turned, sliding onto his knees on the floor He clutched her hand, kissed it, then bent to kiss her face
"I&039;m sorry," she whispered "I should have warned you"
"It wouldn&039;t have changed anything Shannon" He&039;d have loved her even if he&039;d known all along He was certain of that
She stared up into his eyes, her own daht&039;s reflection She blinked at the tears, but more quickly flooded to take their place This tihter "I&039;m so afraid"
He didn&039;t knohat to say What could he say to comfort her?
"I&039;ve denied it, you know Heldbrave person, but I&039;ry red streaks on her skin Her lips pulled tight, her teeth bared "I don&039;t want to die, Daive a da down at her face "Do you mean that, Shannon?"
Her face relaxed Her eyelids drooped, and he knew the end was close Her breaths caular "I&039;d I&039;d give anything" she whispered "Anything if I could just live"
Her eyes fell closed