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She tried not to notice how fast she alking, or that she didn&039;t get winded, or that her heart didn&039;t even speed up She ignored the fact that, while she felt the cold as she never had before, felt its crisp touch on every inch of her body, she didn&039;t feel cold, or uncooose bumps or shiver She tried to pay no attention to the incredibly flavorful taste of every breath she drew, or the scents of every plant and animal she passed, and of the air itself

God, but she&039;d never been so aware!

When she reached Daate with no trouble, wondering about this new agility and strength She walked inside, resisting the astonishing differences The colors in the Turkish rugs that she&039;d never seen before The intricate patterns The smell of the fire The taste of the wood smoke

It would overwhelm her if she paid attention She felt she could sit for hours and explore her heightened senses The flames in the hearth

My God, the flames Look at theues of light and energy and color She had to force herself to break away

Not now Not now She wanted only to gather up her belongings, toss them into her car and drive far away from here Far away frohth the round roo stopped her Soe she couldn&039;t understandto find the source Finally she turned around Her gaze went to the arched doorway on the other side, and Bach place just beyond the beads, his gun pointed right at her

Soan as a chuckle and grew, gaining strength until she was gripping herin her eyes She could easily have let it go on until she sank to the floor and the laughter led to hysteria and the hysteria to ht hold of herself She stopped the laughter and eyed the weapon "Bach? You want me to take that one away from you, too?"

"Where is he Shannon?"

She shrugged and wiped her eyes dry "Not here But youthe place all day, haven&039;t you?"

He frowned, scanning her face, and she stiffened, wondering what he saw She waited, her breath halted

"You&039;ve been crying Why?"

She blinked, nearly lie, he couldn&039;t Mindful of the ain her hair hung down the front of her shoulders, hiding the wounds "Oh, Bachman, why didn&039;t I listen to you?" She let a fe tears daht I loved him, you know But he left me Just walked out"

"And you don&039;t knohere he went?"

She shook her head sadly "I hate him now" It wasn&039;t true She didn&039;t knohat she felt for Damien anymore, but it wasn&039;t hatred She didn&039;t think it ever would be

Bachun away His face softened a little "Shannon, coht be able to help you there"

It was a lie She knew it the second the words left his lips She wasn&039;t even certain Bachht intuition she&039;d felt when he&039;d lied to her before, but a glaring neon sign flashing in her mind "Are there others there, others like htening ie Men and women imprisoned in cell-like rooms Strapped to tables Desolation in their faces

She licked her lips "I don&039;t know" Fear gripped her heart He ht honestly think he could help her, but she knew he couldn&039;t If she ith hiuinea pig She took a step away froh Give un&039;s muzzle lifted a fraction He shook his head "No, Shannon You&039;re coo cold all over

"I&039;erously "I wanted to wait until I had hione But I&039; back to White Plains e you here to die" He shook his head "Besides, I&039;m not sure you don&039;t knohere he is Maybe I can convince you to tell one He&039;s not co back" She defended Dary with him for what he&039;d done to her But this was instinctive and had nothing to do with the other

"He&039;ll come if you&039;re in trouble, I think I didn&039;t want to do it this way Shannon, but if I were to, say, shoot you, I think he&039;d know I think he&039;d be here in a matter of un

Fear rippled through her and her ht wildly for an answer But the sixth sense she&039;d felt before see or would he really do it? She couldn&039;t just stand there and let him shoot her She held her hands in front of her, palo with you I&039;ll tell you where he is--I will"

Bachured you&039;d change your mind Don&039;t worry about him, Shannon He won&039;t suffer That&039;s if I decide to let hiht not He&039;s a murderer Someone has to stop him Someone has to stop them all"

Then there were others Others like Damien, hunted and persecuted by people like Bachman, and maybe even killed Just as Eric Marquand&039;s notes had said It was too horrible to believe

She lowered her head, chin to chest, and forced a couple of sobs She took one faltering, weak-kneed step toward hi herself on a table Her palm pressed to her forehead and her eyes closed

He strode to her, gripping her forearh she didn&039;t think he meant it to Her skin seemed more sensitive than before When he squeezed her arm, pain shot all the way to her shoulder

She lifted her other hand, settled it on his shoulder as if for support Her fingers clenched hard into his flesh Her knee rose and connected She&039;d expected hi her time to escape

Instead he launched into the air, propelled by the siroin He screaravelly yell, and he sailed backward, hitting the floor five feet away The gun skittered across the marble tiles to stop near the hearth, well beyond his reach Then he doubled over

Shannon&039;s hand flew to her mouth, and she felt as if her eyes would pop out of their sockets "Did I do that?" she whispered "Ah, hell, this is so frigging strange"

He struggled to his feet, rage in his eyes, even as Shannon thought that those thugs who&039;d tried to steal her car ought to try it again now If they thought she&039;d given the as Bach hand, forefinger extended

"Youyou&039;re one of them"

"Not by choice," she et the hell out of here before I really hurt you, okay?"

He glanced toward the gun, took a step toward it She leapt, easily covering the distance in a single, gazelle like move, and put herself between Bached with a blade "Coain" He was panting, breathless, obviously in pain

She held her hand up, telling him to stop "Don&039;t do this," she said softly "Don&039;t"

"You think I want to?" Hethe blade She backed away, but he advanced "I could kill you, you know," he rasped "One little nick, honey, and then I could stand here and watch you bleed" She gasped "Give it up, Shannon Don&039;t ed, and the blade swept toward her She juain and he missed--perhaps deliberately, she couldn&039;t be sure but now her back was against the o He stood in front of her, gri told her how easily she could bleed to death

Bachman lifted the blade He pressed its pointed tip to her throat "Say you&039;ll come with me Shannon Don&039;t o with hi slowly, so as not to alert hilass cube that enclosed one of Dalass, set it aside and clenched her fist on the section of stone tablet

And in that instant, that very instant as she felt the pressure of the cold blade increase, felt its tip press harder into her flesh, she sensed as clearly as if he&039;d spoken it, his intent to kill her unless she cooperated And to kill Da She didn&039;t want to die Daht on by panic, a surge she didn&039;t try to gauge or te him in the side of his head

He fell sideways and his body slaht he&039;d cracked the marble He didn&039;t move, of course She blinked, felt the bile rise up in her throat, wanted to retch She tore away fro through it--and colliding hard with a broad chest

"Shannon--"

His ar to his neck, sobbing "I think I killed him Oh, God, I think I killed him"

"I&039;m sorry Shannon I ca, but--"

He broke off, threading his fingers in her hair, lifting her into his ar her face to his shoulder as they passed through his coently on the bed "Shannon, I&039;m sorry I&039;m sorry I don&039;t knohat else to say"

She searched his face, his beloved, beautiful face, and she didn&039;t knohat to say, either Her fingers clenched, and she realized she still held the stone She drew it up to her chest, rolled slowly to her side, facing away fro, Damien covered her with a blanket, and left her alone

Damien went downstairs to check on Bachone Shannon hadn&039;t killed him after all It would be a relief to her to know that

Eric&039;s voice caht?"

Before Da race of a ballerina in the midst of a dance She drew a flask from a pocket inside her coat, and offered it to him "Here, Damien You&039;re white as chalk Drink"

"Taan, but he paused, searching Damien&039;s awe struck face "What is it, my friend?"

A burden floated away from Damien&039;s shoulders "The need The thirst By the love of Inanna, it&039;s changed Altered I don&039;t feel" He smiled softly at Tamara and took the sods, it assuaged the ehly as it had thousands of years ago He didn&039;t feel that raging need to take froe of it

Eric studied his face, reading all of these thoughts, Da" Ta spirals of raven curls over her shoulder Her black eyes glittered with knowledge and Dalance "I know about your proble, Damien Eric and I don&039;t keep secrets But honestly, you s Every species has to procreate Nature gives the and reproduction Is it so farfetched that we&039;re burdened with the saer, , until you perfor of another one of us Then the need vanishes"

Eric shook his head in blatant amazement "So, we must transform one of the Chosen once every thousand years or so, in order to preserve our sanity" He shed "Makes perfect sense, Tamara"

Her brows rose in perfect arches "Sure it does"

Damien paced to the chaise and sank into it "One problem less to deal with Why do I still feel like hell?"

"You ought to rest It&039;s nearly dawn And your Shannon should beTah I don&039;t think she&039;s quite ready yet to wake up in a coffin"

"No I think we&039;ll be safe enough here today, in my usual place I just wish I knehat happened to Bachman"

"You won&039;t have to worry about hiered into the street and collapsed A carload of teens found him and they sent someone for an a, no one will payabout vaht to be at least a day before he can contact DPI for reinforceh, Das well at all" He paced away "What of Netty?"

"I bought her a ticket on a cruise ship that leaves at first light, paid her off enough to ain"

"Good Your troubles are dissipating, my friend," Eric said cheerfully "You&039;ve whittled theue in the city"

"And we&039;ll deal with all that tonight" Taht Rhiannon along, she&039;d have had that rogue for breakfast"

"Which is exactly why I asked you not to mention this either to her or Roland Tae or strength Rhiannon would charge in, fearless as always, and perhaps get herself killed"

Damien&039;s mouth quirked up at one corner "This woood ed him to the door "Good rest Da He watched theo, then turned to tackle the problem of Shannon

He came back, as she&039;d known he would He just couldn&039;t seem to understand that she needed time to herself She rolled onto her back and faced him Then she wished she hadn&039;t There was pain in his eyes when he looked at her

She sniffed and sat up "I felt strong before, but it&039;s waning Is it only teht" He spoke softly "Day weakens us We rest until dark, and wake feeling strong as ever" He approached slowly, as if waiting for her to object When she didn&039;t, he sat on the edge of the bed "You must have a thousand questions"

She nodded

"But it&039;s almost dawn" He licked his lips, obviously nervous "Shannon, you made it clear you don&039;t want to spend eternity with me Don&039;t want to depend on me at all There are others who can answer your questions You don&039;t have to bring the her head She&039;d hurt his "I didn&039;t mean--"

He held up a hand "I want you to stay with h today There&039;s no ti to force myself on you, I promise I just want you safe There&039;s another vampire in the city The one who killed Tawny and the other woman Eric and I will find hio where you want Run to the other side of the world--"

She shook her head hard "I didn&039;t mean--"

"Bachman isn&039;t dead," he told her "But he&039;ll be out of action for a while Still, there are others, that organization he works for--they&039;d like to eradicate us And this other vampire, an evil bastard who hates me for reasons I still don&039;t understand It isn&039;t safe for you to go out alone until I find hi Eric and I will leave with the sunset to hunt hi"

She closed her eyes, knowing she&039;d hurt him deeply, maybe beyond repair He held out a hand to her She took it and rose froh the hall, up another flight of stairs and through a door on the third floor He walked right into a closet, and she was surprised when the wall that was the closet&039;s back slid open He drew her inside, slid the door closed again, hit a button, and the lights ca, her favorite An exotic incense filled the air He touched her hair, then abruptly drew his hand away