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"You can have the bed," he said, his voice hoarse "I&039;ll take a blanket and lie on the floor"

"You&039;ll be uncohtly "I sleep like the dead"

God, rong with her? Wasn&039;t this the same man she&039;d fallen in love with? Couldn&039;t she find a way to forgive hi her into an existence she wasn&039;t sure she could bear?

She tried She tried to judge her feelings for Damien She&039;d been so sure before, just before all of this When he&039;d made love to her, she&039;d known she was deeply in love with hie that she was dying had kept her fro him so She hadn&039;t wanted to hurt hi what he was what he&039;d made her?

She&039;d realized that she didn&039;t want to die But did she want to live? Like this?

"Give it a chance, Shannon," he whispered "Don&039;t walk out into the sunrise just yet"

"I wasn&039;t thinking of that"

"Make sure you don&039;t" She sat on the edge of the bed and he came to her, knelt in front of her, took her hands "Hateyou over, if you have to But don&039;t hate yourself or what you are You haven&039;t changed, not really You&039;re the same beautiful, vibrant, wonderful wo and capable, and as independent as you want to be"

"I have changed" She averted her eyes "I thought I&039;d killed Bachlad I didn&039;t, but I could have, Da a life"

"You wouldn&039;t have hurt him if you hadn&039;t been forced You don&039;t know the extent of your strength yet Shannon And that wouldn&039;t have happened if I&039;d been here faster It was more my fault than yours" She didn&039;t look at him, and he hurried on "You hit the men who tried to steal your car One of them could have hit his head and died But you didn&039;t find yourself questioning the value of your mortal life when it was over, did you?"

She blinked and aze "No"

"It was an unavoidable accident Shannon Self-defense And Bach to recover You didn&039;t kill anyone Try to put it behind you"

"But don&039;t you have to kill peopleto live?" He closed his eyes as if that remark hurt him She licked her lips "You don&039;t, do you?" Slowly, she shook her head "No, you couldn&039;t You couldn&039;t even bring yourself to kill that mouse"

"I cherish life, all life I despise death Shannon It took away the dearest, most beloved friend I ever had, until you It tried to clairew heavy and foggy as it had been when she&039;d first awakened She glanced down at the stone she still clutched, and blinked

Da her back onto the pillows She stared up at his face in wonder, and recalled the story he&039;d told her, the ending to the Epic of Gilgamesh The one that had never been recorded, that he called his own personal theory

"He found the secret," she whispered "But it didn&039;tEnkidu back It only conde death win over and over again"

The greatest king ever to rule, driven to the edge of insanity by the grief of losing his closest friend She lifted a hand and pressed her palm to his cheek "It was you"

His eyes fell closed He lay down beside her, wrapping his arms around her "You felt the power of the bond between Enkidu and me from the first time you read of it You cried for it I remember You kno I felt about him, don&039;t you?"

"Enkidu?"

He squeezed his eyes, but a tear slipped through anyway "The brother of ly, she knehat he said She heard the words pass fro was clear "As much as I loved him Shannon, I love you even more How could I watch you die? How could I, when I had the power to save you? It rong I know that I knew it then But Shannon, I had to do it I&039;d do it again"

His arhtened around her, al thatto her--to do whatever he had to--to keep her with him Her eyes should have been onder at this neledge of hi But instead they were heavy, lids dropping, sleep clai her ar him to keep his promise and sleep on the floor She pressed her face into the crook of his neck, and she smelled his scent and tasted the salt of his flesh on her lips as she whispered, "Gilga of the lines she&039;d read in the epic, lines that returned to haunt her Lines about grief:

It could go on for years and years,

and has, for centuries

It yearns and waits to be retouched,

by soone when she awoke She sat up slowly, blinking, realizing vaguely that the lights were still dian as if by itself, and only grew louder as she came fully alert

"Quite a setup he has here, isn&039;t it?"

She started, eyes flying wider A woman stood in the room near the doorway She was small, a pixie, with a tiny waist and cascades of raven curls that reached it She smiled and took a step forward

"I&039;m Tamara"

She&039;d heard the name, she was sure She frowned Tamara Then she was real "Eric&039;s wife?"

"Well, not &039;wife&039; exactly We didn&039;t do a church wedding or anything &039;Till death us do part&039; would be kind ofNo, " She strode to the stereo systeh the CDs

She wore snug-fitting jeans and a green silk button-down blouse A pair of shiny black flats on her feet Even , until the woman turned and smiled at her "I know I don&039;t look like a vaant and has this haughty attitude But I think she was like that, even mortal She&039;s a princess, you know And I&039;m just just me"

"I didn&039;t e of the bed "I&039;ve only been in darkness for a few years Shannon I knohat you&039;re going through" She lowered her dark, velvety lashes "Well, sort of Inme over I can&039;t say for sure how I&039;d have dealt with it if he&039;d just done it, without asking how I felt first"

Shannon licked her lips "I still didn&039;t believe you existed The next thing I knoake up and I&039; Shannon&039;s eyes with real concern in her own "It&039;s a tough adjustment under any circumstances But I&039;ll help you, if you want" She smiled a little, and her hand rose to touch Shannon&039;s hair "You&039;re beautiful, you know I&039;ve never heard of a fair-complected vampire before You must be as rare as a flawless diamond"

Shannon felt herself blush at the coe I think the darkness is inherited, along with the Belladonna antigen"

Shannon took that in, nodding Then she glanced toward the door and gnawed on her lower lip

"He and Eric went out to see if they could find this rogue va hell around here"

She nodded again She wished Damien hadn&039;t left before she&039;d awoken She&039;d hurt hiht she wanted to be away from him That wasn&039;t at all what she wanted She wasn&039;t sure exactly what she wanted anymore, only that she understood now She understood his pain, his loss She&039;d been half in love with Gilgamesh since she&039;d read his epic And now she knehy And she knehy he&039;din his ar else

"You&039;ll have time to tell him all that He&039;ll be back before dawn"

She blinked in surprise

"We can hear each other&039;s thoughts Shannon"

"That&039;s incredible"

Tamara smiled I&039;ll teach you how to do it You can surprise Daet up and shower and dress? There&039;s so much I want to tell you about, show you

All of it, Shannon heard clearly All of it spoken without Ta Shannon got up and complied

Tamara seemed so normal

She&039;d been thrilled to ride in Shannon&039;s car, more thrilled yet when Shannon let her drive it awhile They took turns choosing CDs and they played the until Shannon actually began to feel like herself again Maybe Daed all that h the streets As they did, Taed Shannon to practice the telepathy, and soon they were conversing al to read other people&039;s thoughts as they passed The results were often hilarious

Then, in a trash-littered, abandoned alley, Tamara stood by Shannon&039;s side "Let&039;s race to the other end"

A shiver of apprehension skittered over Shannon&039;s nape "This isn&039;t a very good place to hang out, Taonna bother us?"

Shannon sth now Shannon And speed You won&039;t believe it Be careful not to hit the wall on the other side Pain hurts more now than before"

"I&039;d noticed that"

"On three," Tamara said, and then counted un, and Shannon would have collided with the wall if Ta stop

For hours Tamara helped Shannon to explore her new self And as tian to think this wasn&039;t so bad after all She could jump from the top of a tree and land on her feet She could see in the dark All her senses were honed to razor sharpness She was strong, energized And she could read minds

"You think that&039;s incredible, just wait until you you know" Tamara&039;s pale cheeks pinkened

"No, I don&039;t know Wait until I what?"

Tarinned and tilted her head to one side "You and Damien you know"

"Oh" Shannon bit her lip "Is it different?"

"Way different"

Shannon licked her lips "I don&039;t knohen I&039;ll find out Things aren&039;t exactly right between us"

"You love hiht about that, and found herself nodding eht of it for a while, a really short, confused while But I never stopped"

"Well, he&039;s nuts about you You&039;ll work things out"

Shannon nodded, recalling his words to her before she&039;d fallen asleep thisHe&039;d said he loved her even ly about her

They walked back to the car, only tothat she knew it at a glance, but she did, and she stopped short He was tall, and al face every bone was visible His neck was like a reed, his shoulders pointy and hard

He approached the Shannon&039;s arm

"No use," he said, and his voice reminded Shannon of a cobra&039;s hiss "I&039;m six thousand years old You&039;re a toddler and a Newborn Don&039;t bother running"

And in the blink of an eye, he had the their arled She knew Tamara did, as well, but couldn&039;t see her He&039;d taken off at such incredible speed that everything was a blur She thought they were airborne, but couldn&039;t be sure Taht

Don&039;t call out to Eric and Dahts echoed in Shannon&039;s ears It could be a trap for theh it before

"No matter," the monster who held them rasped "I&039;ve left a note at the house for theamesh to meet his fate"