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"How did you know that?" Rachel snapped

"It was on your hospital ID card," he explained

"Oh" Her eyes narrowed "How did I get froht you"

"Why?"

He seemed surprised "Well, they couldn&039;t help you, and we knew you&039;d need tie"

"Change?" she squeaked Rachel was beginning to get a very bad feeling Before he could respond, she blurted, "Some crazy man hit me with an ax"

Her host nodded sole that blow Thank you I could hardly do any less in return"

"You couldn&039;t?" She frowned at his state how he had saved her, but she suddenly wasn&039;t sure she wanted to know After all, thethe ridiculous nature of her thoughts, Rachel shook her head There were no such things as va it Well, that way lay madness Instead, she asked, "When was that? The attack, I ht"

Rachel blinked in confusion "Last night, what?"

"Last night is when you were injured," he explained patiently

Rachel ian to shake her head This was ilanced down and tugged her ined it, then froze, her eyes widening The scar was gone Reaching beneath her sheet, she prodded the unbroken skin with disbelief, as if touching it would one

"We heal more quickly than ue felt fat and dry Unwieldy Yet, somehow she formed the words At least, he seemed to understand them

"Yes I&039;enerally like to receive permission before we turn someone, you weren&039;t really capable of the decision Besides, I couldn&039;t simply let you die after you had sacrificed your life for ue felt as if it was made of cotton

"Yes Your life"

"Turned?"

"Yes"

"Turned into what, exactly?" Her cotton tongue ain he understood

"An immortal"

Immortal Rachel felt athe word vampire Immortal sounded much better Immortal It made her think of that , cool accent, Sean Connery had played another immortal Oh, yes Christopher Lahlander And in it i demons, but well immortal It seeh--and so off heads Some nonsense about there could be only one She didn&039;t care for the idea of having her head cut off

"Not ihlander," her host explained patiently, hts aloud "I you would understand is a vampire"

"Oh, jeez" Rachel was suddenly on her feet and running Tih This had hts were no ave out halfway to the door, and her head spun She fell back, li about it being tio back to bed, he carried her out of the room and upstairs All Rachel could think to say was a plaintive, "But I don&039;t want to be a bloodsucking demon Hoill I do myin response, but Rachel wasn&039;t listening; she was thinking of the few episodes of Buffy the Vaht on TV as she prepared for work and added, "Those facial lumps and bumps are so unattractive"

"Facial lulanced at the face of the ined vampires would look He wasn&039;t really pale--thatin the cohted stairwell, his skin looked natural and even flushed with color He looked like a typical healthy uely of so corpse

"Facial luel and Spike and the rest of the vampires on TV Their faces reshape and contort into these really unattractive demon faces," she explained absently She wondered if he was s as va he was one On the other hand, she distinctly recalled an ax entering her body, yet there was no longer any sign of injury Had she really been injured? Perhaps she had iined the scar earlier in the bedroom Or perhaps this was all a dream

"Your face won&039;t contort," he assured her "You won&039;t look like a demon"

"Then, how do your teeth extend?" Rachel asked It was a test pure and simple, to see if he was mad

"Like this"

He opened his mouth, but the fake vampire teeth she had expected weren&039;t there In fact, his teeth looked perfectly noran to lengthen as if sliding along oiled hinges

Rachel moaned and closed her eyes "It&039;s just a dream," she reassured herself as Etienne stepped out of the stairwell and carried her through the kitchen "Just a drea by her ear

Rachel relaxed a little at his words, but only a little She remained in his ar the hall At last he set her in the bed she had so briefly left

Opening her eyes, Rachel snatched at the blankets and tugged them up to her chin Not that she needed to be defensive He see her and he was instead walking away toward a s of as unmistakably blood

Rachel&039;s eyes narrowed suspiciously and she tensed when her host walked back to affix the blood bag to the IV stand "What are you doing?" she asked She tried to snatch her arer than she

"You need this" He slid the tube back into the IV in her ares, and healing took a lot of blood This will ease the craue, but the an to pour into her body, soan to ease So did the odd hankering she&039;d been experiencing Apparently, this hat her body had yearned for

"You will sleep now"

It soundedcared ue but she was suddenly quite weary Her exhaustion and lassitude were growing in proportion to the blood entering her She feltcarbohydrate-rich holiday ly "Just sleep All will be hen you wake up"

"Sleep," Rachel ood And when she woke up for real, she would find herself in a hospital, or perhaps snoozing at her desk Perhaps it was all a drea It was such a reassuring thought that she closed her eyes and let her ave in to sleep: If it was all a dream, then the handsome, vital man who had carried her upstairs was a dream too, and that was rather a shame

Etienne watched Rachel&039;s face relax into sleep She was a beautiful woman--nearly as tall as him too, which he liked--but her life had obviously been a stressful one There were vague tension lines around her eyes and h blood, but they were signs that her life had not been an easy one He brushed a fiery red curl away fro when irritation flickered on her face and she brushed his hand away like a pesky fly

Yes, Rachel was an interesting wo prickly He liked prickly, and he had always enjoyed challenges

His smile faded as he considered Rachel&039;s reaction She would be resistant to the change at first The woman obviously had all sorts of preconceived ideas about his people Lu demons? He would have to clarify matters when next she awoke Vampire wasn&039;t a label he liked, but it was expedient, and one most people could at least understand It would serve as a starting point in the conversation to colanced around his room He would have liked to remain here, didn&039;t want to leave her alone, but sleep was creeping over him Fros of blood, and cra ran out He didn&039;t want her wandering around weak and shaky--she could fall and hurt herself

After a hesitation, Etienne stretched out on the bed He crossed his ankles and clasped his hands behind his head, then turned to glance at her He would stay, catnap, and change the bags as needed Her restless stirring when the bag ran out would wake him to the task