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The glowing red nuital clock on the bedside table read 12:06 Still deep night She hadn&039;t slept very long this ti on it for so long had affected her sleeping patterns, and Rachel knew right away she wasn&039;t going to get back to sleep Normally she&039;d be well into her work shift by this hour and wishing she worked during the day

Sitting up, she slid her feet to the floor and reached for the clothes lying across the foot of the bed She had a vague recollection of Marguerite pro to collectof an agreereed She had no intention of staying here another day She was going home

While she had no idea what life held in store now, Bastien&039;s explanations the night before had convinced her life had definitely changed

Funny, while she illing to aded, she didn&039;t feel any different She still loved her faoals and ambitions were the sa a va to have trouble It was one thing to fantasize about never aging and living forever--though from what they had said, it wasn&039;t necessarily forever-forever--but it was quite another thing to be faced with it

Rachel had spent the night drea around her at an accelerated pace In her drearew up, and aged while she stood still, the Argeneaus at her back, none of the those around the born to take their places and die as well

Pushing away the bleak dreaht, Rachel finished dressing She left the room to find that, as it had been the first time she&039;d woken, the house was silent and still Much to her relief, a light had been left on in the hallway though, ate the stairs There was no one on the ground floor when she reached it--apparently Etienne&039;s fa on instinct, she walked to the kitchen, not surprised to see the line of light beneath the door to the basement

Rachel opened the door and headed down, deter Now Her footsteps slowed as she reached the bottoh, and recollections of her previous encounters with theinside How could she face hi but couldn&039;t move herself to be that rude The man had saved her life, after all Rachel wasn&039;t yet sure she cared much for how he had saved her life, but save her he had She owed it to hi

Having convinced herself she could not in good conscience just flee, Rachel forced herself to continue on The door was unlocked, and as she swung it open, Rachel noted that it was constructed wholly of metal and at least six inches thick It ht with distraction, then noticed Etienne sitting at the desk He was rolling his wheeled chair betweenback He wasn&039;t sleeping in the coffin tonight

Her gaze shifted to that long box and she frowned at it, wondering if she would have to sleep in one as well The idea wasn&039;t appealing Rachel had a touch of claustrophobia

"Oh, you&039;re up"

She glanced at her host He swung his chair around to face her and was shtly He seemed to suy But then, why not? He ealthy, good-looking, forever young, and apparently with few cares to burden hi, Rachel forced herself to s" He turned back to his e Rachel&039;s eyes widened incredulously as she recognized the screen he brought up

"Blood Lust?" she asked softly Her eyes widened as the i The title was made up of red letters which dripped away like blood "Blood Lust Two!" she exclaimed "I love the first version I didn&039;t know the second was out"

"It isn&039;t Yet"

"Yet?" Her gaze fixed to the ave way to the production coo; then her eyes shot to Etienne "You aren&039;t saying you&039;re the creator?"

He nodded, his lips splitting in another grin

"Wow" She looked back at the ned it, but" But she was rather shocked to find it was a vaame was about vampires: bad ones and a lone female hunter out to destroy them

"I&039;ve pretty much finished Blood Lust Two, except for the final battle," he answered "I was just about to test play it for flaws or tweaks Care to joinShe&039;d thank him and leave later The opportunity to play an unreleased prototype to the second version of her favorite ganed Blood Lust, I suppose you can&039;t be all bad," she said half-teasing Settling in the chair he rolled across the rooain

"Gee, thanks" He sounded aaured out you were a vaers danced across the keyboard He was very fast She was impressed She herself was a hunt-and-pecker when it caht have given hiave ht, and the fact that I never seemed to eat"

Rachel stared at him blankly, then asked in confusion, "But how did he know all that?"

Etienne shrugged, concentrating on what he was doing "Pudge is a techie I think he was jealous of et rimaced "The fellow hounded me for over a year He even offered to work for free When I still refused, he started followinginto the house when I ay and so on I think he was trying to gather information, but I&039;m pretty sure what he learned isn&039;t at all what he expected" His words were a dry understateh to convince him that he had to killto Pudge&039;s atte the traditional way to kill a vareed "I suppose he decided the stake wasn&039;t really necessary"

"Jeez" Rachel grimaced What would have happened had she not jue? In herhead frolad she had prevented that "This Pudge is a bit sick"

"Yes I think he needs reed "Actually, I know he does"

"How? I mean, aside from the fact that he&039;s tried to kill you countless tiet into his mind to wipe his aze narroith sudden suspicion, he added, "No, I can&039;t read your mind or control your behavior either, but in your case I&039; to do with insanity"

Despite herself, Rachel s tone "So, there are soested, "Then perhaps he&039;s just like me, one of those people"

Etienne shook his head "I explained it wrong I can get into his mind, but it&039;s such a painful procedure" He looked away and shrugged "His thoughts are confused and mented is probably the best description I couldn&039;twith thehts"

"Hmm" Rachel considered, not sure she believed him "Your mother doesn&039;t seem to have any problem"

"Don&039;t remind me" He sounded irritated

"Why is it that she can and you can&039;t?" Rachel asked, though she wasn&039;t sure that was the case It would be less e to believe her earlier behavior was due to his mind control Unfortunately, she couldn&039;t convince herself

Etienne didn&039;t answer "Here we go," he said, drawing her attention to the ga sequence in fascination, a s her lips She was a secret video-game junkie and her work hours made a social life somewhat difficult, and so she had been known to waste hours playing theaeous and brilliant? He was looking better by the ood at the start Even as a corpse

They played Etienne was a stern taskmaster There were no cheat codes allowed, and he wouldn&039;t even give hints on as co next He also insisted they couldn&039;t use the sissy Easy level; they started and played on Expert, working as a team to hunt out and stake various meany vaa out an evil vampire cadre However, she couldn&039;t help but wince every ti one of the villains At last, Etienne noticed, and explained that these were "rogue vauys liked to eat the old-fashioned way and took life doing it She relaxed a bit then and really got into the game--to the point that when Etienneby her hand

Suddenly aware that she was thirsty, Rachel reached blindly for the ulped down its contents She then promptly spit it back "E!" The tinny taste of cold, thick blood coated her tongue

"Sorry" Etienne didn&039;t sound very sorry He was chuckling as he took the rabbed a box of Kleenex off the end of his desk She cleaned up the blood that had not"It&039;s an acquired taste I should have warned you"

Rachel grimaced and wiped her mouth "I don&039;t think I&039;m likely to acquire it anytime soon"

"H Then, setting it aside, he said, "Well, if necessary we can feed you intravenously"

Rachel heaved out a defeated breath "That sounds wieable Lissianna had to do it until recently"

"Your sister?" Rachel was surprised Lissianna had see wo

Etienne nodded "She&039;s suffered heht and smell of bloodor taking blood intravenously"

"Biting? Wouldn&039;t she taste it that way?"

"No If you do it right, the teeth soak the blood in It never touches your tongue"

"Then why didn&039;t she just bite bags, like you did today?"

"The sight o around stabbing her teeth blindly into blood bags She ht make a heck of a mess if her aim is off Then, too, there is the s, the scent wafts up It&039;s a particular sed blood For the rest of us, it&039;s not a problem, but it is for Lissianna"

"I see," Rachelat her

"How are you feeling?" he asked

Rachel considered They&039;d been playing Blood Lust II for hours, and she couldn&039;t even recall the last time she&039;d eaten She didn&039;t think she had since before Pudge attacked her "I&039;ht so You look pale Nothing will satisfy that hunger but blood"