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Rachel griuys eat any food?"

"We" He e her that she was one of them now "We certainly can and do eat food, especially while young Children have to eat norrow Those who don&039;t are usually easy to tell--they&039;re often stunted and e adulthood, it isn&039;t as necessary After a hundred years or so, row tired of the hassle and sometimes even the taste, and they simply rely on blood with the occasional h Bastien is sure it isn&039;t necessary"

Rachel considered, then cleared her throat "Well, that et tired of eating"

Etiennedelivered frolanced at her wrist-watch--which of course wasn&039;t there "What time is it?"

"A little after ten am"

"After ten?" she alh and intowas true that ti fun Still, it was hard to believe that they&039;d wasted the whole night

"What would you like?" Etienne asked as he began to punch nuht, then asked for a Reuben, chips, and a Coke She was really hungry, a feeling that was growing by the minute now that she are of it

They played more Blood Lust II as they waited for the food to be delivered, but Rachel was distracted She was relieved when the doorbell finally chi the arrival of her order Etienne excused himself and went to answer Rachel knew he expected her to wait below in his office, but she just couldn&039;t Pausing the game, she followed him upstairs She stepped into the kitchen just as he entered froed to control herself as he found her a plate and set out her food, but then she fell on the sandwich and chips with a ravenous hunger that was al until she had consumed every last crumb and drunk every last drop of pop; then she sat back and frowned Her sto she was hungry

"You need blood," Etienne told her gently, see "Bastien said you&039;d need a lot of it for a while Your body is still changing"

"I thought I was done"

"Mostly done," he corrected "There are still a couple of things left"

"Like what?" she asked curiously She wondered if he would asms

"Your senses will sharpen Your ability to srow keener And your eyesight, of course You&039;ll be able to to see in the dark"

"Your mother mentioned that," Rachel admitted It didn&039;t sound too bad It was certainly better than facial lumps and bumps

"Come" He stood "We&039;ll fix you up with an intravenous"

"I hate needles," Rachel coot reluctantly to her feet "I mean I really hate them I practically have a phobia"

"You need et some," Etienne lectured He led the way up the hall

Rachel stuck out her tongue at his back, but she kneas right--she neededfor it in a way that was al obvious that her plans to leave were scotched unless she could bring herself to down bags of cold blood, but the very idea made her shudder

"Can&039;t I just bite someone?" she asked For soie--although not much more "Of course, it would have to be solanced back,his neck "Hey! I created Blood Lust, reame"

"Yes, but you&039;re also the one who turned me in the first place," she reminded him

Apparently, Etienne didn&039;t catch that she was teasing Guilt crossed his face, and he looked apologetic "I am sorry about that, but I couldn&039;t let you die"

It was siuilt-ridden He obviously felt bad about the whole ordeal Shrugging, Rachel et over it I suppose this really is better than dead, right?"

Etienne&039;s heavy sigh made Rachel pause and turn back She didn&039;t like hirim and unhappy like this She hadn&039;t reallyhis, so she shtly and said, "So since you don&039;t want o find ht shift for three years"

Etienne looked uncertain "It&039;s daylight"

Rachel arched her eyebrows "I thought you said we could go out in the daylight?"

"We can, but then you&039;ll need ht does to you Besides, biting really is so we try to avoid at all costs"

"You know," Rachel said within a sense of hu about the biting bit If I can&039;t stoie, I certainly wouldn&039;t do ht you hed, not believing hih; she had only been teasing hi to go through the intravenous deal again

It had always amazed Rachel&039;s family that she could work in the medical field yet still act like a baby when it carown better over the years For instance, she no longer cried like a baby as it was done Still, shots were a stressful ordeal for her But she had too much pride to show fear to Etienne, so she suffered his hooking her up in silence andhe would think her weary and not cowardly

"Well"

She opened her eyes and glanced at Etienne curiously He had finished with the IV and now stood uncertainly by the bed, looking as if he weren&039;t sure what to do next Noting his gaze was fixed on her lips, she had the brief thought he was debating kissing her; then he gave hi, "I&039;ll be in ri in that sht and watched him leave

Theat the intravenous Her es and sensations from earlier She recalled in detail those passionate moments here on the bed with Etienne, every little sensation, every indrawn breath, but when the point cauerite entered the room, Rachel&039;sinterrupted, the door stayed closed and Rachel found what her hand had been seeking In her mind, Etienne ell endowed, as he had claimed He was also as hard and shed and shifted in his coffin, his es: He was back in his rooaze, her hand slipping inside his slacks to curl war in her hold, his body responding with eagerness When her hand slid the length of hi deep in his throat, he bucked and shifted, rolling her onto her back in the bed, then rolling over her to take control of the situation The abrupt shift startled Rachel into a gasp andeven e, Etienne dropped his head to lick the sed to do earlier

Rachel bit her lip, biting back ato free the hands he held captured in his own He knew she wanted to touch him back, wanted to caress him as well, but he didn&039;t have the control at the ry for hi, he took both of her hands in one of his, then reached down to remove his belt

"I could help with that," Rachel offered, arching restlessly beneath hi and shaking his head At last he succeeded in re, then wrapped it around her trapped hands, slid the end through the buckle, and pulled it tight

"What are you doing?" Rachel gasped as he tied the belt to his headboard "I don&039;t--"

He silenced her protest with a kiss

Rachel arched on the bed, herout of control Things had been fine in this dream until Etienne turned the tables on her and rolled her onto her back, but now the fantasy was taking a path she had never expected--and she seemed helpless to stop it Of course, Rachel wasn&039;t sure she wanted to stop it, but the very fact that it was happening was bewildering She was positive that she was alone in bed, dreaainst her in the darkness, could sne he wore, could taste the essence of hiue thrust into herher le with his, and she tugged uselessly at the belt around her wrists in a vain effort to free herself to hold and touch hi with excitement but disappointed that he had broken the kiss until his mouth traveled down her throat to the swell of her breast So her naked to his pleasure Fortunately, his pleasure was her own She cried out and arched back as he caressed and suckled first one breast, then the other When hedown her belly, Rachelthe way, trailing down over her hipbone, then down her outer leg and up her thigh

Her legs seemed unsure what to do, and Rachel shifted restlessly beneath his caress First her thighs pressed together, then they opened slightly, then they siers Rachel wasn&039;t h C when his caress reached her center She jerked, moaned, and twisted her head on the bed, especially when hisafter that The only cogent thought Rachel ood--but then, he&039;d had three hundred years of practice Well, it showed Rachel had never experienced anything like it Etienne had said earlier that her senses weren&039;t fully developed, but she was definitely experiencing so intense Her pleasure was perhaps not twenty times what it had once been at its peak, but it was at least two- or threefold It was al of the phone woke Etienne His eyes shot open, his h his body appeared to have been already alert, if the erection he sported was anything to go by Forcing hi of his body, he pushed his coffin lid open and sat up In the next moment, he crossed the room to snatch the phone

"Hello?" he barked, unable to hide his annoyance

Silence Etienne listened for aas the dead air stretched, e?"

A click as the line went dead was his answer Etienne set the phone back with a troubled frown The techie hadn&039;t called since Etienne had told hi to be hired; then the killing attee He didn&039;t knohy the fellow had called, but he suspected it wasn&039;t good

He turned back to survey his coffin with irritation The idea of getting back in wasn&039;t appealing His dream had wound him up He was now too restless to sleep--at least alone in a dark, confining coffin It suddenly didn&039;t see spot where he could think and plan, it just see, Etienne left his office and headed upstairs He would check on Rachel and change her blood bag, then perhaps work for a while He didn&039;t think he&039;d get back to sleep anytiuest was sound asleep when he reached her She was also scowling It was an expression he had seen on her face several times while awake, but he had never expected to see it while she was sleeping What did it mean? He erator The scoas one of dissatisfaction, perhaps, for the bed was a tangled mess of sheets and blankets, half kicked aside, half twisted around her body Rachel was obviously just as restless as he Then he noticed that her hands rested above her head--in much the same position he had restrained them in his dream The dream that had seemed so real

Realization struck Doubt immediately followed, however, and Etienne decided to test his hypothesis Closing his eyes, he reached out with his hts when, instead of the blank wall he usually encountered, he glihts It seemed her mind, which was firmly closed to him when she ake, ide open when she slept Which meant the dream or fantasy he&039;d experienced had probably been a shared moment Either he had been pulled into Rachel&039;s dreams, or she had been pulled into his

It didn&039;t really matter who had started the episode, Etienne supposed The , Rachel was still attracted to hi her littlelike repulsion or disgust That was good He was certainly attracted to her It gave Etienne hope Perhaps he wouldn&039;t have to spend eternity without a life s would work out It would take soet that time he would have to convince Rachel to remain here with hi: take her out, wine and dine her, seduce her But there were coe was one Then, there was that she had to learn to live her life differently Controlling her body&039;s responses was one of theto the refrigerator, Etienne fetched fresh blood, thenon the IV stand Once that was acco hi out to brush a tress of red hair away frohed in her sleep and turned into his touch He would find a way to h she didn&039;t seehtening the blankets and tugging them up to cover her, he quietly left the roohts and coument to make her stay for a couple of weeks And he had to work on convincing her to fall in with the fae was still very much a threat, and Rachel still had a lot to learn