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It was already dark out when Rachel woke up She was used to that however, though usually only in late fall and winter when night ca nights was in the winter, co to sleep away the few daylight hours available Oddly enough, this ti didn&039;t seeer to start her day--or evening, as was the case
With little choice when it caht jeans and T-shirt Marguerite had retrieved for her, then raided Etienne&039;s wardrobe for a long-sleeved dress shirt Drawing it on over her, she tied the loose ends of the open shirt at her waist, then spent aher teeth and hair She considered slapping on souerite had also been thoughtful enough to bring, but in truth she didn&039;t need it Her skin gloith good health and her lips were redder than usual It appeared there were other benefits to being a va, Rachel left the bedroo to the kitchen, she didn&039;t find Etienne there so she continued on down to the baselow of screen savers on the h, except for the closed coffin Etienne obviously hadn&039;t woken up yet
Rachel&039;s gaze slid to the desk and the phone there It was the only one she&039;d seen in the house, and she wanted to make a quick call to her faht She didn&039;t like the idea of the about her
She took a step toward the phone, then caught herself Making the phone call would wake Etienne, and if it did Well, she wasn&039;t sure what his reaction would be He should awake soon, anyway She could ask him then to use the phone She backed silently out of the roo what to do next, Rachel decided to explore She wandered ai the eclecticuntil she came to the library
She&039;d always been a bookwor to survey the shelves and the books available, one caught her interest She settled in one of the overstuffed chairs, tucked her feet up under her, and began to read That was how Etienne found her
"I thought you were still sleeping," Rachel said as she closed her book and stood to replace it on its shelf
"No I went to get you soe"
"Oh That was kind of you" She looked at the disco he carried, then back "How exactly is it that you and yourinto my apartment? Can va?"
Etienne grinned "No We&039;ve been using your keys They were in your purse"
"Ah," Rachel ood to know" She would need it when she decided she was ready to leave
"I put it up in your room before I went out this afternoon"
"You mean your rooly "Which re to have to sleep in a coffin after the change is finished?"
"No" He shook his head "We don&039;t really need them anymore Homes in the old days were drafty, and it was hard to keep out light Then too, there were servants and such to be concerned with Nowadays, a good set of blackout blinds, a lock, and an alarood" Rachelhe&039;d packed for her "I guess I&039;ll go change my top at least That way you can have yours back"
"Fine" He waited until she was in the hall before he asked, "Rachel?"
She turned back "Yes?"
"Come back when you&039;re ready We need to talk"
Rachel was silent for a moment, then she nodded and walked upstairs The serious expression on his face made her nervous What did he want to discuss? Rachel suspected it was so to like Perhaps there were more drawbacks to this whole business that hadn&039;t yet beenshe was likely to guess at--and that even if she did, she wouldn&039;t know if she was right until they talked--Rachel hurried to her rooh what he&039;d brought back, she found an array of her rather limited wardrobe Dress slacks and blouses made up the majority of it, ail work clothes With a practically nonexistent social life, she hadn&039;t needed much else besides a robe and fluffy slippers
Rachel chose one of the tops and changed into it, but she didn&039;t bother to change out of the jeans They had stretched ear and, while still tight, were becoain Rachel supposed they hadn&039;t been all that tight to begin with, and had simply seemed so because she had become used to loose dress pants over the years After a quick check of herself in the bathroohtened her shoulders, and headed downstairs
Rachel tried to mentally prepare herself for whatever unpleasantness Etienne ht wish to talk about, but since she wasn&039;t sure what it was, she couldn&039;t really doto line up his arguured that once he convinced Rachel to stay, he would have the tie matter Despite her protest, he didn&039;t think it should be too difficult to convince her to claim the man had kidnapped her--it was in her own best interest too
Etienne decided it would be best to start by sy with her Rachel would be concerned about her job and the possibility of losing it She would be worried about her faht even have a boyfriend out there, anxious about her well-being
The thought caught Etienne by surprise Until that ht be a rival for her affections It didn&039;t make him very happy to consider it now, but it was definitely so that he understood her concerns,
Etienne would then point out that, while these were all valid concerns, the --as well as that of his people He would point out that her iht threaten her welfare First, there was Pudge The man would know she was one of them now if she returned healthy, and that would et Then there was her inexperience and lack of control Should her teeth pop out, or her hunger overcoe would be revealed, threatening both her and his family Worse, unable to control minds yet, Rachel wouldn&039;t even have a chance to repair the dae she would cause And then there was the blood issue Not being able to feed herself was a major problem
"Here I am"
Etienne turned from theand looked at Rachel She had kept on the jeans, but had changed her top to a green blouse that brought out the color of her eyes She looked gorgeous Breathtaking Every arguaily out of it, leaving hi farther into the rooreed, but that was as e He felt like someone had pole-axed him
Why? It wasn&039;t like it was the first time he&039;d seen the woman He&039;d been aware of her beauty from the first Perhaps the attraction was from the uncertainty on her face and the way her eyes held ht her lower lip with her teeth to worry it Then again, it ht be the fact that, instead of the covered T-shirt, she was noearing a blouse with the top two or three buttons undone That exposed cleavage he had licked in his dreams--or their shared dreaave himself a mental shake "Yes Yes, I Look, I know you&039;re probably upset not to be able to contact your family and friends and boyfr--Do you have a boyfriend?" he interrupted hirinned
Her eyebrows rose "Why is that good?"
"Why?" Etienne was stumped for a ht?"
She nodded slowly, looking perplexed
"Well, anyway" He cleared his throat "I know you&039;re upset about this, but--"
"But I have to learn to feed before I can leave here," she interrupted
"You do?" he asked with surprise Then he corrected, "I mean, you realize that?"
"Of course It wouldn&039;t do for my teeth to pop out at work, or for me to take a bite out of a family member, coworker, or our priest"
"No No, that wouldn&039;t be good," he agreed, grinning with relief She was being very sensible
"So we should probably get down to the business of teachingat her until she arched her eyebrows
"Where should we do it? The kitchen?" she asked
"Yes, of course" Etienne forced hi She seeood, but he&039;d rather she didn&039;t resolve it too quickly He wanted to keep her in his hoest blood, but it meant he&039;d have to put in a call to Bastien "Why don&039;t you sit down and relax a while?" he suggested, pausing at the door "We have to wait on an order of blood to be delivered anyway"
"I thought you had lots," she said with surprise
"No," Etienne lied "We used the last ofseveral tihed "Okay I&039;ll read a while"
S, Etienne left her to it and hurried out of the roo and pushed it aith disgust "How do you drink this stuff? It&039;s disgusting! Gross! It sone bad?"
Etienne tried not to look guilty The blood hadn&039;t gone bad It was bad blood It was basically reject blood--a coarette smokers, the skunky corpuscles of pot smokers, and a trace of the blood of patients on Valiuh and wouldn&039;t really hurt her, but it was vile to consume and had the unpleasant side effects of wooziness and nausea
Not knohat he was giving her, Rachel was of course putting her physical response down to a psychological aversion to the idea of drinking blood Etienne didn&039;t correct hershe be able to consu her she had to be prepared for all occasions before she would be ready to leave and rejoin the world During the last two days, since the reject blood had been delivered, Rachel had tried three times a day to consume the bad mix, only to spit it back up After each atteaether in the library
Other than the unpleasant attempts with the blood, it had been a nice couple of days Unfortunately, to keep her fro suspicious, Etienne had been forced to drink the bad blood too He wasn&039;t sure how he had h for today," he said eo Maybe to to be just like today," Rachel predicted glooet used to this stuff"