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Ramsey stood in the backyard, his face turned toward the east, and waited for the sunrise Would he burst into flame at the first touch of the sun? Would it be quick?

He thought of Marisa He thought of Chiavari But ht have loved her Perhaps she would have loved hi the house, he had untied her hands, covered her with a blanket

He had written a will, leaving her everything he owned: the house, the car, the money in the Ramsey family bank account He s she noas the trustee of quite a considerable fortune - the heritage of generations of successful varet for the abominable way he had used her, he had stood beside the bed, watching her sleep, one hand lightly stroking her hair

"Rest now," he had el of death will be gone"

Now, standing in the predawn light, he closed his eyes, and the iile beauty rose up in his mind, her hair like a waterfall of black silk, her dark-brown eyes fringed with long, dark lashes He remembered how perfectly she had fit in his arms, the sweetness of her blood, the touch of her skin, soft and war with the knowledge that daas near

His last dawn

Fear uncoiled deep within hi to indigo then exploding with color as the sun peeled the cloak of night from the sky It was the most beautiful sunrise he had ever seen Gold and crimson, lavender and fiery red

For a breathless moment, he basked in the beauty of it, in the warmth of the sun upon his face But only for a roaned as the light seared his eyes, trembled as the warmth increased, until ould once have been a pleasant war heat The skin on his face, hands, and arher, hotter His body grew heavy, lethargic Darkness called to him - the darkness of sleep, of death The preternatural blood in his veins grew hot, burning him from the inside out

A cry rose in his throat and he choked it back Pain Agonizing Excruciating Beyond bearing Pain unlike anything he had ever known or iulfed him A scream clawed at his throat as the torled cry, he turned toward the refuge of the house, his only thought to escape the agony that engulfed him

The house So close There was blessed darkness there, relief fros felt heavy His feet were like lead The sunlight burned through the clothes on his back, seared the skin beneath

He dropped to his hands and knees, fighting the dark sleep as he dragged hi deep furrows in the earth as he pulled hi helplessly when he reached the house Grasping the door knob, he opened the door and then fell across the threshold Crawling into the kitchen on his hands and knees, he dragged himself toward the door that led down to the cellar He pushed it open with the last of his strength, felt hi into darkness as he tumbled head over heels down the stairs

The sound of her own screa heavily, she jackknifed to a sitting position The nightmare had been so real She looked at her arms, surprised to see they weren&039;t burned, only then realizing that she was no longer tied to the bed

The drea for the ainst her will She shuddered as she remembered the way his eyes had burned red as he bent over her, her helpless horror as his fangs pierced the skin of her throat, the weakness that had spread through her, the uncanny sense of two hearts beating as one as her blood led with his

She shook off the ht It had to be a night as a vampire, not really She knew there were people who pretended they were vampires They dressed in black and drank blood and avoided the sun No doubt some of them actually believed they were vaht her here, wherever "here" as one of those No less frightening or dangerous than an actual vaht down to it

She threw off the covers, surprised to find that she earing a nightgown, embarrassed because she knew he had to have undressed her

Rising, she tiptoed from the bedroo been here before, no recollection of how she had gotten there

In the kitchen, she found an envelope with her name scrawled across it

Curious, she picked it up and withdrew a single sheet of paper She read it once, and then again:

I, Edward Jaive and bequeath all oods and property, both real and monetary, to Kelly Lynne Anderson Ms Anderson is hereby vested by me with trusteeship of the Ramsey Trust Fund, to do all acts and perforned and dated

What did it ht that he had not had a witness sign the document, so it probably wouldn&039;t amount to much if it was contested, and dropped the paper back on the table Whatever he had been thinking, he had left her unguarded It was ti what he had done with her clothes She couldn&039;t very well go running down the street wearing nothing but a nightgown

It hen she turned to go back to the bedroom that she saw the open cellar door Sheas she stared down into the darkness below

She stood at the top of the steps, recalling every horror irl, usually attired in a nightgoalked down a dark flight of stairs to her death

"Not me," she said "No way"

Yet even as she spoke the words, she was co toward the top step, and it was like watching soht hand searched the wall, hoping to find a light switch, but to no avail

Unable to help herself, she took another step, and another, her heartbeat pounding like thunder in her ears