Page 13 (1/2)

Kelly packed the last of her s in a cardboard box, took one last look at the shabby one-room apartment she had lived in for the past seven ain, it would be too soon!

Tucking the box under her ar taxi It had been a long time since she could afford such a luxury She dropped the box on the floor, gave the driver Edward&039;s address, and settled back on the seat, one foot tapping nervously

Last night, just before she left, Ramsey had slipped her the key to his house, and a hundred dollars in cash It was the most money she&039;d had at one time in years She, who had once h it was hard to re years in between

She glanced down at the s in the cardboard box and wondered for perhaps the thousandth ti so quickly and perone wrong had been her relationship with Doug When that began to fall apart, she hadn&039;t been able to concentrate on her career, her personal well-being, or anything else She had blamed herself at first, and tried harder and harder toHer uncertainty in their relationship had shown in her work, until the work began to dry up She wouldn&039;t have cared then, if she could have won back his love

Now she griiven her heart to a two-tiolo, and he had shattered it Perhaps beyond repair The booze, the pills, the self-degradation had followed in a descending spiral of self-destruction that had led her to that pier - and to Raely, she felt no need for a narcotic fix today, nor even a good, stiff jolt of cheap whiskey All of that was behind her now, in a way she didn&039;t quite understand She was starting a new life Kelly Anderson, vah out loud

She wasn&039;t laughing when the cab driver deposited her and her belongings on the sidewalk in front of Raather darkness around it It didn&039;t really look like a normal house More like some Hollywood version of Dracula&039;s mansion She wondered if Ramsey had picked it for that very look Did vampires have a sense of humor?

Even after all she had seen and heard, such a question seemed preposterous, even unspoken Actual vaeles Who would believe it?

Hugging the cardboard box to her chest, she climbed the stairs, put the key in the lock, and opened the door She stood on the porch for a est mistake of her life But no, she had

Taking a deep breath, she crossed the threshold and closed the door behind her

She was struck by the stillness of the house Had it been a living thing, she would have said it was holding its breath

It was a just a little past noon Hours until dark Hours to change herroom and toured the house There were two bedrooms downstairs, one of which she rereen and white It was obvious the house had been remodeled, shehad been coinally built Certainly they didn&039;t have bathroo enough for two She had seen the kitchen before, and she passed it by There was a for roorim humor She was reasonably certain Edward didn&039;t host any dinner parties, at least not at a table

A fae and oblong, with a e s covered by heavy drapes The furniture was of dark wood, covered in a dark-green-and-burgundy print There were no pictures on the walls, no knickknacks of any kind, nothing of a personal nature

There were three bedrooms upstairs The first two looked as they must have when the house was built The paper on the walls was dark, with a patina of age that argued it hadn&039;t been changed since the house was built The floors were hardwood The furniture looked antique: four-poster beds and oak rocking chairs and highboys with oval mirrors

The third bedroom was obviously the master bedroom and had been redecorated recently The walls were painted a beautiful shade of French blue The rug, a rich, deep pile, was the same color The bedspread was a blue-and-white print; the curtains hite There was a s room between the bedrooe ele roundthat overlooked the backyard There were bars on the

With a shiver of unease, she left the roo her belongings, she went back upstairs to the blue bedrooround floor between herself and Edward Dropping the box on a chair, she flung open the curtains, frohen she saw that the ere covered with some kind of film to shut out the sun Toht have to live in the dark, but she wanted light, and lots of it

She hung her few clothes in the closet, put her cosmetics and her toothbrush in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom, dropped her comb and brush on the counter

She didn&039;t haveback downstairs, she realized she was hungry The stale bagel that had been breakfast had done little to sustain her Now that the nervous excite She went into the kitchen in search of food And found none Well, of course not, she thought with a wry grin Vampires always dined "out"

Not only was there no food in the house, but there were no dishes, no silverware, no glasses, no pots and pans

Hands on her hips, she stood in theto decide if she wanted to go out for so to eat, or just order a pizza

It was then she saw the envelope with her name on it Inside was a sheet of paper

Kelly,

I have my doubts that you will actually show up today, but in case you do, you will find the key to my car and soerator

Edward

Opening the drawer, she pulled out a key ring with a single key, and four crisp one-hundred-dollar bills

"Geez, Louise," she muttered, "how e A black Porsche with less than five hundredas if she had just won the lottery, she opened the door and slid behind the wheel She closed her eyes for athe new-car scent while she ran her hand over the soft leather upholstery It had been years since she&039;d had a new car, since she&039;d had a car of any kind

Snition and switched on the engine The exhaust made a low, throaty sound, and the car see like soe door reraerly eased it into reverse

She stalled it when she tried to find first, and her next few gear changes were clu a stick, learned on an old Honda, soon caood to be behind the wheel of such a sleek car

Her first stop was a steak house The waiter seeest cut of prime rib they had; later, he seemed a little bemused that she had finished every bite and still had rooht the check, as if wondering where she had put it all

Feeling slightly stuffed, replete, she left the waiter a generous tip, pocketed the change from one of Raer taken care of, her next priority was shopping! If this was a dream, she wanted to buy some new clothes before she awoke

She picked up a couple pairs of jeans, three tank tops, a sweater, a couple of T-shirts, some new underwear, six pairs of socks, a new pair of Nikes, and a watch to replace the Rolex she had hocked She also bought a saucepan, a frying pan, a coffeepot, a set of silverware, a set of dishes and er seat and drove to the grocery store It onderful to be able to shop without worrying about the cost, to pick up a carton of chocolate ice creae and not have to worry about how she would look in front of the camera She had no one to impress any, hard battle fighting her way out of the ain, no one wanted her It had been that realization that had sent her to the pier that fateful night

She wheeled the cart down the produce aisle, filling the basket with fresh fruits and vegetables She bought bread and ar, salt and pepper, butter and eggs, a box of Rice Krispies, a couple of New York steaks, a package of pork chops, a couple cans of tuna She picked up a bottle of garlic salt and grinned, wondering if having garlic on her breath would repel the vaht dish soap and cleanser and dish towels, shampoo and conditioner, a new hairbrush and toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant A bag of M&Ms, a six pack of 7-Up

"Junk food junkie," she e of Oreos into the cart

At the checkout stand, she bought a pack of gu to reroceries into the trunk With his blond crew cut and blue eyes, he re what the boy would say if she told hilance at her neatch showed it was almost four when she pulled into the driveway

It took several trips back and forth to carry everything into the house Huroceries away, then carried the other bags up to her roo to buy a CD player

She put her new clothes away, then went into the bathroo bubble bath to the list of things she had forgotten

It would be easy to get accustoht, if it weren&039;t for thein the cellar

She bathed and shampooed her hair, dressed in a new pair of jeans and a T-shirt Surprisingly, she was hungry again Or ht, unable to remember the last time she&039;d hadin the feel of the thick carpet beneath her bare feet In the kitchen, she reen salad and poured herself a glass of milk

She sat at the table in the kitchen to eat, constantly glancing back and forth fro how soon after sunset he rose Wondering again if she wasor anyone could be a worse disaster than her affair with Doug was hard to i so to occupy her mind, she bypassed the dishwasher and washed her few dishes by hand A vampire What would it be like to be one of the undead? In the movies, they were comic heroes in search of love, or rabidin huht She turned to reach for a dish towel, and he was there, standing in the doorway, a curious expression on his face

She s "Hi"

"Good evening"

He lifted his head, sniffing the air, reo when she&039;d gone ca in the esture "I sort of made myself at home I hope you don&039;tas you stay" His gazethere His nostrils flared; his hands curled into tight fists

Athe food she had eaten Now she wondered if he was s softly as her back sla suddenly labored

His gaze, hot and hungry, met hers, and then, before she had tione

Ramsey hunted the dark streets, the back alleys He had been a fool to ask Kelly to share the house with him Even now, the scent of her hair, her skin, her blood, filled his nostrils and teased his senses She was beautiful, more beautiful than any woman he had ever known More beautiful, more desirable, than Marisa

Kelly His heart ached for her; his soul cried out for her; his body yearned for one touch, one night in her arhter rose in his throat,his desire Except for Katherine, no woman had loved him when he was a mortal man How could he expect one to love the monster he had become? He lacked Chiavari&039;s old world charm and handsome facade

A short time later he found his prey, an old man huddled in a doorway, saw hiray eyes A hts piercing the flesh of his throat There was no gentleness in hie

This is what you hunted, what you hated This is what you are! The words reverberated through hisout in the night Fate, it seeain, drank until the rew faint, drank until the e rose up in his mind, her deep brown eyes filled with sadness and reproach He saw hi blood Filled with sharet, he drew back

He had seen Chiavari hunt To his credit, the va back across his ared Blood stained the collar of his faded shirt, dripped down his neck

With a cry of denial, Raery of his act As gently as he could, he settled the man into a corner of the doorway, took off his own coat, and draped it around thehis wallet, he stuffed what cash he had into the man&039;s pockets

"I&039;m sorry," hein the living rooht movie, when Edward returned to the house

She looked up when he entered the roo when she saw his face "What have you done?" she exclaimed softly

"I almost killed adown on the chair across from the sofa, Rao on like this Daht vaht of Khira, who gloried in it, and of Chiavari, who had accepted it "Some do"

She shuddered "How can you drink it?"

He looked up at her, his expression tortured "I crave it, and the fact that I crave it so desperately - that I enjoy the taste so much - sickens me Do you understand?"

"Yes No" She shook her head "Not really Is that why you tried to kill yourself?"

He nodded "I sought out the vaed him to end my existence He refused"

"Why?"

"He told row used to row used to it!" He slammed his fist down on the table beside hirabbed the lairl looked at hi an oath, Raainst the far wall The shade crumpled, the porcelain shattered He saw each individual shard fall

Kelly juo!"

She paused, one hand gripping the banister, her knuckles white, her whole body tre

"Kelly"

She turned slowly to face hiht, when I was about to kill that poor h your eyes It is the only thing that saved hiesture that was beco familiar "Me?"

"Yes Help me, Kelly For the love of heaven, help me"