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"Eddie, do you think you&039;ll ever like being a vampire?"

"I don&039;t know" They were hoht earlier that day Ramsey slid his arm around her shoulders and drew her closer

She looked at hiht of what he had lost: his humanity, the sun, the ability to sire a child to carry on the Raer, the darkness, the aloneness, the sense of being separated froained: his increased senses; his i; his ability to read ht faster than a thought

"Not as htened around her shoulders "If I weren&039;t a vampire, I never would haveforward, she kissed hi Chiavari all those questions e played cards the other night?"

"I was just curious I&039;ve been thinking Marisa&039;s going to let Grigori bring her across I don&039;t want to be the only one who&039;s not a"

"Forget it, Kelly! Don&039;t even think about it"

"I&039; you"

"You will not lose me"

"You say that now But hoill you feel when I&039; I&039;randmother?"

"Kelly"

"I know you think of yourself as a monster, but I don&039;t see you that way I want to be like you"

"I&039;ve never done it" He shook his head "It&039;s too dangerous, Kelly"

"I&039;ori could"

"No!" he said fir there, alone, in the dark

She asked hiht for the next teeks And every night he refused, but the thought was always there in the back of hishow nice it would be to have someone to share his life with him, someone ould understand, ould always be there And even as he considered it, he wondered at the change in hi of creating one

She aiting for hi on the sofa, the la over her shoulders like a river of ebony, her body clad in a nightgown that was no more than a whisper of peach-colored silk, she waited

He ht of hi with need, with desire "Kelly"

She held out her arry," she said, her voice low and sultry

"Hungry" didn&039;t begin to describe what he was feeling Lost in the heat of her eyes, he moved across the floor like a sleepwalker, sank down on the sofa beside her, drew her into ar the slender colu than any perfu than the finest brandy

"Do it, Eddie"

He knehat she wanted, knew she was deliberately te him He should turn away, leave the house before it was too late

"No" He shook his head even as he felt his fangs lengthen, felt the hunger awake and stretch its claws

Her nails dug into his arm "Do it, Eddie Now"

He was afraid Afraid for her, for him "If I take tooyou want to rush into, Kelly girl There is no going back once it&039;s done You need to be sure"

"I am sure" She cupped his face in her palms and kissed hi for control She eet, so sweet So ware if he did as she asked

She deepened the kiss, her tongue stroking his, her hands sliding up and down his back His body responded to her touch, his desire growing And with desire caer clawed its way to the surface as he held her closer, closer

His lips slid down to her neck

She ers digging into his flesh

She shivered as his fangs pierced her flesh, tensed as fear of the unknown overcaerness She cried his na He drank deeply, aware of nothing but the pounding of her heart, the panic that made it beat harder, made the blood flow faster, sweeter A distant part of hisback, not now

He drank and drank Drank until her heart was beating in rhythm with his, until it slowed, almost stopped He drew back abruptly, stared at her in horror She lay across his lap, her head lolling over his ar, as pale as death