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"You have no idea"

"That&039;s the night Edas changed?"

She nodded

"How&039;d it happen?"

"Edas under Alexi&039;s control He had drugged Grigori, then drained some of his blood to weaken hiori&039;s blood and dispose of it I begged Edward not to leave me, but he was helpless to resist Alexi&039;s power

"But Grigori had taken Edward&039;s blood and he was able to speak to his ht Alexi, but he only laughed at ain, as real as it had been that horrible night

"Fight me all you wish, woman; you cannot escapeyou can do about it Nothing Chiavari can do to save you" Wicked laughter bubbled up from his throat "I know the power of those chains He does not have the strength to remove them Even now, the silver burns his flesh and weakens his powers Only a va as I could withstand theazed down at her, his eyes gloith hatred "He took Antoinette from me, and now I shall take you from him I will defile you, here, in his presence, and then I shall destroy him And when that is done, you will be mine for a hundred years And he will know it In whatever hell he finds hi to throw off the horrible ori, but he couldn&039;t helpto kill me And suddenly" She took a deep breath "Suddenly, Edward burst into the rooori&039;s, that he had had drank the blood from the bowl His eyes ild He had a stake in his hand, and he hurled himself at Alexi"

"Good old Edward," Duncan said "Got hi I dragged the heavy chain off Grigori and let his, the oddly sensual flow of blood from her vein He seemed to drink forever, yet it was only a handful of seconds, and then he put her froed quietly

"Edward and Alexi were still struggling Edward had plunged the stake into Alexi&039;s chest, but he had missed Alexi&039;s heart The vampire pulled the stake froainst the wall and held hiori was there He grabbed the stake and plunged it into Alexi&039;s heart"

Her voice was flat, expressionless, as she relived the horror of it all "Alexi screa it deeper and deeper Alexi sank to his knees His face turned a hideous shade of gray Grigori told hed hollowly "I don&039;t knohy I ht Edas, too He was he was lying on the floor His throat was was gone I asked Grigori if he was dead, and he said no, not yet"

She looked at Duncan, hoping for his understanding "I couldn&039;t let Edward die, not when he&039;d saved us I asked Grigori to save him He didn&039;t want to He told me Edouldn&039;t like it, that he would rather be dead But I couldn&039;t let him die There had been so ori told me I&039;d have to take the blame He made me sit down and covered me with a blanket, then told me to close my eyes But I didn&039;t I couldn&039;t"

Duncan leaned forward He had killed vaood idea of how the Dark Gift worked, but he had never seen anyone brought across

"Grigori knelt on the floor and dreard into his lap He turned Edward&039;s head to the side I saw Grigori take a deep breath, and then he bent over Edward I couldn&039;t see much I don&039;t kno much time went by, probably not ori bit his orist and placed the bleeding wound to Edward&039;s lips and told Edward to drink"

"And he did," Duncan said

"Yes, he did It was" She shook her head, at a loss for words to describe adequately what she had seen

Grigori had looked at her then, his eyes dark, fatho This is what I am, what I have always been

"It was like a miracle," she went on "The horrible wound in Edward&039;s throat healed in just a few minutes His color returned He didn&039;t knohat had happened at first"

Edward had glanced from Chiavari to Marisa "What the hell happened?"

"How do you feel, Edward?" she had asked

"I feel fine," he retorted "I want to knohat the" His words trailed off when he caught sight of Alexi&039;s body "Is he dead?"

She shrugged "I hope so"

"He&039;s dead," Grigori reh narrowed eyes "How do you feel?"

"Why do you two keep asking me that? I feel "Edward frowned "I feel funny" He looked at Alexi again "I stabbed him, and then he"

Edward lifted one hand to his throat "He bit ular I re," she told hi over his face "You didn&039;t? For the love of all that&039;s holy, tell me you didn&039;t!"

"It was my idea," she said "He didn&039;t want to"

"You told him to turnup, the bedspread clutched to her chest "Would you rather be dead, Edward?"

He had scrambled to his feet and backed away froan, and then, shoulders slu, he buried his face in his hands

"Well, he seeh now," Duncan reh - so much pain He tried to walk out into the sun, to destroy hiori to destroy him He was very troubled And then Kelly came into his life"

"Ah, true love," Duncan said with a twist of bitterness "What happened to Kristov&039;s body?"

"Grigori dragged it out onto the balcony He said the sun would take care of it"

"Hell of a story"

She nodded

"You&039;re worried about him, aren&039;t you? Chiavari?"

"Of course I love hi to try and kill him, are you? Or Edward? Or Kelly?"

"Sounds like you&039;re trying to putvao of his arht Edas your friend"

"He was He is" Duncan shook his head "Damn, I don&039;t knohat to do anyh his hair "I&039;ve spent close to fifteen years hunting vampires I&039;ve always believed they were evil, that they had to be destroyed" He stood and began to pace the floor "Look at Kristov! The man was apeople every night Who kno -persons reports are dead and gone, killed by her hand?"

"Grigori wouldn&039;t"

"He&039;s killed, too And, damn it, so has Edward"

"So have you"

"Va that&039;s dead" Agitated, he slammed his fist into the wall Life had been so siuys The undead were the bad guys Black and white No shades of gray And now he swore under his breath Right or wrong, he couldn&039;t kill Edward

"Tom?" She looked up at hiht, all right I won&039;t hunt hiain "Or Kelly"

"Thank you"

"Yeah, sure," Too into the movie business as a consultant on horror movies Or write the next bestseller Vampires Are Us"