Page 7 (1/2)

"Well," Marisa said, suddenly ill at ease to find herself and Grigori alone in the house, "do you want to watch some TV?"

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she felt a flood of color climb up her neck into her cheeks Did vampires watch TV? Did she really believe he was one of the undead? Looking at him made the idea seem ludicrous She had never seen anyone, rinned at her, as if he knehat she was thinking

Marisa brushed by hi up the TV Guide, she thuht

"Bruce Springsteen was right," sheon"

She jumped as the TV crackled to life She hadn&039;t turned it on; the remote was on top of the set "How did you do that?"

He lifted one brow, and shrugged "I told you, I&039;ician"

She sat down on the sofa, as far frohtly clasped in her lap The theme for The X-Files provided a momentary distraction

"Is it true? Are you really a vampire, like Ramsey said?"

He hesitated only ait, not after what she&039;d heard, what she&039;d seen "Yes"

The world seemed to shift somehow, and she knew, in that instant, that her life would never be the saain

"Do you do you drink blood?"

"When I must"

He spoke so calmly, as if his reply were an ordinary answer to an ordinary question

She stared at him, speechless He was a vampire Dead but not dead He drank human blood It was beyond comprehension She tried to tell herself it couldn&039;t be true even though she knew, deep in her heart, that it was

"And do you do you sleep in a coffin?"

He lifted one brow "Would you?"

"Of course not What are you going to do withher throat rose up in her mind

He lifted one thick black brow "Do with you?"

She raised a hand to her throat, the gestureto drink you dry?" he asked, a slight sht" He shook his head at her look of horror "I was joking, Marisa I&039; to hurt you"

"I&039;d like to believe that," she muttered under her breath

"Believe it I mean you no har her skin, light and soft as dandelion down His eyes she had never seen eyes so deep, so dark, soto scorch her, to engulf her until there was nothing left but s her the secrets of eternity

Marisa took a deep, shuddering breath She could hear her heart pounding like thunder in her ears, feel herself succu to the dark power that blazed in his fatho triple tiaze froasp "Please"

The twin flaori took a deep breath as he broke the connection between the she would welcome some distance between them, he stood up and walked to the far side of the room

"I&039;ined them?

Marisa crossed her arms over her chest She was alone in the house with a vampire Silence stretched between the to hypnotize her? What did one say to a varabbed the closest one "Where did you meet Ramsey?"

"He seeori replied "One night I approached hi ed "Eventually, he decided to tell ined how Grigori had "convinced" Rahed No doubt she would always expect the worst of him, but then, he couldn&039;t blame her He was, after all, a vampyre No doubt she considered him a threat to her very existence With reluctance, he admitted she had every reason to think so Never, in two hundred years, had he bequeathed the Dark Gift to another, but Marisa tempted him sorely

"When Ra, he decided to ith me"

"Silvano told enerations"

"That&039;s true At one time, they kept hi after him fell to the oldest male member of the family Last year, their family fell on hard times As head of the family, Silvano decided to take Alexi on tour Not a very wise decision I didn&039;t know they had left the country until six o" A muscle twitched in his jaw "I found Alexi three days too late"