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Grigori rose before sunset the following evening By the tiht had fallen A phone call brought him the information he needed A contrived explanation as to why he ht, the promise of a quick sale, and it was done

He met the realtor a half hour later He had already explored the house froent, and then gave her a check for the down payment The house hadn&039;t been lived in for several years The paperould take thirty days, and then it would be his

He bid the realtor good night, shook her hand, and watched her drive away When he was certain she was gone, he went back up to the house A wave of his hand unlocked the front door

It was an old two-story house, probably built at the turn of the century The exterior paint, once a dark shade of green, was faded and peeling The shutters, once white, looked gray

It had theempty The place needed a coat of paint inside and out, a new roof, new carpeting The kitchen and bathroos were important What h brick wall A house that stood alone on an acre of land Tall trees shaded the front and back, providing added privacy

Starting at the base the location of every door and een the cellar and the attic As old as the place was, it was sound from top to bottom, save for the roof It suited hiori smiled faintly As far as he was concerned, it was already his The fact that there was no phone, no lights, and no running water s

He would take possession of the house that night

Marisa glanced at the clock as she went to answer the door, wondering ould co so late It was alori"

She rested her forehead against the door and closed her eyes She hadn&039;t seen hih she had missed him, she was relieved that he was out of her life No matter how attractive she had found him, he was a vah; she didn&039;t need the added baggage of dating the undead

With a sigh, she opened the door "It&039;s late"

"I know" He held out a bouquet of roses "May I co to bed"

"Marisa"

She looked up at hi to hear the loneliness in his voice, not wanting to reht she had held hiori - "

He thrust the flowers at her A dozen perfect white roses, and in their center, like a drop of blood, a single red bloom

"They&039;re lovely," she said

"As are you"

She recalled that he had said those very saether She ran her fingertip over one of the rose petals "What do you want?"

"To see you, nothing more"

"No" She shook her head "I told you, I don&039;t want to see you again"

She felt the anger that stirred within hi about it not being wise to upset a Wookie Obviously, the saori said, his voice as hard as teainst your will"

"And I told you to stop reading my mind!"

"I&039;m sorry," he said softly "I&039; my oay"

She looked into his eyes, those deep, dark eyes, and in the back of her ori could read her mind, that he could make her do whatever he wished They have nowhatever they want Grigori could hypnotize her with a look, she thought Perhaps he was doing it now

She drew her gaze froaze caressed her, warht"

She closed the door, and then leaned back against it, her nostrils filling with the scent of roses

In the distance, she heard the ht - sultry, erotic dreams that made her toss and turn so that she woke drenched in perspiration; drea after she awoke; drea wicked in her sleep Drea the her that if she would not see hi hours, she would see him when she was at her et the dreams - and there was no chance of that - he found another way to keep in touch The day after the drea her flowers at work Always roses White ones, red ones, pink ones, until her office looked like a florist shop

He sent flowers to her house Dozens and dozens of long-stemmed bloodred roses

He sent her heart-shaped boxes of chocolates

And an to tease her about her new boyfriend, de toca weekend She intended to spend it finishing up her Christ Her parents had asked her to come spend the holiday with them in Florida, but she just wasn&039;t up to the trip Linda invited Marisa to spend the day with her and her fa what she really needed was soood idea on Wednesday after a busy day at work Thursdaythe day with friends and fa home by herself

Well, it was her own fault She spent theChrist Day parade

Later, bored, she did a load of wash She was folding it when the phone rang

She answered it on the second ring "Hello?"

"Marisa?"

"Edward, how are you?"

"Fine And you?"

"I&039;ht you&039;d probably left town by now"

"No" He didn&039;t say why he was still in the city, but they both kneas because he orried about her "I was that is, I know you&039;re probably busy, but I ondering, if you&039;re not doing anything would you like to go out for dinner with me?" He said the last in a rush, as if he was certain she would refuse hiet it over with as soon as possible

"I&039;d like that," she said, surprising thereat What time shall I pick you up?"

"Five?"

"I&039;ll be there And Marisa? Thank you"

"Thank you"

She was hu up the phone

Edward arrived pro a bouquet of flowers and a bottle of wine He looked quite handso to figure out why he looked different, and then realized he wasn&039;t wearing brown

"Hi," she said, "come on in"

"Thank you" He handed her the flowers and held up the wine "Shall I open this now?"

Marisa nodded "I&039; to put these in solasses of hile she pulled a vase froed the bouquet in a cut-glass vase that had belonged to her grandmother, and then placed it on the kitchen table "Thank you"

"You&039;re welcolass "You haven&039;t heard from Alexi, have you?"

"No Why? Do you think he&039;s coed "I don&039;t know, but if he does, you&039;ll probably be the first to know it"

"That&039;s a comfort There haven&039;t been any more deaths reported in the papers" She read the Ti, always afraid she&039;d see those awful headlines that read vaain

"Have you seen Chiavari?"

Marisa shook her head "No" Except in ht But she couldn&039;t tell Edward that

"So," Edward said, "where shall we eat?"

"I don&039;t care It&039;s up to you"

"Do you want turkey and all the tris?"

"I&039;d rather have lobster"

They went to dinner at a seafood restaurant Edward ordered fried shrier will you be in town?" Marisa asked

"I don&039;t know I rented a house down by the beach"

"You did!"

He nodded, soht "I really like it down there I&039;ve never lived by the ocean It&039;s I don&039;t know, kind of peaceful"

"Kind of expensive, too, I&039;ll bet"

"Yeah, but I can afford it"

"I never thought about it, but I guess there "