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Bryan made a skeptical sound in his throat

"Where&039;s Gareth?"

"Watching over Mary, Jeremy and Nancy No matter how much Jeremy objects, if Mary makes any trouble, Gareth will take care of her"

"Well, then, I&039;et some sleep," Jessica said "Stacey, ht?"

"What&039;s happening now?" Stacey asked worriedly

"Sean and Maggie are working a few angles," she said, and set a hand on Stacey&039;s ar," she said softly She spun and stared at Bryan "I&039;ht"

With that, she started up the stairs When she reached her room, he was behind her She turned on him heatedly "What?"

"Do you really trust Stacey and Gareth so co her head "Yes, I do How have youthat sometimes you have to believe in other people? We don&039;t exist alone I don&039;t Iwon&039;t "

She walked into the room and started to close the door, but he had followed her

"I need some rest"

"Yes, and I won&039;t leave you You&039;re in danger"

She looked up at hier I&039;"

"He&039;s here for you," he said softly

He walked around the roo in the closet, the bathroom and under the bed

"Bryan, he&039;s hardly likely to be hiding under the bed"

He rose "Nice bed No coffin?"

"No one sleeps in a coffin anyht, soed "The old trunk under the bed? Scottish soil, I assu "I&039;m surprised you haven&039;t already ripped my room to shreds to see what you could find"

"I really didn&039;t know at first," he ads I should have known, though Even after all these years"

"I had no idea," she told him "Timewell, time can heal a lot of wounds Except"

"Except what?"

I should have known, she thought I should have knohen I feltsoht the ridiculous desire to burst into tears She had survived this long But she had never thought she would see higed "Nothing"

He looked at her expectantly for amore, he stepped out onto the balcony and stared up at the sky After a moment, she joined him

"He isn&039;t here," he said

"You&039;re certain?"

He nodded gravely "He was, though I thought it was ination that I was so intent onhim up, but it was real It seems, however, that he can&039;t enter" He looked at her "Either that, or he hasn&039;t chosen to yet"

"I think the first is correct," she said "Myfriends , the people who care aboutme safe"

"Ah, but did they keep you safe fro could have kept ht

"You&039;re not a vampire," she said dryly "Anyway, it&039;s daytime He has to rest now"

"Does he? You don&039;t always rest by day, and you&039;re both ancient"

"Sonored the thrust "The point is, you&039;re both strong, with powers few others will ever attain"

"Right We&039;reboth strong He&039;s not the only powerful one"

"I still fear for you," he said

"Fear for me-or fear me?"

He shook his head but didn&039;t answer

She started back into the bedroo the balcony doors He took a long s and intricate crosses that were strung there for protection

"Interesting," he murmured

"Don&039;t you ever pause to think that if there is a supre who strives for peace that in the heart of every sentient creature, there is both evil and goodness?"

He took her by the shoulders, looking into her eyes "I knohat I have seen," he said

"But faithin ecan&039;t see," she said softly

"You don&039;t seeht"

"You&039;ve admitted that one of your key aims in life is to kill me"

"And I&039;ve said I won&039;t do it"

"Now," she said

"We have to defeat the Master For good, this time"

His hands were still on her shoulders, his face close Those eyes

How had she not recognized those eyes?

Instinct had told her what memory had failed to see, but when she tre or from passion?

She had to resist him, dared not take a chance But then he touched her face

Still, she told herself, she would have resisted but for a single whispered word

"Igrainia"

A nanancy that had outlasted the ages, the joy of what they had shared, what they had lost

She couldn&039;t have turned away then even if he had aiht at her heart He cupped her chin in his hands, his fingerswith an infinite tenderness over her cheeks She didn&039;t even realize she had ainst him He bent slowly, and his lips , the fire of the ages evoked in the play of their tongues Passion, siers winding through his hair, and they kissed with a growingfound its way to the floor It seemed the kiss never broke, but it didn&039;t matter, because they were naked in each other&039;s ar at all seemed to matter, except the heat that infused their flesh, er that seized them both

When their lips at last parted, she kissed his throat, feeling the pulse there, then his collarbone, the rippling expanse of his chest His fingers stroked her hair as shehi in the feel of harda scar here, there

It was as if tihland wind as surely as if it touched her in truth She drew her fingers around his hip, over his buttocks, and it was as if the colors of a distant valley lived with her again in springtiainst the cliff, the hunger of innocence, trustlove

She stroked and caressed with fingers, lips and tongue She teasedin her with the shuddering of his flesh, each tensing of his fingers as they brushed her hair and shoulders She took him in her hands, in her mouth; she felt him tremble, and then she was in his ar on the cool sheets, but in her e-old field of htly at first, she was ency and raw desire, his hands andthat had come before was but a prelude for this

He had always been a ain,her breasts, her belly, between her thighs Then he was atop her, within her, and the world beyond theray, the sheets a poignantly reround, and theirs was the passion of youth, of a love that had grown, flown and entwined them forever

In life, in death

Yet this was the now, and what he did to her was raw and carnal and explosive The sheets beneath her were real, the sun high, and he was flesh and thunder within her When sensation reached the point of eruption, she felt a cliain, this ti She clung to hirip her so sweetly as she seemed to drift on silver clouds, down to earth, down to the bed, the sheets, the room in the house on Bourbon Street

And to hi her

And thenthe pain Oh, God, the pain Tears that stung her eyes Tears she could not shed

She spoke softly "Perhaps, if you&039;re going to do it, you should do it now"

"What?" he rose above her, puzzled

"I am avampyrAnd you are a warrior"

He stared down at her for a long ti his lips, "we have to go on faith, to believe that which we cannot see, hainst hi that if he were to kill her now, it wouldn&039;t matter

She would happily die in his arers stroke through her hair

"If only" he murmured

"If only?"

"We could stay like this forever"

They couldn&039;t They both knew it

She started to speak, but he pressed his fingers to her lips, drawing her closer still "We have to rest"

She nodded She didn&039;t dare ht him dead and herself alone She had fended for herself, , and she had learned that she could face any danger

But noas here Alive

Her greatest threat?

But his arms were around her now, and she felt, as she hadn&039;t since they had last lain so, that she was cherished, protected, thathe would die for her?

He already had

But tonight

Whatever the future brought, she intended to savor the sensation, the belief, that she was loved, cherished

She lay secure in his arued her, only his whisper as he rainia"