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"And you needed to be close to me"

"I was close to you I became desperate to save your life"

"Why is it so hard to believe you?" she demanded And why did all this hurt so badly? She’d known all along that soh she had known that, she’d still wanted him And still did

"I see, because then you fell forlike that"

"But you’re an enforcer And the seventh son of the seventh son A good bloodsucker You know, I asked you again just who exactly you were? what exactly And you told me that you were a man" He lifted his hands "I a, there was an awe and mystique about the fact that I was the seventh son of the seventh son That supposedly meant that I had a power Maybe it was just a power for survival A monk I met seemed to think that e state of being for a Viking"

"So you were a Viking?who never pillaged, ravaged, or fought?"

"I fought" He studied his hands for a moment "I have shed blood, yes But there wasthat other power the monk claiainst the va ht the monk would end it all for me, he forced me to heal And to take a vow"

"A vow?"

He lifted a hand in the air "To defend the persecuted and the hunted; never to shed innocent blood

that type of thing I swore to Odin and to the Christian Godso what aured that out And now, I’ve told you the truth I’ve admitted to you that I watched you at first because I had to knoas standing behind Nari I know her, yes, I know her well She’s a follower The dottore is the h to him yet to knoho he is There was a tioing on?"

"Lucian being the rule?"

Ragnor shrugged "Lucian is still incredibly powerful Butin the past, ainst hu, for lack of a better description, but he had his days of extreie was always different She denied her fate froer"

"Five, six-hundred years old?"

"Around three hundred Maggie has always been exceptional And even if you accept all this, don’t ever deceive yourself that either Lucian or I were ever as pure in spirit as Maggie We both have blood on our hands But even in the old days, Lucian kept order, for preservation, for balance No one er of predators, any ularly go to church Beforethe lines were not nearly as clear So there was a greater order There were always rebellions, those who defied the rules But things had to change And in the last few years, those who jeopardize the entire society that has moved into the twentieth-first century, who have learned neays of existence other than in terrifying a huotten bolder They want to overthrow the entire order But it will destroy us all if they succeed"

"But if so , why don’t you come out in the open?"

He stared at her as if she were crazy "Many of us re days?when totally innocent people were burned at the stake If you were told that vahborhood, would you just say, ‘Oh, how nice’? That would be like living by a lake or canal with an alligator in it Maybe we aren’treptiles, but how hborhood?"

"So you could turn into abeast?" she inquired

"I told you?I’ve done e"

"You should have told me," she said

"Oh, yeah"

"Before "

"Ureat, intimate opener Want to be with me? I don’t have any sexual diseases, but I am a vampire Honest, I promise I won’t suck any blood while we’re at it?" He stood up suddenly "You should get some more sleep" He walked out of the room then, and closed the door behind hiet all the confessions she had heard here She wanted the strange man who had checked out her rooe sexual diseases

He was just a thousand or so years old, and was a vampire

And she wasn’t sure that it mattered at all She just wanted hient and logical And keep her safe distance She curled back into the bed In ti, she found that her purse and overnight bag had been brought into the room She showered quickly, dressed, and started out the door

Fro in the kitchen, and she paused, certain it was in her best interest to hear what they were saying before they were aware of her presence Fronize the individual voices

"I think that Jared Riley has gotten dangerous" That?frole" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>