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Ray is not hoet there Our residence is new, obviously, since inal house bleith Yaksha inside Our modern mansion in the woods is not far from the old house It has many electronic conveniences, a view of the ocean, and heavy drapes to block out the midday sun More than any other valy sensitive to the sun He is ends Many things about his new existence trouble hiirlfriend, and especially his father But I can give his-certainly not his father, since it was I who killed the ive hih
I am only in the house twofor hi on his ex-lover&039;s porch, but Pat McQueen is unaware of his nearness Along with her parents, she is sleeping inside I know she thinks Ray perished in the blast that supposedly took my life, too He sits with his head buried in his knees and doesn&039;t even bother to look up as I approach I let out a sigh
"What if I was a cop?" I ask
He looks up, hishis beauty Yet ain; it has ached ever since he entered my life, both the physical heart and the emotional one Radha, Krishna&039;s friend, once toldis older than love, and that one cannot exist without the other Her na, and Krishna&039;s meant love But I never sa their relationship tortured theiven hiht, and all he wants to do is take a walk under the sun I note his weakness, his hunger Six weeks and I ah we don&039;t harm or kill our meals He doesn&039;t look happy to see me, and that saddens me more
"If you were a cop," he says, "I could easily disar it"
He nods to the blood on ht" When I don&039;t respond, he adds, "Hoas Los Angeles?"
"I&039;ll tell you back at the house" I turn "Colance back over my shoulder "The sun will be up soon"
"I don&039;t care"
"You hen you see it" He doesn&039;t answer o and sit beside him, put my arm around his shoul?der "Is it Pat? You can talk to her, you know, if you must I just think it&039;s a bad idea"
He shakes his head "I cannot talk to her"
"Then what are you doing here?"
He stares at rieve"
"Ray"
"I mean, I don&039;t knohere s "It doesn&039;t one"
I take his hand; he barely lets me "I can take you to where I buried your father But it&039;s just a hole in the ground, covered over It will not help you"
He looks up at the stars "Do you think there are vampires on other planets?"
"I don&039;t know Maybe In soht be a whole planet filled with vampires This planet almost was"
He nods "Except for Krishna"
"Yes Except for him"
He continues to stare at the sky "If there were such a planet, where there were only va They would destroy one another" He looks at me "Do I do that to you? Destroy you?"
I shake reat deal I just wish I knehat to give you in return, to help you forget"
He set, Sita And rave We won&039;t stay long"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes"
I stand, offer him my hand "Very well"
We drive into the woods I lead hih the trees I remember the spot where I buried PI Michael Riley, of course-I re Also, I s body as they seep up from beneath six feet of earth I fear Ray smells them as well The life of a vampire is a life ofemotions they do in most humans Ray drops to his knees as we reach the spot, and I retreat a few dozen feet because I want him to be alone with his emotions-a caldron of sorrows I auilty I hear Ray weep dry tears on atombstone
My two most recent wounds have completely healed, but ht Ray pulled the stake from my heart while my house burned nearby Barely conscious, I didn&039;t know if I would live or die, and for the next three days Ray didn&039;t, either Because even though my wound closed quickly, I remained unconscious All that time I had die most extraordinary dreah space Ray was beside me and our destination was the Pleiades star cluster, the Seven Sisters, as it is often called by astronomers Outside our forward portals, we could see the blue-white stars growing steadily in size and brilliance, and although our journey was long, ere filled with excite hoed, where eren&039;t vaht who lived on the radiance of the stars alone The dream was painful to awaken from, and I still pray each time I lie down to sleep that it will return The color of the stars reminded rief quickly We are back in the car and headed for hohten My lover sits silently beside hts keep y is at a low, but I know I mustn&039;t rest, not until I have for six hundred miles south of us He of the wicked eyes will ht, I know Replacements for the ones I destroyed And they in turn will make their own Each day, each hour, is crucial The huth to destroy this eneth not to destroy myself
As Ray lies down to rest, I let hih the day Even that mouthful drains me more Yet I do not lie down beside him as he closes his eyes to sleep Let hieles later
I visit my friend Seymour Dorsten Twice I have seen him since I destroyed the AIDS virus in his blood with a few drops of irlfriend now and I tell him I am jealous, but he doesn&039;t believehirins as his head contacts the hard ith a loud thud Only my Seymour would welco about you," he says, his blankets half covering his face
"Did I have my clothes on?" I ask
"Of course not" He sits up and rubs the back of his head "What the eyes have seen, the et"