Page 17 (1/2)

Ro He had serious doubts about this The last time he&039;d told this story to a woman, she&039;d wanted to kill hian "I was born in a se in Romania in 1461 I had two brothers and a little sister" He tried to conjure up their faces, but his ue He&039;d had such a short time with them

"Wow," Shanna breathed "You&039;re over five hundred years old"

"Thanks for reed "What happened to your family?"

"We were poor Tiht in the corner over the bed caught his attention The digital surveillance ca ht was off

He continued with his story "My mother died in childbirth when I was four Then my sister died She was only two"

"I&039;m so sorry"

"When I was five, my father tookhe would cohtly before he left I refused to sleep on the pallet the ave me I insisted my father would corew tired ofand told me the truth My father had sold me to them"

"Oh no That&039;s terrible"

"I tried to consolewell, eating like kings off all the money I earned for them But the truth was I was sold for a sack of flour"

"That&039;s awful! They " Rohed "I used to wonder why I was the one ive away"

Shanna leaned forward "That&039;s how I felt whenthey were ure out what I&039;d done wrong"

"I&039;aze "The ht Father Constantine said that hy my father chose me He understood I was the best suited of my brothers for intellectual pursuits"

"Youthe smartest"

"I wouldn&039;t call it punishry By the time I elve, my father and brothers were all dead"

"Oh, jeez I&039;rabbed a pillow froed it into her lap "My faoodness, but I knohat it&039;s like to lose them"

"Father Constantine was the healer in the monastery, and he becaift for healing" Roift from God"

"So you became a doctor, of sorts"

"Yes There was never any question in hteen and beca of mankind" Roman&039;s uises"

Shanna hugged the pillow to her chest "What happened then?"

"Father Constantine and I traveled fro all we could to heal the sick and ease suffering There weren&039;t many educated physicians at the time, especially for the poor, so ere very , hard hours Eventually Father Constantine grew too old and frail for it He stayed at the o forth on my own A mistake, perhaps" Roht I was And without Father Constantine to guide ive wise counsel"

Ro the wrinkled, weathered face of his adopted father Sometimes, when he was alone and in the dark, he could almost hear the old iven hi and frightened child And Roman had loved him for that

A picture flashed in his mind The monastery in ruins The dead bodies of all the monks strewn about in the rubble Father Constantine ripped apart Roman covered his face to try to block out the ht their death and destruction upon theht?" Shanna asked softly

Roed his hands down his face and took a shaky breath "Where was I?"

"You were a traveling doctor"

Shanna&039;s expression of syaze to the ceiling "I traveled far into areas that are now Hungary and Transylvania In tirew out My hair grew long But I kept my vows of poverty and celibacy, so I was convinced that I was good and righteous God was oncapabilities preceded uest A hero, even"

"That&039;s good"

He shook his head "No, it was not I had sworn to reject evil, but I slowly succumbed to a deadly sin I beca with taking pride in your work? You were saving lives, weren&039;t you?"

"No God was saving theot to see the distinction Then it was too late, and I was cursed for all eternity"

She gave hied the pillow

"I was thirty years old when I heard ru one by one, and no one knehy I&039;d had so strict quarantines and rules of sanitation I I thought I could help this village"

"So you went"

"Yes In ht I would be their savior But when I arrived, I discovered the village wasn&039;t plagued by a disease, but by hideous, murderous creatures"

"Vampires?" she whispered

"They had taken over a castle and were feeding off the local people I should have requested help froht I could defeat them by myself After all, I was ato erase the sha On both counts"

She winced "They attacked you?"

"Yes, but they didn&039;t leave me to die like the others They transformed me into one of their kind"

"Why?"

Ro a ame for them"

Shanna shuddered "I&039;m so sorry"

Roman lifted his hands "It&039;s done A pathetic story, really A priest so immersed in his own pride that God saw fit to abandon him"

She stood, her eyes filled with pain "You think God abandoned you?"

"Of course You said it yourself I&039; demon from hell"

She made a face "I tend to be a bit dra to help people when the bad guys attacked you You didn&039;t ask for it any more than I asked the Russian mafia to attack me and Karen" Her eyes shimmered with moisture as she slowly approached him "Karen didn&039;t ask to die I didn&039;t ask to losehunted And you didn&039;t ask to becoot what I deserved And I becauys, as you put it You can&039;t s"

"I I&039;m sure you had your reasons"

He shifted forward, resting his elbows on his knees "Are you trying to exonerate me?"

"Yes" She stopped beside his chair "The way I see it, you&039;re still the same man You invented synthetic blood to keep vaht?"

"Yes"

"Don&039;t you see?" She knelt beside hi to save lives"

"It hardly makes up for the lives I have destroyed"

She looked at hiood in you Even if you can&039;t believe it"

He sed hard and blinked to keep his own eyes fro from tears No wonder he needed Shanna No wonder he cared for her so deeply After five hundred years of despair, she&039;d touched his heart and planted a kernel of hope that had never existed before

He stood and pulled her into his aro God&039;s blood, he would do anything to be theto be worthy of her love

Ivan s back and forth in front of hi at him as if a few ferocious looks could actually scare hihlanders had surrounded thee had entered the ballroom Ivan, Alek, Katya, and Galina were escorted to a far corner and told to sit With a nod, Ivan had let his followers know that they would comply He made himself comfortable in the corner, flanked by his co the leather hilt of his silver-plated dagger and looking eager to use it

The threat was clear A stab through the heart and Ivan&039;s long existence would be over The threat didn&039;t scare hih Ivan knew he and his co whenever they liked But for now, he was having too us MacKay marched back and forth in front of his ht?"

"I was invited" He slipped his hand beneath his cuhlanders took a threatening step forward

Ivan s out us crossed his ar," Ivan observed dryly "No doubt it has sorowl ehlanders "Let us held up a hand "All in good time For noe havena finished our wee chat"

Ivan removed the paper from his cu the two halves glea "This is our invitation As you can see, ere undecided for a while, but finally my ladies here convinced me that it would be a blast"

"Exactly" Katya twisted to the side in her chair and crossed her legs so everyone could see her bare leg and hip "I just wanted a bit of fun"

MacKay lifted a brow "And what is yer idea of fun? Were ye planning to kill soht?"

"Are you always this rude to your invited guests?" Ivan dropped the invitation on the floor and glanced at his watch They&039;d been here fifteen e compartments of synthetic blood The True Ones were about to strike a major victory

MacKay towered over hi at yer watch Give it to me"

"You&039;ve already emptied my pockets Are you a pack of thieves?" Ivan took his ti He just needed to stall for h, he placed the watch in MacKay&039;s hand "It&039;s an ordinary watch, you know I keep looking at it because so far, this party has been a dreadful bore"

"It is" Galina pouted "No one has even danced with me"

MacKay handed the watch to one of his men "Examine it"

With a tilt of his head, Ivan spotted the French coven hlander

Most of the guests turned to admire the Frenchman as he strolled across the room Jean-Luc Echarpe What a pathetic excuse for a va offfilthy rich in the process

Ivan jerked his head to the side, causing a loud crack That got everyone&039;s attention The guests were now focused on hiave him a curious look "What&039;s the matter, Petrovsky? Is yer head not screwed on properly?"