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She woke cradled in Dominic&039;s arms and knew, on some subconscious level of awareness, that he had held her this same waythe only light in the room

He smiled faintly when he saw she ake

"I don&039;t re before I h out loud as she ht now?"

She nodded "I think so"

But he o, and she reat Or maybe it was just that she was numb inside, overwhelmed by what he had told her and what she had seen Maybe she was dreaain

He was a vampire

He was over two thousand years old

She had lived before, many times

She shook her head to clear it, and shook off her lethargy at the same time It didn&039;t matter who she had been before, only who she was now

As for Doo froo upstairs?"

Sitting back, he took his aro, as always"

Not sure that she trusted hi down at hi When he made no move to stop her, she walked toward the door and left hi after her

Upstairs, she thought of all he had told her How did it feel to live such a long life, even if it was only half a life? Did one get tired of living? Oh, but how could that be? He had seen the history of the world unfold, seen es Hoonderful it must have been, to have seen so much, learned so e to rerow old with, no one who shared his past, his memories How sad, to fall in love with soain As he had lost her as she had lost hione now She couldn&039;t spend this life thinking of the ones before She would go crazy if she did She was Tracy Warner now Not KiyaNot Jocelyn Not Nysa , or Annie Williaht have been

Shethe curtains over every , locking every door, even though she knew nothing would keep hiown and cliht

He didn&039;t have to be with her to knohat she was doing If he opened his hts Te as it was, he wasn&039;t sure he wanted to knohat she was thinking Not now

He stared into the fire, his preternatural sight showing him colors that mortals never saw He saw each flame in vivid detail, each wisp of sy fed by his rising frustration Stubborn woive in? Was he fated to follow her forever, alatching her, always loving her and yet always losing her?

He was the most powerful creature on the face of the earth He could destroy life with a thought, bend e his appearance, control the ele this house doith a wave of his hand Had he wished, he could supplant her ith his own But he did not want to force her to coiven

And he would have it, sooner or later

She woke in the ht, in spite of everything Dominic had told her, in spite of her own vivid dreams, she didn&039;t truly believe in reincarnationOne birth, one life, and one death - that hat she believed in And she didn&039;t believe in vaestion and in hypnotism and both of those possibilitiesshe had lived a hundred other lives or that Dominic was a two-thousand-year-old vampire She knew there were people who believed they were vaa, and only caht Some claimed to be immortal Some claimed to drink blood But, noout some bizarre fantasy And no matter what Dominic said, what he tried to make her believe, she wasn&039;t Annie Williams She wasn&039;t Kiya or Nysa or Jocelyn She had never been a queen or an exotic dancer She was just plain old Tracy Ann Warner, artist, and happy to be so

As for Dominic well, he was just too weird She&039;d be better off if she never saw hi suit Glancing in the mirror, she resolved to lose ten pounds before suh She , she tossed in an orange, a bottle of water, her suntan lotion, and a paperback novel She found a blanket and a towel and went down to the beach to work on her tan

Hoping to seeBryan , she gravitated toward Tower Ten She felt a uard on duty With a shrug, she spread her blanket on the sand, slathered herself with suntan lotion, put on her dark glasses, and lost herself in her book

After an hour, she put the book aside, took off her sunglasses, and waded into the surf She yelped as the water swirled around her ankles Gee, but it was cold

Determined, she waded deeper into the water, then dove under a wave and began swi caainst her arm

"Hey, it&039;s only me"

"Bryan!"

"Sorry, I didn&039;twater, she turned to face hi out here?"

"I always coo to work When I saw you" He shrugged "Hope you don&039;t o back in"

"I&039;ll race you"

She uard"

"Well, because I&039;ive you a head start"

"Well, because I&039;m out of practice, I&039;ll take it"

She struck out for shore, her adrenaline puh school and college, but that had been a few years ago She hadn&039;t had a chance to get in ood to be in coain, even if she didn&039;t have a hope of winning

She risked a glance over her shoulder to seeBryan coly effortless ease And he was gaining on her

And then he passed her

He was standing on the shore, grinning, when she eentle the water out of her hair

"I thought about it," he said, "but then I decided you&039;d rather lose honestly"

"You were right" She walked up the beach toward her blanket, and he followed her "How soon do you have to go to work?"

He glanced at his watch "I&039;ve got a few minutes"

She plopped down on the blanket "Want to keep me company until then?"

"Sure" He dropped down beside her "Are you doing anything tonight?"

"Not really"

&039; Wannago to the movies?"

"I&039;d like that"

"Great! Pick you up at seven?"

"All rightHow long have you been a lifeguard?"

"Since I got out of high schoolI&039;d do it all year, if they&039;d let me"

"What do you do in the winter?"

"I work over at the Y I teach kids how to swih interest, I teach tai chi"

"You look like you lift weights"

A faint flush colored his cheeks "Yeah, well, I do that, too"

"So, why don&039;t you live in DC with your folks?"

"They expect too reat that my brothers all followed in the old man&039;s footsteps, but I&039;m just not cut out to be a copOr an accountant, for thatdisappoint disappoint I&039;d randchildren"

"How about a lifeguard?"

She laughed again, only to break off abruptly when he didn&039;t join in "You&039;re not serious?"

He nodded" &039; Fraid so"

"But we just e really matter? Would you be happier if I was older?"

"No," she said, thinking of Dominic, "I wouldn&039;t be happier But,Bryan , we hardly know each other"

"I&039; forward, he kissed her on the cheek "I&039;ve gotta go See you tonight" Rising, he took a few steps,then turned back "Hey, where do you live?"

"Up there," she said, pointing "The big house that looks like Dracula lives there" She said the words without thinking, and then shuddered Draculadid live there

"GotchaSee you at seven"

Tracystared after him, bemused She hadn&039;t had a date in uard on one hand and a too-old vampire on the other Given a choice but she didn&039;t have to decide, she drought, applying a fresh coat of suntan lotion She could date anyone she wanted

But right now, she just wanted to soak up some sun