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Too late, he had tried to fight her off, but he was no led protest born of fear and outrage as her fangs pierced his throat again And then, to his aht Instead, he was overcome with such a sense of euphoria that he placed his hand at the back of her head, pressing herher to take it all

And she had His memory of what had folloas hazy He re to him, re him to drink before it was too late

He had been too weak, too weary, to resist the power in her voice He had closed his mouth over her wrist and drank and drank until she jerked her arleaht as a man"

He had stared up at her, confused by her words, alarmed by the expression on her face, but before he could demand an explanation, mortal sleep had claimed him for the last time…

"Roshan?"

With a shake of his head, he realized that Brenna had asked hier within hiht?" she asked again "Have I done so?"

"No"

"Then why…?" A rosy flush colored her cheeks "Why did you stop?"

"Because I don't want to hurt you"

"Hurt me?" She looked confused for a moment, and then, as comprehension dawned in her eyes, she lifted a hand to her throat

"Just so," he said, his voice brittle "The lust for flesh and the lust for blood are closely entwined I can't always separate one fro on the floor, she blinked up at hi a vampire?"

It was a question she had asked before, one he hadn't answered She had a way of repeating herself until he told her what she wanted to know

"Like it?" He pondered that for a ," he replied after a ti the advances in civilization" Although soed

"Is there no cure?"

"None that I've heard of"

"Have you ever looked for one?"

He sat down on the far end of the sofa "No"

"Why not?"

He grunted softly "In the beginning, I didn't think of it All I thought of was satisfying the hunger that possessed, I began to appreciate the supernatural powers the Dark Trick had givenit was, and how very little I knew I spent years educatingall I could of the world and its people"

"It sounds like a very exciting life"

"Yes," he said quietly "But a very lonely one"

"In all your long life, have you never found a woman ould accept you for what you are?"

"Would you?"