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In a cheap hotel only a half block fro, writing, trying to define what his glimpse of the supernatural had done to hiain to want, to envision, to dream Immortality on this earth was indeed possible This he kneithout question, but what did it matter if immortality was not Daniel's to have?

By day he walked the broken streets of the excavated Roman city And when the ht as well It seeht soon come back too Green leaves sers He looked up at the stars and did not feel resentful so much as sad

Yet at other times, he burned for Aro on The dark energy that had fired hi He drea stupidly Then thewould come and he would be sad but calm

Then Armand had returned

It was late, perhaps ten o'clock in the evening, and the sky, as it is so often in southern Italy, was a brilliant dark blue overhead Daniel had been walking alone down the long road that leads frouards would come to drive him away

As soon as he'd reached the ancient house, a stillness had descended No guards here No one living Only the sudden silent appearance of Arain

He'd co boy in dirty jeans and worn deniently kissed Daniel's face Such warm skin, full of the fresh blood of the kill Daniel fancied he could s to Armand still

"You want to come into this house?" Ar Daniel had been trelad to see him, touch him, ah, damn him!

They had entered the dark, low-ceilinged rooainst Daniel's back oddly co Ah, yes, this intimacy, because that's what it is, isn't it? You, my secret

Secret lover

Yes

Then the realization had co rooellation barely visible in the dark: He isn't going to killto do it Of course he won'tto kill me The dance will not end like that

"But how could you not know such a thing," Arhts "I love you If I hadn't grown to love you, I would have killed you before now, of course "

The ures of the ainst their red backdrop, the color of dried blood

Daniel stared hard at the creature before hi that looked human and sounded human but was not There was a horrid shift in his consciousness; he saw this being like a great insect, a monstrous evil predator who had devoured aHe loved its sreat dark brown eyes He loved it not because it looked like a gentle, thoughtful young hastly and awful and loathsome, and beautiful all at the same time He loved it the way people love evil, because it thrills the like that, just taking life any ti your teeth into another and taking all that that person can possibly give