then she was on top him, still moving, and her hair was a spill of red twilight and magic, enveloping them both in silk. He moved inside her in a reflex of motion and fury, and then his arms were around her and she was beneath him, and the world was filled with heat and the meshing of their bodies. When he felt her surge and shudder, he felt the explosion of his own climax rip through him like thunder, and he drew her to him again, savoring every shock and tremor that followed. The ragged pulse of his heart and lungs made a strange and staccato music in the night, and the pulse of her heart raged against his own, then eased slowly.
Lying at her side, he breathed in the scent of her, and when he turned, at last, meeting her eyes, her gaze was on him.
She smiled slowly. “I might have been a bit aggressive,” she said, blushing.
“Please…feel free to be aggressive any time,” he offered.
She reached out, moving a damp lock of hair from his forehead. “You
“Thank you. Not the compliment I might have expected or hoped for at the moment, but thank you.”
Her smiled deepened, but then she sobered, staring into his eyes. “There
“Yes.”
“Do you have any idea how incomprehensible that is to me?”
“Yes.” He nodded, and stroked her cheek. “You’re incredible.”
She trembled slightly, her lashes veiling her eyes. “So are you. Is that the compliment you were looking for?” she asked, meeting his eyes again, a slight teasing note in her voice.
He smiled. “Evening is here,” he said.
She nodded, rising up on one elbow. “I…I have to get to the hospital,” she told him, fingering the cross around her neck. “Will this protect me?”
“To an extent. Stephan has ways of seeing that they’re removed, but…don’t go anywhere without a water pistol.”
She started to laugh, and there were tears in her eyes. He sat up, sweeping his arms around her, holding her very tightly, cradling her.
“Hey,” he murmured awkwardly.
“I’m sorry…it’s just…a water pistol. It’s holy water, right?”
“Yes.”
She pulled away, staring at him. “If…the holy water kills so easily, how is that Stephan is still…not dead?”
He let out a sigh. “So far, the second he’s been injured, he’s managed to disappear before my weapons can do their work. Because he has so many of his lackeys with him, they’ve kept me busy while he makes his escape.” There was so much he still had to explain. And considering everything she’d had to accept so far, she was doing very well. He had to be careful, though, just how much information to impart and how fast.
She needed enough to keep herself safe, but not too much. Information overload could be a very dangerous thing.
“Young vampires are rash, impetuous, and not very powerful. They think they’re invincible, and they’re not. But they
She frowned. “Deanna kept telling me there were two men. She insisted that Jonas was good and that there was someone else. Someone who was evil.”
“She might have been right.”
“But you said Jonas was a vampire.”
He hesitated. “Yes,” he finally said.
“So he’s evil.”
“I don’t know.”
“I don’t understand.”
He lowered his head, wincing. How much could he expect her to believe?
“You know, of course, that terrible things have happened throughout history. The Spanish Inquisition was one of the worst instances of man’s inhumanity to man, but it didn’t make all churchmen evil. Stalin carried out a blood bath, but all Russians weren’t evil. Hitler was a maniac, but that didn’t make all Germans bad. Terrorists kill in the name of Allah, but most Muslims are kind and compassionate and humane, as Mohammed taught.”
She was once again staring at him as if he had lost his mind.
“What the hell are you saying?” she asked.
He lifted his hands. “That there are good vampires.”
“
He answered very slowly and carefully. “Vampires who want to coexist with humans in peace, who have retained the essence of humanity themselves. The woman who owns this house is actually a very wise…” He paused. “And
She leapt out of bed, staring at him. He’d gone too far. Her eyes accused him of the absolute depths of madness.
