A WHISPER OF ETERNIT

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"That doesn't mean you're a vampire."

"You know it is true."

"No." She didn't believe in vampires or ghosts or reincarnation. "If you're a vampire, prove it."

She had no sooner spoken the words than the air around her grew thick, charged with energy, like the buildup before a storm. Dominic's dark eyes blazed with an unholy light, his lips drew back to reveal his fangs. Preternatural power danced over her skin, raising the hair along her arms and at her nape.

"Now," hesaid, his voice smooth and silky. "Now do you believe?"

A wordless cry erupted from her lips, and then she fainted.

When she came to, she was lying on the sofa. Dominic stood at the window, looking out at the night. She noted that he was wearing black again, and that it suited him perfectly. She wondered if he owned a long ebony cloak, or if that was just aHollywood affectation. Her heart pounded in her ears as she stared at his broad back. She had asked for proof, and she'd gotten it, in spades!

As though sensing she had regained consciousness, he turned slowly to face her. "Now," herepeated, his voice low and mesmerizing. "Now do you believe?"

She did, but she refused to admit it, even to herself. If she accepted the fact that he was a vampire, she would have to accept all of it, and she just couldn't. To do so would shake the foundations of everything she believed in. There had to be some other explanation. If there wasn't, if he was indeed a vampire, as he said, then everything else he had told her was probably true, as well. She had been a queen, a slave, a dancer, a teacher, a doctor, and all the other things he had said. Her dreams were not really dreams at all, but actual memories of past lives. Her past lives. She had been Jocelyn and Kiya and Annie Williams and Nysa and who knew how many others. If she accepted it, if she admitted it was true, it would change her whole life, change everything she believed in.

Dominic took a step toward her, paused when she recoiled. "Are you afraid of me now?" he asked quietly.
"Yes. No. I don't know."

"I will not hurt you, my best beloved one. I have searched for you, followed you, throughout time."
"Why, when I've rejected you at every turn?"

"Do you not know that we are destined to be together, querida ? Our souls were mated long ago." "You want to make me a vampire."

"Only if it is your wish.Many times in the past I have offered you the Dark Gift to save your life."
"And I've always refused." That much was obvious, she thought, since she was still mortal. "Yes."