A WHISPER OF ETERNIT

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He did not answer, only gazed at her through fathomless gray eyes. "You killed them, didn't you?"

"Should I have let them destroy me?"

"No, of course not."She smiled faintly. "It was self-defense, after all." She didn't ask how many times he had defended himself, didn't want to know how many men or women he had killed to defend his life or to satisfy his thirst.

Silence settled between them.Tracy was keenly aware of Dominic's presence beside her. Their conversation, while interesting, had been quite disconcerting. Feeling a sudden need to change the subject, she asked him how she was supposed to pass the time.

"In any way you wish.Paint. Read. Walk in the gardens. If there is anything you want or need, you have only to let me know."

"And you'll get it for me? Kind of like my own personal Santa Claus?" "If you wish to think of it like that, yes."

Tracysmothered a yawn behind her hand. Though it was still early, she was suddenly sleepy. Dominic stood and offered her his hand. "Come. You've had a long day, and much to think about."
Chapter 12

Much to think aboutwas putting it mildly,Tracy mused as she lay in bed with the covers pulled up to her chin later that night. She had locked her door even though she knew it would not keep Dominic out. She was completely at his mercy here, in this house. He could take her blood or her virtue and she would be helpless to stop him. He could keep her here for as long as she lived, and no one would ever know what had happened to her. It surprised her that she wasn't afraid of him, but then, he had never done her any harm.

Still, she couldn't stop tossing and turning. She didn't know whether it was the strange house, the strange bed, or the fact that there was a vampire downstairs, but sleep eluded her.

Finally, she slipped out of bed, drew a comforter around her shoulders, and curled up in the window-seat. She stared out the window, her mind replaying the conversation she'd had with Dominic earlier. It was beyond belief that he had existed for so long, or that she had lived many lives.

So, if he was truly a vampire, and she had little doubt now that he was, what was it like for him never to grow old, to watch the world change and evolve while he always stayed the same? What had it been like to watch her die in his arms time after time? For the first time, she considered how awful it must have been for him. If he loved her as he said he did, it must have been painful to tell her goodbye over and over again, unsettling to wonder if he would be able to find her when she was reborn. What had he done while waiting for her return? How much time passed between one lifetime and the next?

Questions,and each one more eerily weird than the last. Were the answers as bizarre?