Page 38 of Shadows of Eternity

“What do you think?”

Moving into the room, she dropped her handbag and keys on the hall table, her whole body yearning toward him.

He didn’t move, merely watched her, his dark eyes unreadable.

Suddenly nervous, she sat on the edge of the sofa, her hands clasped in her lap. She could feel his gaze on her face when he came to stand in front of her.

“Why did you leave?” he asked quietly.

“I don’t know.”

He quirked a disbelieving brow at her. “Why, Leia?”

“If you must know, I was afraid.”

“Of me? Why? Have I ever hurt you?”

“No, but … ”

“You have questions,” he said, his voice flat. “Ask them.”

She took a deep breath, then blurted, “Do you hurt the people you … you feed on?”

“Is that what you think?”

“I don’t know what to think,” she retorted.

“No, I don’t. I take what I need, wipe the memory from their minds, and send them blithely on their way. Just like I did with you.” He shoved his hands into his back pockets. “I told you I killed people when I was first turned.”

“But never since then?”

“I didn’t say that. I’ve killed people in self-defense when it was my life or theirs.”

“What other powers do you have besides the ones you told me about?”

“I’m strong. I’m fast. I heal quickly. I never get sick. If I drink from someone who’s drunk or ill in any way, it doesn’t affect me. My senses are incredibly sharp. I can smell you when you’re a mile away. I can think myself wherever I want to go.”

She blinked at him, mightily impressed, but a little frightened to think he possessed such inhuman powers. “Can you make me do things against my will? Tell me the truth,” she said, when he hesitated to answer.

His dark eyes held hers, a silent promise in their depths. “I could, but I never have, and I never will.”

“Have you ever turned anyone into a vampire?”

“No.”

“Never? In over three hundred years?”

He shook his head. “It was forced on me against my will. Why would I ever do it to someone else?”

Why, indeed?she thought.

“Anything else you need to know?” he asked.

“I want to know where you got the name Rohan. You said you’d tell me when you got to know me better. I think you know me better now.”

He chuckled. He did, indeed. “Rohan was the name of the first man I killed after being turned. I took it because I never wanted to forget how guilty I felt when I realized what I’d done. As for Stillwater, I picked it out of a phone book.”

“Oh.”

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