Page 95 of Shadows of Eternity

Rohan grinned. He had worried about his little fledgling for nothing. She was a natural. He bit into the man’s neck, thenstood back and let Leia’s vampire nature take over. When he judged she’d taken enough, he spoke to her mind, telling her to stop. He was somewhat surprised when she did. “You okay?”

She licked her lips. “I should be ashamed, repulsed, disgusted. Why aren’t I?”

He shrugged. “Some people are born to be vampires. I think you’re one of them.”

She tilted her head to the side, curious to know how it had been for him. “Were you?”

“Maybe. I never gave it any thought.” Becoming a vampire had been easy for him once the initial craving for blood had passed. He had hated Josiah for centuries, he mused, when he should have been thanking him. But that had changed when his sire bit Leia. Taking her hand in his, he said, “Come on, let’s go home.”

Moments later, they were back in her room. “Will you teach me how to do that?”

“Yes, but I don’t think you’ll need much instruction. I have a feeling you’ll know instinctively what to do.”

Her gaze moved over him. “Are you repulsed by me, by what I’ve done?”

“Hell, no, I’m proud of you,” he said with a grin.

“What’ll we do now?” she asked. It was hours until dawn.

“I’ve got a few ideas,” he said, drawing her into his arms. “But not until we’re out of your father’s house. Let’s go downstairs and see how Frumusanu’s getting along. He could probably use some sleep.”

Leia felt unaccountably embarrassed and uncomfortable when Trent looked at her. What did he see? Did she look different?Was he thinking he had one more vampire to dispose of? Would he still let Janae be her friend? Lordy, would Janae even want to be friends with a vampire? Probably not. Come to think of it, she had never heard Rohan mention any friends—vampire or otherwise—save for the members of the dance troupe. And they seemed more like acquaintances than friends. She wondered suddenly if they knew what he was. “Aren’t you supposed to be dancing tonight?” she asked.

Rohan shook his head. “I called Deer Killer. Told him there was a death in the family and I couldn’t make the rest of the engagement.”

“A death in the family,” Trent muttered, with a sidelong glance at Leia. “That’s rich.”

“All right, you two, that’s enough,” Rohan said. “Trent, stop looking at Leia as if she’d suddenly grown two heads and a tail. She’s the same as she always was. She isn’t going to turn into a ravening monster or try to turn you or drink your blood. And, you, Leia, stop being ashamed. You haven’t done anything wrong. Aside from having to sleep during the day and surviving on blood, you’re the same as you always were. If you want to work, you can teach night school or hold online classes from home, or, hell, I don’t know. There are a lot of night jobs. Right now, our main concern is Josiah. He wants to kill Trent, he wants to make you his, and I’m pretty sure he’d like to take my head even more than Trent does.”

Trent scowled at him. “Very funny. I’m gonna go call Janae and then get some sleep.”

“Good idea,” Rohan said.

“You can use the guest room upstairs,” Leia offered.

“Thanks.” Trent glanced from Rohan to Leia, muttered something unintelligible under his breath, and headed for the stairs.

“Well, that was fun,” Leia remarked.

Rohan settled on the sofa and motioned for her to join him. “It’ll get easier,” he said as she snuggled against his side. “I know you’re confused now, but it’ll pass.”

“Whatarewe going to do about Josiah?”

“I don’t know. It’s doubtful he’ll just give up and go home, wherever the hell that is.”

“Maybe we could leave the country?” Leia suggested.

“It wouldn’t do any good. He’s my sire. He’ll be able to find me wherever I go.”

She sat up and stared at him. “Does that mean you’ll always be able to find me?”

“Exactly. You can run, but you can’t hide.” He lifted one brow. “You don’t want to hide from me, do you?”

“Of course not.”

His gaze searched hers. And then he said, quietly, “If you ever want to leave me, I’ll let you go. I won’t like it, but I won’t hold you against your will.”

“Josiah said he could make me love him, so I guess that means you could, too.”

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