"I have loved no one."
"No one in over six hundred years? Which are you, monk or eunuch?"
He laughed softly, bitterly. "Neither. I have had many women, but I have loved none of them."
She crossed her arms over her br**sts as the wind picked up, driving the rain before it.
"Why not?"
"Because I did not wish to see them look at me the way you looked at me earlier. You should go and sit by the fire," he said. "You are cold."
Since she was shivering, there was no point in denying it. "Are you all right?"
He nodded. "Good night, Victoria."
He turned to leave. She watched him walk down the stairs and she realized she didn't want him to go. Okay, he was a vampire, but he had also saved her life, comforted her when she was afraid, thrilled her with his kisses. Did she really want him to leave? What if she never saw him again?
It was that thought that made her call, "Wait!"
Pausing at the bottom of the stairs, he glanced over his shoulder, a question in the depths of his eyes.
"Please don't go."
"I am not going anywhere," he said quietly. "I will be nearby if you need me."
"Do you… Would you like to come in?"
"Is that what you want?"
"Yes, very much."
He regarded her a moment before climbing the stairs. He moved as quietly as a panther, and looked like one, too, she thought, with his black hair and dark attire.
She stepped back and he crossed the threshold into the living room. She didn't know what was different about him tonight but she felt it, a faint tremor in the air around her as he entered her home.
Taking a deep breath, she closed the door behind him, turned to find him watching her.
"Are you sure you want me here?"
"Why do you ask?"
"I can smell the fear on your skin, hear the rapid beat of your heart."
She stared up at him. "You're making that up."
With a shake of his head, he moved toward the door.
"Antonio, please don't go. I can't help being afraid." She sat down on the sofa, her hands clenched in her lap. "This is all so new to me."
Nodding, he sat in the chair across from the sofa.
Silence stretched between them. She tried not to stare at him, but she couldn't help it.
She had seen him wounded and bleeding only a short time ago.
"Do all vampires heal so rapidly?"
"Yes."
"Must be nice. I mean, just think of all the money you save on doctor bills. And you'll never need a face lift. And since you don't eat, you must save a fortune on groceries, and— "
" Victoria."
"I'm sorry, I'm just… I don't know what to say."
"We never had trouble talking before."
"I know, but— "
"You did not know what I was before."
She nodded.
His gaze caressed her face, lingering on her lips. "I am sorry you had to find out like this, my sweet one. I had hoped… "
"Hoped what?"
"It does not matter now."
"Tell me."
"In six hundred years, I have not wanted a woman the way I want you. I had never thought to find a woman I could trust. A woman I could love, until now. I knew it was wrong of me to hold you, to kiss you, when you did not know the truth, and yet I could not help myself."
His voice wrapped around her, as warm as a blazing fire on a cold winter night, but it was nothing compared to the heat smoldering in his eyes. Eyes that weren't the yellow of a killer stalking her small town, or red like those portrayed in horror movies, but a deep dark blue. Eyes filled with aching desire, and eons of loneliness that she could not begin to imagine.
Vicki licked her lips, remembering the power of his kisses, the way her whole body had responded to his touch. Earlier that night, the memory of kissing a vampire had seemed repulsive but now, suddenly, she wanted to be in his arms again, to feel his body against hers.
"Antonio… "
"I should go."
"Please stay. I'm not afraid when you're here."
"It is best if we do not see each other again."
"What? Why?"
"Perhaps I should have said it will be easier for me if we do not see each other again."
"I don't understand."
"I am a vampire." He held up his hand, silencing her. "It is the curse of my kind to feel things more strongly than mortals. Love. Hate. Pain. Passion. All are intensified. I cannot go on being near you and not touch you." He paused, his gaze resting a moment on the pulse beating in the hollow of her throat. "Not taste you." His eyes burned into hers, leaving no doubt as to his meaning.
"So, you're saying it's all or nothing? Your way or the highway?"
He grinned, amused by her choice of words. "Something like that."
"I don't sleep around," she said, "so I guess you'd better go." But even as she said the words, she knew it was the last thing she wanted. In spite of everything, she was attracted to Antonio. No other man had ever appealed to her the way he did, made her feel the way he did.
"You misunderstand me," he said. "I am not asking for your virginity. I am only saying that I want to get to know you better, to spend time with you, to stay here, with you, for as long as you will let me. I want your companionship… " Again, his gaze lingered on her lips. "And your affection."
"You said for as long as I'll let you. What does that mean, exactly?"
"I think you will soon grow weary of me, and when that time comes, I will trouble you no more, though I will not leave this place until Falco is destroyed."
"What makes you think I'll get tired of you?"
"Because I am a vampire. Because I cannot be with you during the day. Because I will be possessive and demanding of the time that we can share. And because nothing can come of whatever feelings grow out of our relationship. Do you understand what I am saying?"
"I think you're warning me not to fall in love with you."
"Yes. Think carefully about what I have said. I will come for your answer tomorrow night."
"There's just one thing," she said. "What if you fall in love with me?"
"I am already in love with you, my sweet one," he replied, and for the second time that night, he disappeared from her sight.
Chapter 18
Bobbie Sue sat on the sofa, a blanket draped around her shoulders, a cup of hot tea cradled between her hands. "So, it's true, all of it? You're a vampire hunter and Antonio is a vampire?"