Shadows of Eternity

Chapter Twelve

S till holding Leia in his arms, Rohan opened her apartment door. A thought closed it behind them. Inside, he sat on the sofa with her beside him. “Are you sure about this?” he asked. “Nothing’s changed.”

“I know, but I hate to see it end like this when there’s still so much I don’t know about you.”

“So, it’s just morbid curiosity about vampires?” he asked with a wry grin.

She stared at him, not knowing what to say. Sure, that was part of it, but not the important part.

“I don’t want to lose you,” he said, “but I’m afraid knowing more about me isn’t the answer.”

“Maybe you’re right. But I’ve never felt this way about anyone else.”

“The whole vampire thing isn’t going to go away, Leia. It’s part of me, a part I can’t change. But staying with me will likely change you. Are you willing to take that chance?”

“I honestly don’t know.” Leia clasped her hands in her lap. “I know you told me about how you were bitten, but I have the feeling you gave me the Reader’s Digest version of the story. Is there more to it?”

“I’m not sure you should to hear it. Or what you might think of me if you do.”

“Either way, I need to know who you really are.”

Overcome with a sense of dread, he said, “It happened a long time ago, back when the Lakota were still free to roam the Great Plains and the Black Hills, which are sacred to my people. Like I told you, a white man killed my best friend. I tracked the man for a couple of days before I found him. I intended to kill him. He made no move to stop me, which I thought was odd, but all the whites were a little strange.

“Filled with the need for revenge, I plunged my knife into his belly. But he didn’t die. Instead, he laughed in my face, then jerked the blade free and tossed it aside. I stared at him, too shocked to move, when his eyes turned red, too stunned to react when he grabbed my arm and buried his fangs in my throat. Frozen with terror, I couldn’t move, couldn’t fight back. Gradually, the world went red and then black. That was the last thing I remembered until I woke in a cave the next night.”

“What happened to the vampire?”

“I don’t know. I never saw him again, but I vowed I’d kill him if I ever did.”

“What was it like, being turned?”

“It was hell. I had no idea what had happened to me. Our People had stories of witches, but not vampires. When I woke that first night, I was in terrible pain, although I couldn’t find any wounds on my body. I felt physically stronger than ever before, yet my insides felt like they were on fire. I was hungry, but I couldn’t keep anything down, not food or water. I was sure I was drying. I didn’t know where to go, or what to do.”

“It must have been terrible. How did you survive?”

“I was afraid to go back to my People. It wasn’t until I came upon an injured trapper that I realized what my body was craving.” He glanced at Leia, who was looking at him with horror, as if she knew what was coming. “He was lying beside a stream. He’d taken a nasty fall. He was bleeding from a deep gash in his arm. One minute I was staring at the blood … ” He paused, wondering if he should tell her the rest. The picture he was painting wasn’t a pretty one.

She swallowed hard. “Go on.”

“Are you sure?”

She wasn’t, but she nodded anyway. She had to hear how it ended, although she was pretty sure she knew.

“I knelt beside him and licked the blood from the wound. The agony I’d endured for days eased with the first taste.” He laughed softly but there was no humor in it. “I didn’t even know I had fangs until I buried them in his throat. By the time my hunger was satisfied, he was dead. It took me a long time to discover what it meant to be a vampire, how to use the preternatural powers that were now mine. How to feed my hunger without killing those I preyed on, how to blend in with humanity. I could run like the wind, mask my presence from those around me, compel others to do my bidding, and a hundred other things mortals couldn’t do.

“I’d been a vampire about three years when I met another one of my kind who told me that my sire—the vampire who had turned me—should have stayed with me and taught me how to survive. It was comforting to know there were others like me.”

“How many others?”

“I have no idea. I only know every country has them, no matter what name they go by. Some are cold-blooded killers. Others are more discreet. But we all need blood to survive, no matter how we get it.”

“So, how was it actually done? His making you a vampire, I mean.”

“He drained me to the point of death, then gave me his blood in return. I died that night and when I woke the next night, I was a vampire.”

He saw the revulsion in her eyes, knew he never should have told her the truth about his past.

Silence stretched between them, as deep and wide as eternity.

“You don’t seem like a blood-thirsty killer,” she remarked after a long moment. “If you hadn’t told me what you are, I never would have guessed.”

He shrugged.

“How old were you when it happened?”

“Almost thirty.”

“How long have you been what you are?”

“A little more than three hundred years.”

Three . Hundred . Years. Merciful heavens. “I know you aren’t married now, but have you ever been married?”

“Once, centuries ago.”

The tone of his voice told her he didn’t want to talk about it. What had his wife been like, she wondered. Did they have children? But she couldn’t ask those questions. Instead, she asked, “Do you like being a vampire?”

“I don’t have any other choice.”

“Is there no cure?”

“No. Only death.”

Leia stared into the fireplace, her mind replaying everything he had told her. She knew it was true, yet it was difficult to comprehend. She knew that in the old days people had believed in witches and vampires and evil spirits. It was much easier to blame the unexplainable on the supernatural than believe your neighbor might be a monster. And yet, she had seen the truth with own eyes, felt his supernatural power wash over her. He could read her mind. He’d bitten her.

“Do you sleep in a coffin?”

“Not for centuries.”

She grimaced. “Are you dead during the day?”

“Not exactly, though I generally rest until the sun goes down if the troupe isn’t booked.”

“Do you feel pain?”

“Oh, yeah. Sunlight on new vampire flesh is especially agonizing.”

“How did you ever become a Native dancer?”

“I was in South Dakota when I went to a pow wow. There was a Native dance group performing that night. I bought a ticket, curious to see if things had changed much since I lived among the Lakota. The dances were much the same, though the costumes were a lot more elaborate. I went backstage when it was over and talked to the manager. When he found out I was a full-blood Lakota, he asked if I wanted to dance with his troupe. I’d been hunting the vampire who turned me for centuries without much success. I was bored, so I said yes.”

“What do you do when they have matinees?”

“His troupe doesn’t do many afternoon shows. The sun doesn’t bother me much these days, and most of the performances are inside.”

Leia folded her arms over her chest. What a strange life he had lived. If he wrote a book, no one would believe it.

“So,” he said, “where do we go from here?”

“I don’t know. I think I’m going to need a couple of days to process everything you’ve told me.” Everything had happened so fast—meeting him, falling for him so quickly, and now learning that he wasn’t quite human. It was a lot to take in.

He nodded. “Understandable. I’m leaving for Bisbee late tomorrow afternoon. The show opens on Friday night.” He had intended to quit the troupe after the last show in L.A., but now, having something to occupy his time seemed like a hell of a good idea.

“Oh.” She had known he was going, but she couldn’t hide her disappointment. Or her relief.

There was really nothing to say after that.

Rising, Rohan bent down and brushed a kiss across the top of her head. “Think carefully about what’s been said, Princess. Because if you decide you want to share your life with me, I’ll go anywhere you want to go, do anything you want to do. But know this, once you’re mine, I’ll never let you go.”