hank you, Debbie. I really appreciate this," Lissianna said sincerely as she followed her to the front door.

"Not a problem, Lissi. I was young once, too."

Lissianna blinked. She always found it startling when people assumed they were older than she... and, of course, Deb did. She thought Lissianna was twenty-five to her fifty. Little did the woman know she was talking to someone who was more than a century and a half older than herself.

Debbie gave a little laugh. "I do understand. My mother didn't approve of anyone I dated either. Up to and including my husband, who was a prince among men until the day he died." She paused at the door and turned back to face Lissianna, her glance shifting to the kitchen doorway where Greg waited. A grin split her lips. "And your Greg seems like a prince too: good-looking, polite and a doctor. Way to go, girl!"

"Well, a psychologist anyway," Lissianna said with a faint smile, grateful--not for the first time--that Debbie had been home when Greg's sister had dropped them off.

Debbie had been understandably surprised when Lissianna had shown up on her doorstep with Greg in tow. Lis-sianna could have controlled her and "made" her let them stay, but hadn't wanted to. Instead, she'd taken a chance and asked for her help. She hadn't explained much, just telling Debbie she'd been staying at her mother's house while her apartment was painted, but they'd had a falling-out and she needed a place to stay for the night. Debbie had taken one look at her tense expression and Greg's grim one and come to her own conclusions, apparently assuming the falling-out had been over him. Sympathetic, sweet, and a sucker for romance, she'd welcomed them into her home.

"You're a dark horse, aren't you?" Debbie said now. "You never mentioned your apartment was being painted, let alone that you were in love."

"I'm not in love," Lissianna protested automatically, startled by the woman's words, but Debbie just chuckled softly.

"Lissi dear, I recognize the way you two look at each other. It's how my Jim and I used to look at each other." Her expression turned sad at the thought of her deceased husband, then she shook off the melancholy and smiled. "There is no way you'll convince me you don't love the man."

Lissianna hesitated, she wasn't prepared to use the love word yet, but did confess, "I do really like him, Deb."

"But?" Debbie asked. "I hear a but in there."

"But how do you know if a guy is the right one?" Lissianna asked. "I mean, my mother thought my father was the right one when she married him and ended up miserable for sev--... er... a long time."

Debbie considered the question, then said, "You once said your mother was very young when your parents were married?"

"Fifteen," she said with a nod.

"Fifteen!" Debbie squawked. "That's not young, that's a crime."

"My grandmother had to give special permission," Lis-sianna lied, silently reminding herself to be more careful in her conversations. Next she'd be blurting that she was a vampire.

Breathing out slowly, Debbie shook her head. "Well, honey, you can't let your mother's mistake scare you. She was just a baby when she met and married your father. Good lord, fifteen-year-olds are riding the hormone boat, they can't make lifelong decisions like who to marry." Deb shook her head again, then said, "But you're a little older and you're very mature for your age. I think you should trust yourself. You can tell whether a man is what he claims to be or not."

"Yes," Lissianna agreed, and knew that she had an advantage in that area. Other women had to judge a prospective mate based on what a man might say or his actions in the time before they married. While Lissianna couldn't normally read Greg's thoughts, she'd actually been inside his head when she'd bitten him and knew what was what with him. She knew he was a good man.

"Just listen to your head and hear what it says, then place it next to what your heart says and weigh the two. And remember, no one is perfect, including you," she added, then smiled. "You'll work it out. And, lucky you, you'll have my place to yourself until tomorrow morning to do so, since I promised to visit Mom tonight before work. I'll just head to the shelter rather than waste time stopping in here."

Lissianna nodded. "I really want to thank you, Deb. I don't know where we would have gone if you hadn't--"

"I'm more than happy to help," Debbie assured her, then announced, "There's plenty of food in the kitchen, and I think I may even have a bottle of wine somewhere. Help yourself, mi casa es su casa. Now, I'd best head over to Mom's before she gets impatient and starts calling."

Debbie gave Lissianna a quick hug and left.

"She seems nice. I like her," Greg commented, coming up the hall from the kitchen now that their hostess was gone.

"She is nice." Lissianna locked the door and watched Debbie get into her car. The older woman started the engine, then glanced toward the house, spotted her, and waved. Lissianna waved back and smiled as she told him, "And she liked you, too."

"I gathered that," he murmured, as she moved past him into the living room.

"Listening, were you?" Lissianna asked with amusement as she dropped onto the couch. She was exhausted. It was eight o'clock at night, and the only sleep she'd managed since the day before was the short nap in the movie theatre.

"You look wiped out." Greg settled on the couch beside her.

"I am, but I should call Thomas and find out what's going on at the house." Lissianna started to stand, but Greg caught her arm and urged to sit back down.

"It can wait," he assured her. "We're safe for now."

"Maybe," Lissianna allowed. "But we can't stay here forever. What are we going to do tomorrow?"

"We'll worry about that tomorrow morning," he said firmly. "We should be safe until then at least."

"I'm not sure we are," she said miserably. "What if Mother goes to the shelter to poke around?"

Greg was silent for a moment, then sighed. "You're afraid she'll read Debbie's mind and know we're here."

Lissianna nodded.

"Okay. That could happen, but, Lissianna, you are completely exhausted. I've never seen anyone as worn-out as you look right this moment. You need to rest."

"But--"

Greg raised a hand to silence her, then said, "Debbie won't be at the shelter for them to read for a couple more hours. So, you can stop worrying and sleep for that long at least."

Lissianna bit her lip.

"Nothing I've said is easing your worries is it?" he asked.

"No," she admitted apologetically.

"Okay, so just relax for ten minutes then. It's been a stressful day between the mall and my family."

"I like your family," Lissianna said with a smile.

Greg grimaced, but said, "They liked you, too. While you were in the bathroom, both mother and Anne said you seemed like a good one and to snap you up."

Lissianna's smile faded. "They wouldn't say that if they knew what I was, would they." It wasn't a question, but Greg treated it as such, his expression turning thoughtful. She waited curiously for his answer.

"I think they would," he said finally. "If they believed you could make me happy, they would. And I think you could make me happy."

Lissianna sucked in a breath at those words so solemnly spoken. She was still trying to absorb them and sort out what they might mean when he frowned, and said, "You're still terribly pale. One donor wasn't enough, was it?"

"It doesn't matter." Lissianna shrugged, uncomfortable with the topic. "There isn't much I can do about it at the moment anyway," she pointed out.

Greg caught her chin with one finger and drew her face back to meet his gaze. "Yes, there is," he said solemnly. "There's me."

Lissianna swallowed. He was offering himself to her, and she was tempted by the offer, but...

"No, I shouldn't-- I can't just..." She paused and shook her head with confusion.

"Yes, you can," he said firmly, then he pointed out, "It's not like you haven't done it before."

"Yes, but that was different. I didn't know you then."

One eyebrow jerked upward on his forehead, and Greg asked with disbelief, "So, it's okay to go around kissing and biting strangers, but not friends?"

Lissianna frowned. "I don't usually need to kiss to feed. You were different. I couldn't get into your thoughts."

"Fine, I'll change my question. Why is it you could feed from me when you didn't know me, but now feel you can't?"

She shrugged uncomfortably and tried to sort her thoughts out in her own mind so that she could explain them to him. It wasn't that she didn't want to bite him-- Lissianna had wanted to bite him every minute she'd been near him since that first bite--but he wasn't just some stranger with a bow around his neck anymore. He was Greg, a man she liked, and enjoyed spending time with, and wanted desperately to keep safe from her mother and uncle.

"Would it help if I told you that I enjoyed it the last time?"

Lissianna glanced up sharply, then swallowed and licked her lips, stilling as Greg reached out to rub one finger lightly across the dampness she'd left behind.

"So?" he asked, his voice deepening and growing husky. "Dare I hope that you're going to satisfy us both and feed on me?"

Almost afraid to speak, Lissianna answered him by allowing her lips to part and drawing the tip of his finger into her mouth as he had done to her that first night. Her tongue slid forward to rub across the rounded flesh as she suckled him lightly. The sudden glow in his eyes told her it had been a good answer. He tugged his finger free and replaced it with his tongue as his mouth covered hers.

Lissianna welcomed the invasion, her body bursting into flame as if all the hours between their first kiss and this had never happened. Oh yes, she thought faintly as his arms wrapped around her. She wanted to satisfy them both. Then she lost the capacity to think as she became aware of his hand sliding up her stomach toward her breast.

Greg had been strapped down to the bed the last time they'd kissed, leaving him unable to touch her. He wasn't now. Lissianna gasped as he cupped her breast, then moaned and arched into his touch as he squeezed gently. When he used his thumb and one finger to pluck at her suddenly erect nipple through her blouse, she could only think it was a good thing the man had been tied down to the bed the night of her party. Otherwise, her mother and Thomas might have walked in on something much more than kissing and biting.

Lissianna's fears and worries about their safety rapidly began to fade as he caressed her. Even her exhaustion seemed to disappear as Greg released her breast and moved his fingers to the buttons of her blouse. She would have told him to just rip it open, but it was difficult to talk around his tongue in her mouth, so Lissianna left him to it and set her own hands to tugging his T-shirt upward.

She barely got it halfway up his back before pausing to take the opportunity to run her hands over the flesh she'd revealed.

His back was smooth and wide and hard, it felt good against her fingers and palms, but it soon wasn't enough and she began tugging at his T-shirt again until she couldn't pull it any farther up. Before she could become frustrated at her efforts being hampered, Greg broke their kiss and leaned back. Lissianna's hands fell away and she instead caressed him with her eyes as he grabbed the T-shirt and jerked it over his head.

The man might be a psychologist who sat around in his office all day, but you couldn't tell that from the muscular chest he had. Lissianna sighed with pleasure and leaned forward to run her hands down the muscular surface as he tossed the T-shirt aside, but it was all the touching he allowed her. Brushing her hands out of the way, he caught her blouse and Lissianna glanced down to see that he'd finished unbuttoning it before stopping. Now he stripped it from her, drawing it down her arms to leave her seated before him in black slacks and a white lace bra.

"Beautiful," Greg murmured, then his hands reached for the two white cups and clasped her breasts through the bra.

Lissianna inhaled, her back straightening and pushing her breasts forward, as he leaned forward to kiss her again. She let her arms slide around his shoulders as their bodies pressed together. Greg kissed her only once before allowing his mouth to trail to the side, across her cheek to her ear.

She moaned as he nibbled briefly there, then he trailed his teeth and lips down along her neck. Lissianna didn't realize he was urging her backward until she felt the couch at her back. Greg followed her down, his mouth moving back to hers to kiss her again, distracting her so

?--

that she almost missed the soft brush of his fingers sliding her bra strap off one shoulder. She shivered slightly as the cool air brushed against her hot, erect nipple, then he broke their kiss and dipped his head down to her breast.

A sigh of pleasure slipped from her lips, and she scraped her fingers into his dark hair as his mouth closed over her nipple. Lissianna was so excited, her nipples so erect and sensitive that his suckling was almost unbearable, and she groaned and arched beneath him. unconsciously grinding herself against the leg he had between both of hers. Greg responded by shifting so that the hard proof of his excitement took the place of his leg, then he nipped the sensitive nub of her breast, making her groan and grind up against him again. This time he groaned along with her and ground back and Lissianna spread her legs to wrap them around his waist so that she could enjoy it more fully. She dug her heels into his flank, urging him on as he rubbed against her and Greg answered the silent request, grinding against her several more times before he suddenly stopped and tore his mouth from her breast.

"Oh God, Lissi," he groaned. "We have to slow down."

"No," she murmured, trying to pull him back against her. "Please. I need you."

"Not enough," he assured her, and silenced any further protest by kissing her.

She felt his hand reach down between them to the button of her slacks and a moment later he had both it and the zipper undone. Lissianna didn't know what she was expecting next, but it wasn't for him to break their kiss and stand up, then catch her hand to draw her to her feet beside him.

"What--?" she began uncertainly, then fell silent as he smiled and began to slide her slacks off over her hips. When the cloth dropped below her knees, he knelt to draw them off of each foot as she lifted it.

Lissianna expected him to stand then, but instead, Greg sat back on his haunches and peered up the length of her body. His hot eyes moved over her white lace panties, then up to the white lace bra that presently covered only one breast. His gaze seemed to scorch her skin.

"Take off your bra," he ordered, his voice husky, and Lissianna hesitated, then reached behind her back to un-snap the bra, then shimmy it off her arms. She dropped it on top of her slacks and stood still, terribly aware that she was nearly naked while he was still wearing his jeans.

Greg devoured her naked breasts with his eyes, then his gaze dropped to her panties again. She expected him to order her to remove those next, but, instead, he suddenly reached out to catch her by the hips and leaned forward to press a kiss to the white lace triangle.

Lissianna inhaled sharply, then bit her lip and closed her eyes as he blew his hot breath through the cloth as if to warm the center of her. She felt his hands move and blinked her eyes open, glancing down to see him catch his fingers in the waistband of her panties. He slowly eased them down until she could step out of those too.

Once the scrap of lace had joined the rest of the clothes on the floor, Greg turned back to what he'd revealed and rose up off his knees enough that he could press another kiss there, this time without the cloth between them.

Lissianna reached for the top of his head, tangling her fingers in his hair to keep her balance as he urged her legs farther apart, then caught one leg and drew it up and over his shoulder so that she was almost straddling his face.

He then caught her firmly by the behind to hold her in place and she gasped and actually pulled at his hair in surprise at the shock of immediate pleasure that went through her when he found the center of her with his mouth and began to lave her with long, loving strokes.

Lissianna couldn't keep that position long. The more excited she became, the more difficult it was for her to maintain her balance. Aware of her difficulty, Greg eased her down to sit on the couch. She tried to catch him by the shoulders and draw him up on top of her, but he evaded her and instead, knelt before her to finish what he'd started, pleasuring her until she came, screaming his name.

Drugged with pleasure, Lissianna watched through slitted eyes as Greg finally rose up, then his hands moved to undo his jeans, and her eyes managed to prop themselves a little wider open. When he paused, she felt the last of her lethargy slip away to be replaced by curiosity at what was making him hesitate. In the next moment, he suddenly bent forward to scoop her off the couch.

Lissianna gasped and caught her arms around his shoulders as Greg carried her out of the living room and down the side hall to the master bedroom. The sun had set and the room was full of shadows, but there was enough light from the streetlights in front of the house to navigate by. Greg carried her across the room to the bed, but didn't immediately set her down. Instead, he caught her lips with his and kissed her gently, only then releasing her legs, allowing them to slide to the floor as he kissed her again.

Lissianna found her feet, and turned until they were face-to-face as he deepened the kiss. Her hands slid around his shoulders, then up into his hair. She knotted them there briefly before drawing them down, scraping her nails lightly along his skull, then across his neck and finally over his chest and belly. At the top of his jeans, she stopped and caught her fingers in the waistband, then broke the kiss as she drew his pants down, dropping to her haunches to remove them completely.

As he had done, she paused on her knees to examine what she'd revealed. Lissianna was no expert on the male anatomy, but was sure that Greg was probably one of the finest specimens around. She didn't think he'd be one to feel the need to shove cucumbers down his pants to impress women. When she reached out and closed one hand curiously around him, Greg stiffened and drew in a hissing breath. When Lissianna then ran her fingers lightly down his length, he groaned. But when she closed her mouth around his erection, he bucked slightly, then knotted his hand in her hair and pulled away.

"Not this time," he growled, urging her to her feet.

Lissianna let him stop her, knowing it was probably better he did. The moment she'd taken him into her mouth she'd become aware of the blood pulsing just beneath the warm skin and her hunger had welled up, giving her the sudden urge to bite. Better to leave her pleasuring of him for a time when hunger wouldn't turn it into a feast, Lissianna thought on a sigh as she stood up and he used his hold on her hair to draw her forward for a kiss. This time it was not gentle. It seemed she'd wakened the beast.

Greg's mouth moved over hers, hot and hungry and demanding, as demanding as the hand he suddenly slid between her legs. Lissianna gasped, but there was no air to take in, just Greg. His tongue was in her mouth, his body down her front, one of his hands at her head holding her in place, and the other between her legs, first slipping a finger back and forth over her slick excitement, then delving into her, urging that excitement on to higher peaks.

She groaned deep in her throat as all that sated desire came screaming back to life inside her. Reaching between them, Lissianna caught him firmly in hand and squeezed gently, bringing a growl from Greg's throat. She knew she was playing with fire and still she ran her closed hand up, then down the length of him again, smiling against his mouth with triumph when he suddenly stopped caressing her, caught her by the waist, and lifted her slightly.

Lissianna let go of her hold on his erection and wrapped her arms around his shoulders even as her legs wrapped around his waist, then he was easing her down onto him and she moaned as he filled her.

Greg hesitated, then took a step forward and set most of her weight on the dresser beside the bed.

Lissianna moaned as he adjusted her position to allow him to drive into her as deeply as possible. He pulled her bottom forward to the edge of the dresser surface and leaned his upper body into her so that she was half-reclining and clinging to his shoulders, her face pressed against one shoulder blade as he drove into her again and again.

When he caught her under the backs of her legs and lifted them slightly, Lissianna moaned at this new angle and turned her face into his neck, her teeth scraping along his skin. She felt Greg shiver at the touch, then he breathed, "Go ahead. Do it."

"No," Lissianna moaned, trying to resist, but she was full of wanting and need, and her hunger for blood was getting confused with her desire for him and both were urging her to sink her teeth into his neck.

"Lissi, God, just please do it," Greg groaned by her ear.

and, without stopping to think, Lissianna turned her head and sank her teeth into his throat.

Greg threw his head back and cried out, his body bucking against her as their minds merged and their pleasure mingled and echoed back and forth between them. It grew stronger with each pass, until Lissianna was dizzy with it. She held on tight, her arms and legs wrapped around him as they rode the pleasure. The orgasm seemed to go on forever, throbbing through them both, a low repetitive hum that pulsed through both their bodies from the tips of their toes to the top of their heads.

Lissianna felt his fingers clutch at her desperately, even as her own nails scored his back. She was just beginning to think that this almost unbearable pleasure might also be unending. Then Greg staggered weakly against her, and she realized she still had her teeth in his neck, and was still drinking from him.

Lissianna released him at once, and heard Greg's mumbled protest. She sensed his keen disappointment when the combining of their thoughts began to fade, then it ended altogether... and with it, the prolonged orgasm finally faded away as well.

They sagged against each other, breathing heavily, then Greg whispered, "I've never fell as close to anyone as I did just now when our thoughts merged. It was like we both stood before each other, hearts and souls naked. I felt like I knew all there is to know about you. It's the same for you, isn't it?"

"Yes," Lissianna admitted against his neck, then asked, "Are you all right? You're swaying."

Nodding, he stepped back, his now flaccid member sliding from her body.

Seeing his pallor, Lissianna immediately slid off the dresser, tugged the blankets aside on the bed, then urged him to lie down. When she started to straighten, he pulled her down beside him, apparently unwilling to give up their closeness just yet. Lissianna pulled the blankets up to cover them both, then allowed him to pull her into his chest and wrap his arms around her. She cuddled into his embrace, thinking that she could be very happy just to be held by him like this forever.

They lay like that for several minutes before Greg peered down at her, and said, "Lissianna, what's a true life mate?"

She stiffened against him, startled by the question. "Where did you hear about that?"

"Thomas said I should ask you, but I forgot at the time."

Lissianna was silent for a minute, then cleared her throat. "My mother has always said that each person has his or her own true life mate. It is supposed to be that mate meant for you."

"Your mother sounds like a romantic to me," he said with gentle amusement.

"Perhaps," Lissianna agreed.

Another silence closed in, then he asked, "Tell me about your uncle."

She blinked in surprise at the request, then leaned up to peer at his face, and ask, "Why?"

"Because you and every one of your cousins seem scared of him, and I want to know why."

Regretting the return to reality, Lissianna sighed and laid her head back down. She thought for a minute, then said, "He's old and cold, as Thomas puts it."

"Old and cold," Greg echoed dryly.

She nodded. "It's not that he's cruel or anything, it's just--" She struggled briefly, then said. "He's been alive a long time, Greg. Several millennia. He was a warrior in

Rome, a warrior in medieval England..." She shrugged. "He's a warrior. He's seen countless people born and die, and probably killed a good many in battle, too, over time. Now, he's on the council and does what has to be done to keep his people safe."

Greg was silent for a minute, then said, "I don't want to be a Renfield."

Lissianna ran her hand soothingly over his chest and promised, '"I won't let that happen."

"I know you'll try to make sure it doesn't happen," he said. "But if your uncle did try to wipe my memory at your mother's house this morning and couldn't do it as you all suspect, he'll want to do that 'council of three' thing to me, won't he?"

Lissianna was silent, but she didn't have to answer. She'd already explained enough to him that he would know it was the case. And she didn't want it to happen either. The idea of their breaking Greg's mind was too painful even to contemplate. His mind was one of the things she liked best about him. Although, she acknowledged, his body wasn't bad either.

"What are my chances of getting away without them turning my brain to mush?"

"Don't think about it, Greg." she said. "I won't let it happen."

"How can you slop it? This council rules your people, right? They are like the police for your people."

"Yes," she acknowledged.

"And I'm guessing, since you avoided answering, that my chances are pretty slim of avoiding the council." He shifted under her slightly, almost impatiently. "I mean if they can control anyone, they can probably walk into any office or bank and find out what information they need to track me down."

"Yes." She sighed.

They were both silent for a moment, then he asked, "What will they do to you for sneaking me out?"

Lissianna shrugged. "There is nothing they can do. Mom can yell at me, but the council can't punish me since I didn't speak to my uncle, so didn't know they--"

"That's a technicality, and while it might work in a human court of law, I suspect it wouldn't work with the council. Especially if your uncle can read your mind and find out that you basically did know what they would want to do."

Unable to argue the point, Lissianna remained silent.

"So, if we try to run, they'll probably find us and make me a Renfield, then do God knows what to you."

"Maybe," she acknowledged, and laid her head on his chest again. They were both silent, then Lissianna said, "There may be a way to protect you though."

"What? A sex change and a move to Timbuktu?" he asked with wry amusement, and moved his hand to her hair to run his fingers lightly through the long, soft tresses.

"I'm afraid that wouldn't do it," she said with a twist to her lips. "They'd find you."

"Then how--?"

"I could turn you," Lissianna said quickly.

Greg's hand stilled in her hair. She could hear his heartbeat, the slow inhalation and exhalation of his breath, the tick of the digital clock next to the bed. Finally, his hand began to move again. "Turn me? Make me one of you?"

"If you were one of us, they would never fear your speaking out about us or revealing our presence. Our safety would be yours. They wouldn't need to try a council of three."

"You'd make me your life mate to keep me safe?"

The words were soft, querying. Lissianna couldn't tell if he was pleased at the idea or not, but she didn't want to put him in the position where he had to choose between living with his mind intact or being her life mate to survive. Licking her lips, she said, "Turning you doesn't automatically make you my life mate."

Greg stilled again, then asked, "It doesn't?"

"No. Of course not. While it's true that most of us do turn our life mates, it isn't always the case. Others have turned mortals for other reasons."

"But then if you did find someone to be your life mate later, you couldn't turn him," he pointed out.

Lissianna shrugged. Then stood and slid from the bed.

"Lissi?" Greg said uncertainly, as she walked naked to the door.

Turning back, she found him sitting up in the bed, concern on his face. She smiled gently. "I'm leaving you alone to think about it." "I--"

Lissianna held up a hand to silence him. "Greg, I need you to forget about me in this equation. This isn't about me, it's about you and your choices. What I do or don't do doesn't matter. This decision is something you have to be happy with for yourself."

She took a deep breath, then said, "This isn't like getting your ear pierced or joining a club. This is for forever, or as close to forever as humans can get. You need to consider it seriously. Can you give up the freedom of being able to spend endless hours in sunlight and become mostly a creature of the night? Can you consume blood? If there was an emergency, could you feed on another to survive? And could you give up your family?"

He gave a start. "My family?"

"Yes," she said sadly. "You can't tell them what you've become. The council wouldn't allow that."

"No, of course not, but--"

"And when you don't age as they are doing, how could you explain it?" Lissianna answered the question herself, "You couldn't. And so, you'd have five, maybe ten years if you were lucky, and then you'd have to disappear from their lives. You'd have to fake your death and never see them again."

Seeing the shock on his face, Lissianna nodded sadly. "You hadn't thought of that, had you? You only thought of the forever young and forever this and forever that..." She sighed and shook her head. "There is a downside to everything, and you need to be sure that you can accept the downside here, because this is not reversible. Once you are turned, it quite possibly is forever."

Greg stared, his heart sinking at the complications he hadn't considered.

"I'll sleep on the couch," Lissianna said, turning away. "We'll talk again later, after we've both slept on it."

Greg watched her pull the door closed, then dropped back on the bed with a sigh. Give up his family. It had never occurred to him that he'd have to give up anything to be like them. He'd thought-- Well, as she'd said, he'd been thinking oniy of the plus side; living hundreds, perhaps even thousands of years, never aging, being stronger, faster, maybe even smarter... witnessing history firsthand over the centuries... And--he'd thought at first-- doing it all with Lissianna as his life mate, but she seemed to be saying it wasn't a given.

Was she saying that because she didn't want him for a life mate, or because she didn't want him to feel trapped into being her life mate? He wasn't sure.

Greg did know that he had never met anyone like her; someone he could admire and like as much as he did Lis-sianna. She was protective of those she loved, kind, intelligent, beautiful, but with a hint of the child still alive inside the woman. She was over two hundred years old and often seemed as mature as those years would suggest, but when Lissianna relaxed, when she forgot to be the good daughter, or the responsible older cousin for the twins, there was a childlike mischievousness about her, a glint she got in her eye. However, it was when she bit him that Greg was sure she was the perfect woman... at least in his eyes. The experience was more than just physical. When they were joined in that way, his mind flooded with her thoughts and it was almost like having a window into her soul. Lissianna had a beautiful soul, soft but strong, generous and nonjudgmental. When they were merged that way, he felt strong and loved. He felt whole.

Greg felt sure he could trade twenty or thirty years with his family who had loved and supported him all his life, for forever with Lissianna. But that didn't seem to be what she was offering. She'd said that her turning him wouldn't automatically make him her life mate. If he let her turn him, could he persuade her afterward to have him? Was her offer to save him brought on by nothing more than guilt? Greg didn't think so, he'd seen into her soul and nothing like that had been reflected there.

Sighing, Greg ran his hands through his hair with agitation. He had a lot to think about.

It was the cold that woke her up. Lissianna murmured a sleepy complaint at the chill in the air, tugged the afghan tighter up around her neck and rolled herself into a fetal position in an effort to get warm, but still the cold per-sisted. Sighing at the realization that she would have to get up and turn up the heat, or at least find another blanket before she would be able to drift back to sleep, Lissianna opened her eyes and rolled onto her back, then froze in shock as she spotted the dark shape looming over her.

For one moment, she froze, her body shooting adrenaline out for her to deal with the matter, but then she realized that it must be Greg come to talk to her, and she relaxed. Lissianna waited for him to speak, only realizing she'd made a mistake when the arm she hadn't noticed was raised, suddenly plunged downward, and she felt the stake pierce her chest.