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She was too nervous to sit still, consumed by curiosity about why Gabriel had so adamantly insisted that she not enter the roohtening this and that, while she waited for Maurice, her thoughts as unstable as a kaleidoscope Gabriel was a va to London in the spring Nina wanted her dead

Sara shuddered at the thought How did one fight against a vaered the sine that anything so sarlic, had the power to repel a vampire, yet she ree until she had broken the circle of garlic and holy water

Vaer was on hilowed in his eyes, seen his fangs, and yet it was still inconceivable that such things existed

Yet her blood had revived him

His blood had made her whole

He had said he would never turn her into what he was, and she believed him, and yet, far in the back of her ered a niggling doubt What if the lust for blood overcaed his mind and decided he&039;d like to have a vaes?

She tried to i the blood of others to survive, and felt her stoine what it would be like to live always in darkness, never to see the sunlight again, never to walk in the rass and watch the clouds drift across a lazy sumrow old she had to admit that had a certain appeal

With a shake of her head, she went to stand by the bedroo A sleep like death, he had said, a sleep with no drea inside

She jumped, startled, when she heard a knock at the front door

It was Maurice "Ready?" he asked

"Yes, just letSwan Lake, but Sara couldn&039;t concentrate on the steps or thethe sleep of the undead in her apart of Gabriel, she orrying about being stalked by Nina or one of her minions

They were in the middle of the second act when the ballet mistress called a halt with a sharp tap of her baton

"Sara Jayne, are you dancing with us today or not?"

"I&039; with embarrass well"

Madame Evonne drew herself up to her full five feet, two inches "Do you wish to be excused?"

"Yes, please"

"Very well Ginette, you may take Sara Jayne&039;s place" Madalance "Shall we expect you tonight?"

Sara lifted her chin, refusing to be intimated by the dour-faced ballet mistress "Yes"

"Very well" Madaain

Sara felt Maurice&039;s gaze on her back as she left the floor Backstage, she settled her hat on her head, put on her cape, drew on her gloves, and left the theater, only then re Gabriel&039;s adlanced up and down the street; then, with a sigh, she hailed a hack to take her to the market

The clerk looked at her oddly as she filled a basket with strings of garlic

She stopped at a small church on the way ho that she would be forgiven for her theft, but at the moment she felt she had more need of the precious fluid than did the priest

She breathed a sigh of relief when she reached holoves and removed her hat For a ain te her to peek inside Only her promise to Gabriel to let him rest undisturbed kept her hand from the latch

With a shake of her head, she turned away froarlic around all the s and the front door When that was done, she took the bottle of holy water and sparingly dribbled the liquid across the floor in front of the door and along the sills

As she sprinkled holy water over and around the s, it occurred to her that such precautions would not only keep Nina out, they would also serve to keep Gabriel in

She&039;d treated every room but the bedroom where Gabriel slept when there was a knock at the door

"Who&039;s there?" she called, i to the forefront of her ht

"It&039;s Maurice Sara Jayne, are you all right?"

"I&039;ht"

"Are you sure you&039;re all right?" Maurice asked "Can I get you anything?"

"I&039;m fine, really"

"Sara Jayne, please leta nap I&039;ll see you tonight"

"Very well, cheri," he agreed with obvious reluctance " Au revoir"

Sara pressed her forehead against the door She wouldn&039;t be able to keep Maurice at bay for long They were supposed to be engaged, after all He wouldn&039;t be pleased to learn that Gabriel had come back into her life Somehow, she&039;d have to find the words to tell hiement He wouldn&039;t like that, either, but she kne that she could never ed to Gabriel, now and always

Gabriel

A vampire

It was still hard to believe, to accept In spite of all she had seen, all he had said, it still seehtmare, too hideous to be true

She felt suddenly cold all over as she recalled the nighto

They hadn&039;t been nightes that had invaded her sleep, the visions of a fiend with hideous fangs and blood-red eyes They&039;d been a pres to come She knew that now, because Gabriel was the demon in her dreams

Heavy-hearted, she went into the parlor and sank down on the sofa What was she going to do about Gabriel? About Maurice? About Nina?

She stared at the strings of garlic around the s, praying they would keep Nina&039;s evil at bay

And what about Gabriel? If Nina was evil, what did thaton the life&039;s blood of others She could visualize hi to prey on the unwary, his fangs penetrating living flesh

It was too horrible to conte suddenly chilled to the depths of her soul, she huddled in a corner of the sofa, shivering uncontrollably

"Oh, Gabriel," sheto do?"

Co her

Like a sleepwalker, she rose to do his bidding

Her hand trembled as she reached for the latch, and then she was inside the rooainst the snowy counterpane

"Sara"

He held out his hand, and she went to hi wildly as she placed her hand in his Is and blood-red eyes flitted down the corridor of her mind

Gabriel dropped her hand and looked away "The cross," he said, his voice harsh "Take it off"

She slipped the delicate silver chain over her head, her es of Gabriel as he had looked that day in the cellar of the cottage, his eyes burning, his flesh taut, pale

With an effort, she shook the ghastly i away from the bed, she dropped the crucifix into her jewelry box and closed the lid

Hein the depths of his eyes Such changeable eyes, she thought, sometimes dark with passion, someti with an unholy light

"You&039;re afraid of me" It was a bold statement of fact, not a question

"Yes" She looked at him curiously "Why aren&039;t you how can you"

"Be awake?"

Sara nodded "I thought you slept during the day"

"It&039;s nearly dusk," he explained In another hour or so, his full strength would return

"I didn&039;t ht, Sara I could feel your distress, your confusion I had hoped to put your htened you e that she was truly afraid of hih hiruffly "I never meant to draw you into my life"