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"And it took five years," she said, "for you to finally come to me "

"Oh, right to the point!" I responded "Five years or more to do it And had Aaron lived on, who knohat I would have done? But the crucial factor was this: Aaron was old, Merrick He was old and he ht have asked me for the blood When you're old and you're afraid, when you're weary and you're sick, when you've begun to suspect that your lifeWell, that's when you dreaains That's when you think that somehow the vae for immortality; that's when you think that if only you had the chance, you could become some premier witness to the evolution of the world around you You cloak your selfish desires in the grandiose "

"And you think I never will think such thoughts?" She raised her eyebrows, her green eyes large and full of light

"You're young and beautiful," I said, "you were born and bred on courage Your organs and limbs are as sound as your , and you're in perfect health "

I was tre all over I couldn't endure much more of this I'd dreamt of solace and intimacy, and this was intimacy, but at a terrible price

How much easier it was to spend hours in the company of Lestat, who never spoke any tobeen waked by it and now lulled by it, a va more?

How much easier to roam the city in the co out victi the "little drink" so that we left our prey dazzled and unharmed? How much easier to remain within the sanctuary of the French Quarter town house, reading with a vampire's speed all the volumes of history or art history over which I'd labored so slohen a mortal man?

Merrick merely looked at me with obvious sympathy, and then she reached out for my hand

I avoided her touch because I wanted it so much

"Don't back away from me, old friend," she said

I was too confused to speak

"What you want me to know," she said, "is that neither you nor Louis de Pointe du Lac will ever giveyou for it; that it can't be part of any bargain between us "

"Bargain It would be no bargain!" I whispered

She took another drink "And you'll never take ain, I suppose You won't ever hurt ht some other mortal woman who crossed your path "

The question of those who crossed ood response For the first tiether, I truly tried to divine her thoughts, but I could read nothing As a vareat power in this respect Louis had almost none Lestat was the master