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I see that Keaton and you are getting along well now. Have you
had a chance to crawl between the sheets yet? He really is a great
lover.
 From the other night it seems you had a harsh reaction to him
bringing me here. What s up with that?
Stephania took a sip of her tea and grimaced.  Yeah. We ve had
our differences in the past. The last time we were together, he got a
little bit too physical with me. We said some things to one another.
He touched a few nerves. But we were over long ago. I told him
never to darken my doorstep again. And then he appeared with
you. So what s bothering you?
I blew the steam away from the cup and looked at the wilted
leaves in the teabag. The scent helped clear my senses.  Both of you
said that we were mates, Keaton and me. I appreciate your help
with that. But I can t have a relationship with him. Any relationship
I ve had has always turned to shit. The last one, things& Mark was
great. I loved him very much. He proposed to me.
 And you want to know if your relationships are cursed? Why
some dark cloud hangs over you? Maybe why you ve gotten pulled
into this world of monsters and beings that you don t understand.
I nodded.  Yeah. How come you know what I was going to
say?
She shrugged.  I had a dream about this last night. I ve been
keeping an eye on you just to make sure you re adjusting to the
spell. She reached out her hand.  Let me see your hand.
I held it out. She traced her finger over the lines of my palm.
Her eyebrows scrunched together. Then her eyes widened, but the
look didn t give me much encouragement. I sipped my tea. She
took my other hand after a moment and peered at it, too.
 That look doesn t say I have good news.
 No, it s not that. Actually your hand tells of a long life. Longer
than you may desire, but I think you already know that any way
from being mated to a vampire. But you re not cursed. On the
contrary you re something of an enigma.
 Well, that sounds wonderful. Any idea on how I deal with
what I m going through?
 The only way you can deal with it is to confide in someone
that you love. Tell Keaton what happened. Once you relive what
you ve been hiding, then you can find peace. You must tell him. If
not, it will haunt you. The blood madness will creep from your
dreams and drive you insane. That s all I can tell you. Stephania
released my hands and relaxed back in her chair.
I took another sip of my tea. I hadn t thought about Mark in a
long time. It was only now that my relationship with Keaton had
progressed that Mark came to mind. More than just sex. My heart
was starting to go out to him. I couldn t understand it. Maybe that
was the part of being his mate. I don t know. Sighing, I tried to
understand everything she had said.
 Thank you for the information. I do appreciate everything that
you ve told me. I guess there s a lot that I ve been repressing.
She nodded.  The one thing about finding your true mate is
that everything will come to the surface. It doesn t matter how
much you try and bury it. The longer you re around them the more
the fever will rise. The more you try to hide, the more it will reveal.
Don t fight it.
Accept it.  Yeah that s not going to be easy. You don t have any
more spells that can repress memories do you?
She shook her head.  Not for you. Don t despair. Just tell
Keaton what s in your heart. You should go to him tonight and tell
him.
 I m not sure that s a good idea. Besides, I don t even know
where he lives.
Stephania s mouth turned up in a tantalizing smile.  Well
that s simple.
She slid her palm over my hand. When that happened, the
image of a large brownstone flashed in my mind. A wrought iron
fence surrounded the front garden. The bedroom I d been in before.
Other images passed before my eyes that I tried to make sense of,
but the address was burned into my memory. I gasped and pulled
away. A cold chill lingered where she had touched me. The back of
my hand was also slightly pink from where she had touched.
 Forgive me, but with what I give, I must take. It s the nature of
who I am.
I bit my lip.  What exactly are you?
 Keaton hasn t told you?
 No.
 What do you think I am? You already know he s a vampire.
 A witch or a sorceress. That s what I figured.
A loud cackle erupted from her lips.  You kill me. If only it
were that easy. No. I m a lamia. I prey on men and suck up their
seed to keep me vibrant. That was one reason it never would ve
worked out between Keaton and me. But I do have a little bit of
magic in me. My grandmother was a witch.
My mouth fell, but I closed it quickly. I nearly dropped the cup,
but set it back on the table. I hadn t figured she would be some
other kind of supernatural creature, at least not another immortal.
 So you re like another kind of vampire?
 Yes, something like it. But you have no need to fear me. I do
not prey on women and besides, I smelled the vampire all over
you. It was unbecoming.
 If vampires don t smell good to you then why were you with
Keaton? Wouldn t he have smelled, too? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]