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tears, yet her eyes were dry. Vampires could not cry, but their souls could bleed. For a long time, Carissa just
held Ryan.
"I left a trail of dead all the way to the coast." Ryan finally continued in a voice devoid of all inflection. "I don't
think I could have controlled myself even if I had wanted to. All those years without sustenance, I could have
survived that, but to constantly have to heal my body, that took every ounce of my strength. And so I fed, and
so I killed, and I did not care whom. I began to love the hunt again. I hunted for sport, not just to feed, killing
with a savage joy. Some of my victims looked as if they had been ravaged by a wolf, some slain by robbers.
People began to become afraid to travel anytime after dusk, and so my prey dwindled to a trickle, and I was
hunted up and down the coast road. But they did not know what kind of monster they were looking for, so I
could sit at night in a tavern and laugh in my beer as the people whispered in hushed tones about the savage
wolf of the Saxon coast."
"And then I had my first close call. I had just killed a young couple. The boy was about twenty, but the girl no
more than sixteen, and she was with child." Ryan looked in Carissa's eyes as if she expected a blow. What she
saw there was not approval but understanding, and so she took a breath and continued. "I was languorous,
sated with blood and with the power of their emotions as well, for vampires can feed on strong emotions as well
as on blood itself. I didn't even hear the hoofbeats. I was going through the couple's pitiful belongings when I
heard the shout. I looked up and saw a troop of soldiers bearing down on me. In an instant, I was in the forest
becoming one with the darkness. They searched for hours; they were so enraged by my act. I was trapped there
in the open while the sun rode its course toward dawn. For if I could not be seen, I could be heard, for the
ground was covered with a litter of fallen leaves."
"The hunt finally moved away from me, and I was able to slip away. I had to move slowly, cautiously, so as not
to make a sound. I thought of killing a few of the guards to make a hole in their search, but quite honestly, I
was afraid. What if one of them called out and the others found me? What if they failed to kill me and buried
me once more? That was the fear that finally drove me to prudence. I found a deep ravine to hide in that day,
and the next night, I returned to the cave where I kept my things. There, I made plans to travel to Europe."
"How did you solve the problem of traveling across the sea in daylight?"
"It turned out not to be such a problem after all. I simply told the captain that I was seasick and that my servant
would attend to my needs."
Carissa laughed. She smoothed the hair from Ryan's forehead and kissed the top of her head.
"Would you get me some wine, my dove?"
Carissa rose and went to the table. She filled the two waiting goblets and brought them back to Ryan. She
could feel her lover's eyes on her bare body, and so Carissa slowed her stride and swayed her hips as she had
seen the streetwalkers do when they were trawling for a customer. Ryan laughed softly and pulled her close
again, kissing Carissa's breasts before taking a deep swallow of wine.
"You are very good to me, my dove. Don't ever think that I do not value you more then all else in my life."
Ryan's words took Carissa's breath away. She leaned into Ryan's arms and savored the moment.
"Anyway, the journey itself would not have been unpleasant but for two things. The first was that the small,
dark cabin I had been assigned was too much like my grave. I spent the whole trip in a half-mad daze. I think I
would have run out into the sunlight to die if it were not for the fact that I was such a stubborn bastard. I had
brought two dozen candles with me, and my servant's instructions were to keep one lit at all times. But I
realized within the first day that I should have brought more. So I played games with myself, leaving the
candle unlit and telling myself that I could light it anytime I wanted to. I would count, telling myself, 'just a
hundred more,' and then I could light it. It was a dismal way to spend seven days and nights, but I survived it."
"What was the other thing?"
"Oh, my servant decided to rob and kill me. I'm not sure if he intended it all along or not, but the fifth night he
came in trying to be soundless. That is what alerted me. If he had moved normally, I wouldn't have been
suspicious of his coming into my cabin to check on me. But he tried to sneak in, so I quickly snuffed the candle
and pretended to be asleep. His night sight was not bad, but nothing compared to mine of course, so when he
drew his dagger and brought it down to stab me, I was ready for him. I drank his blood, feeling that perhaps it
was better that way. I would not need to hunt immediately after we docked. I listened and made sure there was
no one on deck, and then I carried his body up the narrow stairs and lowered it overboard so it would not make
a loud noise. When the captain asked me what had become of my servant, I told him I had no idea. I was
below, sick in my cabin. How could I know what had happened on deck?"
"He believed you?"
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