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escape.
The smell of blood incited the crowd, who began to yell encouragement as the
fanged woman stood over the bed. The girl s screams died down. She moaned and
began to cry. The crowd cheered the appearance of the tears.
Michael felt sick to his stomach. He didn t know if he could still throw up, but he
could certainly feel nausea. He couldn t even move enough to struggle.
The older woman dipped her head cautiously. The girl wriggled, moaned and cried
harder. The woman almost made it to the girl s neck, but tears dripped down that side
of her face and the woman pulled back to avoid them. She reached out and grabbed the
girl s hair to pin her head in place. Holding her face to one side, the older woman went
for the throat again, but didn t manage to avoid the tears entirely. She got one fang
embedded and drew blood, but then she suddenly reared back, shrieking and holding
her face, and ran from the room, still yelling curses.
Michael breathed a sigh of relief, thinking they d let the girl go.
Wrong.
They drew lots again and a slim, lethal-looking young man stepped up next to the
bed. Within moments, he d sunk his fangs deep into the girl s neck, easily evading the
tears, and began sucking the life out of her.
* * * * *
They killed her. Michael sighed and looked at Carol. Right there in front of me,
while I watched. Not fast. At least half a dozen of them drank from her before they took
too much and she died. I wanted so badly to do something, anything, to save her. I
couldn t do a damn thing about it. They re monsters. You see why I don t want to be
one of them? I won t be one of them. No matter what it costs.
It s going to cost you your life, isn t it?
I died one hundred years ago. This isn t life, it s not-death. I can t go out in the
daylight and I don t dare spend too much time in the presence of other people for fear
the blood hunger will overwhelm me. Or they ll ask too many questions about who I
am. I don t want to go on this way. I can t anyway. By tomorrow I either drink human
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Vampire s Christmas Carol
blood and become full vampire or I truly die. I ve made my decision. Now I ve just got
to stick with it.
Is there no way to& get back your life? You were such a young man when they
turned you.
He shifted uncomfortably and sighed. I asked Kurt Severin about it, the man I first
talked to when I woke. He became a pretty good friend. He said he d heard rumors
there was a way, but he didn t know anything more about how it was done. He d never
heard of anyone managing it, so he d pretty much decided it was just a rumor or myth.
I ve done a bunch of research since and I ve found a couple of hints, but they sound so
arcane I can t imagine them working. They all involve someone else s help, in any case.
Someone human.
Tell me.
No.
She stared at him.
It s not something I d want anyone to try. It s& tricky at best, and definitely
dangerous.
I d like to include it in your record. Maybe it will benefit someone else someday.
He stopped to consider that for a moment before he nodded. All right. It s kind of
messy too. And it has to be done outside, during the day, with an undead who hasn t
yet drunk human blood. He goes out in the sun to die, lies on the ground and opens a
vein so that some of his blood runs into the ground. When he s close to death, but not
quite there yet, a human has to offer some of his or her blood. It has to be when the
vampire is too weak to be able to draw the life essence on his own because it can t be
taken or it won t work. It has to be freely offered with the human in control of how
much is given.
He shook his head at her. It s very dangerous, because the timing has to be perfect.
If the vampire has any strength left at all, he ll drain the human and become a vamp.
And immediately die too, since he ll be out in the daylight. I d prefer not to risk anyone
else. I m reconciled with dying. I d prefer it to life as a vampire. The only thing I truly
fear is that I won t be able to control myself in the final spasm of bloodlust.
I see. Carol scribbled notes on her pad. All right, I m including it in my notes.
She stopped and waited for him, but he just stared into the fire. Finally she prompted,
How did you end up here?
He dragged himself out of the introspection with an effort. I mentioned my family
lived not far away? After I ran away from Antoine, I spent some time with Kurt, then I
retreated to here. I wanted to be somewhere away from both the vampires and their
horrible company and the humans who would become a near unbearable temptation.
When this place came on the market, I bought it. Back in those days, you could still buy
a house with cash and not much paperwork. In fact, it was about the only way you
could buy it. I
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Karen McCullough
He stared at her. She saw it rising this time, the tension starting in his body, the first
flash of red in his eyes.
Remembering his advice, she looked down, focusing on his mouth rather than his
eyes. Without taking her gaze off him, she set down the pen and shifted the stake into
her right hand, holding it ready should he move toward her. His lips parted as fangs
elongated. Deep grooves showed in his cheek and his jaw tightened with either pain or
effort. Muscles tightened all up and down his lean frame. Chest tilted forward and
knees clenched.
His fingers curled again and dug into the leather of the chair, holding onto it with
all the strength of his will.
It was worse this time.
His breath heaved in great, gulping gasps, interrupted by sighing moans that came
close to sobs. He tried to suppress them. She could see the effort he made to hold it
back, but some leaked past his control. Those lengthened into a continual, low keening
growl that went on for several, long minutes. She knew because she could just hear the
ticking of the clock in the hall over the noise he made.
She almost cried just listening to him struggle against what must have been
considerable pain. How did he manage to resist and bear it when the answer, the cure,
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