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Bloodsong
Meeraj, I have not loved another woman for a hundred years. And she was taken from me by old
age. Her life was constantly threatened by disease, accident. His eyes blazed with a fine blue fire. Do you
have any idea what that did to me? How long it has been since I ve allowed myself to love again? And it is
only now that I am& helpless against it. Against my feelings for you. You cannot mean to question this!
Aleron, I must.
He stood, leaving her empty, cold.
I cannot do this. Not again, he muttered, striding from the room so quickly she didn t have time to
think. He was simply gone.
Her heart was breaking. But eternity was far too long for her to even comprehend. She was filled with
fear and grief and love for him.
Aleron. Come back to me.
He did not answer.
She d been at home, in her small apartment in Camden, the same one she had shared with her lost
family, for four days. She d spent her time staring out the window, watching the gangs rove the dirty street
below, listening to the shouts, the sirens, the glazed mumbling of the morphies huddled in the doorways
downstairs. All of it was familiar, the sounds and sights she had lived with her entire life. After she d lost
Dev she hadn t been able to let go of the apartment, even when her dancing had earned her enough to move
to a better neighborhood. This place was all she had left of her family, the only constant in her life.
The sun was going down outside, and she forced herself to pull the metal shutters tight. It wasn t safe
to leave them open after dark. She turned away, moving around the apartment like a wraith, letting her
fingertips come to rest on her mother s favorite chair, the small Japanese teapot her brother Jai had given
her for her birthday shortly before he d died, the tattered book of Edward Lear verse she and Dev had read
together as children.
All of these things had been her comfort over the years. But it meant nothing without Aleron.
She should have kept her mouth shut, worked it out in her mind before she said anything. But he
would have known, anyway. And now he was gone.
She could return to his house. To the club. But she was too hurt that he had left her, rather than
awaiting her decision.
She knew she d hurt him. But she d had to be honest with him. She owed the man she loved that
much.
The vampire.
She still wasn t certain she could choose immortality in order to be with him. She had to see him
again in order to know what to do, some sort of confirmation. But if he d wanted to see her, he would have
come.
www.samhainpublishing.com 55
Eden Bradley
Perhaps she should go to his house, talk to him. If only she knew exactly what to say.
She was startled by a knock at the door. She grabbed her stunstick from the shelf by the door, holding
it tight.
Who s there?
Meeraj. It s Ever.
Ever?
His voice was unmistakable. She opened the door.
He looked so tall, so incredibly powerful, standing in the doorway to her small apartment.
Unbelievably beautiful.
May I come in? he asked, as if he were any other caller.
Of course.
She moved back, let him pass, caught a whiff of his endless years. And found it comforting. She
closed and bolted the door behind him.
Meeraj, you look unwell.
Ever s black, bottomless eyes watched her carefully, in that way the vampires had, seeing inside her.
She knew she could hide nothing from him.
He left me, she said simply, pain tearing at her.
Yes. I believe he s a fool, Meeraj. I intend to tell him. He has something precious with you.
Something we so rarely find, our kind. I don t mean vampires. I mean those of us who have allowed the
endless years to weigh upon us. Who live with regret.
Do you live with regret, Ever?
He turned away, his gaze wandering the apartment. Yes, he said softly. How can I have lived this
long without regret? But it s not too late for Aleron. Before I speak with him, however, I have to know if
you will go to him willingly. If you will take the Turning Kiss. If you are strong enough for immortality. I
believe you are.
Ever& What is it like? I m afraid of it because I can t know.
It is the greatest of pleasures, the greatest of joys, you will ever know. Greater than anyone can
possibly know as a mortal. It is also the greatest sorrow. There is a price for anything in life, isn t there?
And is your current life any more worthwhile? Would you have come to us if it were?
She shook her head. No. No.
It was true. What was she so afraid of? Was she as frightened of allowing herself to love as Aleron
was?
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