Deeper than the Night - By Amanda Ashley Page 0,10

aside when Gail came home from school. "Hi, Pumpkin. Have a good day?"

"It was all right. I got a B on a math test."

"That's great. Nana baked cookies this morning. How about bringing me some, and a glass of milk?"

"Okay." Gail tossed her sweater and books on a chair and went into the kitchen. She returned moments later with two tall glasses of milk and a plate of oatmeal cookies. "Where's Nana?"

"She went over to Mrs. Zimmermann's to play canasta."

"Oh." Gail sat down on the end of the sofa. "How's the book?"

"It's good. He's a very talented writer."

"Why do you think people say a vampire lives in his house?"

"That should be obvious, even to a kid like you," Kara said with a grin. "The man writes about vampires and werewolves."

"I guess. His house was really dark inside when I went there."

"You didn't go inside, did you?"

"No. But I could see inside a little." Gail nibbled on a cookie, her expression thoughtful. "There weren't any lights on."

"Maybe he'd gone to bed."

"It wasn't that late."

"Some people do go to bed early, you know."

"Maybe. It's funny, though."

"What's funny?"

"Well, me and Stephanie and Cherise have gone out there lots of times during the day, and we've never seen anybody around."

"So? Maybe he sleeps late and writes at night."

"Vampires sleep during the day."

"Oh, for goodness sakes, Gail, will you please stop thinking every stranger you meet is a vampire or a werewolf."

"All right, all right. Are you going to eat that last cookie?"

"No, go ahead."

Gail polished off the last of the cookies, finished her milk, then stood up. "I'm going over to Cindy's. Do you want anything before I go?"

"No, I'm fine. Don't be late."

"I won't. See ya later."

"Bye."

Kara looked out the window, wishing she could go outside. It was a beautiful afternoon, bright and clear, a perfect day for a long walk through the park. She couldn't wait until her leg was better. She hated being waited on, hated being house-bound, hated lying on the sofa with her leg propped up on a pillow. And, as much as she loved her grandmother, she couldn't wait to go back to her own apartment. Nana had raised a fuss when Kara decided to move out of the house, but Kara had needed to be independent, to live on her own, even if her apartment was less than a mile away from home.

She wondered what Alexander Claybourne was doing, and if she would ever see him again, and if he thought about her as often as she thought about him.

Alexander prowled the woodland behind his house, battling his desire to see Kara again.

It had been six weeks since he'd last seen her. Six interminable weeks.

His writing had thrived. Tormented by his desire for Kara, he had spent long hours at his computer, pouring his frustration into his writing. Words came easily now. Dark angry words that spewed forth like lava, searing the pages. The anger and the loneliness of two hundred years flowed out of him, unleashed by his longing for a mortal woman with hair like a flame and eyes as blue as a midsummer sky. He could truly sympathize with his vampire now, he thought ruefully.

But he was not thinking of his work in progress tonight. He was one with the darkness as he moved through the woods, his footsteps making hardly a sound. He caught the faint odor of a skunk, the smell of decaying foliage, the stink of a dead animal, the acrid scent of smoke rising from a distant fireplace. He heard the franticscurrying of the nocturnal creatures who hunted the night, the beating of tiny wings, the death cry of a beast of prey who had not been fast enough to escape the hunter.

He paused when he reached the top of the hill, his gaze sweeping the darkness, searching for Kara. Oh, yes, he knew where her grandmother lived. He had passed by the small red brick residence every night for the past six weeks, tormenting himself with her nearness. Cloaked in the shadows outside Lena Corley's residence, he had listened to Kara's voice, breathed in her scent, read her thoughts.

It would be so easy to take her, to make her his. They were bonded now, eternally linked by the blood they shared. He closed his eyes, imagining thesimplicity of it all. He would wait until he had her alone, seduce her with a look, spirit her away to his house. He could spend hours making love to her, and then