Deeper than the Night - By Amanda Ashley Page 0,16

fear was gone, overshadowed by an ecstasy that was almost sensual. My strength drained away. It grew hard to breathe, to think.

And then I was drifting, floating, lighter than air. Darkness closed in around me, darker than anything I had ever known. I screamed as the blackness surrounded me, but no sound issued from my throat.

I was dying. Alone. In the dark I had feared all my life. I knew it but I was too weak to care. Surely there would be light in heaven, I thought, and prayed to die quickly, that I might find my way out of the darkness and into the light.

And then I felt it. A drop of liquid fire on my tongue. It burned through me, followed by another drop, and then another, until the drops became a river.

I opened my eyes, and knew that I would never see the world the same way again. That I would never be the same again . . . .

Alexander leaned back in his chair, pleased with what he had written, thinking that, like Alesandro, he would never be the same again.
Chapter Six
She was waiting for him, sitting in the swing as she had the night before. Alexander sensed her presence even before he vaulted over the fence, landing lightly on his feet. Through the darkness, he could see her, a slender form clad in green pants and a white, off-the-shoulder blouse.

As he closed the distance between them, Kara stood up and began walking toward him. They met near a flowering peach tree. For a moment, their gazes met, and then she was in his arms and he was kissing her, holding her, as though he would never again let her go.

"Kara." He held her close, wanting to draw her goodness into him. She smelled of sunlight and flowers. Her skin was soft and warm. Closing his eyes, he let himself bask in her nearness, her warmth. Two hundred years, he thought. It had been two hundred years since he'd last held a woman he cared for; two hundred years since he'd let a woman care for him. He had forgotten how wonderful it was to hold and be held in return.

"I missed you," Kara said. She looked upat him, startled by the intensity of his gaze.

"Did you?" His voice was deep and husky and unsteady.

"Yes. I thought about you all day." She glanced away, then met his gaze again. "Did you think of me?"

"Every waking moment." He slipped his arm around her waist and they walked over to the swing and sat down.

"I had a phone call from the hospital today," Kara said. "They want me to go to the hospital in Grenvale for some tests tomorrow."

"What kind of tests?"

"I'm not sure. Blood tests of some sort."

"Is something wrong?"

"I don't know. When I wasin the hospital, all the doctors could talk about was the remarkable recovery I had made, but now they want to do more tests. You don't think the blood they gave me was tainted, do you?" She couldn't bring herself to voice her worst fears, but the threat of AIDS loomed large in her mind.

"I'm sure it wasn't." Alexander stared into the distance. He knew what they had found a trace of his blood, alien blood.

"Why don't you have a telephone?"

"I find them an intrusion into my life, my privacy."

"But how do you stay in touch with your editor?"

"By mail. I write during the day, and prefer to be undisturbed by phones ringing. I find it breaks my concentration." He took her hand in his. "Did you try to call me?"

Kara nodded. "A couple of weeks ago," she admitted. "And then today, after I heard from the hospital, I wished I could call you."

"Perhaps I shall have to get a phone then."

She smiled up at him as if she'd just won the lottery. "I'll probably spend the night in Grenvale. Nana's going with me. She has an old friend who lives there. They're going to spend the day together while I'm at the hospital." She stared down at his hand covering hers. "Maybe you could call me tomorrow night?"

"Certainly."

"Here, you can use my cell phone. I'll be staying at the Grenvale Motel."

Alex stared at the compact instrument for a moment, then nodded. "I shall call you there," he said, tucking the phone into his pocket. "And I will see you here Wednesday evening."

"I'll be looking forward to it." She chewed the inside of her lower lip a moment. "Do you think maybe you