cellar; now, as if drawn against her will, she walked through the kitchen, down the short flight of stairs, to the cellar.
The door was locked. Her hand shook as she slid the key into the lock; then she opened the door.
She fumbled along the inside wall until she found a light switch. When she flicked it on, a pale yellow light illuminated the room - a room that was empty save for a sturdy pine box that stood in the corner behind the door.
She glanced at the narrow boarded-up window cut into the wall opposite the casketlike box and shuddered.
It took all her willpower to cross the short distance to the box and look inside. An old-fashioned black cloak made of finely woven wool was spread over a thick black comforter.
Her hand seemed to have a will of its own as it reached into the box and rested on the cloak. She closed her eyes, and a quick image of Gabriel sprang to her mind - an image of Gabriel walking toward her, the long black cloak swirling around him like a dark mist.
A small sob burst from her lips as she whirled around and ran out of the room.
A cure, she thought. There has to be a cure.
She repeated the words as she ran up the stairs to her bedroom. Repeated them over and over, like a mantra, as she filled the bathtub.
A cure. It was their only hope for any kind of a normal life.
He walked the streets for hours, his shoulders hunched under the long black coat, his thoughts bleak. Somewhere, there had to be an answer, a way that he could share all of Sarah's life. And yet, as much as he longed to be mortal for her sake, he harbored a deep and abiding fear of death, of finally coming face to face with that power that was greater than his own. A fear of judgment. Of eternal damnation. How many centuries would he have to spend in perdition to atone for his sins against humanity?
He was walking up the hill toward the mansion when he felt it - an awareness that he was no longer alone, that another immortal being was nearby.
He paused, his gaze sweeping the darkness, as the sense of another presence grew stronger.
And then they emerged from out of the shadows, two men and a woman. For a time, they stared at him, and then the taller of the two men spoke.
"You sent for me, Giovanni, and I am here."
"But not alone."
"I brought two of my younger fledglings with me."
Gabriel's gaze swept over the other two vampires. The boy was young, no more than twenty, with curly brown hair and limpid brown eyes. He was curious and afraid, and he hovered close to his master, making Gabriel wonder how he'd found the courage to cross the gulf from life to death and back again.
And then he got a good look at the woman, and for a moment he was looking into a face from the past. She had Nina's dark eyes, Nina's long black hair, the same haughty tilt to her chin. She was, he knew, a woman perfectly suited to the life of a vampire, a woman whose heart and soul had rejoiced in darkness even before the Dark Gift had been bequeathed to her.
He sucked in a deep breath, let it out in a fervent sigh of relief as he reminded himself that Nina was dead.
"My house is at the top of the hill," Gabriel said.
Quillan nodded, the gesture telling Gabriel more plainly than words that the vampire already knew where he lived. "Does the woman know what you are?"
"Yes."
A look of surprise flitted across the ancient vampire's face. "And she accepts it?"
"As much as a mortal can."
"Does she know you sent for me?"
"Yes."
Quillan nodded, and Gabriel started walking again, acutely aware of the three who followed him.
Sarah was waiting for him at the front door, a smile of welcome on her lips. A smile that quickly died as three black-clad figures followed Gabriel into the entry hall.
Vampires. She knew immediately what they were. A chill unlike anything she had ever known seemed to enter the house with them.
"Sarah, this is Quillan."
Quillan. The vampire from France. He was tall and lean, almost cadaverous. His complexion was pale; his green eyes burned with an unquenchable fire. His hair was long and straight and brown, touched with streaks of gray.
" Mademoiselle." The vampire bowed over her hand. "May I introduce my