for this woman?"
Rayven nodded. "Please, Salvatore, only tell me what I must do."
"First I would like to meet this woman."
"Salvatore..."
"It cannot be done now, my friend. We have time."
Rhianna ran down the stairs to meet him. Throwing herself into his arms, she held him close, oblivious to the presence of the other man.
"Where did you go? Where have you been? I've been so worried."
"I am fine, my sweet," Rayven assured her. He glanced over his shoulder at Salvatore. "Please, make yourself comfortable while I dress."
"Forgive me," Rhianna said, staring at the man standing in the shadows of the entryway. "I didn't see you there."
Salvatore bowed in her direction. "My lady."
"Rhianna, this is Salvatore. You remember I told you about him?"
She nodded, a sudden shiver rippling down her spine. Salvatore. Rayven had told her he was a vampyre, a very old, very powerful vampyre.
A faint smile played over Salvatore's lips. "Does my being here disturb you, my lady?"
"No." It was a lie, and they all knew it.
"Come with me, Rhianna," Rayven said. "Salvatore, we won't be long."
Rhianna followed her husband upstairs, a thousand questions chasing themselves through her mind.
She sat down on the edge of the bed, watching Rayven while he dressed. "Why is he here?"
"I need him." He dressed quickly, then knelt at her feet and took her hands in his. "Rhianna, would you love me as you do now if I were a mortal man?"
"What do you mean?"
"If I could be human again, would you still love me, still want to spend your life with me?"
"Of course." She frowned at him. "Why wouldn't I?"
"There's a certain intangible power inherent in vampyres. You may not be aware of it, but it's there.
Some women are attracted by the power, but not the man himself."
"Rayven, what are you trying to say?"
"Salvatore told me there is a way for me to become mortal again."
She stared at him a moment, then threw her arms around him and hugged him tight. "That's wonderful!
How is it done?"
"I don't know." He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her gently, felt the hunger stir to life. "Let's go find out."
"It is surprisingly simple, really," Salvatore said. "A few words, the shedding of blood..." His dark brown eyes bored into Rayven. "Faith that it will work."
"It sounds too easy."
"That's where faith comes in, my friend."
"We must do it now, tonight," Rayven said. He couldn't wait any longer. He didn't know why the hunger was riding him so hard. Was it because he had given Rhianna his blood? He had thought, after four hundred years, that he controlled the hunger, but he knew now it had never been true. The hunger would always be his master. It might rest, it might be appeased, but it would never be conquered.
"It must be done in a church as close to the rising of the sun as possible," Salvatore said.
Rayven nodded, though he could not help thinking a graveyard would be a more appropriate place to hold a ritual for the undead.
Salvatore placed his hand on Rayven's shoulder. "There are preparations I must make. Meet me in the chapel an hour before sunrise." He glanced at Rhianna. "You must come alone."
"No," Rhianna said. "I want to be there."
"I'm sorry, my lady, but no mortal may be present."
"But..."
"You might wish to spend these hours together."
"Last hours is what you mean, isn't it?"
"It is a possibility, my lady." Salvatore put his hand on her shoulder in a gesture of sympathy and affection, then looked at Rayven. "In the last hour before dawn, my friend. Do not be late."
"I'll be there."
Rhianna waited until they were alone, then she took Rayven's hand in both of hers. "Don't do this."
"I must."
"No. Make me what you are. Do it now."
"No, Rhianna. You don't want it, and you would hate me for it."
"Then let us go on as we are. Please, Rayven, I'm so afraid."
"We cannot go on as we are," Rayven said, the certainly building within him. "I cannot control the hunger any longer." Even now he could feel it swelling, building, surging within him, urging him to take her in his dark embrace, to drink her sweetness until he was glutted with it. He felt the beast writhing deep inside, felt its claws as it struggled for freedom.
"I won't let you do it," Rhianna said. "He said it was dangerous."
"You are the one in danger, Rhianna."
She stared up at him, at eyes that glowed with a hellish light. "I don't understand. What's done this to you?"
"This