put on a shirt, but he'd had other, more urgent matters on his mind. She was staring at his face. Seeing the revulsion in her eyes, he covered his injured cheek with his hand.
"Is there anything I can do for that?" she asked.
He shook his head. "The skin will rejuvenate, in time. Burns are always slow to heal."
"Oh."
"Marisa - "
"Don't."
"Don't what?"
"Don't look at me like that. Don't make me stay here."
"I'm not keeping you."
She drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, staring up at him through eyes that were wide and frightened, eyes filled with doubt and confusion. And a reluctant concern.
"Did you want to be a vampire?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I felt it was the only way I could avenge the deaths of my children."
"How old were they?"
"My daughter was five, my son a year younger."
"I'm sorry."
"It was a long time ago," he murmured, "and yet the pain remains." He sank down on the floor, his back against the wall, one knee bent. He looked up at her, his expression bleak. "All these years, and still I have not been able to destroy him. I hunted him for a hundred years, and then, when I found him, it was too late. Silvano's family had interred him in the bowels of a church and I could not reach him. Now, he is here, and still I cannot find his lair, cannot get close enough to destroy him!"
His hands clenched. "In the past, I have been able to sense the presence of other vampyres, have been able to track them to their resting places. Why can't I find Alexi?"
She had no answer for him, could only stare at him, watching with disbelieving eyes as the lacerations on his chest continued to heal before her eyes, the red scars fading and then disappearing, until nothing remained but the ugly wound on his cheek.
"What is it?" he asked. "What's wrong?"
She shook her head in wonder, then pointed at his chest, his arms. "They're gone. The wounds, as if they were never there at all."
Grigori glanced down, then shrugged. "I told you, we heal quickly."
"I know." But it was still an amazing thing to watch. "Isn't it lonely, being a vampire? Not being able to tell anyone who you are?" Sort of like being Superman, she thought, always pretending to be Clark Kent.
"It can be lonely, at times," he admitted. In the beginning, he had missed his home, his family, but, gradually, he had grown accustomed to his solitary life, had even come to enjoy it. He had never lacked female companionship. The Dark Gift carried an aura of power. Any woman he had desired had been his for the taking. He had seduced them, but he had loved none of them. He had traveled the world, watched the changes two centuries had wrought, seen things, done things, beyond the powers of mortal man.
"Eternity is such a long time. Doesn't life get... tiresome? How ever do you pass the time?"
He grinned at her. "Do you picture me lurking in the shadows, always on the outside looking in, wishing I could be part of humanity again?"
"Well, yeah, I guess so."
"It's not like that, Marisa. Think of people you know who work nights. What do they do?"
"I don't know. The same things I do, I guess."
He nodded. "I read. Books, newspapers, the classics, mysteries. I go to the movies. I've traveled the world. I stay at home and watch TV." He smiled at her. "All the good shows are on at night, you know?"
She couldn't help it, she smiled back.
"Not all of us are the evil monsters depicted in movies and novels."
"Like Kristov?"
Grigori nodded. "Like Kristov."
"Was he always like he is now?"
"I don't know. When I first met him, he seemed to be a fine gentleman. I couldn't understand why he wanted to spend time in our poor home."
But he knew now. It hadn't been his company Kristov had sought, but Antoinette's. And when she had refused him, he had lashed out in a rage, killing those she had held most dear. He could hear Alexi's voice screaming in his mind:... she refused... to leave you or those brats... Well, she doesn't refuse me anymore. Pain clawed at him as he imagined Antoinette sharing a bed with Alexi, helpless to resist him, compelled to surrender to his every wish.
"Grigori?"
"What?"
"Where were you?"
"Remembering."
She nodded. Judging from the look on his face, they weren't pleasant memories.
"Have you ever made anyone else a vampire?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"No one