passed. He had given up all hope of locating Shaylyn, and then he found her. Or, to be more accurate, she found him.
He was sitting in the far corner of a small inn, staring out into the rain-swept night, when a faint movement caught his eye. Startled, he swung his head around to find her sitting across from him.
"So, my handsome one," she purred, "we meet again."
"Shaylyn." He breathed her name, wondering, as he did so, if she was real or merely an illusion.
"You have survived your first year," she remarked. "So many do not."
Leaning forward, he grabbed her by the hand. "Tell me," he demanded. "Tell me what I am."
"Don't you know?"
"No. Tell me. I was stabbed in the chest. It was a mortal wound. Why didn't I die?"
She laughed softly. "Ah, my handsomeNavarre , still so much to learn. You are already dead."
"No." He shook his head, refusing to believe.
"Yes. I told you as much the night I brought you over. Didn't you believe me?"
He shook his head again. "No."
With a speed that defied even his vision, she pulled a thin-bladed knife from a fold of her skirt and stabbed him in the arm.
He tried to jerk his hand from hers, but she held on to him without effort. "Watch," she said.
And watch he did. Watched with stunned horror and amazement as the blood stopped flowing and skin and muscle knit themselves back together in a matter of minutes.
"You arevumpir . One of the undead. You cannot die by being stabbed, myNavarre , because you are already dead. But, be warned, even the strongest vampires can be killed. A wooden stake through the heart will kill most of us. Young ones, like you, must avoid the sun."
"Vampire." He spoke the word slowly. In all the scrolls and manuscripts he had read, he had never come across the word.
"There have been vampires since the beginning of time," Shaylyn said. "I have made and destroyed hundreds of our kind."
Navarreswallowed the knot of fear that had lodged in his throat. "And have you come to destroy me?"
"No. I only came to see how my youngest fledgling is doing."
"I'm lonely," he confessed, not meeting her gaze. "I long for..."
"Katlaina." The word hissed past Shaylyn's lips. "If you want the woman,Navarre , why not take her? Use her as you will, then destroy her."
"Destroy her! Are you mad?"
"You cannot live like other men. You cannot father a child. If you desire the woman, take her and be done with it. But you must not tell her what you are. She will hate you for it. If people suspect what you are, they will hunt you down."
"Why didn't you just kill me?"Navarre asked bitterly. Surely that would have been better than the life she described, better than the life he had been living. He stared at his arm, still stunned by the miraculous healing. Vampire. One of the undead. What did it really mean?
"If you don't want to take the woman, then leave this place. Go to the city,Navarre . Find yourself a place to live. Don't shut yourself away from mortals.Laugh,Navarre . Dance. Find a woman to love, and then, when she begins to age while you remain the same, move on and love again."
"Is that what you do?"
"Yes. I've hunted the world over,Navarre . I have known many mortal men. The world is a very big place. There is much to see. Much to do." She shrugged. "If living in the city doesn't appeal, then go find yourself a small village in the mountains and be a god. The peasants will revere you. They will build you a place to live and sacrifice virgins to appease your hunger."
"No!" He shuddered as he imagined Katlaina being brought to him as a sacrifice.
"Do what you will, then," she said irritably. "Forever is a long time. You must find a way to fill it."
"And if I don't wish to be part of the world?"
"Then bury yourself in the earth, myNavarre ."
"I don't understand."
"Dig yourself a hole and go to sleep. But beware - when you wake, you will be too weak to feed off any but the smallest, most disgusting of creatures."
"Have you done this?"
"Once, shortly after I was made." She stared past him, her thoughts turned inward. "It was like sleeping. I dreamed things, heard things. Strange things. And when I woke, I realized that what I had heard was the voice of the earth, changing."