He opened the door, and she saw him hesitate, take a deep breath, and then take the first step that would carry him away from her forever.
"Navarre! Wait!" Jumping out of bed, she ran after him. "Wait! Please wait!"
He stiffened as he felt her arms wrap around his waist, felt the warmth of her body pressing against his back.
"Don't leave me," she whispered. "Please don't leave me."
"Annie, you don't know what you're saying."
"I don't care what you are. I don't want you to go."
"I don't want to go." The words came from deep within, as if they'd been dredged from the very bottom of his soul.
"Then don't go." She dragged him around to face her. "I love you. I've never loved anyone before."
He shook his head, amused and amazed by the woman standing before him. "Annie, my sweet Annie, don't you know you're not safe here, not safe with me?"
"I don't care."
"I care."
"You've never hurt me before."
"I wouldn't hurt you now, not intentionally." He sighed, resisting the urge to pull her into his arms. "Do you know the story of the rattlesnake who offered to carry a rabbit across a river?"
She shook her head.
"The rabbit said no, because he was afraid the snake would eat him, but the snake promised he wouldn't, and the rabbit believed him. When they reached the other side of the river, the snake bit the rabbit. 'Why?' the rabbit asked. 'You promised!' 'I couldn't help it' the rattler explained with a smile. 'I'm a snake'."
Navarre's eyes begged for her understanding. "I'm a vampire, Annie. And sometimes, even after all these years, the hunger is stronger than I am."
"Tell me to leave, then." She looked up at him through wide blue eyes filled with love and trust. "Tell me you never want to see me again, and I won't bother you any more."
He opened his mouth, but his tongue refused to obey his mind's command. "I can't. Heaven help me, I can't send you out of my life."
He glanced at the window. Even though boards covered the window, he knew the clouds had passed, knew the sun was high in the sky, as a familiar heaviness began to steal over him.
"Go home, Annie. I'll come to you tonight."
Fighting the lethargy creeping over him, he stood in the doorway staring after her. Never before had he taken his rest in a place known to another. Never, in the near two thousand years of his existence, had he trusted anyone, male or female, mortal or vampire, to know where he passed the hours of the day.
It grieved him to think she might betray him, but he knew it was possible. Once she was away from him, once she'd had time to think about what he'd told her, there was always a chance she would decide he was a danger to her, a danger to the town. Given time to think, she might come to the conclusion that he was evil and should be destroyed. And though he wasn't totally helpless during the hours of daylight, he was still weak, still at his most vulnerable.
With a sigh, he closed and bolted the door, then settled back on his bed, knowing that if Annie betrayed him, nothing else would matter anyway.
Part Three Chapter Nine
She didn't go to work that day. She didn't really do anything except sit and stare into the distance. It was as if her whole life had been put on hold.
Vampire.
It was impossible.
Still, her grandmother had claimed to see an angel before she died. And there was a lady in town who claimed to be a witch. Maybe there really were stranger things in heaven and earth than she had dreamed of.
But vampires?
She thought of all the grade-B horror movies she'd seen growing up. The monsters had always been pictured as horrible ghouls clad in flowing black capes, preying on the blood of innocent young women, turning helpless mortals into mindless zombies. In the movies, vampires were evil incarnate, the very essence of darkness and depravity, a sin against nature. They were cruel, heartless, unfeeling, incapable of tender emotions.
But Navarre was nothing like that. Was he? Would she think differently if he looked more like Lon Chaney and less like Daniel Day-Lewis?
If he was a vampire, how could he endure the sunlight? They had spent a morning walking on the beach. She had seen him eat sausage pizza and drink a glass of wine.
But he cast no reflection in a mirror. And she had