were darker, more intense, aglow now with a fierce need. The faint scar on his cheek only added to his mysterious allure.
His lips parted, and she saw his fangs. She moved quickly to Grigori's side, her heart pounding. She knew vampire blood lust when she saw it.
It is all right, cara. Have no fear .
Grigori's voice whispered in her mind. It was a bond they shared, the ability to read each other's minds.
I'm not afraid, she replied, as long as you're with me .
Ramsey took another step forward, seemingly oblivious to everything but her.
"Ramsey, no." Grigori's voice cut across the room, as sharp and deadly as a blade.
Ramsey came to an abrupt halt. With a shake of his head, he looked around the room, his expression slightly dazed, like a sleepwalker abruptly roused from sleep. "Marisa, I'm sorry."
"It's all right," she replied gently. "I understand."
Grigori brushed a kiss across Marisa's lips. "I'll be back later, cara . Ramsey, come with me."
Wordlessly, Ramsey turned and followed the vampire out of the house and down the narrow flagstone walkway that led to the garage.
"Have you fed since I brought you across?" Chiavari asked.
"No."
"Nothng in five days?"
Ramsey shook his head. He had made two attempts. The second had been on a kitten he had found in an alley. He had held the terrified creature in his hands, but in the end, he had let the animal go. "I don't think I have what it takes to be a vampire," he said ruefully.
"Nonsense. Any man who can track a vampyre to its lair and cut off its head shouldn't have any trouble finding something to drink."
"Are you mocking me?"
"Merely stating a fact," Chiavari slid behind the wheel of a sleek black Corvette, reached over, and opened the passenger door. "Get in."
"Where are we going?"
"Hunting."
With a sigh, Ramsey got in the car and closed the door. Once, he had hunted vampires. Now he was hunting humans. "I don't want to kill anyone."
"That's up to you."
"But you told me you killed, in the beginning."
Chiavari switched on the ignition and backed the Corvette out of the garage to the street. "I shall teach you to hunt without killing."
"I don't think I can drink... blood."
"Of course you can. You have done it before."
Ramsey stared into the darkness. Blood. The elixir of life. He had said he didn't think he could drink it, but he knew it was a lie, a taboo that no longer had any meaning. He remembered the warm, rich coppery taste of Chiavari's blood on his tongue. Once it had sickened him; now he craved to taste its like again. "Where are we going?"
"My first rule," Chiavari said. "Never hunt where you live."
Chiavari drove down to the beach. It was one of his favorite haunts. He parked on a dimly lit side street near a run-down bar, switched off the engine, turned off the lights.
"You are Vampyre now," Grigori said. "You have powers of which you are not yet aware. Few mortals have the strength to resist you. You have the power to mesmerize them, to compel them to do your bidding, to wipe your memory from their minds. You can drink your fill from one and take his memories and his life as well, or you can drink only enough to sustain your own existence. The choice is yours."
"How have you stood it for so many years, Chiavari?"
"What do you mean?"
"The noise, the light, the constant hunger. Sometimes I think I'm going out of my mind."
"In time, you will learn to block the noise, to shut out the siren call of the heartbeats around you." He pulled the key from the ignition and slid out of the car.
Ramsey followed Chiavari into the dimly lit bar. It was a little after eleven, and there were only a handful of people in the place.
Ramsey grimaced at the stench of old smoke and old sweat that flooded his nostrils.
Chiavari took a seat at a back booth, and Ramsey slid in across from him.
"Look around you," Chiavari said. "What do you see?"
Ramsey shrugged. "Men and women talking too loud and drinking too much."
"No. You see prey. Food. You are a young vampire. You will need to feed often, at least for a while. Forget what you were before. Who you were before. You are Vampyre now, and you can never go back to what you were. That life is gone. That man is gone. You have been reborn. Accept it. If you want to live, you will embrace