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She had just finished putting her dishes into the dishwasher when the doorbell rang.
Savanah couldn’t hide her surprise at seeing Mara and Rafe standing in the sunlight on her front porch.
Stepping back, she invited them in. She was glad to see Rafe, less so to see Mara. Preternatural power radiated from the other woman. It was disconcerting, and frightening. Mara carried herself with the air of a queen granting favors.
Taking her courage in hand, Savanah followed the two Vampires into the living room.
Mara took a seat on the sofa and Rafe sat beside her.
“How is Rane?” Rafe asked. “Is there any change?”
“I think he’s better.” Savanah perched on the edge of the chair. “I gave him some of my blood last night.”
Mara and Rafe exchanged glances.
Savanah lifted her chin defiantly. “You got a problem with that?”
Mara looked at Rafe and smiled, revealing strong, even white teeth. “Oh, I like her.”
Rafe grinned. “Me, too.”
Feeling as though she had just passed some kind of test, Savanah glanced from one to the other.
“I’m going in to see Rane,” Rafe said, “and leave you two to get acquainted.”
Savanah felt a moment of anxiety at the thought of being alone in the room with the most powerful Vampire in the world, but she quickly shook it off. She was tired of being afraid, refused to be intimidated in her own home.
“You must have questions you’d like to ask,” Mara said, “if not about me, then about Vampires in general, or perhaps about Rane, in particular.”
“How did you get into my house last night without an invitation?”
“All those silly rules no longer have any effect on me,” Mara said. “I come and go as I please, when I please, where I please.”
“Rane said you were truly immortal.”
“As close as you can get,” Mara said with a faint grin.
“So, you can’t be destroyed?”
“Are you planning to try?”
Mara’s tone was mild, but Savanah heard the steel underneath.
“No, I’m just curious. If you’re immortal, then I guess that means that holy water doesn’t have any effect on you the way it does on Rane, and that a stake through your heart is just a minor injury.”
“Something like that,” Mara allowed, her grin widening.
“Rane said you were born in the time of Cleopatra.”
“Actually, I was made the same year she became Egypt’s queen. I spent my early years as a slave in the house of Chuma, one of the King’s advisors, until he gave me to one of his trusted allies. Shortly thereafter, a Vampire brought me across against my will. I killed him for it and gained my freedom. As for Cleopatra, I admired her greatly, and so I arranged to meet her. She was a beautiful, intelligent woman only a few years younger than I when she became the ruler of Egypt. To adhere to the law of the time, she was forced to have a consort while she reigned, either a son or a brother, and so it was that she married her brother Ptolemy when he was twelve. Of course, everyone knows the story, how she refused to share her throne, how she captivated Caesar and bore him a son, how she seduced Mark Antony after Caesar was killed.”
Mara paused a moment, her thoughts obviously turned inward. “It was a sad day when Antony was defeated. Soon after, Cleopatra was taken to Octavian. He informed her that he had no interest in any relationship with her, personal or otherwise. He intended to place her in chains and display her in all the cities she had once ruled over. I offered to bring her across, but the heart had gone out of her. Caesar was dead and Antony was dead and her son, Caesarion, had been killed. And so it was that she chose to die by the bite of an asp, believing, as the Egyptians did, that those who died by snakebite would never be forgotten.” Mara sighed. “In that, at least, she succeeded.”
Savanah stared at the Vampire. If what Mara said was true, she was over two thousand years old. It was inconceivable.
Savanah was about to ask Mara about Rane’s parents when Rafe entered the room.
“He looks much better,” Rafe said, taking a seat beside Mara. “The pain is gone. I think Savanah’s blood was just what he needed.”
Mara nodded. “Amazing, what love can do,” she remarked, her words tinged with a hint of wonder. “I’ve never really understood it.”
“Haven’t you ever been in love?” Savanah asked in amazement. Surely, in two thousand years, Mara must have been in love at least once.
“Mara?” Rafe looked at her, one brow arched, as he waited for her answer.
“There was a man, a long time ago…” She shook her head, as if to dispel the memory. “I’ve never let myself care too much for any of the mortal lovers that I’ve taken in the past. I’ve never trusted those of my own kind….”
“Not even me?” Rafe asked with a teasing grin.
Mara ignored him. “I’m not sure I’m capable of love, not in the way you love Kathy, or the way Savanah seems to care for Rane, but now…”
Rafe glanced at Savanah and winked before nudging Mara in the side. “Go on.”
“I met a man in Egypt,” she said with a wistful smile. “Perhaps he’s the one I’ve been waiting for. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go check on Rane.”
Before either of them could ask her more questions, Mara flowed out of the room. There really was no other word for the way she moved, Savanah thought. It was as if her feet didn’t touch the floor.
“She’s quite remarkable,” Savanah mused.
“Do you think she’s finally fallen in love?”
“You know her better than I do. What do you think?”
“He would have to be quite a guy. So, are you going to marry my brother?”
“I don’t know. He hasn’t asked me.”
“And if he did?”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to be what he is, and as much as I love him, I’m not sure we’d ever be truly happy together. We’ve only known each other a short time.”
And for most of that time, her life had been in danger. They had been on the run, hiding from those who had killed her father. It had added a touch of danger to their lovemaking, made everything seem more urgent. Now that Clive was dead and the books were safe, she couldn’t help wondering what effect it would have on her relationship with Rane. Was it really love she felt for him, or just a lingering crush on the magician who had so fascinated her when she’d been a little girl? Or maybe gratitude because he had been there when she needed someone to lean on, someone to dry her tears and help her find her way in a world that had turned upside down?
