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although his eyes did not close, he no longer saw the whitewashed ceiling above him.
Random scraps of memory floated through his mind. Katherine, so lovely that evening by the
fountain, moonlight silvering her pale golden hair. How proud he had been to sit with her, to be the
one to share her secret…
"But can you never go out in sunlight?"
"I can, yes, as long as I wear this." She held up a small white hand, and the moonlight shone on the
lapis ring there. "But the sun tires me so much. I have never been very strong."
Stefan looked at her, at the delicacy of her features and the slightness of her body. She was almost
as insubstantial as spun glass. No, she would never have been strong.
"I was often ill as a child," she said softly, her eyes on the play of water in the fountain. "The last
time, the surgeon finally said I would die. I remember Papa crying, and I remember lying in my big
bed, too weak to move. Even breathing was too much effort. I was so sad to leave the world and so
cold, so very cold." She shivered, and then smiled.
"But what happened?"
"I woke in the middle of the night to see Gudren, my maid, standing over my bed. And then she
stepped aside, and I saw the man she had brought. I was frightened. His name was Klaus, and I'd
heard the people in the village say he was evil. I cried out to Gudren to save me, but she just stood
there, watching. When he put his mouth to my neck, I thought he was going to kill me."
She paused. Stefan was staring at her in horror and pity, and she smiled comfortingly at him. "It was
not so terrible after all. There was a little pain at first, but that quickly went away. And then the
feeling was actually pleasant. When he gave me of his own blood to drink, I felt stronger than I had
for months. And then we waited out the hours together until dawn. When the surgeon came, he couldn't
believe I was able to sit up and speak. Papa said it was a miracle, and he cried again from
happiness." Her face clouded. "I will have to leave my papa sometime soon. One day he will realize
that since that illness I have not grown an hour older."
"And you never will?"
"No. That is the wonder of it, Stefan!" She gazed up at him with childlike joy. "I will be young
forever, and I will never die! Can you imagine?"
He could not imagine her as anything other than what she was now: lovely, innocent, perfect. "But –
you did not find it frightening at first?"
"At first, a little. But Gudren showed me what to do. It was she who told me to have this ring made,
with a gem that would protect me from sunlight. While I lay in bed, she brought me rich warm possets
to drink. Later, she brought small animals her son trapped."
"Not… people?"
Her laughter rang out. "Of course not. I can get all I need in a night from a dove. Gudren says that if
I wish to be powerful I should take human blood, for the life essence of humans is strongest. And
Klaus used to urge me, too; he wanted to exchange blood again. But I tell Gudren I do not want
power. And as for Klaus…" She stopped and dropped her eyes, so that heavy lashes lay on her cheek.
Her voice was very soft as she continued. "I do not think it is a thing to be done lightly. I will take
human blood only when I have found my companion, the one who will be by my side for all eternity."
She looked up at him gravely.
Stefan smiled at her, feeling light-headed and bursting with pride. He could scarcely contain the
happiness he felt at that moment.