Alexander-Fyn-Sanguinarian

Raven following her. “Do not come to me tonight, my lord,” she said outside her chamber. “Of course I cannot prevent you if you are determined. You seem able and willing to do whatever takes your fancy. But I will not welcome you and if you want blood you must take it. I will not give it freely.”
    “Then I will not come.” He strode away, his long hair flying behind him. She was about to close her door when he turned around at the end of the passage and shouted, “You must decide what you truly want, Evangeline. You need to learn the difference between your true desires and the ones you allow yourself to admit to. Everything we have done together are things you wanted. Tell me if they are not. Tell me if I did not make you cry out with pleasure. If you would only submit your will to mine you could be happy. Allow me be your master!”

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Chapter Nineteen
    For the next two days snow blew hard across the moors. No one ventured outside who did not have to and no one went to the village for fear of getting lost on the moors. Raven spent his birthday alone, turning thirty without celebration or ceremony. Evangeline saw him only once that day and wished him a pleasant day.
    He merely nodded and walked on.
    The day after his birthday as she walked the castle for exercise, wrapped in a heavy shawl, he approached her as she crossed the Great Hall. “How are you, Evangeline?”
    “I’m quite well, thank you. Did you enjoy your birthday?”
    “Quite honestly it meant nothing to me.” He tried to take her hands but she would not allow it. Looking down at her, naked longing in his eyes, he asked, “Will you feed me, Evangeline?”
    She shook her head firmly. “No, my lord, I cannot be a party to your bestial behaviour any longer. I have shamed myself enough.”
    “Ahhh, I am to be insulted again, am I?” He sounded only tired, not angry.
    “I say only what I think.”
    “You say only what you think you should say, not what is in your heart.”
    “There is no place in my heart for you, sir.”
    Raven held her gaze. “I already have a place there if only you would admit it. You are drawn to me as you have never been drawn to any man. Once you stopped fighting me and accepted me into your life you knew that. You felt the rightness of it. Now you reject me and you are unhappy again.”

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    She shook her head. “I was unhappy about what you did, but I’m glad of it now because it brought other things into perspective. It is not natural or human to live the life you choose. I want no part of it.”
    “This is not a choice.” His anger rose up. “Being sanguinarian is not a garment I can put on or take off.” Even fed he was hot-tempered, but when in need he was worse. “I no more chose to be a vampire than you chose to be a woman and I would no more change it than you would wish to change your sex. I am a vampire and you are a woman who is attracted to a vampire and have chosen to be disgusted at yourself for it.”
    She shook her head. “You have no further use for me now that it will not serve you to marry me. You want me only to fulfill your strange need, to play a part in your fantasies until you find someone more suited to you. There are an abundance of people in this world who will give you blood if that is all you require.”
    “It is not all I require.” His expression grew hard and angry. “I want you to love me.” Immediately she felt a great weakness come over her, a sense that her strength was steadily draining from her.
    Raven caught her as she swayed before him. He grasped her shoulders and pressed his forehead to hers. Almost at once her strength returned.
    “I must teach you to protect yourself. You are too open, too vulnerable. It is not safe for you to be near me when I have the beast upon me.”
    He walked quickly away.
    Oh, my lord, I miss being near you, yet I must get away from here.
    I must leave before I change and become someone I do not recognize.
    But I want you. I want you so much.

    * * * *

    It was very late when Evangeline woke up. The lamp which she always left lit had burned out. The fire had dwindled down to glowing embers giving off insufficient heat. She shivered. Something had 250
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    disturbed her.
    Glancing quickly around the dark chamber she ascertained that she was alone. She could just make out the bolt on the door which was slotted home. Toying for a moment with the idea of building up the fire, she decided