The character of Bill belongs to Charliane Harris and Alan Ball. All other characters originate in my own warped imagination.

Mr Compton's Children

Azaria had been living with us for about a month when Alex was sent on a residential training course by her employer for two weeks.

I was horrified. "Two weeks!" I cried. "I don't want to be away from you for two days!"

"Oh nonsense" she said briskly "It'll give you and Azaria time to get to know each other better, and hopefully that new room in the basement will be finished by then." She gave me a rather pointed look and I sighed. I had arranged for my underground safe room to be enlarged into a suite which would have a room for Azaria as well and the building work was, as usual, taking much longer than expected. Consequently Alex and I had found it hard to find time to be alone together. With Azaria being around during the night and the builders during the day, Alex had threatened to move out and go back to her own house.

I supposed that I should be thankful that she and Azaria got on so well together. Fortunately they seemed to adore each other and spent so much time together that I almost began to get jealous! But then Azaria had only to look at me with those enormous brown eyes and I caved in almost immediately. She had proved to be a lovely girl with a kind and gentle nature, which appeared to have been entirely undamaged by what we came to refer to as her long hibernation.

At the beginning of the second week after Alex had left I was sitting on a cane sofa on the terrace when Azaria woke and came looking for me. I heard her open the terrace door and turned my head to smile at her.

"Come and sit down." I said. She was wearing a pair of soft sweatpants and a baggy T shirt and she came and sat down beside me pulling her feet up under her and leaning against me to look out and down the hill over the pattern of lights in the town spread out below us.

"You miss her, don't you?" she asked.

"Yes, I do." I said. "I miss her very much."

She sat up and looked at me very seriously. "Am I in the way?" she asked quietly. "I know she loves you very much Bill, I don't want to come between you. I never thought, when I asked Ulrich if you would help me, what a disruptive effect it would have on your life."

I put my arm around her and chuckled "Oh sweetheart, that's not true, of course you're not in the way! We both want to have you here. Obviously we also want to have some time to ourselves, but once the work is finished everything will be fine, you'll see."

She smiled and leaned back against me. "Oh I'm so glad" she said "I love being here with you and Alex, I feel safe and comfortable and...loved" she twisted her head to look up at me. "Does that sound odd? I mean, you hardly know me at all really."

"It's not odd at all" I answered. "After all you've been through it's only natural that you should need to feel loved." I kissed her forehead gently. "I'm very fond of you, and I'm sure Alex will say the same, when she returns."

"Can you feel her?" she asked softly. "Can you tell what she is feeling now?"

I laughed "She's asleep, she's busy during the day and she needs her rest."

"What does it feel like? How does it work?" she asked.

"I can feel...peace, relaxation, it's as if her contentment is filling up a part of me that was empty." I struggled to describe the feeling of having Alex entangled in my soul. "It's almost impossible to explain, you have to feel it, as to how the bond works, no-one really understands that. We just know it happens, with the blood exchange. The more blood you exchange, the stronger the bond becomes. Some bonds are naturally stronger than others though, Alex and I have a very intense bond."

She looked up at me, curiously. "Why did I never hear about it before?" she asked.

"The Blood Bond? We don't talk about it much. It's...powerful, dangerously so. It's not something which should be entered into lightly." I told her, looking down at her seriously.

"What happens if the other person leaves, or...dies?" she asked. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." she looked down, embarrassed.

I put two fingers under her chin and tilted her head up so that she was looking up at me again. "It's alright. I said you could ask me anything, and I meant it." I paused and gave a sigh. "If the other person leaves, the bond will gradually weaken. It requires a regular exchange of blood to keep it strong. If they die..." I stopped and stared blankly out over the hillside for a moment, overwhelmed by memories.

"It happened to you, didn't it?" she whispered. "Someone you had a bond with died?"

"Yes."

"What was it like?" she asked softly.

I was silent for a moment. "It's okay," she said " you don't have to..."

"It felt as if a piece of my soul had been torn away" I whispered.

"And yet you formed a bond with Alex. Why would you put yourself through that again?" she asked.

I laughed and sat up. "Probably because I'm just a soft old romantic" I said looking down at her with a smile. "Sometimes you have to risk your heart Azaria, if you want to achieve true happiness. The pain of loss is terrible, but the love...is worth it." I pulled myself together with an effort. "This is why some vampires never do it, or at least, not more than once. They cut themselves off from all human emotions because they cannot bear to feel that pain, over and over again. But by doing that they become detached completely from humanity and I could never do that. My humanity is important to me and I could never allow myself to lose it...again."

I could see that she wanted to ask about the "again" but she paused and sat quiet for a moment, thinking about this, then turned back to me.

"I was talking to the bouncer at Carmilla's the other day, when we went down there for you to do some paperwork, remember?"

"Ilario? He worships you, almost literally" I said "I think I'll appoint him your personal bodyguard, he would die for you."

"I don't want anyone to die for me."

"Don't worry sweetheart. It's just a figure of speech." I said, giving her a little hug, although I knew that Ilario probably would die for her. I was sure he would certainly kill for her, but I didn't say anything.

"He told me that he had heard stories about me from his Maker" she said.

"Yes, apparently there were legends about you, although I must admit I had never heard them. Ilario's Maker was from Peru so he knew of them."

Azaria sat quietly for a moment, looking thoughtful. "If there were stories about what had happened to me, why did no one search for me as you did? As soon as you heard the legend you came to search for me and you found me."

I smiled down at her. "Well, it wasn't quite as simple as that. The Authority had people looking for you for a very long time, but unfortunately they were looking in the wrong place. The legends said that your casket had been placed in the Temple on the Urubamba river, which of course it had, but what no-one knew was that the casket had been removed in the 16th century and taken to Spain by the monks who accompanied the conquistadores."

I sat back on the couch and looked up at the stars. "It was only when The Authority's contact in the Vatican Archives found Brother Diego's manuscript that we found out that you had been moved."

"That was when you and Alex became involved?"

"That's right" I said "Ulrich asked us for help in obtaining the manuscript and finding you before Lazlo could."

Azaria flinched at the sound of her true Maker's name and pressed closer to me.

"What will happen to him?" she asked softly.

"I don't know" I answered "and, to be perfectly honest, I don't much care so long as it means that neither you nor I nor Alex ever sees him again!" I turned to her and asked "Do you want me to find out?"

"No, I don't really care either" she said. "So long as I never have to see him again!"

"Well" I said carefully "If there is a trial, we will probably have to attend, all three of us. Will you be okay with that?"

She sat in silence for a moment and then looked up at me her eyes bright with tears. "It's so hard" she said "I thought that I loved him once, I tried so hard to please him, but I was so young and inexperienced, my father's servants kept me isolated from young men." I reached down and wiped a tiny red tear from her eye with my thumb. "He said he loved me, but how could he do that to me Bill? How could he betray me? He must have known how I would suffer!"

I lifted her up in my arms and cradled her on my lap, her head on my chest. "I don't know sweetheart" I said "I can't imagine how anyone could do a thing like that." I paused for a moment. "I think he was frustrated, and angry, and he acted without thinking. I think he regretted it later but, by then it was too late, for both of you."

"But you came and rescued me Bill" she said softly "As soon as you knew what had happened to me, you tried to find me. Lazlo knew the location of my temple, all those years he knew where I was and he never came."

There seemed to be nothing to say to this so we sat in silence for a moment.

"He released you?" I asked eventually.

"Yes. He didn't want to but Ulrich….persuaded him" she said.

I didn't think I wanted to know how Ulrich had managed to "persuade" Lazlo to release her, but I was relieved that he had. At least now she would be free of him for ever. I held her slight form in my arms and smiled to myself thinking what a contradiction she was. A vampire who was many centuries old, and yet knew so little of the world. One who was so much stronger and more powerful than I was and yet she relied on me for help and guidance, yes and even for love.

I had found that I had indeed come to love her, as I would love a child. She had so much to learn, she had slept all through the industrial revolution. Things which we took for granted now, such as the internal combustion engine and the internet were like magic to her. Although I knew of many vampires who had refused to embrace the modern era and had no idea of how to utilize the technology available today, they were at least aware of it. She was different in that these things were completely new to her. It was as if she had awoken on a different planet!

I could not imagine how I would react in her circumstances and I felt an almost overwhelming urge to protect her from the outside world. Something I had not felt since the day I held my daughter Sarah in my arms for the first time. A ridiculous idea of course. She didn't need me to protect her from the world, she needed me to teach her how to live in it. She wasn't a child, despite her appearance. She had the potential to be an extremely dangerous creature, although she was so gentle and kind I could not imagine that she would ever be otherwise. But then I had considered myself to be gentle and kind in my human life and yet I had been corrupted by my Maker, had allowed myself to fall into the darkness. I told myself that I would never allow this to happen to Azaria. She was my child now and I would take care of her and teach her what I wished I had known from the start. That we could live in this world alongside humans, that we could come out of the shadows, out of the nightmares and have the kind of existence of which I had dreamed for all those long years with Lorena.

Finally, the renovations were complete, just in time for Alex's return. Azaria and I had spent a quiet week, talking of her life with Lazlo and I had begun to understand her relationship with him a little better. Although it seemed that the more I learned about him, the more relieved I became that he was safely under lock and key in one of The Authority's numerous bases.

One of the things that Azaria told me during that week I had no idea how to deal with and I hoped that Alex would be able to give me some guidance on her return.

At dusk on the Friday night I rose feeling an unaccustomed exhilaration, knowing that Alex was on her way home. I stood by the terrace door feeling her coming closer, I could sense a rising excitement which I was sure was not entirely mine. Then I heard her car pull into the long driveway and I couldn't stop myself. I ran to the front door and opened it, just as her car pulled up in the yard outside. She got out and came over to me and I stood for a moment just looking at her. Her cotton shirt was crumpled by the seat belt and her tousled hair held back from her brow by the huge sunglasses she had worn at the start of her drive home, before the late evening sun had set.

She stood up on tiptoe and gave me a quick kiss, then turned away.

"Oh no you don't Miss!" I said snatching her up into my arms. "That's not nearly enough to satisfy me after a whole two weeks!"

She laughed. "Just let me get my bags inside first please?"

I helped her fetch her bags from the car and put them in the hallway and then caught her back up in my arms and began kissing her properly. I carried her into the lounge and sat down on the couch with her on my knees, our lips fused together in the kind of burning kiss that I had been fantasising about for a fortnight. I felt her warm tongue slide between my lips and begin to lick gently around the base of my fangs, which had dropped the second I saw her get out of the car. Her hands moved up into my hair as she held my head still and I took the opportunity to pull the shirt out of the waistband of her cotton trousers and slide my hands up to her breasts. She chuckled and let go of my head, her hands moving to the buttons on her shirt, undoing them slowly and with some considerable difficulty since I was reluctant to release her mouth from mine.

Belatedly I remembered that she needed to breathe occasionally and let her come up for air. She gave a little gasp and unfastened the top button, pulling the shirt open for me. I reached out and took a lace covered breast in each hand, squeezing gently and rubbing my thumbs over her nipples. She sighed and lay back against the couch as I kissed the base of her throat and began to lay a trail of kisses down her chest until I was sliding my tongue under the lace of her bra. She reached around and unfastened it letting her full, heavy breasts fall forward into my waiting hands. I bent down further and took one of her nipples between my lips, suckling gently on it, pulling it into my mouth and stroking it with my tongue, feeling it stiffen under my gentle encouragement.

Sliding down onto my knees on the carpet I felt the harsh denim of my jeans rubbing viciously against my agonisingly stiff manhood. Struggling to ignore my instinct to tear the clothes from her body and drag her down onto the floor alongside me I reached over and began to unfasten her trousers.

"Mmmm...shall I give you a hand with that?" she asked softly, raising her hips so that I could pull the thin cotton trousers down her smooth golden legs. I reached up to carefully remove her lacy panties the same way. Then I grasped her hips and pulled her forward until her beautiful bottom was resting on the edge of the couch and I was kneeling on the floor between her spread thighs. I leaned down and planted a kiss on the inside of her thigh moving gradually upwards until I was nuzzling into the soft hair around my goal. I slid my tongue along the folds of flesh tasting the sweet honey that I loved, that she produced just for me. She shuddered and spread her legs wider, inviting me to carry on, so I obliged her, licking delicately around her soft entrance, flicking my tongue gently over the sensitive little bud and listening for her little moans.

She reached down and pushed her fingers into my hair, pulling my head closer, trying to encourage my efforts, giving little cries of pleasure with each gentle stroke of my tongue. I slid my tongue into her and she gasped, pushing herself forward on the edge of the couch, trying to pull me deeper, but I pulled back and continued to tease her with more gentle kisses as she squirmed under my hands, trying to push herself closer.

"Oh Bill, please..." she whined softly.

I shifted my knees and, looking down, realised that the bulge in the front of my jeans was now so hard I was going to have some trouble getting them off! I reached up and pulled her nude body off the couch and into my arms. Laying her gently down on the rug, I began to struggle to free myself from the tight prison of my jeans. I gritted my teeth and wriggled out of them while Alex watched me and giggled quietly.

"Oh, you poor baby" she whispered. "Let me kiss it better for you!"

This sounded like an excellent idea to me so I moved forward to straddle her chest, my knees on the rug on either side of her, my stiff shaft seeming to strain forward towards her lips of it's own accord. As she reached up and curled her warm, soft tongue around me I suddenly realised that this was not such a good idea after all. I felt myself twitch and jerk against her lips and I knew I would not be able to hold back much longer.

"Wait, wait..." I murmured. "I want to be inside you."

She pulled back her lips, dragging her tongue along the underside of my shaft, making me groan with the strain. I reached down and took her by the upper arms, pulling her forward until I could position myself between her thighs and push myself into her with a moan of relief.

"Oh yes..." I whispered, flexing my hips to work myself deeper into her warm, welcoming flesh. She ran her hands up my chest and pulled up her knees on either side of my hips as I felt the pressure within me release as I poured myself into her with a cry of rapture. I put my arm around her waist and pulled her over onto her side so that we were lying face to face, our bodies still locked together, one of her legs flung over my hip.

"I'm sorry" I whispered "I couldn't hold back any longer, it's been too long..."

She laughed, running her hand down my back and onto my buttocks, pulling me closer. "I'm sure you'll make it up to me" she murmured softly, leaning across to brush her lips against mine.

"Well yes, that's the plan!" I said, closing my mouth over hers and kissing her, feeling myself hardening again already inside her warm embrace. I rolled over onto my back on the rug, pulling her up on top of me and gave a little cry I as felt her sink back down onto me, her smooth thighs resting across my hips, her knees on the rug on either side of my waist. She leaned back, impaled on my rapidly swelling member and held still as I ran my hands up her body reaching for her full breasts which swayed gently above me. I wanted to sit up and pull her closer to me but she began to move her hips, leaning back to brace her hands on my thighs and closing her eyes as she took over, controlling the depth and angle of my penetration to suit her pleasure. I lay back luxuriating in the sensation of her hot flesh sucking at my length and watched her, observing the expressions chase each other across her face, concentration, contentment, pleasure and finally a gasping ecstasy as she used my body to bring herself to a climax.

I smiled up at her "You enjoyed that? You like being in charge?" I asked.

"Ooh yes" she said breathlessly "that was fun….well, much more than fun actually!"

I took hold of her hips, rocking her gently on top of me, enjoying the feel of her soft flesh around me. I braced my feet on the floor and sat up, watching a thin trickle of sweat run down her neck and between her breasts. I leaned forward and licked at it, loving the salty taste of her and running my tongue up to the hollow of her throat. I pulled her head towards me and buried my face in her neck, breathing in the familiar scent of her, feeling her heart pounding against me. As I held her in my arms I could feel her arousal increasing through the bond we shared. Placing my mouth over the vein in her neck I began to kiss her, my fangs trying to extend further to pierce her flesh. She began to squirm on my lap, rocking her hips, building up that delicious friction between our bodies and, just as I thought I couldn't bear the tension any longer, she leaned her head to one side and whispered.

"Do it Bill, please…..bite me".

My mouth was already on her neck and I gave a sigh and bit down, feeling my razor sharp fangs slicing into her flesh until I felt as though I was completely buried inside her. I eased them out carefully, sealed my lips around the wound so as not to waste a single drop of her delicious blood and began to suck hard, and as I did so both our bodies began to convulse in unison as we reached a simultaneous climax in each others arms.

We sat for a while on the rug, Alex on my lap, my arms around her, holding her body against mine, feeling the little aftershocks run through her and I bent my head to lick at the wound on her throat, encouraging it to heal itself. After a moment she looked up into my eyes and said.

"Oh Bill, I've missed you so much!"

"Not as much as I've missed you!" I said fervently, leaning in for another kiss. "Please tell me you don't have any more training courses coming up? I don't think I could cope!"

She laughed, making me groan as her body jerked in my arms. "No, not for a while. So, what have you been up to while I've been away?"

"I've not been up to anything! But I'm planning to be….any minute now!"

"Oh Bill, please!"

"Don't you "Oh Bill" me Miss!" I laughed "I've got a fortnight's worth of lonely nights to make up for!"

"Not all at once!" she squeaked. "You'll kill me!" She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me. "If you're planning to ravish me again can we at least go somewhere a little more comfortable?" she asked with a smile.

"Hmmm…..yes okay, I think I can wait that long" I said, easing myself out of her body and standing up with her in my arms. Seconds later I was punching in the code at the security door and then we were in what I had come to think of as "our" room. I sat down on the edge of the bed and set Alex down in front of me. She stood gazing down at me for a moment, her hands on my shoulders, appearing to examine every inch of my body. Then she climbed onto the bed, straddling me with her knees on either side of my hips.

"You haven't been on your own though, have you?" she said. "You've had Azaria to keep you company. So, how are you getting along with her?" she asked. "I have to admit that part of the reason I agreed to go on this course was to give you two a chance to have some time together."

"It was?" I asked. "There was really no need to go to those lengths."

"Well?"

I sighed and put my arms around her, trying to focus my lust crazed brain on something other than the breasts with their stiff pink nipples swaying an inch from my nose. "She's a lovely girl, intelligent and caring. It's incredible that she's able to function normally at all considering what she's been through. Even when she was with Lazlo she only fed on her servants and glamoured them afterwards."

"She didn't kill them?" she asked.

"No. She didn't want to...but also it would have been too dangerous. Lazlo hunted among the general population and tried to get her to join him but she wouldn't, at least, she says not."

"Don't you believe her?" she asked.

"Yes, yes I do." I smiled reminiscently "she's a gentle soul, I've become very fond of her."

I put my arms around her waist, pulled her over me onto the bed and crouched over her. "Stop trying to distract me you bad girl!" I said "Or I'll have to teach you to behave yourself."

"How, exactly would you like me to behave?" she laughed. "Like this?" She reached up and ran her hand down my belly grasping my stiff shaft in her warm fingers. I gasped as she squeezed her hand downwards, easing her fingers between my legs and stroking me gently.

"Mmm…. That's a good start" I murmured, closing my eyes and relaxing. "Oh yes, that's good." In just a few moments I began to feel a familiar ache between my legs and pulled back from her hands. I leaned forwards and brushed my lips across hers. "I want you so much" I whispered.

"I want you too" she breathed, arching her back and pressing her hips up against mine, rubbing her wet, slick flesh against my hard length. I held myself still, crouched over her, feeling her warm flesh sliding over me until I could no longer bear it. I shifted my hips slightly and with her next stroke I pushed forwards to meet her, sliding my aching member back into her with a sigh of relief. She gave a little moan of contentment, reached up and pulled me down on top of her, wrapping her arms around me, hugging me to her, squirming and writhing beneath me as I drove myself into her over and over again. I began to feel as though the dim lights were growing dimmer, that the darkness was closing in around me, but for some reason this didn't concern me in the slightest. I felt strong and powerful, hungry for Alex's body and her blood, knowing that I could carry on like this all night. That I wanted to carry on all night. I looked down at Alex. Her eyes were closed and she gave a little gasping moan with each thrust. Her body was slick with sweat and I could feel through the bond that she was at that peak of arousal where every touch was enhancing her pleasure, causing her muscles to spasm around me.

I paused and pulled out of her for a moment. "Are you okay precious?" I asked.

"Oh yes!" she said. Somehow my brain appeared to block out everything else. I could hear my voice murmuring to her but somehow, I couldn't grasp what I was saying. I pulled her onto her side and slid my hand down over her bottom just as the darkness took me.

I lay exhausted and limp across the bed. Bill, however, was just getting into his stride.

"Are you okay precious?" he whispered.

"Oh yes!" I murmured "I just feel like my muscles have all dissolved, I can't move."

"Shame" he whispered, "I want more of you, I've missed you so much, I can't get enough of you….." He rolled me on my side and lay behind me pulling my hips back into his groin and sliding his fingers back inside me.

"Oh….Bill!" I moaned as I felt his fingers stretching me, "Please…..I need to sleep."

I tried to move away but his arms tightened around me possessively. "But I want you….now, I want you again." His voice had turned cold and dark, like thick treacle pouring into my ear. His long fingers curled inside me, stroking me firmly as he rubbed his body up against me like a great cat. He withdrew his hand and flipped me over onto my stomach, his hands curling around my hips and lifting me up off the bed. I felt him move behind me, felt the muscles in his thighs flex as he pressed himself against my buttocks and drove his full length into me deeply with a snarl.

I tried to raise myself on my hands but I was too weak and Bill placed his hand on my shoulder, pushing my face down into the pillows and wound my long hair around his wrist, using it to hold me down. He leaned down over me and began to nuzzle at my hairline, his long fangs scraping across my neck. I felt his cool lips brush across my skin and then he bit down into the back of my neck, not deeply as he would do to feed, just holding me in his jaws as he continued to thrust into me. For the very first time I felt that I was in the arms of a truly dangerous creature. He had always been so tender and careful with me but now, something seemed to have broken in him, as if some restraint had been removed and I could feel rather than hear a deep growling coming from his chest as he drove himself into me.

My thighs were wet with a mixture of my juices and his and I felt as though my insides had turned to the consistency of soft butter. As he continued to work himself deeper and deeper into me I wondered for the first time if he might actually kill me. I seriously doubted whether my exhausted body was capable of any further response to his ministrations but I was mistaken. To my astonishment I felt a familiar pressure building up inside me, my stomach muscles began to cramp until I could no longer bear the agonising pressure and I cried out just as something appeared to snap inside me and a flood of ecstasy poured out from the core of my being, smothering the pain in a burst of intense pleasure more powerful than anything I had ever felt before. Just at that moment Bill let out that same savage coughing snarl that I had heard from him in Azaria's crypt and exploded inside me in an equally shattering climax.

I woke slowly, dragging myself up from the depths, and sighed, rolling over and expecting to find Bill beside me. I had been lying curled up on my side, the quilt carefully tucked around me. I smiled at the thought that Bill must have settled me into bed as I couldn't remember getting under the quilt, couldn't in fact remember anything after Bill's snarling inhuman orgasm. I wanted to be in his arms but to my surprise the bed was empty. I peered around into the darkness and saw nothing so I reached for my phone and looked at the screen for the time. It was well past dawn, he shouldn't be up at this time, where on earth was he? I sat up and looked through the open door into the bathroom, but it was also empty.

"Bill?" I called, "Where are you?"

I flicked on the bedside lamp, turned around and saw him. He was sitting hunched over in the corner of the room, as far away from me as he could get with his head in his hands.

"Bill? What's wrong" I asked climbing out from under the quilt and moving down the bed on my hands and knees. He heard me and looked up and I stopped. His normally pale face was white with shock and there were two dark streaks of dried blood running from his eyes and down his chest, the dark lines standing out starkly against his pale skin. He saw me and pushed himself back into the corner, trying to back away, as though he were afraid of me.

"What is it sweetheart?" I asked, wondering what on earth was wrong, but as I moved I felt the soreness between my legs and I understood.

"No! Please!" He whispered, getting up and holding up his hand as if to stop me. "Please stay where you are." He got up and came over to sit beside me. "Please tell me you're okay?"

"I'm fine, really." I shifted a little uncomfortably. "Just a little sore, that's all."

Bill was sitting absolutely still, watching me. "You're bleeding, I can smell it." He said softly. "I've hurt you."

I looked down to see a smear of blood on my thigh. "Oh!" I hadn't actually noticed and I looked back to see a tiny trail of red on the sheet. "It's just a drop Bill, I'm a little sore that's all. I'll be fine. I promise you."

"I've hurt you, I'm so sorry but, I…I can't even really remember what happened. I can remember…..well…" he looked up at me with such a guilty, hangdog expression that I actually laughed.

"You enjoyed it then?" I said, and immediately regretted it as his expression turned to one of absolute horror. "Oh please Bill…..don't look at me like that, darling. Come here." I said firmly. "Now listen" I said "I know what this is about. You feel that you lost control earlier and you're afraid that you hurt me, that you're not safe, that I can't trust you, right?"

"I did!" he whispered guiltily. "I lost control completely, I promised myself I would never do that, never harm you….." his voice trailed off softly and he looked up at me helplessly. "I'm so, so sorry…"

I reached for him. "Bill, I'm alright, really. I was sleeping peacefully just now. Do you think I'd be able to do that if I was seriously hurt? Last night was wonderful, amazing, I never knew I could feel like that, that I could experience such…absolute bliss! I realise you lost it a little, I think it was probably the growling and the way you held me down with my neck in your jaws like those mating lions you see in wildlife documentaries that gave it away!"

Bill's eyes widened and he tried to back away again but I put my arms around him and hugged him to me.

"I didn't?" he whispered "did I….?"

"Yes, you did" I giggled. "And do you know what? I really, really hate having to admit this, but I enjoyed it."

He turned his head to look me in the eyes for the first time.

"It was….a little scary, but exciting, I've never had such a powerful orgasm before." I said looking down at my hands, highly embarrassed.

He sat silent for a moment. "You really know so little about me" he said, "if you knew some of the things I've done….you wouldn't trust me the way you do.

"You mean things you did in the past, over a century ago, when you were with Lorena?" I asked. He nodded silently. "Bill, I know enough about you to know that you're not that person anymore."

"It's not that simple Alex" he sighed "I only wish it was. You remember when I did that TV interview, the interviewer asked me if I thought I was a monster? I said I tried not to be. But the truth is I am. I try very hard not to be, to keep the monster under control, but however much I succeed in hiding it, the monster is always there, just beneath the surface. There have been times in the past when it has taken over completely. When I have done things that I could never tell you about, things I'm so ashamed of.

I manage to keep it under control most of the time but at times like this, when I'm with you, it's very close. I'm afraid that I won't be able to control it. It wants you Alex, I can feel it. I felt it last night. It wants your body, your blood, it wants to rip into your flesh, drain you, ravish you."

"And did it succeed?" I asked.

He looked up at me, shocked.

"Well? You think the monster got loose earlier, right?" I asked. "I'm not dead or drained am I? Okay, a little ravished maybe, but I'm not complaining!...much."

I leaned on him and put my head on his shoulder. "Bill, sweetheart, you've always been so gentle with me, so careful and considerate and I appreciate it really. I know that you're afraid of hurting me and I love the fact that you can be so gentle, but I'm not made of porcelain you know, I won't break if you're just a little rough with me. Don't misunderstand me, I know there's darkness in you, I know you can be dangerous, I've always known. I'm sure that you could hurt me, badly, if you wanted to, but you don't, and I don't believe you would."

Bill stared at me, his bright blue eyes wide with surprise.

"Even when you did lose control you didn't really hurt me, you were just a little rough. Believe me I know of girls whose boyfriends have hurt them far worse than that, and they were human and didn't have a fraction of your strength!"

Bill reached out, took me in his arms and laid me down gently on the quilt. He ran his hand down my body to my hips and lay down beside me, his head against my thigh.

"You know I would never knowingly hurt you" he said softly "I'm just afraid of what I might do unknowingly." He kissed my thigh tenderly and began to gently lick the tiny streak of blood from my skin. He moved up between my legs and I ran my fingers through his hair and held his head against my thighs. I could feel a different kind of wetness running down between my legs as his tongue gently licked at me, healing my sore flesh with his tears.

We eventually fell asleep in each others arms and I didn't wake until dusk the next day. I turned to Bill and saw a trickle of blood running down his neck from his ear. The bleeds, I knew it. He shouldn't have been up so late. I lay looking down at his still form thinking about the contradictions in his nature. He was such a gentle creature and yet he had the potential to be extraordinarily dangerous. I was convinced that he would never harm me deliberately and yet he was obviously afraid of the possibility of doing so unknowingly. I felt sure that something must have happened in the past to cause him to worry about this. I remembered him telling me that there would be times when I would not be safe around him, when he would be unable to control his hunger. I had not believed him at the time, or rather I had not wanted to believe him. But I had seen Gerry and Charles struggle to prise his fangs from my wrist when I had fed him after he was shot and I knew that he was right.

As I sat gazing down at him his eyes flickered open, surprising me yet again with their brilliance. He smiled up at me. "You didn't run away then?" he asked.

"Now why would I want to do that when I have all I want right here?"

He reached over and took my hand pulling it to his lips and kissing it gently. I lay down and snuggled up against him putting my arm around his waist and laying my head on his shoulder.

"So" I said "You were telling me about Azaria, before you got distracted last night."

"Yes" said Bill, pulling me a little closer. "She's a sweet child, not really suited to be a vampire. After last night I'm wondering if I'm the right person to advise her. I didn't set a very good example then did I?"

"Oh Bill, will you stop that please? You know I think you're being foolishly sensitive about this! Most other vampires wouldn't give it a second thought."

"I am not most other vampires!" he said, his voice taut with anger.

"Exactly!" I replied triumphantly "and that's why you are the perfect person!"

Bill narrowed his eyes at me and then sighed. "I walked right into that didn't I?" he said.

I giggled. "Yep! You certainly did! But that doesn't make it any less true. Besides you've done it before and that turned out okay didn't it?"

Bill looked at me with a puzzled expression. "What do you mean? You know I've never been a Maker."

"Well, not technically perhaps...but what about Claudia? She said she'd never have survived her first year without your help and guidance."

Bill sat back and stared at me in astonishment. "Do you know, I'd never thought of that! But I suppose you're right."

"At dinner in Amsterdam she said she met you in a bar in London in 1982."

"Yes, that's right." he said.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" I asked tentatively.

He bent his head and kissed me gently on the forehead. "Of course, if you'd like to hear about it?"