Everyone began to chat excitedly and in the confusion William took Alex's hand and drew her closer to him.

"Ulrich's had a gift brought here for me" he said with a rather sly little smile. He headed for the kitchen door, pulling Alex's gently with him.

"What is it?" she asked, stumbling a little to keep up with him.

"It's a surprise" he said. "You'll see. I think he was inspired by your new car!"

William led her across the kitchen and opened the door to the small yard at the side of the house. Outside on the grey flagstones stood a curious looking machine. A gleaming, black two wheeled vehicle. It was a motorcycle! I had seen pictures of them and images on TV, but I'd never been this close to one before.

Alex gave an excited little squeak. "Is that the same…."

"The very one!" answered William with a grin. "Ulrich had it shipped over from Italy." He looked down at her with a warm smile and suddenly I was immersed in a clear memory within his mind. He was wearing heavy boots, jeans and a black leather jacket and was sitting astride the motorcycle, the engine growling like some savage beast waiting impatiently to be unleashed. Alex was standing beside him, struggling to pull a rucksack onto her back before climbing onto the pillion seat behind him. As she did so I realized that the engine was not the only growling noise I could hear and William's head turned sharply to the arched entry to the square, where several low grey shapes had appeared, wolves! no…..werewolves! There was a deep roar and the machine leapt forward across the square and flew under the opposite archway and out into the night.

I blinked and I was suddenly looking at the machine parked in the quiet yard outside the Mill House.

Alex put her arm around William's waist and hugged him briefly. "You stay here and drool over it while I go and get myself something to eat, I'm starving!" He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead and she slipped back into the kitchen leaving William admiring his gift.

"Isn't that dangerous?" I asked. "Surely you could get hurt badly riding that thing? I couldn't permit that!"

"Well there…..you see…." he said, a slight tinge of sarcasm in his thoughts, "that's another advantage of having Alex with me. I'll be far more careful of her safety than of my own!"

He paused for a moment and I could almost feel him considering my words.

"Why would that bother you anyway? I'd heal quickly enough. Or are you concerned that I'd be hurt too badly to heal? That you would be trapped in a damaged body."

There was another pause as he considered this thought.

"Suppose I were to meet the true death?" he asked thoughtfully. "What would happen to you then?"

I was silent, shocked that this possibility would even occur to him.

After a moment I could feel his surprise. "You don't know, do you?" he said. "A situation like this has never happened before has it?"

"Don't try my patience William!" I said coldly. "You don't want me to get angry with you again now do you?" I felt him stiffen at my words, his muscles tightening in an instinctively aggressive response.

"Don't think you can intimidate me into submission Lilith, because it won't work!" he replied, equally coldly. "I've dealt with bullying women before remember!"

He was comparing me with his maker! How dare he…I lost my temper completely. I felt myself falling as William collapsed to his knees in the gravel to the side of the kitchen door, his hands to his head, his fangs driven into his lower lip to try to control the agony I was causing him. But he was silent, one hand out to brace himself on the ground, to stop himself from falling forward. I sent another wave of pain stabbing through his head and was rewarded with a faint intake of breath, but still he made no sound. Too late I recalled that he had been a soldier, a brave man and headstrong, he would not give in…..

I relaxed a little, easing back the pain and he gasped with relief. "Don't do this Lilith" he whispered, his voice harsh with stress, "you'll regret it!" There was a moment of darkness and then I was inside another memory.

William was alone with his maker Lorena. They had been arguing and she had thrown him away from her across the room to fall onto a small table which had shattered beneath him. He lay in the wreckage and looked up at her for a moment and I realized that all his hate and fear of her was gone. He was quite calm as he picked up a broken piece of table leg and placed the splintered end against his heart.

"No!" I breathed. "Not that! You would never have destroyed yourself, you are too stubborn for that!"

"Look into my mind Lilith, you can see the truth."

And so I could. I knew, without a doubt, that he meant it. He would have done it, destroyed himself, if she had not released him. Evidently she knew it too as she had given him up, in a flood of tears and recrimination.

William placed a hand on the wall beside the kitchen door and stood up shakily. "I would have done it Lilith, to rid myself of one domineering woman…..don't think I wouldn't do it again! And then what would become of you?"

"I cannot die! I am a God, a true immortal!" I hissed.

"Perhaps not, maybe you would simply be freed to find someone else…..someone more malleable. But I would be free as well…"

I confess that I began to feel a trace of panic at his words, he sounded quiet, defeated. "But what of your lover? What of Alex?" I asked.

He was quite still and silent for a moment. "Perhaps it would be for the best" he murmured softly. "She is young, she'll get over it in time. She can make a new life for herself, one where she will not be in danger as she is here. Sometimes I think I've brought her nothing but trouble and pain."

"You know I don't want that William" I said in a small voice.

As he sighed and leaned back against the wall I felt him relax a little as he felt the heat that had been absorbed by the old stones during a day of sunshine.

"Can you not see the irony here?" he asked. "The qualities that you berate me for, my stubbornness, my defiance, are the very qualities you once admired in me. The things you need in a host! We want the same things Lilith, we want our people to be safe and to be able to live in peace, you must know by now that taking over the world and ruling humans will never be possible! Why must we fight all the time, why won't you let me help you?"

"Probably because I've never had anyone to help me before" I said, after a moment's thought. "I've never needed anyone….."

"Then let me help you now. We're flying out to America tomorrow night, let's begin again, working together we can accomplish so much more."

I sighed to myself. I couldn't decide whether to be pleased with him or furious. I had chosen this man for many reasons, his powerful will, his determination and his good heart. How could I now complain of those very same qualities?

"Very well" I breathed, almost hoping he would not hear me. "I'll try."

I felt him relax. "Good. Then let's celebrate our new agreement shall we?"

He stepped away from the wall and swung his leg over the motorbike. Reaching into his pocket for a key he turned on the engine. The deep roar startled me for a moment and he had reached forward for the handlebars before I could do anything to stop him. But instead of moving off, he paused.

"Trust me?" he asked.

"Damn it! Yes of course I do!"

"Then why don't you join me...fully?"

Had I understood him correctly?

"You would allow this? You would trust me?"

"Just this once..." He took a deep breath.

I gave a sigh and allowed myself, my consciousness, to flow out into him and he did nothing to stop me. Suddenly I was in his body again, all of it. I flexed my fingers and grasped the rubber grips, feeling the rough surface against my skin, or his skin... There was a faint sensation almost like a polite cough.

"Um...do you know how to ride a motorbike?"

"Well of course not!"

"Then perhaps you had better let me?"

I felt him take control from me. I had just a second to realise how effortless it had been and then we were moving. His feet lifted up onto the footrests and I understood that I was still there with him. I was no longer confined to his mind but was in his whole body. I felt his fingers stretch forward and pull in the clutch, felt the pressure on the toe of his boot as he pushed up the gear lever. Then we were flying down the lane and out onto the main road to Oxford.

Half an hour later we stopped on the brow of a hill looking down over the city, the lights spread out beneath us like a glittering carpet. I felt alive for the first time in thousands of years. Felt as though every nerve in my body was on fire with the exhilaration, the pure, fierce excitement of racing through the dark countryside, both of us in perfect control of the powerful machine.

"Oh William, that was...indescribable. It's the closest you could get to flying..."

I felt the rumble in his chest as he laughed "You enjoyed it then?"

"Oh yes...let's go back home!"

He fired up the engine again and began to move off and suddenly, with a slight twinge of unease, I realised that Alex and I had something in common after all. I trusted him to take care of me.