The next night, William had some business to conduct before we left. I had no interest in his financial affairs and I was concentrating on the journey to come when something Alex said caught my attention. Had she just called me a monster!

"No...no she isn't Alex, not really." said William quietly. "Life is much easier when you can write things off as monsters to be feared and hated. Sure, she might have been trying to take over, but there's no point in hating her for it. Hate damages you and I'm damaged enough already! That would only damage me more."

Alex seemed to accept this and began signing some documents, but William's words stayed with me for some reason. I had recently begun to listen more closely to his opinions as I found that he was very often correct but this idea disturbed me greatly. "Hate damages you." I had spent many thousands of years nurturing my hatred of mortals. At times I had felt that it was all I had, the hatred and the desire for revenge. From the very first William had tried to persuade me to let go of it, to forgive them. At the time I had thought that his concern was for their sake, or even for his, but perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps he truly was concerned for my sake, if he believed that I was being damaged by my hatred. I thought about this as William and Alex made their arrangements to leave.

I knew that he cared for me, although part of me struggled to accept this. When I had decided to take him as a host I had never considered the possibility of any kind of relationship developing between us. I expected to take his body for my own and use it as I saw fit. When he fought back and suceeded in regaining control I was furious but William, although obviously unhappy with my presence, nevertheless did his best to accommodate me. He knew that my presence gave him tremendous power among our kind and he intended to use it to the best of his considerable ability to enable vampires to live alongside humans in peace. Admittedly this had not been part of my original plan but after some time with William I was starting to realise that he had been right all along. If my children were to survive in this new world they would need to be able to live in peace with mortals. Perhaps he was right in this too, perhaps it was time to let my implacable and indiscriminate hatred of mortals go. Strangely the one mortal who had done most to bring about this change of heart was Alex. The girl who had done the most to ruin my plans! The one who I was beginning to realise was not entirely mortal after all!

I had always considered them as nothing more than food. Yes, they were dangerous but then we were hunters, predators who were quite capable of overcoming any human. I had never considered their feelings, their motivations, their fears. But Alex had brought all this home to me. It was impossible to see them together without realising how much she loved William. She had literally risked her life for him. I had seen her courage and determination at first hand. Despite her fear of what he had become she had refused to leave him, she had never even attempted to get away from him, her only concern was to free him from my control. It would never have occurred to me that a mortal would take such a risk for one of us, but then I had never considered that such a powerful bond of love could exist between a vampire and a mortal. I sighed, it seemed that I had a lot to learn. However, the accommodation William and I had come to the previous evening had somehow eased my mind. It was as though a great weight had fallen from my shoulders when I had agreed to accept his help. Perhaps now we could move forward together.

A few hours later William and the rest of the vampires had entered sealed travelling pods which, he had told me would be transferred to the airport and loaded onto the aircraft. There were various things that I wished to discuss with him and this seemed a good chance since we would be alone together for some time.

"Tell me about where we are going William?" I asked

"Am I asleep?"

"Yes of course"

"I thought we had agreed that you would not try to influence me in my sleep! Can I not trust your word Lilith?"

"I am not trying to influence you! I ask only for information. Can we not have a civilized conversation?

"Very well, we are going to America. On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, you remember the map I showed you?"

I was quiteproud of the speed with which I had grasped the concept of this "map" and the idea of travelling great distances by air.

"On an aircraft? A machine which flies?"

"Yes. That's right."

"Mortals made this "aircraft?"

"Yes...I keep telling you they, have made many great leaps forward in technology in the past few hundred years."

"But you still sleep in a coffin, like the monsters in the fairy tales!"

"Now you know that's not true! This is only for travelling in, and it's far from a coffin anyway. How many coffins have internet access and bluetooth?"

"This is a method of communicating over great distances? I have seen this in your thoughts."

"That's right."

I smiled to myself with satisfaction at my new knowledge. "This country we are to visit, it is where you were born a mortal? Where you were turned a century and a half ago?"

"Yes that's right."

"You have strength William, more than you should for your age. Too much to have come from your little fae friend."

He was silent for a moment, I had surprised him. "You recognised that in her then?"

So I was right! "Oh yes, the power in you is not all ours though. It is like hers but not quite the same, much stronger. Where did you get it my friend?"

"Well that would have been from Mab."

For once I was shocked into silence. "Mab? Queen Mab? The Winter Queen? She gifted you with the power of ice and fire? Why would she do that? Do you have any idea how many mortal men have begged Mab for power and died for it?"

"Ah, but I am not a mortal man am I? And besides they all wanted power for themselves and I did not."

I thought about this for a moment. "Why would anyone want power for any other reason?"

I felt William smile to himself. "Oh Lily, somehow I just knew you would not understand that."

"Oh my! I have an affectionate nickname now? You're falling for my charms at last William dear! I'm honoured you know. If Mab has gifted you with power as well then I'm in good company. So? Who was the power for if not yourself? Your lovely Alex perhaps?"

"It was for my daughter, Azaria. You have access to my memories, you know the story of how we found her and rescued her. Well, she was kidnapped by a group of men who wished to use her to do us harm. I knew where she was but I didn't have the strength to take her back from the vampire who guarded her so I asked Mab if she would help me. Since Azaria is her granddaughter, she agreed."

"Very few vampires even know of Mab and even fewer would dare to ask her for favours. She must approve of you William."

This was another subject which I did not really understand.

"Azaria now, you call her your child but she is not. You did not make her, you have never been a maker."

"No she is not my child but I care for her as much as if she was."

"But why?" I struggled to understand this. "You did not even know her!"

He paused for a moment, clearly trying to find a way to explain it. "When I heard what had happened to her, how she had suffered, I felt sorry for her. Have you never felt compassion for anyone?" He paused again, waiting for a response. "What about Berenice, she served you faithfully for two thousand years!"

"She was the Guardian. It was her appointed task. There had been others before her, her maker Mekure, and there would be others after her. Though I admit I had become fond of her"

"Is there no one else that you care for?"

I thought about this. "There is you, William..."

He seemed surprised at this admission. "Me?"

"Yes."

"What exactly do you feel for me?"

"I...I wish to protect you William. I know that you wish to continue your existence here and so if anyone were to try to do you harm I should destroy them."

He was silent, thinking about this. "Okay...well that's a start I suppose. When you say that you know how I feel, what you are feeling is empathy, being able to understand how others feel is a big part of being human, well done!"

"Don't patronise me William!"

"Now try to understand that I could empathise with Azaria, I could understand her pain and her fear and feel sorrow for it even though I did not know her at the time."

I will consider this. I left him then to sleep in peace. He had given me a lot to think about before we reached the New World.