"I actually meant only if you were really serious,"Ash said as he came up short against the cedar's bare trunk. But he didn't make a move to defend himself."And the truth is that you don't even need a spear like that. A pencil in the right place would do it."
Mary-Lynnette narrowed her eyes at him, swirlingthe yew stick over his body like a fencer getting the range.
Then she removed it. She dropped it to the ground. "You really have changed," she said.
Ash said simply, "I've changed so much in the lastfew days that I don't even recognize myself in the mirror."
"And you didn't kill your aunt.""You're just now figuring that out?"
"No. But I always wondered just a bit. All right, I'll kiss you."
It was a little awkward, lining up to get the position right. Mary-Lynnette had never kissed a boy before.
But once she started she found it was simple.
And... now she saw what the electric feeling ofbeing soulmates was for. All the sensations she'd felt when touching his hand, only intensified. And not unpleasant. It was only unpleasant if you were afraidof it.
Afterward, Ash pulled away. "There. Yousee,"he said shakily.
Mary-Lynnette took a few deep breaths. "I supposethat's what it feels like to fall into a black hole."
"Oh. Sorry."
"No, I mean-it was interesting." Singular, shethought. Different from anything she'd ever felt before. And she had the feeling thatshe would be different from now on, that she could never go back andbe the same person she had been.
So who am I now? Somebody fierce, I think.Somebody who'd enjoy running through the dark ness, underneath stars bright as miniature suns, and maybe even hunt deer. Somebody who can laugh atdeath the way the sisters do.
I'll discover a supernova and I'll hiss when somebody threatens me. I'll be beautiful and scary and dangerous and of course I'll kiss Ash a lot.
She was giddy, almost soaring with exhilaration.
I've always loved the night, she thought. And I'll finally belong to it completely.
"Mary-Lynnette?" Ash said hesitantly. "Did you likeit?"
She blinked and looked at him. Focused.
"I want you to turn me into a vampire," she said.
It didn't feel like a jellyfish sting this time. It wasquick and almost pleasant like pressure being released.
And then Ash's lips were on her neck, and that wasdefinitely pleasant. Warmth radiated from his mouth.
Mary-Lynnette found herself stroking the back of his neck and realized that his hair was soft,as nice to touch as cat's fur.
And his mind...was every color of the spectrum. Crimson and gold, jade and emerald and deep violetblue. A tangled thorn-forest of iridescent colors that changed from second to second.
Mary-Lynnette wasdazzled.
And half frightened. There was darkness in among those gemlike colors. Things Ash had done in the past ... things she could sense he was ashamed of now. But shame didn't change the acts themselves.
I know it doesn't-but I'll make up for them, somehow.You'll see; I'll find away....
So that's telepathy, Mary-Lynnette thought. She couldfeel Ash as he said the words, feel that hemeant them with desperate earnestness-and feel that there was a lot to make up for.
I don't care. I'm going to be a creature of darkness,too. I'll do what's in my nature, with no regrets.
When Ash started to lift his head, she tightened her grip, trying to keep him there.
"Please don't tempt me," Ash said out loud, hisvoice husky, his breath warm on her neck. "If I take too much, it will make you seriously weak.I mean it, sweetheart."
She let him go. He picked up the yew stick and made a small cut at the base of his throat, tilting his head back like a guy shaving his chin.
Mary-Lynnette realized he'd never done this before. With a feeling that was. almost awe, she put her lips to his neck.
I'm drinking blood. I'm a hunter already--sort of.
Anyway, I'm drinking blood and liking it-maybe because it doesn'ttastelike blood Not like copper and fear. It tastes weird and magic and old as the stars. When Ash gently detached her, she swayed on her feet.
"We'd better go home," he said.
"Why? I'm okay."
"You're going to get dizzier-and weaker. And ifwe're going to finish changingyou into a vampire--"
"if"
"All right,when. But before we do, we need to talk. I need to explain it all to you; we have to figure out the details. Andyouneed to rest."
Mary-Lynnette knew he was right. She wanted to stay here, alone with Ash in the dark cathedral of the forest-but shedidfeel weak. Languid. Apparently it was hard work becoming a creature of darkness.
They headed back the way they had come. Mary-Lynnette could feel the change inside herself-it was stronger than when she'd exchanged blood with the three girls. She felt simultaneously weak and hypersensitive. As if every pore were open.
The moonlight seemed much brighter. She couldsee colors dearly-the pale green of drooping cedar boughs, the eerie purple of parrot-beak wildflowersgrowing out of the moss.
And the forest wasn't silent anymore. She could hear faint uncanny sounds like the soft seething of needles in the wind, and her own footsteps on moist and fungus-ridden twigs.
I can even smell better, she thought. This place smells like incense cedar, and decomposing plants,and something really wild-feral, like something from the zoo. And something hot ...burny ...
Mechanical. It stung her nostrils. She stopped and looked at Ash in alarm.
"Whatisthat?"
0He'd stopped, too. "Smells like rubber and oil...." "Oh, God, thecar, " Mary-Lynnette said. They looked at each other for a moment, then simultane ously turned, breaking into a run.