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know of your leaving."
"How do you do this stuff?"
He smiled. "That is for me to know..."
44
My Vampire and I
by J. P. Bowie
"And me to find out ... yeah, I know that one. Well, maybe I just will find out, one of these days, Marcus."
"Get dressed."
"Wait." I grabbed his arm, pulling him close to me. "If no one's going to notice I've gone, there's no need to rush back, is there?" I kissed his lips, gently. "Let me stay a little longer."
    He crushed me to him. "When you look at me like that, how can I refuse you?"
* * * *
I was standing on Mark's patio gazing up at the stars, a little smile on my lips, when Mark came bustling out.
"Are you going to stand out here all night?" he demanded.
"This party is in your honour, don't forget."
"Sorry," I mumbled, moving towards him.
"Where'd your friend go?"
"Uh ... he had to leave."
"Too bad. Well, come on in. You have to blow out the candles. Everyone's waiting."
I followed him back into the living room and went through the motions of laughing and chatting, and all the proper stuff, but I was just dying to get out of there. I wanted to be alone with the memory of what had happened earlier.
    It had happened, hadn't it?
Now, looking around at my friends' smiling, slightly tipsy faces, I began to wonder if it had all been a wild hallucination. Marcus had said no one here would have noticed my disappearance, yet, I would remember everything, just as it 45
My Vampire and I
by J. P. Bowie
had happened—and I did. Every single, soul-searing, sensuous moment. I couldn't wait for the promised repeat performance, if I kept my date with him the following night.
    As if I wouldn't...
"Go on Roger, blow it out!"
"Huh?"
Kevin, pounding on my shoulder, brought me back to earth, and I looked down at the cake. It was shaped to resemble a skull. A single black candle sprouted from the top amid a sea of red icing, meant to represent blood, I presumed.
    "Oh, it's great," I muttered, making a silent wish. The second one of the evening.
"What d'you wish for?" Mark yelled into my face.
"For it to be tomorrow night."
"What?" He looked at me, pouting. "After all I've been through."
"No, no..." I took his arm and led him away from the crowd. "The guy I was with earlier? We have a date tomorrow night." "Jeez, that was fast," Mark said, obviously impressed. "You were only with him a few minutes."
"Yeah, well, he had to rush, but he said he wanted to see me again, so naturally..."
"You said, 'how soon'?"
"Something like that."
"Lucky you."
I crossed my fingers, hoping he was right.
* * * *
    46
My Vampire and I
by J. P. Bowie
After I had taken Roger back to the company of his friends, I returned home and stood outside, looking down at the lights of the city far below me. A feeling of loneliness enveloped me and I had to admit to myself I already missed him.
He'd said he loved me, and I believe he meant every word.
Of course, I love him in return. He was the one I have waited for. Yet, I could not let him make the decision to be my forever companion, without him knowing all the consequences of that action.
He was so filled with the emotional rush of our first evening together ... he needed time to think this through, to understand the full meaning of what his life would be, should we make life's journey together.
    That was why I tried to hold his feelings in check, to make him really consider all that he would lose if committed to me. There was nothing I desired more than to have him in my life forever, but he needed to come to me completely aware of all that it entails.
    I thought back across the centuries to the moment when Polonius had made me the offer of immortality. He had withheld so many of the aspects of vampirism from me. I'd really had no conception as to what was to happen to me. To this day, I retain some bitterness for what I perceived then to be his betrayal. Of course, I was foolish to have believed a total stranger's lies.
    But, that was why I would not allowRoger to enter into this life-changing