“We are. I’m just being cautious.”

“I’ve never used any weapon like that before.”

“We’ve got to start training you,” he mumbled. “You have… good balance and coordination. You should pick up the basics well enough until I can put together a proper training regimen for you.”

“Baojia…” All the playfulness was gone from her voice. He looked down to see her hiding her eyes from him. Not good.

“We’ll talk more tonight.” He reached down and tilted her chin up so she was forced to meet his eyes. “Okay?”

She nodded, uncertainty still etched on her features.

“When I fall asleep… I don’t breathe, Natalie. I don’t have to, except as habit and to sense the air around me, so when I’m asleep, I don’t breathe at all. And you know my skin is cooler, so—”

“You’re going to feel…” She gulped. “To look kind of…”

“Dead,” Baojia said. Her heart sped up. He could tell she was afraid. “Think of it more like a coma. It’s just a very deep sleep. When I am older, I will be able to wake from it; right now I can’t. But I will wake at nightfall. Don’t forget that. I will wake and be just as I am now.”

She nodded, and he could feel the heaviness descending on his limbs. A cloud started to fog his mind.

“Grab the sword,” he said.

“Okay.” She reached down and got one of his short swords from his pants. “Okay. I’m not going to freak out.”

“Good girl,” he whispered. “Your turn… to guard me.”

Her tentative smile was the last thing he saw before his eyes closed.

Her scent was the first thing he smelled upon waking. It was the scent of skin and blood. Their scent together, mingling in a pleasing way. He wanted her by the ocean, outside in the water with the fog blanketing them. Maybe a hot tub. That had definite possibilities. Of course—he felt a rock beneath the pallet on the cavern floor—just a bed would be an improvement.

Cave in the desert. Bed near the ocean. He just wanted her.

Baojia’s fangs lengthened instinctually as his eyes flickered open. Natalie was not next to him. Candles still lit the room, and he heard a rustle of movement from the corner. His eyes darted over to the disturbance. It was her, rifling through a low cabinet that appeared to need a good dusting. The whole cave looked like it hadn’t been used in years. She must have heard movement, because she spun around, sword raised.

“Hi.” He held up his hands. “I surrender.”

A lingering trace of fear haunted that stare, but she threw the sword down and leapt onto the bed, kissing his face and holding him tightly.

“Oh, that was weird. I’m not going to lie, the way you just go out is kinda freaky, George. I maybe had a little minor panic attack at one point, but then the whole crazy night caught up with me and I fell asleep. I just woke up a little bit ago, so I was looking for some water. There’s a cabinet over there, but I—”

He pulled her down and shut her up with a kiss. She talked too much for just waking up. Of course, when she didn’t talk it bothered him more. Natalie’s natural state was chatty. He’d learn to live with it.

“Hi,” she finally whispered when he released her lips. “How did you sleep?”

“I sleep. There’s no variable. I’m awake, then I’m gone.”

“Yeah, I noticed that. You don’t toss or turn. You really are kind of… comatose. We’ll call it that.”

He smiled. “Whatever you can live with.” There it was again, that doubt. It leapt to her eyes any time he mentioned the future. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure. What?”

He tu8">eyecked a curl of hair behind her ear. She was wearing what was left of his shirt and the panties he’d left in tatters. It must have been something about the crazy, panicked night; he wasn’t usually such a barbarian. “I know you feel unsure about… us. About all this.”

“Yeah?” She squirmed.

“Give it a chance. Us. This.” He swallowed the odd lump in his throat. “Whatever it is, it’s new for me too.”

She bit her lip and sat cross-legged on the bed. “We’re so different, Baojia.”

“Yes, we are.” He knew she was thinking about her mortality. So was he. More and more every night. “But nothing in life is certain. Not in human life. Not in immortal life. Just remember that.”

Slowly, she nodded. “I’ll try.”

“And do not ever do something like this again, Natalie.”

He saw her eyes start to narrow. “Don’t. Dont lecture me. You’re not my father.”

“I most certainly am not.”

“So don’t think—”

“My name is Chen Bao Jia,” he said quietly, sitting up next to her in the bed. “Sired to water in 1884 by Don Ernesto Alvarez.” He reached out and tilted her chin up so she met his eyes. “Protector of a family that no longer wants me. Subject to no clan.” Her eyes filled with tears as he continued in a soft, urgent voice. “I offer you my protection, Natalie Ellis. Will you accept it?”

She blinked back her tears and lifted her chin proudly, but he put a single finger over her mouth.

“I offer you my protection. Do you understand what I am saying?”

Natalie paused and then she whispered, “Yes.”