The Dilemma of Love
I opened my eyes once more to the nightmare that had befallen me, again seeing the blue beams of Augustin’s candlestick flickering off of the stone ceiling far above me. I lay still for an infinite moment, the realization dawning upon me slowly that I yet lay on my back upon the writing desk, those two ancient books propping my head up, my uncertain gaze directed straight above me. I heard my own breathing, low, shallow, and felt the weakness of blood loss weighing down my entire body. I heard my heart beating within my chest, its movement pitiful but steady. I smelled the blood—my blood—saturating the record room of Muniche. A dull but healing pain stung the right side of my neck, where that vampire had bitten me . . . and I could feel a new pain, a cleaner one, tingl
