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"Ah, you have me. I have not heard the demon. I have struggled to believe in it. But I have not heard it. You are right. "

"Did you see the demon in my paintings, Raymond Gallant?"

"No, I did not, Marius. "

"Tell me what you saw. "

"Fearful skill and marvelous color," he answered, not even hesitating a moment, as though he had thought it through. "Wondrous figures and great invention, which gave everyone utter delight. "

"Ah, but am I better than the Florentine Botticelli?" I asked him.

His face darkened. There came a small frown to him.

"Let me answer for you," I said, "I am not. "

He nodded.

"Think on it," I said. "I am an immortal, and Botticelli is a mere man. Yet what are the wonders which Botticelli has done?"

It was too painful for me to be here any longer.

I reached out with both hands and gently took hold of his head before he could stop me. His hands rose and they gripped mine but they could do nothing of course to soften my own grip.

I came close to him, and I spoke in a whisper.

"Let me give you a gift, Raymond. Now pay attention to me. I will not kill you. I will not harm you. I want only to show you the teeth and the Blood, and if you will allow¡ªand mark, I ask for your permission¡ªI shall give you a drop of the Blood on your tongue,"

I opened my mouth so that the fang teeth were visible to him and I felt his body stiffen. He uttered a desperate prayer in Latin.

Then I cut my tongue with my teeth as I had done a hundred times with Amadeo.

"Do you want this blood?" I asked.

He closed his eyes.

"I will not make this decision for you, scholar. Will you take this lesson?"

"Yes!" he whispered when in fact his mind said No.

I clamped his mouth in an ardent kiss. The blood passed into him, and violently, he convulsed.

As I let him go, he could scarcely stand. But he was no coward, this man. And he bowed his head for only an instant and then he looked at me with clouded eyes.

He was enchanted for these small moments, and patiently, I let them pass.

"My thanks to you, Raymond," I said. I prepared to take my leave through the window. "Write to me with all you know of Pandora, and if you cannot I will understand. "

"Don't ever see an enemy in us, Marius," he said quickly.

"Don't fear it," I said. "I never really forget anything that happens. I will always remember that you spoke to me of her. "

And then I was gone.

I came back to my bedroom study, where Amadeo still slept as though wine had drugged him when it had only been mortal blood.

For a little while I wrote in my diary. I tried to describe sensibly the conversation which had just taken place. I tried to describe the Talamasca from all that Raymond Gallant had revealed to me.

But at last I gave in to writing the name Pandora over and over, foolishly, Pandora, and then I put my head down on my folded arms and dreamt of her, and whispered to her in my dreams.