Fallen Embers Read Free Page A

vampires. “Are you suggesting that these knaves might have actually chosen this existence for themselves? That they were not forced into it? If that be the case, I’m doubly pleased to have killed them.”
    Georgia shrugged. “I know not how they came to be, but it would not surprise me to learn that the choice was theirs to make. It is for most of us, after all, and not so difficult to imagine. The desire to alter one’s destiny, to live for centuries without the need to toil for one’s food, without the specter of age or infirmity—it lures many.”
    â€œAnd have they no concern for the blood that will be on their hands, or the stains on their souls, the eternal damnation they may be choosing for themselves? What of the innocents whose lives are forfeit for the sake of their survival—have they no thought for them?”
    â€œIt seems most unlikely. Indeed, I do believe you are the first I’ve ever encountered to express such thoughts aloud. I would say that the majority of us consider ourselves to be superior beings, and therefore well within our rights to take what we please—even more so when it causes no harm. Who were you, before your turning, that you should find it so hard to understand such things? Were you already a man of such wealth and importance that you felt no need to improve your station or better yourself? Or were you perhaps a priest that you should still be so concerned with the state of your soul?”
    â€œI was a soldier,” Quintano snapped. “A man of no importance, and with no claim to virtue. And yet never would I have chosen to be as I am now. To be turned into a ravening beast, forced to kill for each meal—how is that an improvement to anyone’s station? And how is it you find it hard to understand such things? Why do you not fear for your soul?”
    He stopped abruptly when it struck him that he was lying to himself. He had chosen this path. True, he’d made his decision at the point of death with no clear knowledge of what his choice entailed, but all the same, the choice had been offered him and he had taken it.
    â€œWhat a very puzzling creature you are.” The woman folded her arms around her knees and stared thoughtfully at him. “You talk quite like a fledgling at times, moody, naïve, shockingly uneducated. Is it possible you actually mean what you say? Have you really received no instructions at all , for example, in how to eat without killing?”
    Quintano growled angrily. He was half-tempted to snatch the woman from her rocky perch and set his fangs to her flesh. “To eat without killing? Oh! Yes, of course. Why would I not want that ? How far more pleasant it must be to listen to one’s food scream in pain while one steals the life from them. Or perhaps you are one of those who prefer to rip out your victims’ throats aforetime, so they are silent as they slowly succumb to agony and blood-loss? I should have left you to your fate. I’m heartily sorry now that I had any hand in saving you.”
    The woman’s back stiffened. The wary look, which had left her eyes in the last few minutes, was back with a vengeance. “Is it possible you really do not know this? We need not kill in order to feed. In most cases we need not even cause pain.”
    Quintano sprang to his feet. “You lie!”
    The woman rose also, more slowly. “Why would I? What purpose would it serve me to make up such a story, if it wasn’t true?”
    â€œHow should I know what demons drive you? Perhaps you wish to torment me with false hopes. Perhaps you seek merely to ease your own conscience.”
    She shook her head. “My conscience is quite clear; although, again, I thank you for your concern. You, on the other hand, appeared so troubled by the need to kill, that I thought it might ease your mind to learn otherwise. I thought to repay you, in some small way, for your kindness to me. I can