back and away from the party. He cradled him tenderly as he sobbed, urging, “It’s all right, Obe... I’m
here.”
“Athaliah,” Snod whimpered. “He’s going to die, too. I’m going to watch him grow old, get sick...”
He shut his eyes, the bloody tears thick and sticking to his face. “It’ll be like this. I won’t be able to
feel a fucking thing.”
“It doesn’t have to be that way,” Frankie said quickly, grabbing at some napkins to wipe Snod’s face.
“You can get it back. It’ll come in crazy bursts like this for a while, but it gets easier. I promise it
does.”
“This is why you want to be human again,” Snod whispered miserably. “To feel... normal.”
“It’s why I liked being with you,” Frankie said with a warm smile. “You made me so happy. Angry at
first, very angry. Pretty frustrated, too, but I felt so much, and it was easy. It’s why I fell in love with
you. Because you made me feel human without even trying.”
“I love you,” Snod said passionately. “If nothing else, what I feel for you has not changed. The entire
world can fall down, let it all burn to ashes... I know that I will always love you.”
“I love you, too,” Frankie replied with a sweet smile. “I promise you. We’ll get through this. We will
do it together.”
Stronger than even the hunger that was always chewing away inside of him was his love for Frankie.
He had no doubt that Frankie meant every word, and Snod could feel a faint flicker of a pulse in his
heart. Every other possible emotion was a thin wafer of experience when compared to the intense and
burning passion he felt for this man.
Vampire, Maker, lover, boyfriend, his entire world.
Snod’s hands began to wander, nosing along Frankie’s throat and letting his fangs softly graze against
his flesh. “I do hope you find a cure then,” he murmured. “For both of us. We’ll grow old together,
watch the world go by side by side.”
From love to passion and inevitably into lust was where Snod often found himself falling. Those were
the easiest feelings for him to acknowledge and definitely the most powerful after the hunger. He
squeezed Frankie’s hips, his other voracious appetite demanding to be satisfied.
“Uh uh,” Frankie protested, lightly smacking at Snod’s hands. He was grinning, and Snod knew he
was interested, but he still argued, “Later. We have a huge party going on out there.”
“We can have a little party in here,” Snod countered, pouting. “Just the two of us.”
