“Then I happened upon a whore.”

“She's a whore, that one, Pam said.”

“My favorite fantasy? You come down into my daytime resting place stark naked," he said, and I could see the gleam of his teeth as he smiled. "Oh, wait," Bill said. "That's already happened.”

“I could tell Hugo was convinced that he would get to walk back up these stairs: after all, he was a civilized person. These were all civilized people.Hugo really couldn't imagine that anything irreparable could happen to him, because he was a middle-class white American with a college education, as were all the people on the stairs with us.I had no such conviction. I was not a wholly civilized person.”

“Bill, what's your favorite fantasy?" I asked. Weirdly enough, I felt much better after designing all these happy endings.Bill glanced over at me quizzically. We were almost to my house. "My favorite fantasy? You come down into my daytime resting place stark naked," he said. I could see the gleam of his teeth as he smiled. "Oh wait," Bill said. "That's already happened.""There's gotta be more to it," I said. Then I could have bitten off my tongue."Oh, there is." His eyes told me exactly what happened after that."And that's your fantasy? That I come into your house naked and have sex with you?""After that, you tell me that you have sent Eric on his way, that you want to be with mine forever, and that to share my life you will permit me to make you a vampire like me."The silence now was thick, and the fun had drained out of the fantasy.Then Bill added, "You know what I'd say when you told me this? I'd tell you I would never do such a thing. Because I love you.”

“How is Eric?''Very tightly wound. Plus, a lot of stuff happened that he'll tell you about.''Thanks for the warning. I'll go to the house now. You're my favorite breather.''Oh. Well ... great.'She hung up.”

“Something always turns up. It always seems darkest before the dawn. When God closes a door he opens a window. All things happen for a reason. Into every life a little rain must fall. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger.”