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“Mortal, you mean? Oh, yes, very much. I didn’t run into Dom until a year or two later. 1271 was the year I followed Marco Polo and his father to China.”
    “You’re kidding.”
    Ian chuckled. Somehow it felt right to be telling her these things that he hadn’t thought of in decades. “Afraid not. I was part of their traveling party. After the failed siege at Tunis, I went to Rome to seek the wisdom of a priest I’d met in my travels who lived there in service to the Pope. He knew the Polos and suggested to them that I might be handy to have along as added protection, I guess. Father Augustus counseled me to meditate on the long journey. He told me I would find my answer in the East. Or that’s what he claimed God had told him. He was a funny old man that way, but back in those days I was inclined to believe when a holy man told me God spoke to him on a regular basis.” Ian shrugged. “Regardless, off I went on the Silk Road to China. And there I met Domitian, the vampire who gave me the blessing and curse of immortality.”
    “But why?”
    Ian sighed heavily. “Who’s to say? Perhaps he was lonely. Dom had traveled the earth since before the time of Christ. He’s the one who knew Valentine. He once told me he’d been a Praetorian Guard during the reign of at least three Caesars. We had Rome in common, though the Rome I knew was much different from the city in which he’d been born.”
    Ian put his half-full glass on the table, his gaze meeting hers. “As to why he changed me? Treachery. Pure and simple. There were factions that didn’t want the Polos to succeed in their business venture, both rivals from their own land and isolationists and political maneuverers in the lands through which we traveled. Some were more violent than others and as a knight, it was my job to organize a defense and repulse any attacks. It’s what got me killed—or as close as I’ve come in my long life.
    “I’d already become friends with Dom. We met him on the Road and he invited us to stay at his compound while we rested for the next leg of the journey. We’d been staying with him for a few days when the attack came—raiders from the East trying to stop us before we could make it through to the Khan—but we repulsed them. I was gravely wounded in the fighting, though, and taken within Dom’s private home to be treated, but I was too far gone. When Dom saw me, he decided to save me in his own way and made me what I am.”
    “He gave you his blood.” Her tone was solemn, her eyes filled with compassion that was almost his undoing. Ian couldn’t believe he’d told her so much of the past he usually kept well buried. He sighed and picked up the glass once more, twirling it by the stem between his agitated fingers.
    “Forgive me. I didn’t mean to dwell on things better left forgotten.”
    “What happened to Dom?” Her soft voice tempted him.
    “I don’t know, actually. He taught me all I needed to know about my new life. When the Polos continued on their way, I stayed with Dom in his compound. I stayed there for quite a while, in fact, until Dom decided to pick up stakes and move on. When he left, I did too, though traveling was a lot tougher in those days for our kind.”
    “I bet.” Jena chuckled just slightly as she sipped at her wine. “I’m glad he saved you, Ian.” Her tender tone nearly stopped his heart.
    Ian paused, considering his words before speaking. “There are times I wished he’d let me die over the years, but just now, being here with you, it all seems worthwhile.”
    Jena blushed, her vital young blood heating her cheeks and making him salivate in anticipation. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”
    “I say that only to you, Jena, because it’s true.” He reached across the small table to grasp her hand, stilling her nervous movements.

Chapter Three
    Jena thought absently how different this little tête-à-tête with Ian was when compared to the disastrous date she’d had