&quot;I love you,&quot; she said again and lightning split her smile. Alec landed on his ass. His eyes hurt, his teeth hurt. The Deity in front of the collapsed restaurant was light and darkness and rain and thunder and death and sex incarnate. He wanted her, wanted to be nowhere near her. He started to get on his hands and knees - And he thought, _&quot;Hell, no. I've gone five centuries without a fucking god and I'm not starting now.&quot;_ There'd been those, then and now, who'd mistaken Alec's self-interest for cowardice, his cruelty for weakness. Vlad Tepes and his _boyars were_ sadists - and in the end, soulless fiends - but as men and fiends they'd unflinchingly faced down overwhelming odds. _&quot;I deny you, cunt!&quot;_ he shrieked into the storm, and performed a trick, the one where he became dustmotes on a moonbeam. Slipped down a cracked stormdrain and called the rats to gather around him to wait. He wasn't finished. He smelled battle coming and he was going to be on the fucking winning team this time. 2007-10-11T21:37:13Z http://ficlets.com/feed/story/11263 <p>The writing style alone blew me away, as usual.</p> http://ficlets.com/stories/11263?basename=17051 2007-10-11T21:37:13Z Alexa ♥ http://ficlets.com/authors/alexa1018 <p>Just when you thought all blood-suckers were only good for romance novels and cannon fodder in weak action movies.<br />Thanks for restoring my faith in the existence of bad-ass vampires.</p> http://ficlets.com/stories/11263?basename=17035 2007-10-11T20:38:27Z Crown Me Tarzan, King of Mars http://ficlets.com/authors/user_605 <p>Oh, I have something coming… but you did an EXCELLENT job putting Alec back in a driver&#8217;s seat.</p> http://ficlets.com/stories/11263?basename=17028 2007-10-11T20:06:58Z Nick http://ficlets.com/authors/white1975 <p>Sat on my hands enough, had to get back in the game. Now I&#8217;m going to wait some more and see what happens!</p> http://ficlets.com/stories/11263?basename=17026 2007-10-11T20:02:35Z Howie Amourscow http://ficlets.com/authors/user_396