“Finally, at the end of two years, she had her specimens to show Arion, fine and perfect things. She had done gatherings of gods and goddesses like unto the friezes on the temples. She had done portraits like unto the finest in the Forum. She had made art out of a craft. Never had he seen such work, he told her. He loved her. And such happiness she’d never known.

“Then came the terrible days of Vesuvius, the eruption of the mountain and the death of the idyllic little city where they had all known such happiness. Arion had fled the night before to the far side of the Bay of Naples. He’d sensed early on the evening before the eruption what was to happen. It had been her duty to see that the slaves of the shops escaped. But only a few would listen to her.

“And when it was all over and the air was full of ash and poison and the sea was full of bodies, when nothing remained where Pompeii had once stood, she had come to Arion’s villa—the very place where we were now—weeping and with only a handful of followers, to tell him that she had failed.

“ ‘No, my beloved,’ he said. ‘You have saved my finest prize, you have saved your own life when I thought that all was lost. What can I give you for this, my sweet Petronia?’ And in time he had given her the Blood that she was giving me. In time he had made her immortal as she was making me.

“She let me go. My lips stroked her cock as I withdrew.

“I fell back on the floor. But I could see with new eyes all around me. And I felt the bruises all over my body healing. I felt the pain leave my head. I sat up as though waking from a dream and I looked out the open window over the railing, and the pure azure of the evening sky caught me and held me and I didn’t hear the voices of the room.

“Arion came. He took hold of me and lifted me just the way she had done it, without effort, and then he reached up to his throat, and he said to me to Drink.

“ ‘No, wait please,’ I whispered. ‘Let me savor what she taught me of herself. If you will.’ I meant it reverently.

“But she flew at me and knocked me to the floor again and there came her foot against my ribs. ‘Trash!’ she said. ‘You dare answer that way to the Master, and who are you to savor what you know of me!’

“ ‘Petronia!’ said Arion to her. ‘Enough.’

“He picked me up. ‘My blood will give you added strength,’ he said. ‘Take it. It’s far older than hers, and you won’t be bound to her so very much.’