Maria smmed her door shut, heart pounding wildly in her chest. Her shaking hands pulled the chair across the floor and pushed it under the doorknob. In less than a minute, she heard footsteps in the hallway, then a soft knock.

  "Maria?" Father Gabriel's voice came through the door. "Please, let me expin what you saw."

  Maria pressed herself against the far wall, quickly gathering the holy items from her table. Her wooden cross now hung on the door, pced where its power might be strongest. Under it, she put a row of small candles, their small fmes moving in the air from under the door.

  "Go away, demon!" she cried, her voice breaking with fear.

  A pause. Then, "I understand you're scared," Gabriel said softly. "What you saw has upset you. But there are things about me you don't know yet."

  "I saw enough!" Maria said, her voice shaking. "You drink blood. The Light says those who drink blood are demons from the dark pces."

  "Maria," Gabriel's voice was gentle through the door. "What you saw has scared you, and I understand why. But there's more to know about vampires than what you've been taught."

  Despite herself, Maria found questions rising through her fear. "If you're truly a demon, why do you speak of the Light? Why do you have crosses in your house? The Light's symbols should burn demons."

  A soft sound—perhaps a sigh—came through the door. "Religious symbols have no effect on vampires, Maria. That's a myth, like many others you've been taught. I can touch a cross, enter a chapel, speak the Light's name—because I am not a demon from hell. I am a human transformed by a virus."

  "But you drink blood!" Maria cried, still feeling sick from what she had seen.

  "Yes," Gabriel said. "But I only take a little, from people who want to help. Rebecca's son got medicine that saved his life because she gives blood to me."

  Maria shook her head hard, though he couldn't see her. "The Light says demons drink blood to punish us for our sins."

  "And what bad things had you done at age five, Maria? What sins can a baby commit? Yet those who drink blood take from young and old alike. If it was truly punishment from the Light, wouldn't it only happen to people who did bad things?"

  "Because of the sins of those who came before us," Maria replied firmly. This was something she knew well from the teachings. "We carry the weight of sins from the ones before us. Their debts become our debts. That's why even the young must pay."

  "Maria," Gabriel said gently after a moment of silence, "do you remember what we talked about in our lessons? About how to know what is good and what is bad?"

  Maria hesitated. She remembered those talks well - they had made so much sense when she thought Father Gabriel was human. "You said... you said good things help people, and bad things hurt them."

  "Yes," Gabriel replied. "And when you look at how I treat the people here - Rebecca, the kitchen staff, the gardeners - do you see me hurting them? Or helping them?"

  Maria found her voice again. "How can a demon be a priest? How can you talk about the Light if you drink blood? Taking blood hurts people!"

  "Not when it's done carefully and in small amounts," Gabriel expined gently. "Think of it like when the healers at Blood Farm #17 would take a little blood to check if someone was sick. They took just a small amount, and the person's body would make more. When I take blood from Rebecca or others who help me, I take only a little - not enough to make them weak or sick. Their bodies repce it quickly."

  Maria stared at the door, trying to picture the person on the other side. Was he standing there, calm and kind as he always seemed when they talked about the Light? Or was he different now that she knew what he was—with sharp teeth, eyes glowing with demon light?

  "You tricked me," she said, her voice smaller now. "You let me think you were human."

  "I never said I was human, Maria," Gabriel replied gently. "I thought you knew that Viscount Gabriel and Father Gabriel are one and the same person. Everyone else does."

  Maria's hands shook around her wooden cross. A terrible realization washed over her - Father Gabriel had never said he wasn't the Viscount. In fact, she had never seen anyone else giving orders or acting as the lord of the house. Everyone treated Father Gabriel with the respect due to the master of the estate. How had she been so blind?

  "I never..." she started, her voice small with embarrassment. "I never saw anyone else in charge. You never said you weren't the Viscount. I just thought..." She felt stupid now, like a child who hadn't seen what was right in front of her.

  "How can I believe anything you say?" she whispered, just loud enough for him to hear through the door.

  A tear ran down Maria's cheek, then another and another. She didn't wipe them away.

  Gabriel heard her crying through the door. "Maria," he said gently, "please open the door. I know this is confusing and scary for you. Let me come in and we can talk. I'll expin the things you don't know. You don't have to face this alone."