Vince was on his way back to the hospital when Mara appeared at his side. "I've come to say good-bye," she said, slipping her arm through his.

"You're leaving?"

"Yes, I find this little town extremely boring, don't you?"

Grunting softly, Vince thought about the family waiting for him in the hospital and shook his head. "Not anymore. So, where are you going?"

"I'm not sure. Italy, perhaps. I haven't been there in the last thirty or forty years. Why don't you come with me?"

He laughed softly. "Italy sounds mighty tempting, but I'm afraid I can't leave right now."

"Of course, I forgot, you're tied to that mortal now."

"More than you know," he said, grinning. "I'm a father."

Mara came to an abrupt halt, her eyes wide with disbelief as she looked up at him. "What did you say?"

"I'm a father."

"That's impossible."

"Yeah, that's what everybody keeps telling me."

"Where is it? I want to see it."

"Them," Vince said. "Not it."

She blinked at him in disbelief. "Them? As in, more than one?"

"Yep. I've got twin boys. Come on, I'll prove it to you."

Cara was still sleeping soundly when Vince and Mara entered her room.

Mara immediately went to where the babies lay sleeping, her expression softening as she gazed at the two infants. "How can this be?"

"Beats the hell out of me," Vince said. "Near as I can figure, it was a combination of you being so old in the life and me being so young."

She mulled that over a bit and then nodded. "I suppose that could explain it, but..." She shook her head.

"No one will believe this."

"Since you're partly responsible, how would you like to be their godmother?"

Mara gaped at him. "Me? A godmother?" A slow smile spread over her face. "I'd like that very much.

What are their names?"

"They don't have any."

"Why not?"

Vince shrugged. "Cara and I can't find any that we agree on."

Mara studied the babies for a moment; then, lifting her hand, she placed her finger on the forehead of Vince's firstborn son. "This one shall be called Raphael," she said. "And this one," she said, touching the other baby's brow, "will be Rane."

Vince nodded, wondering how he would explain what had just happened to Cara and how they would change the babies names without hurting Mara's feelings if Cara didn't like them.

He was still wondering about that when Mara picked up Raphael. Before he realized what she meant to do, she scored the pad of the baby's thumb with her fingernail, and licked the single drop of blood that oozed from the tiny cut.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Vince demanded.

"I'm bonding with my godson," she said.

Vince stared at her, his eyes narrowed.

"This way, I'll always know where he is," she explained, kissing the top of the baby's head, "and how he is."

Vince watched as she gently put the baby back in his bed, then picked up Rane. Watching Mara lick his son's blood, he decided this was something Cara didn't need to know about.

Mara smiled as she kissed Rane's cheek, then put him back to bed. "I guess I won't be leaving town after all," she said, "at least not for fifteen or twenty years."

She kissed each baby again and then, with a wave of her hand, she was gone.

Vince stared after her, wondering how he would tell Cara that her children's godmother was a vampire.

And then he grinned. Another vampire in the family shouldn't come as much of a shock.

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