Hamburg, Germany, 1806

Isabeau Aguillon was pulled from a dream by the feeling of soft, warm lips on the back of her neck.

"Are you awake?" Ruth murmured in her ear.

"I am now."

Isabeau rolled over, and Ruth wrapped her arms around the vampire, sighing contentedly as she snuggled under Isabeau's chin. She smelled of the cheap soap that they had both been using, but on her it smelled sweeter than any flower.

Isabeau closed her eyes as she listened to the soft thump-thump of Ruth's heart. After Aileana had left her, Isabeau had abandoned Scotland and had travelled to Germany, where she had spent two years enjoying a brief string of sexual encounters with German girls, before she met Ruth.

Falling in love again was the last thing she wanted to do, especially when it hadn't been that long since Aileana broke her heart, but the heart wanted what the heart wanted.

And Isabeau's heart wanted Ruth Huber.

Isabeau had only been living in Hambourg for a month when she met Ruth, literally running into her one night when Ruth was making her way home after a long day of work. The collision hadn't been anyone's fault, but Ruth, exhausted and hungry, had blamed Isabeau, and had furiously cursed at her in the middle of the street. Under any other circumstances, being shouted at by an angry German girl was not something that Isabeau would consider appealing. But there had been something about Ruth's small stature, dwarfed by her rage, something about the glitter in her brown eyes, shadowed by those thick eyebrows, and something about the creative insults she hurled, that had sparked a flame inside Isabeau.

She had waited until Ruth had calmed down before asking if she was alright, and Ruth had been so surprised that Isabeau hadn't responded with anger that she hadn't quite known what to say.

They had started talking, and a soft, warm attraction had soon blossomed between them. Over the past two years, that attraction had bloomed into real love.

"Did I tell you that I saw Georg this morning?" Ruth asked.

After two years together, Isabeau still hadn't told Ruth that she was a vampire, though she'd thought about it almost every day for weeks. Instead, she'd given Ruth the same story that she'd given other humans in the past – that she had a rare sickness that meant she couldn't be exposed to sunlight for too long at any one time. Ruth had calmly accepted that a relationship with Isabeau meant spending most of their time together when the sun went down.

"What did he say?" Isabeau asked.

Georg was Ruth's elder brother, living a few streets away. Once she had a large family. Now it was just her and Georg. Well, her and Georg and his family.

Ruth eased out from under Isabeau's chin so she could look up at her. Isabeau stroked her thumb along the dark slashes of Ruth's eyebrows. Beneath them, Ruth's brown eyes were troubled.

"He talked again about moving out of the city," Ruth admitted. "He's really scared."

"He must hate me even more," Isabeau muttered.

She had met Georg and his family on a handful of occasions – of course introduced as Ruth's friend rather than her lover – and Georg had never made any secret of his hostility towards her.

Ruth winced. "Please don't take it personally. It's just because you're . . ."

Isabeau knew.

Georg hated the French.

Isabeau was French.

Austrian by birth, Georg had once been the eldest of five, born to a moderately wealthy family. His mother had died giving birth to Georg's youngest brother, leaving his father to raise four sons and Ruth, the family's only daughter.

For years, they had known of the hostilities between France and Austria, but it hadn't affected their little family until the War of the Second Coalition broke out in 1798, and all the Huber men went off to fight for their country.

Five men went off to fight.

Only two returned.

One of those two died of infections from injuries received at war just a few days after returning home.

In the wake of their father's death, Georg and Ruth had made an unwelcome discovery – that behind closed doors, their father had struggled to make ends meet, and had ended up borrowing a lot of money. With him gone, the debts had been called in. The family home was taken, along with Ruth's dowry, leaving her near penniless.

Things weren't as bad for Georg – he had married his German sweetheart, Martha, shortly before leaving for war, and once he returned he went to live in Hamburg, with his wife and the twins that she had birthed while he was away fighting. At least he had somewhere to live, although he and his wife had been forced to move into a smaller, cheaper home, that had become ever more cramped with the arrival of a third child. Now Martha was pregnant again, and the family's finances were becoming ever more stretched.

Although their problems were, in large part, due to the debts their father had secretly accrued while raising them, Georg blamed France entirely for what had happened to his family, and he had nothing but contempt for the French people.

Recent events had only exacerbated that. Austria had fought two wars against France these past few years, and had been defeated both times. As a result, the Austrian Netherlands and the left bank of the Rhine had been conceded to France. That was enough to sorely wound Georg's pride as an Austrian, and to make the loss of his father and brothers an even worse wound. They had all given their lives for their country, and in the end it had been for nothing. Austria had still lost.

Things had become even worse when the Final Recess of the Reichsdeputation had marked the end of the old order in Germany. The free cities, the imperial knights, the ecclesiastical territories had collapsed, and Hamburg was rife with rumours that Napolean would soon occupy the city.

First Georg had seen his own country fall to France. Now his wife's country, the one he had claimed as his when he married her, was crumbling.

"Do you really think he'll leave?" Isabeau asked.

"He will never live in a city under French rule. If Napolean does come, then Georg will leave," Ruth answered.

"Where will that leave you?"

With her dowry long gone, Ruth's prospects as a desirable wife had sharply dipped, and as an unmarried woman she had been expected to live with her brother, the last figure of male authority in her house, so he could supervise her behaviour.

Ruth and Georg dearly loved each other – which was probably the only reason Georg didn't spit on Isabeau whenever he saw her – but living with Georg and Martha and their children was miserable for all of them. There simply wasn't enough room.

If Georg left Hamburg, would Ruth go with him?

Isabeau would gladly follow her if she did, but she couldn't see Georg agreeing to that.

Ruth sighed, rolling onto her back. "I've been thinking a lot about this, and . . . I want to go home. I want to go back to Austria."

"Is that what Georg wants?"

"No. Martha will never leave Germany, and he'll never leave her. This country is their home now. But it's not mine."

"What will you do in Austria?"

Ruth laced her fingers together on her stomach, still looking up at the ceiling. "The same as I've been doing here, I imagine. There are always domestic jobs available."

She was quiet for a bit, chewing on her lower lip, then she rolled over, putting her head as close to Isabeau's as she could.

"I've been thinking about this for a while but I've been too scared to mention it, but . . ." Ruth took a deep breath, clutching her hands together until the ends of her fingers turned red. "I want you to come with me."

Words failed Isabeau. She stared at Ruth lying next to her, her whole body rigid she braced for the rejection that she thought might be coming.

"You want me to move back to Austria with you?" Isabeau said.

Ruth gave a stiff little nod.

Isabeau couldn't help herself; she laughed.

Ruth sank her teeth into her lower lip and started rapidly blinking. "You don't want to."

"No, I do," Isabeau said, sitting up and laying one hand on Ruth's cheek. "For weeks I've been trying to pluck up the courage to ask you if you would consider moving out of Georg's house to come live here with me, but I was afraid in case you said no."

Isabeau had put her heart back together after Aileana had shattered it, but the cracks were still there, fragile in places, and the thought of being rejected by Ruth when she tried to move their relationship forward had been more than she could bear.

Vampires were physically stronger than any human, but their hearts broke just the same.

Sunshine dawned in Ruth's eyes. "Really?"

"Yes."

"So you'll come to Austria with me?"

"Of course I will."

Ruth laughed, pressing both hands to her face in relief, and Isabeau pulled her hands away so she could kiss her.

"I love you," she murmured. "I will follow you anywhere, Ruth Huber."

"It's a good thing I'm only asking for Austria," Ruth teased.

"What will you tell Georg?" Isabeau asked, elation waning a little.

Georg was the only sibling that Ruth had left, and she would hate to be parted from him, but his wife was fiercely proud of her German heritage and it would take more than French occupation to make her leave the country.

"I don't know," Ruth admitted.

"You realise that moving back to Austria means it will become much harder to visit him and his family," Isabeau cautioned.

The thought of starting a brand new life with Ruth in Austria was everything Isabeau wanted, but Ruth had to understand exactly what she was committing to. Isabeau didn't want Ruth to ever regret making this decision.

"I do know that and it won't be easy, but I can't stay living with them anyway. Soon they'll have four children to feed, and I hate that I'm such a burden on them," Ruth said.

Ruth hadn't been educated the way her brothers had, but she was far from stupid, and she was more than capable of taking care of herself, but according to society an unmarried woman apparently wasn't capable of governing her own life and her own behaviour and needed a male relative to keep an eye on her. It was endlessly frustrating – for Ruth because she didn't need to be monitored like this, and for Georg because, as much as he loved his sister, it did put a burden on him when he had a wife and children to care for.

"Moving out of Georg's house isn't the same as moving into a separate country," Isabeau said.

"I know, and that will be hard, but Georg and I both have to make decisions about what's best for our futures."

Aileana had broken Isabeau's heart for the same reasons, and for just a moment, Isabeau thought about the Scottish girl and wondered whether she was happy with her husband. Isabeau hoped she was. Aileana might have hurt her, but Isabeau didn't wish ill on her.

Ruth twined her fingers with Isabeau's. "What's best for my future is moving back to Austria and starting a proper life with you. I'm not saying that it will be easy, but I really do love you, and I believe with my whole heart that we can make this work."

Right then Isabeau knew that this couldn't go any further without her telling Ruth her biggest secret. There was a chance that learning Isabeau was a vampire would be more than Ruth could cope with. There was a chance that telling her would destroy their relationship. But Ruth needed to know.

"There's something I need to tell you," Isabeau said.

Ruth took the news surprisingly well.

Like Beatriz, so long ago, she had suspected there were things that Isabeau had been keeping from her, and she had trusted that Isabeau had good reason for her secrecy. Learning that Isabeau was a vampire did not change Ruth's feelings, or her desire to move back to Austria with the woman she loved.

So, a few days later, Ruth and Isabeau packed up their belongings and prepared to leave. It was sooner that Ruth had initially intended, but why wait?

Georg wasn't happy when he found out. He had assumed Ruth would leave Hamburg with them, and finding out that she was planning on making her own way in the world came as a blow. Worse still, she was leaving Germany to be with her French friend. If Georg had hated Isabeau before, then he loathed her now.

But his anger and accusations didn't change Ruth's mind.

She said her goodbyes, promised she would write as soon as she settled in Austria, and then she and Isabeau left the city.

Several weeks later, Georg's fears came true.

Napolean's forces came to occupy Hamburg, and Georg and Martha took their children and left the city, moving out into the countryside, as far as they could get from French interference.

As soon as they settled, they wrote to Ruth, letting them know where they lived now, because in spite of how Georg felt about Isabeau, he didn't want to lose contact with his sister.

Isabeau hoped that Georg would eventually get over his anger towards her, but if he didn't, then she would smile and bear it for Ruth's sake. She would gladly suffer a lot more for the woman who owned her heart.

Austria, 1821

When Isabeau had told Ruth that she was a vampire, she had explained everything that came with the territory, including the fact that they would never be able to stay too long in one place. They would never have a permanent home together. But Ruth had assured her that home was with Isabeau, wherever that may be. If they had to spend the rest of their lives travelling Austria to avoid anyone becoming suspicious of Isabeau, then she would gladly do it.

So for fifteen years that's what they did.

They travelled the country, settling for a few years here and there, before quietly moving on again. They stayed in touch with Georg and his family, and even managed to meet up with them once or twice a year, though Georg never got over his dislike of Isabeau. Now, it seemed that – in addition to her crime of being French – he also blamed her for Ruth still being unmarried in her thirties. Obviously it was Isabeau's bad influence that had turned Ruth into a spinster. Still, even after all this time, he didn't realise that Isabeau and Ruth were lovers rather than friends, and Isabeau was glad for that. She'd rather he didn't have yet another reason to hate her.

It was the life that Isabeau had never thought she would have, and every day was more blissfully happy than the last.

Until Ruth got sick.

1/2