I sat on the front stoop and gave in to my tears. It hurt to cry and it hurt not to. I pictured Monica with her long blond hair up in a hasty ponytail poring over legal documents and fine-tuning even the smallest errors. The memory of Tyler's easy laughter and her intricate tattoos brought sobs ripping from my throat. I missed Julie with her little hands and serious expressions. But my Tige, my Tige who I had burned for, risked my life for, my Tige who had been taken so easily away from me.I covered my mouth and tried to press my tears back inside. I was rocking and dizzy with my grief when I felt someone beside me.I thought it would be Tony.But it was Ran.His eyes were hollow and dark. He pulled me into his arms, and I collapsed into him and didn't try to hold back my sorrow. I cried and wailed and gripped Ran to me while he absorbed everything I had to give him."Julie," I whispered. "Julie …" I must have said her name a hundred times while Ran held on to me.A long time la
Neratomay swarmed around me. Tony lifted me in his arms. "Kim!""I-I feel them," I said."Who?" Tony asked."Tyler and Monica. They're still alive.""Tyler!" I called repeatedly, but there was no answer. I called Monica as well. No answer.I started trembling. I could trace them clearly though they hadn't responded. I knew where they were!Tony was talking to me. "Where are they?" "They're here! Not far!" I stood. "I'm not going to wait for Paul. I'm going now.""Wait!" Twenty Neratomay shouted at once."They're not going to be alone," Tony said. "We need a group to go in with you and another group to sweep through from the outside. You have to wait for Paul's arrival.""Paul! Paul!'"Baby! What's wrong?""Tyler and Monica are alive!" I could feel a world of emotion emanating from him. He must have pulled over the motorcycle because I could no longer sense his movement. I could sense his confusion and relief as well as joy and anger."I'm not far from the village if y
"Jason," I said in a husky voice. "Get Monica to safety."Ran hurried to Monica, lifting her and vanishing. I turned and sensed Jason's whereabouts.When I materialized again, I was alone in a room of two-dozen werewolves, several guarding Jason, who was chained to a wall. "Were you expecting me?" I howled. "Let's do this." Before I could go to battle, the air grew bitterly cold, and the werewolves looked confused. I smelled, of all things, fresh flowers. A woman no taller than five-two appeared between the werewolves and me. She was drop-dead beautiful, her skin the deathly white of an old Vampire. Her hair was a luscious black that ran down in curls to the small of her back. Her green eyes were striking against her face and hair. She wore a gown of sea foam green that glistened with diamonds and hugged her body like a glove. She was obviously an old Neratomay, but she knew how to dress like a modern-day heiress.Ignoring the dangerous werewolves at her back, the woman smil
Oh. She wanted me like that. I stared at her wide-eyed."Um." Athena was a dangerous woman. I didn't want to hurt her feelings in fear of being backhanded into eternity. "Um."She tilted her head. "Don't you find me attractive? Most do.""Uh, yeah … but Athena, I'm not gay."Athena shrugged. "I have had male lovers just as I have had female lovers. But I'm not gay either. I'm just, as you would call it, a Vampire. A physical release for me has no boundaries. My body or shell has little to do with that release." She grinned like a child with a toy. "I'll show you."She took a step back and transformed into a tall, well-built man. He still looked like her with long black hair and green eyes. "Is this better?" My eyes grew wider. I didn't know that we could do that …"Or what about this?" Her voice became masculine. She transformed again, and I had to turn my head away.She looked exactly like Alexis."My love," she said in his voice. Then she placed her hand on my cheek. I je
I rolled my eyes. "Everything has changed. I can't be the same person if you take away my choices. I can't be me if you lord your power over me. I won't be the same person you fell in love with if you take away my will! You don't want a willing lover—you want a possession.""That is not true."I shook my head. "Look. I chose to love you, not because you gave me permission to do so but because I wanted to do it. I didn't want to wait ninety-nine years before I could be with you, and I begged you to let me return to you." I stepped closer to him. "But it was you who sent me out into the world to live and to love, remember?" "Now you act as if I have betrayed you?" I closed my eyes, contemplating the grief I'd feel if I lost my love for Alexis. I didn't want to have this breakdown right now! "Will you please return me to my battle? I have some unfinished business I need to take care of." Alexis turned his back, lowered himself to the floor, and walked away from me. "I apologize,
Monica squeezed my hand.I closed my eyes in relief. "Are you in pain? Squeeze once for no, twice for yes."She squeezed my hand once. "Do you know what happened to you?" She shakily squeezed my hand twice."I'm so sorry that happened to you, sweetie. But we got them, all of them. The Vampires have been feasting on Werewolf blood. They're gone, sweetie. They're gone." Monica squeezed my hand twice. "Yes, Monie, Yes." I took a deep breath. "Do you want me to turn you?" No response. I felt tears drip down my cheeks. "You're not going to make it, Monica. If you weren't a donor, you would have never survived as long as you have." I kissed her neck lightly. "It's your choice, though. Your choice, sweetie."There was still no response. I heard a low rumbling noise vibrating against my lips. Monica was trying to talk past her ruined face.I strained to hear her. "B-bite m-me."I closed my eyes. I had never turned anyone although I had been asked to more than once. I had
Paul came through the French doors into the bedroom drying his hair with a towel before climbing in bed with me.He wore nothing more than a smile. Paul loved to swim first thing in the morning and enjoyed walking around in the buff. Good thing the patio was private. We loved making love under the moon and stars, but now it was daylight.That's right—daylight. I could wake up whenever I wanted. Or if Paul wanted, he could wake me. The sun no longer offered me a barrier.The bedroom in our new home was the best place in the entire world. We never stayed another night in the old house. The memories were too horrible. While we waited for our new home to be ready for us, we stayed with Ran in his and Julie's house, and that was a soothing balm for us all. Paul and I disagreed over having a television set in our bedroom. He wanted one. I didn't.I won. But we had a sound system that played every type of music from R & B to Alternative and Oldies. The floor of the bedroom was a
I knelt beside both of them. "Hi, baby Julie. You gonna let Uncle Ran give you your bottle?"Ran chuckled. "Kim, I'll be B. J.'s protector, but I think I'll leave the feeding and diaper changing to you and Paul."I'm glad I had a "protector" in Athena. Her tip saved me from the Elder Council, which finally completed its investigation of me. I'm obviously still among the undead because the Elder Council did not carry out its wish to rid me from the Vampire Nation. When Malarias returned from Spain and I was able to give testimony to the Elder Council, it saw something intriguing within my memories. They saw I was privy to more than the secret of day walking Vampires. They knew that I knew the Elders willingly sacrificed Master Vampires to pointless deaths by initiating them to an Elder Council that only day-walkers could join. They also knew that I knew the ultimate reason for their exile of Alexis—to prevent us from joining forces and becoming a powerful duo. What saved my life wa