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“You won’t have to disappear. The cat can come with us, and you can still see your family, for a while at least.” I take her hands in mine. “Let’s make a life together.”
A frown etches itself across her forehead as she thinks, and a heavy weight settles in the pit of my stomach. I need to say something, anything, to tip the scale and convince her to be mine.
“Food tastes better as a vampire,” I blurt. “And sex feels more amazing as a vampire.” I rack my brain for something else.
“Archie, I’m not going to turn into a vampire for the food and sex.”
My heart sinks.
“I’m going to do it for you.”
“Do you mean…?”
She nods. “Yes, Archie. Let’s do it.”
I pull her into a tight hug—but not too tight, since I’m acutely aware that she’s still human. Though not for long. “I love you, my queen.”
“I love you, too, Archie,” she says, and pulls me to her for a kiss.
Epilogue: Janet
“Faster, Archie,” I shout as we race up the steps of the Eiffel Tower. They're the same words I shouted last night, and just thinking about it makes me want to get my vampire naked again.
Archie and I are the only ones at the Eiffel Tower at this time of night. The place is closed, but we slipped the guards a few hundred Euros—and slipped into their minds so they wouldn't remember our little super-speed adventure—so we don't have to worry about being arrested or exposing our kind.
Our kind. I smile as the words flit through my mind.
It's been two full years since Achibald LaVere turned me into a vampire. A split second for him, but a nice chunk of time for me to adjust, since I’m still living on human time. Archie says after the first hundred years, that will change, and the thought of being with him for all those years makes me smile. As does the fact that the two of us are in Paris, and that we have enough money to travel wherever we want, whenever we want. And that we can afford pet-friendly hotels that provide litter boxes and cat trees for Page.
I put on another burst of speed and race up the Eiffel Tower steps so fast they blur around me. Archie's footsteps pound behind me, keeping pace. As the older vamp, he can easily move faster, but he's enjoying the chase. And the reward that awaits us both when we get to the top.
I'm not even panting as I cover the last few steps and practically fly across the landing. My dress billows around my knees, and my fingers barely graze the railing before Archie spins me around and pins me with my back against it.
“Are you enjoying Paris, my queen?” he asks, his eyes dancing when they meet mine.
I nod, my gaze dropping down to his lips. The City of Love is the last thing on my mind.
“Is it everything you've hoped for?” he asks. He's smiling, but I catch something in his eyes. A hint of nerves.
“Is my vampire king actually worried?” I tease.
Silence.
Archie doesn't tease me back, or lean in to kiss me, or whisper sweet nothings in my ear. He stares at me as the warm evening air caresses my cold skin.
I take his hands in mine and smile up at him. “Archie, Paris is beautiful.”
He raises an eyebrow. “You haven't even looked around.”
He looks past my shoulder at the city sprawled beneath us, and I realize he's right. Coming here has been my dream since I first started working at my little library. It's what I've been saving up for all this time. And yet, being here, all I care about is the man standing in front of me. We might as well be back home for all the attention I've given the city of my dreams.
“It's hard to pay attention to anything else when I'm with you,” I tell him softly, meaning every word. “I love you so much, Archie. You're all I can think about. And I don't care where we are, as long as we’re together.”
He shakes his head in mock disappointment, though I can see the amusement in his eyes. “How am I supposed to spoil my queen when she says things like that?”
“You don't,” I tell him honestly. “I don't need spoiling. All I need is you.”
I rise on tiptoe and press my lips against his. They’re soft, and the kiss starts out gentle, but like it always does with us, it quickly turns all-consuming. Heat surges through my body, and in the time it takes Archie to lift my skirt, I'm already whimpering and pleading for him to take me.
