"You won't become like him." He took a step closer, but I didn't think he even noticed that he’d done it. "You won't let it change you into something you'll hate."
How did he see through me so easily? I'd spent my whole life perfecting the sweet, gentle Alice everyone expected. The good witch. The one who helped and healed and never caused trouble.
"I felt it the other night," I whispered the confession, like I was afraid my distant uncle would hear me. "When Talin was in the thread realm. This... pull. Like something inside me recognized the world she'd entered, and I wanted to reach out and help." I looked down at my hands, half-expecting them to look different. "I could have helped her. I know I could have. But I was too scared to try."
"Scared you'd hurt her?"
"Scared I'd like it." The confession tore out of me. "Scared I'd tap into that power and never want to stop. Scared I'd prove everyone right—that Alex and I are dangerous. Contaminated."
Dae's hands were suddenly cupping my face, tilting my head up. I didn't even see him move. It was startling, but I guess he didn't feel the need to try to disguise what he was around me.
"Listen to me," he said. "Power doesn't make you dangerous. What you choose to do with it does."
"That's easy for you to say. You didn't inherit magic from a monster."
"No. I just became one by choice." His smile was bitter. "You think I don't know about darkness, Alice? About hiding who you really are?"
I searched his expression, looking for something beneath his usual carefree mask. "Are you hiding something, Dae?"
He dropped his hands, stepping back. For a long moment, he just looked at me. Then he started walking again, and I fell into step beside him.
We wandered deeper into the French Quarter, away from the Garden District's safety. The streets here were narrower, older. Music drifted from closed bars as the employees cleaned up, and the sour scent of spilled beer mixed with the sweet warmth of beignets lingered in the air.
"Everyone thinks I'm this happy-go-lucky guy," Dae finally said. "The vampire who never takes anything seriously. Always joking, always performing, always on."
"You are those things."
"I'm good at pretending to be those things." He kicked at a loose stone. "Truth is, I just feel…empty these days. Going through the motions. Feeding, working at the club, existing. Not really living. Just... I don't know. Here."
The admission surprised me.
"I'm sorry," I said quietly. "But I think I can understand. Living the same life for so many years…" I glanced at him and trailed off when I saw the expression on his handsome face. "How long have you felt this way?"
"I don't know. Twenty years? Fifty?" He gave a little laugh and shrugged. "After enough decades, everything starts to blur together. Same faces, different names. Same conversations, different century." He looked over at me. "At least until recently."
We turned down a side street, quieter than the main thoroughfares. Shadows pooled thick between the buildings, and I would've been scared if I wasn't with him.
"So what changed?" I asked.
He stopped walking, and I turned to face him. When he looked at me, something burned in his dark eyes. Something that made my breath catch.
"??? ? ??? ????," he said softly. The Korean rolled off his tongue like music. "???? ???? ???."
I didn't speak Korean, but the way he said it—with so much longing and fear and wonder wrapped up in those syllables—needed no translation.
"What does that mean?" I asked anyway, because I did want to know.
"You," he said. "You make me feel something." He took a step closer. Then another. "For the first time in so long."
The space between us shrank until I could feel the warmth of his body, so different than what I expected. Could smell cedar and something that was just him. Could see the way his gaze dropped to my lips.
My heart was racing and my head felt light and a little dizzy. "Dae?—"
"I know." His hand came up, fingers hovering near my cheek without quite touching. "You're a witch. I'm a vampire. Your aunt would stake me. My coven leader would probably help her."
"That's not true. And that's not what I was going to say."
"No?" His fingers finally made contact, brushing my jaw. "Then what?"
