“We were afraid for you,” Bianca added.
“He did the grown-up thing where he refused obvious evidence because reality was inconvenient,” CJ said.
Conrad looked wounded. “Excuse me, discovering vampires are real is not a normal Tuesday.”
“It is now,” Billie said.
I looked between them all, overwhelmed by their desire to protect me. “You believed them?”
Conrad met my eyes. “They told me. I didn’t want to believe it, but…” His gaze drifted to the ash scattered across the dining room floor. “The evidence was compelling.”
I rubbed my bottom lip where my fangs had left two bloody puncture holes. “I was going to tell you. I swear.”
“I know.”
“I wanted to tell you before.”
“I know.”
My throat tightened again. “He made me quit and say all those things. I never wanted to leave you.”
Every line of tension in Conrad’s face vanished. Something raw moved through him, visible even through the pain. “I thought I’d lost you.” His words were quiet, barely more than breath.
I wrapped my arms around him as gently as possible. He held me tight anyway, ignoring all his hurts.
“You will never lose me,” I whispered.
He went still.
The children had gathered close again, still sniffling, still shaking, but mercifully still alive. Rice and sand covered half the staircase. Silver jewelry lay everywhere. Garlic mist lingered in the air. The dining table was a disaster. A five-hundred-year-old monster had been reduced to dust next to backpacks and rainboots.
Our first real family battle, apparently.
Conrad pulled back enough to look at me. The bruising on his throat was darkening now, and I could see the exhaustion settling deeper now that adrenaline was fading. Still, when he gave me a dazed smile, he was impossibly handsome.
“So,” he said.
Somehow, I managed to raise an eyebrow. “So?”
“Would you like to go out to dinner sometime?”
I stared at him. The children went silent.
Conrad swallowed, then winced and tried again. “A late dinner, obviously. We have a lot to talk about.”
After everything, I could only look at him. This ridiculous, wonderful human man, who had nearly died because of me. Surrounded by vampire dust and panicked children. Asking me on a date.
A laugh burst out of me before turning immediately into another tearful sound. “I would love nothing more.”
Billie screamed again.
CJ collapsed against the wall in relief.
Bianca muttered, “Finally,” with the weary satisfaction of someone who had been managing adults far too long.
Conrad reached for my hand.
I took it.
