Page 25 of Azure Mania

Yvonne opens her mouth, looking at the town sign in awe, then back at me. Slowly, she gets off me and I hold her, supporting her weight as she stumbles a little. Yvonne straightens up quickly, taking my hand in hers, and walks through the town.

It’s small, though it has everything one might need. A couple of decent coffee shops, good restaurants, boutiques, and all the things that seem to make Yvonne happy to be living here. She’s silent while we’re walking, and I can’t stop staring at her profile.

She’s so beautiful, and it’s impossible to keep my eyes off her.

“Lucifer,” she calls out and I’m snapped out of the trance.

“Yes?”

“I’m hungry.”

I chuckle. “Where would you like to eat?”

Her smile is absolutely captivating, breaking further through my defenses. “There’s this cute little place down the street. They have the best cheeseburgers.”

I blink.

“What’s that?”

Yvonne sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Nevermind, just follow me.”

The next two hours are spent with Yvonne shoving said cheeseburger in her mouth, until she’s completely stuffed with food. She ate the entire thing — well, inhaled it — as if she’s been starving for weeks.

Another thing that I find irresistible about her.

The way she laughs unapologetically now that she’s comfortable with me, the way her eyes shine brightly when she discusses topics that are of interest to her, and the way she blushes whenever I say something she doesn’t expect.

I paid with Valerio’s card, and I realize just how much the world has changed, how much I need to learn and to adapt. It’s definitely uglier than it used to be, but people seem more at ease, more comfortable in their own skin, which isn’t a bad thing.

“Where to now?”

“Let me just call Octavia,” Yvonne whips her phone out of her purse. “I’ll be right back.”

I suppress an eye roll, because she seems to have forgotten that I can hear her even from a mile away. She moves aside, taking a couple steps to the right, and I look into the distance.

The wind is strong today, but it’s still not too cold. It’s getting darker, too. I’m very close to snatching Yvonne off her feet and dragging her ass back to the cottage, so I can take advantage of the little moments of peace the two of us could share.

My brows furrow when I realize that not only do I not hear Yvonne at all, but I can’t smell her, either.

Immediately, I look back at where she was standing a mere minute ago, only to find the space empty.

She’s gone.

She’s fucking gone.

Chapter 16

Yvonne

My back hits the wall with so much force, and I gasp in pain. It shudders through me, my vision blurring at the sudden impact. My chest tightens, and an overwhelming sense of fear fills my veins, my anxiety skyrocketing.

I blink, trying to adjust to the surroundings.

Quite frankly, I don’t even know what happened. In one moment, I am dialing Octavia’s phone number, to ask her if she is at the agency, since I desperately wanted someone holding my hand — figuratively — while I quit.

Then, I closed my eyes for a moment, and before I knew it, I was soaring through the sky. It all happened way too quickly for me to understand and now, as I glance around, I find myself in something that I can only assume is a basement.

There, in the corner across from me is a sillouette. The person is tall and judging by the posture, I can tell it’s a man. He’s hidden in the darkness of the corner, simply observing. One thing is clear enough, though, it’s a vampire. Most likely it’s one of Lucifer’s siblings.