Page 19 of Vameer

I don’t care that my mate is not a vampire. I only care that I have found her.

I’ve waited a long time for this day. Prepared myself my whole life for the joy of finding the other half of my soul.

I inhale again.

This is what I was seeking.

When I lay down, I wanted to wake with a new purpose. And she is it. My mate is my purpose.

Only my mate doesn’t know what mates are.

How will I even begin to explain vampires?

She will know me, I remind myself.

She will have felt what I felt.

She will have felt her heart stop and start with mine.

I slept through the stopping part, but I woke when our hearts restarted as one.

I flex the power inside me, and it reverberates down the passage.

One single drop of her blood is all that I received. But it is sizzling through my system.

My body still feels a little stiff. I didn’t feel this way the last time I was here. I must’ve slept the whole month.

I pause when I notice what else is… wrong.

I feel cold.

I lift my hands in front of me.

I never feel cold.

Focusing on my palms, I call my Fire Touch to the surface.

Nothing happens.

My hands stay cold.

Lowering my arms, I continue walking and decide not to think about it.

My Fire Touch is not gone. I can still sense it in the center of my being. It’s just…too cold.

Which should be impossible.

As I near the doorway to my chamber, I notice a detail I didn’t pick up on when I woke. The distinct lack of living creatures inside.

I step over the fallen slab of stone, then duck through the doorway.

But my horns catch on the threshold.

Bits of rock crumble above me, and I have to bend my neck at an awkward angle to get the tips of my horns unstuck.

I grunt in annoyance and duck lower.

I need to remember that I am taller.