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“No. Oh, wait, there was an older couple, but they got in a car. This guy came into the cafe, the blond one, the fireman. Dominic? That’s it.”

“Dominic?” She remembers him and not the man on the sidewalk. “Nobody else?”

“I don’t think so, but it’s fuzzy. I had a terrible headache.” She shakes her head. “What’s with all the questions?”

“Roslyn said she saw you with a man outside the hardware store. He knows you’re important to me.”

“Don’t remember any man.”

He took her memory of their meeting without council approval, which is a violation of the Pact. I can’t give it back to her, but I can make sure it never happens again.

“He has abilities that I don’t. He can make people…forget. Make them do things they don’t want to. If you don’t remember, it’s because he took it.” I get about half of it out. “I’m so sorry, Ellery.”

“What?” She wraps her arms around herself. “Why?”

“I’m not sure. To hide whatever he said to you, probably.”

She rubs at her temples like she can bring the memories back.

“Hey.” I take her wrists and pull them down to her lap. “I will never let him near you again.” I kiss her knuckles.

She nods. Once. “Can I have coffee now?”

I kiss her forehead. “Sweetheart, what you drink can hardly be called coffee.”

She shoves me. “When was the last time you drank some?”

“Four years ago. Wednesday, August 24, 7:38 p.m.”

She raises an eyebrow, then looks down at herself. “Shower first. Then you can judge my coffee.”

“Fine.”

I take her hand and lead her upstairs to my bathroom. She doesn’t ask about the crack in the dresser while I fish around for a T-shirt for her to wear. When she emerges smelling like my soap and wearing my clothes, I lock my hands behind my head and think about anything else.

In the kitchen, she takes a stool and watches. I put on some coffee, get the milk out for her, and start a bottle of blood in the microwave.

“You don’t drink it cold?”

“Preferably not.”

The microwave beeps, and I set it on the counter between us. Her pulse has been climbing since I opened the fridge, and I’m scared she’ll change her mind about the whole thing once she sees these parts of my life.

Instead, she comes around to my side and picks up the bottle, holding it between us.

“All of you, Nick.”

I drink it with her body pressed against me, arms around my middle, and her chin tipped up so she can watch. When I’m done, she kisses the corner of my mouth. Then I kiss her with the taste of blood still on my tongue, and she lets me.

We end up back on the couch, and I stop thinking about anything else. She isn’t in a hurry to return to her apartment, and I’m not going to be the one who brings it up. Her ear rests on my shoulder. The TV plays in the background, and she asks any and every question that pops into her head.

“So, there are other vampire clans out in the world?”

“Yeah, they’re everywhere.”

“But they can’t go out in the sun?”

“No. I haven’t heard of any other vampires living so closely alongside witches or humans, or being able to walk in the sun.” I coil a lock of her dark auburn hair around my finger and let it fall. “Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty in the cities. New York is riddled with them.”