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There was a man standing in the doorway staring at me so intently I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed him yet. It was Declan—the scarred version with the eye patch. His body ragged and hardened from ten years of hunting vampires. Wearing a black leather duster that had seen better days.
Unlike Declan 2.0, this version wasn’t smiling.
“Jill...” he said as he reached toward me. “I thought I’d lost you. I didn’t know where you’d gone.”
“Declan, I’m here.” I immediately rose from the table and began to walk toward him, but suddenly it felt as if the air had thickened, making it difficult for me to move.
Declan jerked forward a step as if he’d been hit from behind, and then gasped for breath as he clamped his hand over his stomach. Bright red blood gushed between his fingers from the wound. When he looked up at me, I realized with horror that his throat had also been slit wide open. Blood pumped out of him with every beat of his slowing heart.
I couldn’t breathe. I tried desperately to fight through whatever this was that was holding me back.
“Jill, run,” he told me, his voice barely audible. “Get away from me while you still can.”
“Declan, no!” I cried out. “Who did this? Who is trying to kill you?”
I woke up screaming and clutching at the solid form in front of me.
“I’m here,” Declan soothed, stroking my hair. “It was only a nightmare. It’s okay, Jill. It’s morning now. You’re safe.”
I pulled back from him and searched his face, my eyes wide. He was here. He was alive. “I thought that I...I thought that you—that you were hurt. That you were dying!”
“It wasn’t real.” He held my face gently between his hands. “I know all of this has been a struggle for you, but it’s almost over. Try to be strong for just a little while longer. Can you do that?”
I nodded soundlessly.
I gathered myself together, shaking off the bad dream as much as I could, even though it seemed to be haunting me like a ghost. I pushed off the bed and went into the bathroom to splash some cold water on my face. I looked up at the mirror, into my black eyes.
“Just a dream,” I told my reflection. “It was just a dream.”
Declan was fine. He was here with me, as healthy and strong as any 28-year-old dhampyr could be.
I wondered what would have happened in the nightmare if he hadn’t woken me up. Maybe I would have woken myself up. By a quick look at the time, it was already nine o’clock. This was the second morning that I hadn’t been woken by the cry of a hungry baby. A cry that had come every couple of hours without fail.
I missed Sara, despite her noisy diva demands. But I knew that she was safer somewhere else. And I still had to make peace with the fact that I couldn’t know exactly where that was. At least not now.
When I exited the bathroom, Declan stood waiting for me. Frowning.
“What’s wrong?” I asked tentatively.
His frown deepened. “That experiment last night...”
I went very still. “What about it?”
He searched my face. “Do you regret it? Do you wish we hadn’t even tried?”
“You really want to know how I felt about it?” I asked.
“Yes.”
I took a moment to clear my thoughts so I could remember the events of the night before. The feel of his mouth on my body. His hands on my bare skin. “It was amazing, but...”
“But what?” he prompted when I went silent.
I closed the distance between us so I could press my hands against his warm chest. “But...the next time you touch me or kiss me like that, I want you to really, really mean it. And I want you to feel something in return.”
“My serum won’t allow it,” he whispered.
“Screw your serum,” I told him firmly. “Like I said, nothing is permanent. Not the Nightshade, not the serum. We will get past this and we will be together, fully and completely again. I believe this with every fiber of my being. Do you hear me?”
