“For too long my people have been trapped here, afraid to leave for fear of capture, torture, and death. With our power,” she leaned forward and snatched my hand up. “We can fight back.”
I pulled my hand back. “I don’t want to fight anyone. Can’t you just co-exist? We do in the United States.”
She nodded but rolled her eyes. “We can, but we wantmore. We’ve earned more.”
“Is that why you went looking for me? To ambush humans?” I grimaced.
“No.” She grinned. “That is just a bonus.” There was a long pause before she snapped her fingers again and a moment later we were being served large goblets of tasty blood. “Do not worry about any of that. I’ve been planning this for years. It is not happening tomorrow. Desiderio, tell me about your life before the curse.”
As Desi regaled her with stories of his life as a human, I sat and muddled over her seemingly flippant plans. She clearly wanted to see if I could help her overtake the humans. I could never do that. I wasn’t a monster.
Or was I?
Flashes of all the brutal murders I’d committed over the years ran through my mind. Was I just in denial about how much I enjoyed ripping a heart out?
“That entire night was a rough one,” Desi said. I popped back into the conversation just as he told the room about the night we both turned, died, and were cursed.
“Our birthdays are a day apart. And I had no idea she was a vampire. I thought I was going to turn and we could never be together.”
“You abandoned her,” she accused. I raised an eyebrow. How did she know about the bridge?
Desi gulped, glanced at me, then nodded. “I did. I was a coward. I let her drink my blood to give her enough sustenance to complete the change and survive, but then I ran. I didn’t know how to process everything.”
Magdalena shook her head. “You created the bond, then. Giving her your blood.”
“And then I gave him mine when we met a second time thirty years later,” I told her, feeling the need to defend him.
“Soulmates. Such an interesting concept.” Magdalena looked to the two silent members of our group. They both sat up straight and blinked at her, remaining silent. “Could it be real? What happens if one person betrays the other?”
Desi and I glanced at each other. We both were thinking about his odd ghost form.
“Don’t tell her anything!”
Desi raised an eyebrow and nodded ever so slightly to tell me he heard it in his mind.
“I don’t think we could,” Desi told her. “Fate has other plans for us. Regardless of what happens, our lives are tied together, and we can’t move forward without the other.”
“I was in love before. More than once.” She smiled softly. “Deep down, the need for survival is too strong. You make sacrifices for the ones you love, and time and time again, I have had to make those sacrifices,” she paused, her eyes changing from the wistful, almost childlike expression to bone-chillingly cold. She leaned forward, only inches from Desi’s face, as she spoke the chilling words.
“Tell me, Desiderio, could you?”
37
This place gave me the creeps. Which, was laughable, considering who and what I was.
It was like we were transported through time. The architecture, the art, the clothing. All of it gave me chills before I had even been taken to see Scout.
They had turned her into a doppelgänger of her aunt. At a quick glance, I couldn’t tell them apart, which I felt was the whole point.
We stayed in that room with Arsenio, Ludovica, and Magdalena. Our host interrogated me most of the night, wanting to know more details about the curse. I was not enthused, but every time I glanced at Scout, I saw her expression and relented. She looked so worried, so desperate to have her newfound family member like her. How could I destroy that?
When morning finally came, we all stood. Our bodies were full of warm blood and our brains, well, mineanyway, were exhausted.
“My servants will take you back to your rooms to rest,” Magdalena nodded.
Arsenio and Ludovica went first, and I clung to Scout’s side. We started out and Magdalena reached for Scout’s empty hand.
“You two are not married?”
