“I am not Paul,” Josep says. “I will not use it the way he does. Even though you are my Ryet, I will notforceyou to be my Ryet. I will not chase you through time, practically begging for your love. I will not wait for it, either.” His hands come back up to my shoulders and he gently turns me around until we’re facing each other. “You will take it from me, Little Baby. Or it will never happen. And if it never happens, I’ll get it somewhere else.”
And this is when I figure it out.
This is when I understand.
“Lucia didn’t take it, did she? She didn’t fuck you.”
Josep laughs. “She’s inside your head, isn’t she? Telling you all sorts of things.” He doesn’t give me time to deny it, so I don’t bother. “No. She never did. But she was nothing compared to you, Little Baby. She is weak, and stupid, and nothing but a low-class trashy bitch.” His hand comes up to my cheek again. “You are my princess, Little Baby. She was nothing but a slave. And I never wanted her in my bed, so I never gave her any encouragement. You, however…” He pauses here to smile. “Oh, if you deny me? If you want to play hard to get? I’ll just tempt you, my Little Baby Darkness. I’ll tempt you like this…”
He leans down, pressing his lips to mine. I expect him to bite his lip and give me blood, but he doesn’t. He just… kisses me. Not hard and demanding, but softly and with tenderness. His arms wrap around me in an embrace, our bodies pressed together.
Everything is slow now. Like the chaos across that fog—the blood lust—isn’t happening. Like this moment here is entirely ours.
When he pulls away, I suddenly miss him. Ache for him. So I look him in the eyes. “I will take your blood,” he says. “Any time I want. But I will not take your body unless you give it.”
Then he turns and steps into the fog.
“Wait!” I panic. “Where are you going? What am I supposed to do?”
His body is only marginally there, like he just became part of the fog. But he looks over his shoulder one last time. “Do whatever you want. Live here.” He nods his head behind me. “Stay in the hotel. Go out into the city. Spend money. Buy pretty dresses. Meet people. Fall in love, Little Baby. You can live your whole life here and it will be a good one.”
“A dream,” I say. “This place is nothing but a dream.”
“They’re all dreams, Little Baby. They’realldreams.” He grins. “But I am hoping that you, like me, want reality. And if that’s the case, then come along.” He turns away and takes a step, and then he’s… well, he’s just him on the other side of the fog. Josep, on the floor of his cave. Covered in blood. Me on top of him. Drinking. His hands caressing my naked, blood-covered body as he feeds.
He made this place for me. A place all my own where I can live forever inside a delusion. And that cave on the other side of the fog, that’s what he made for himself. A world where I am his and he is mine and probably all we do is fuck and drink.
We can live—if that’s even the correct word—we can live separately and still get what we want. But it won’t be real. It’s just a dream. So it will never be enough.
And no matter what I choose right now, Iamhis. There is no possible way back from this now.
“Choose him.” Lucia is standing at my left shoulder. Close enough to me so that I feel her shrug. “I’ve already traveled that other road. You might as well just… be his. Wholly and completely. Because trust me when I say this”—she turns her head to look at me—“it’s as good as it gets.”
Then she’s gone. Like she was never here.
I let out a breath, feeling completely crazy. I mean, being a halfbreed was insane enough. I only ended up here because Lucia was attracted to my boyfriend. I was a tagalong. He was killed years back now. I don’t even remember his name, actually. He died, I stayed.
It’s not that I was invisible. I had pink hair, after all. People saw me, but no one took any notice of me.
Not until Paul came up from the ground and made me his.
Not until Josep came up from the bunker and made me his.
In the foggy cave Josep suddenly opens his eyes. They are so bright and purple, they light up the darkness on this side of things. “Isee you,” he says. Then he smiles, shoves me off his neck, and presses his mouth into my throat.
I feel the bite. On this side of things, Ifeelit.
And it feels good.
The pull. It’s glorious. I want him to eat me all night and day. For eternity.
And I don’t even have a choice in that. He’s going to take it, he already told me.
So… why not take something for myself?
Why not takehimback?
As soon as I think this, I’m out of the dream and back in my body in the cave. On top of him. Covered in blood. Lusting for it.
