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“I’m not. I promise I’ll come back. It may take me some time, but I will return. Stay with them,” Vincent said, gesturing to the car full of people behind us. “Take care of them. Help them.”

I sat, thinking, not wanting to agree but knowing it was the right choice. At last, I nodded. “Go. But keep your promises, Vincent. Do what you need to, and come back to me.”

“I will,” he said, leaning in to kiss me softly. “I’ve got to go,” he added, brushing his fingers against my face. Vincent sat back and took a deep breath, never taking his eyes off me. “I love you, Julian.”

“I love you too,” I replied, my voice shaking.

Then, without a look back, Vincent got out of the car and walked into the darkness.

46

VINCENT

Ifinished speaking and leaned back against the sofa, exhausted. My manacled hands stayed in my lap. Pulling myself out of the story, I glanced around at the creatures still gathered before me, quietly absorbing what I’d said.

At some point near the end of my tale, the girl had left her mother and slipped out of the room. Aside from the girl, no one had moved. I could smell their confusion, but no fear or alarm.

“You should let the humans here know,” I said when no one spoke.

“Who said anything about humans?” one of the witches asked.

I sighed. “Madam, please. I smelled them as soon as I awoke. I know quite a few humans live here.”

The witch inhaled sharply. The others kept staring at me expectantly.

“Let them know what?” asked Rob, the giant shifter.

“That they’ll no longer be hunted. All my kind are gone now.”

“The vampires? Gone from this area, you mean?” asked Rob’s wife, the cat shifter.

“No. I mean gone from the continent. All of the Americas, in fact. I didn’t cross any oceans, but neither is anyone else, for the time being.”

“Are you saying you’ve searched the entire continent and haven’t found any other vampires?” Rob asked.

“No. I tracked them to the farthest corners of every land I could reach and killed them all,” I replied.

The room fell silent for several moments as they processed this new information.

“We’ve met before, you know?” I said, looking at the two shifters.

“I didn’t recognize you at first,” Rob said. “You’ve changed. We told you not to return.”

“I understand. I had to, though. I made a promise.”

Rob took a deep breath and nodded. His wife shot him a meaningful look. The rest of the group looked confused.

There was a commotion outside, and I looked up as the door to the house burst open. The outside air rushed in, carrying a scent that made my fangs descend. The little energy that remained in my body surged through me.

Before I realized it, I was on my feet, the handcuffs around my wrists easily broken. I moved vampire-fast toward the human entering through the door and halted in front of him. I was vaguely aware of shouting behind me and felt the prickle of rising electrical energy filling the room. But none of that mattered.

My entire focus was on the beautiful man in front of me. Julian. I gazed into those liquid brown eyes I’d envisioned millions of times over the years as they filled with tears. I stepped forward, wrapping him in an embrace and pulling him against my chest. I barely had time to inhale my mate’s familiar scent before my muscles locked, my vision blacked out, and I lost consciousness.

When I awoke next, I didn’t know where I was. I lay in a bed, my body comfortable and warm—not that I noticed. The smell in my nose blocked out everything else. Julian was with me.

I opened my eyes to find Julian’s blond head resting against my shoulder. My arms were around him, and we lay in a room similar to our old bedroom. The windows were boarded up, and the door had a sturdy lock. Lamps lit the space, and I even spotted the cup my mother had given me on a dresser against one wall.

“Julian?”