Page 29

“And anyway, I’ll find out soon enough,” Clement said with a lazy flick of his wrist.

Blair set his water glass on the counter with a loud thunk. “What makes you so sure?” he asked, sounding several times more confident than he felt.

Clement fixed him with a long, appraising stare. “You’re much more obstinate than I would have expected.” He sounded almost impressed. “This is a good trait.”

“And why is that?”

“Just trust me, my friend. If you wish to stay here, you’ll need every ounce of tenacity you possess.” He smirked. “Even then, it might not be enough.”

Iris sat with her knees curled against her chest, her feet propped on the edge of the passenger seat. She rested her head against the frosted window as Gabriel drove down the nearly deserted street on the outskirts of town. A faint sheen of wet snow coated the windshield, softly wiped away by the Mercedes’ wipers every few seconds. Dark trees loomed like sentries on either side of the car, broken up by the occasional house, their windows dark and vacant. It was a couple of hours before dawn.

Gabriel’s knuckles were clenched around the steering wheel, his entire attention focused on the slick pavement. When he merged onto the highway several minutes later, Iris turned to look at him without lifting her head.

“Where are we going?”

“Away.” He merged into the fast lane, adjusting the wipers as the snow fell harder.

Iris’ eyes blurred as stone cliffs rose up on their right. She wasn’t at all sure that it had been a good idea to leave Blair home alone after what had just happened, but Gabriel had insisted that he needed to speak with her somewhere where they couldn’t be overheard. She hoped they weren’t going much further.

Every time she tried to relax, her mind flashed back to Blair’s bloodshot eyes, the black poison seeping down his cheeks. She shivered.

Like many twenty-somethings, Iris had grown up reading fantasy stories where the protagonist discovers that mythical beings are more than mere myth. She’d always thought their reactions to this life-altering news was far too subdued. But she hadn’t accounted for shock, the power it had to freeze your bones to the point where it felt as though they might snap.

She hadn’t believed herself capable of falling asleep, not with her recent memories dancing like specters across the surface of her tired mind. Not until Gabriel’s quiet voice announced their arrival did she realize she must have drifted off.

Iris blinked sleep from her eyes and peered around blearily. Their headlights illuminated a halo of dark trees and a snow-flecked sign advising hikers to be cautious during bear season. Snow swirled like spun sugar around them, and a coyote’s howl sounded ominously close by.

“Where are we?” she asked, straightening up and planting her feet firmly on the plastic mat.

“Taconic State Park.”

“Where is that?”

Gabriel’s face was impassive. “New York.”

“Why?” Iris asked, her voice cracking.

Gabriel stared silently out the windshield. “There’s so much I haven’t told you,” he said at last. “I’ve wanted to. So many times. But…” The dim light played across his tightening jaw. “I thought I was protecting you.”

Iris didn’t speak. After so many days of being kept in the dark, she was scared to interrupt in case it made Gabriel withdraw again.

He heaved a heavy sigh. “The reason I asked you to stay away from Blair is because I knew he wasn’t human. I was afraid he might be connected with some people from my past who I’ve worked hard to stay away from.”

She wanted to ask him how he had known Blair wasn’t human and what exactly that made him, but she held her silence.

“I haven’t told you much about my life before I moved to Vitford,” Gabriel continued. “That’s been…deliberate.” The pain in his voice made it seem like every detail was being coerced out of him by some malignant force. He turned to her, his eyes pleading. “You have to promise never to repeat a word of what I tell you tonight.”

Iris scooted closer. She reached for his hand, gripping it tightly. “I promise.”

Gabriel nodded, his hand squeezing hers as though their connection was the only thing tethering him to the present moment. “I’ve done things I can’t outrun. Things I can’t take back.” His face darkened, like the memories were their own kind of poison. “I spent years trying to escape what I’d done, what I’d failed to do. I began to search for a place where I could find some peace. I didn’t deserve it, but I hungered for it all the same.”

His expression was so vulnerable that Iris couldn’t bring herself to look away. In all the time she’d known him, Gabriel had never let down his guard like this.

“Eventually, that pursuit led me to Vitford. I applied for the job at the bookstore, hoping for some quiet. And then I met you, and for the first time, the peace I yearned for seemed possible. You changed my life, Iris. I never wanted to look back.”

An icy torrent of guilt washed over Iris. By inviting Blair into their lives, had she unwittingly forced Gabriel to stare into the face of a past he longed to leave behind? She squeezed his hand, trying to let him know without words that he was safe, that he could let himself be seen.

“There’s something else…” Gabriel’s voice was strained. He swallowed, his grip on her hand almost painful. “This is going to be difficult for you to believe. But I promise you it’s the truth.” He looked at her imploringly. “You know I grew up in Manhattan. What you don’t know is that I was born in 1777.” He hesitated, his eyes hollow with anxiety. “Do you believe me?”