THE VAMPIRE WHO STOLE CHRISTMAS

Lori Devoti

Dear Reader,

“The Vampire Who Stole Christmas” is my first published venture into the world of vampires. It is definitely a tale of the undead, but it is also a holiday story. I wanted to honor both. I didn’t want to skimp on the aspects that attract so many of you to vampires, but I also wanted you to walk away with the warm feelings everyone deserves at this time of year.

So, “The Vampire Who Stole Christmas” is a vampire romance, but it is also a story of revenge, despair, self-forgiveness and ultimately love. It’s the story of two people who think they have failed everyone, including themselves. It takes you through their journey as they attempt to alleviate their pain, only to discover the true road to happiness takes a very different path.

I hope you enjoy it.

Lori Devoti

I grew up on a dirt road where many people dumped their unwanted pets. These animals would arrive at our home covered in mange, mats and with wounds too horrible to describe here. I can remember the tears in my father’s eyes when he had to put one such animal down because its injuries were too great to be healed. I also remember the appreciation and love the ones we could help showed when my mother bathed them, fed them and found them homes—or took them into our own.

I dedicate this novella to the Humane Society of the United States and everyone who has ever taken time out of their lives to help a hurt or deserted animal. Hugs and good homes to all.…

Chapter 1

T he snow whirled round and round, like tiny tornadoes. Twirling flakes found their way past Drystan Hurst’s collar and the hair that brushed his shoulders, the icy bits making it onto his bare skin. He didn’t shiver, didn’t bother to brush them away—his attention was too focused on the woman standing in his adoptive mother’s window.

The white lights of the Christmas tree shone behind her revealing her form, lithe as a dancer, and the shape of her hair, a mass of curls he knew framed an almost elfin face.

Aimee Polk, the all-night-drugstore clerk who had stood between a suicidal boy and seven hostages, had begged the boy to take her in their stead, had by all accounts talked him out of the mass murder he’d planned.

Aimee Polk, who’d been sprayed with the boy’s blood when he’d turned the gun on himself, had been caught on film as she stood there shocked, sobbing, mourning the loss of the boy who seconds earlier had threatened to take her life.

The media had gobbled it up.

And the Myhres had gobbled her up.

Maureen Myhre, Drystan’s adoptive mother, had seen an opportunity and sprung on it. Maureen’s son, Ben, was up for governor and Aimee was a media magnet. Maureen had wasted no time in seeking out the girl. Probably convincing her, like Maureen had convinced Drystan at one time, that she cared—in his case loved him, like a son.

He hissed, lifted his upper lip, revealing dagger-sharp fangs. How that story had changed once he’d messed up, been a kid, stupid but still worthy of love. And nothing he’d done afterward, not even saving her precious Ben at the cost of Drystan’s own mortal life, had changed her lie to truth.

Drystan had avoided the Myhres, their constant plays for press and this town, for ten years.

Maureen Myhre had left him for dead in an alley. Pulled Ben, whom he’d saved, from the scene, then called the police, claiming Drystan, not Ben, had been trying to score a fix.…She was worried.

How unfortunate for her, a vampire had found Drystan before the police, turned him before he could fully bleed to death there in the cold.

He’d stayed away for ten years, but he was back and ready to make the Myhres pay.

Aimee Polk slipped off her silver flats and curled her legs under her body. Across the room, her soon-to-be mother-in-law touched a waiter’s arm and pointed toward Aimee. Within seconds, a full champagne flute was pressed into Aimee’s hand. Even though the dry champagne wasn’t her favorite, Aimee accepted with a smile and took a sip. She preferred something sweeter, but knew whatever vintage Maureen Myhre had chosen was far more expensive than the sparkling wine Aimee used to buy on special at the drugstore where she had worked.

She let out a sigh and glanced around the living room filled with people she would never have dreamed of meeting, much less mingling with only a few months earlier.

How her life had changed in just one short year.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” Her fiancé, Ben, slid onto the couch next to her. In navy dress pants and a V-neck sweater he managed to look classy and relaxed. Even in a silk dress that Maureen had hand-selected for Aimee, Aimee felt neither. She ran a hand over her hair.

Ben slid his arm behind her back, giving the appearance of closeness without quite making contact. Across the room a photographer raised his camera. Ben leaned a little closer and tilted her chin up with one finger. Staring into her eyes, he murmured, “With the light behind you, the world will swear I’m marrying an angel.”

Aimee shook her head. “I’m no angel.” Angels didn’t lose their charges, didn’t stand by helpless as they blew their brains out.

“You’ll never convince them of that.” Ben nodded toward one of the invited paparazzi, pulled her closer as the photographer snapped the one-millionth picture of the evening. “They have you on film talking down that killer, convincing him to let those people go.”

“He wasn’t a killer,” Aimee murmured and gripped the stem of her champagne flute tighter.

“Because of you.” Ben squeezed her hand.

Because of her, Kevin was dead. “He was only seventeen,” she said more to herself than Ben. “Who knows what he could have become?”

“A mass murderer?” Ben shook his head. “Seriously, Aimee, the kid was a loser. Destined for the needle. That bullet just saved the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in court fees.”

Aimee flinched; she couldn’t help it. Ben’s words were callous, but he was a good man and his family had power. Power she could use to make up for her mistake, for costing Kevin his life. If she had to endure a few callous, even hurtful, words here and there, it was no more than she deserved.

Still, she couldn’t help pulling into herself a little.

To her surprise, Ben noticed. “Tired?” He took the champagne flute from her fingers. “No more of this then. Can’t have you nodding off at your own engagement party.”

The spark of elation Aimee had felt when Ben asked if she was tired faded. “How much longer?”

Ben laughed, his gray eyes carefully scanning the people around them. “It’s only ten. If you’re going to be a politician’s wife, you’re going to have to become a bit more of a night owl.”

At that moment one of Ben’s legislative aides came over and interrupted. Seizing the opportunity, Aimee murmured a few polite noises and excused herself, wandering back to the mansion’s wide front window. She pulled back the curtain and stared out into the night, at the still-falling snow.

It wasn’t the hour she found exhausting but the people. As a daimon, an intermediary between heaven and earth, Aimee could feel humans’ needs and not just physical needs, but emotional and spiritual, too.

And the room behind her teemed with them. Needs buried so deeply beneath desires—for money, power, esteem—that Aimee was sadly confident she was the only being in the room who truly recognized them.

How did humans manage to concentrate so thoroughly on petty passing desires that they never fulfilled their true needs? How could someone confuse the need for love with the desire for power?

Aimee had never understood humans, doubted she ever would. And that was why she couldn’t be a daimon any longer. Couldn’t risk losing another soul that was entrusted to her.

Instead, she would marry Ben, be a good human wife, working behind the scenes, using the human power he would bring her to help others, and she would block out the incessant calling of lost souls around her. She would not try to save them, not a one.

As if on cue, something glimmered from beyond the window. A shadow darker than the night surrounding it. So dark, so filled with sorrow, Aimee could feel it pulling at her, calling her.

Without thinking, she pressed her hand to the cold glass, leaned forward until her breath formed a circle of fog blocking her view.

“Do you see something?” Maureen’s voice cut through the haze that had enshrouded Aimee. She jumped as if struck, pulled her hand from the glass.

“No. Nothing.” Curling her fingers into her palm, she turned her back on the window, on the being that waited outside still calling…

The next evening, Aimee was back at work, her Cinderella night behind her. She ripped open a cardboard carton and began unloading books onto a rolling rack. It was after ten and her shift as a hospital aide had just started. She would work until six, checking in on patients who couldn’t sleep, read to them, chat, do whatever she could to take away their emotional pain.

She had taken this job a week after Kevin had killed himself. She couldn’t stand going back in the drugstore where she’d worked for almost a year, made friends. The blood was gone, but the energy, the emotion left by his drastic act, hung like dark clouds under the fluorescent lights.

Besides, she’d only taken the job because she was his daimon. She’d known some event of significance in Kevin’s life would happen there—known she needed to be there as much as possible, too. And she’d been right, the most significant event in anyone’s life, their death, had struck there, but she had been of no help, not to Kevin.

A thick tome tumbled from her fingers onto the floor. The hardcover binding split on impact. She bent to retrieve it with shaking hands, then ran her index finger down the crack. Broken, like Kevin. But unlike the book, Kevin couldn’t be repaired, not anymore. At the morose thought, tears welled in her eyes.

Pressing her lips together, she shoved the book back into the box. Enough. She had to get herself together. She’d already faced that she was a failure as a daimon, couldn’t be entrusted with one being’s life. Instead she was going to forget what she was, had been, concentrate instead on doing the small good deeds she could handle, and once she and Ben were married, on using his family’s influence to do even more.

But she would not play guardian angel. She would not be arrogant enough to believe she had the power to save anyone.

“Aimee, you in there?” A knock sounded on the door, then the door edged open. “Did you find the new—” Erin Schelling, another aide, stood in the doorway, a small carton tucked under her arm. “You did. Good.” She held out the box.

With a smile, Aimee took it. “The MP3 players.” She quickly tore open the box and pulled out six brand-new players.

“I have to say having the future wife of a state legislator on staff has increased the quality of our donations.” Erin crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the door frame. “Although I doubt that’s all of it.”

Aimee frowned. “What do you mean?”

With a laugh, Erin plucked one of the players from Aimee’s fingers and pulled off its plastic covering. “I mean you. People have a hard time telling you no. They’d probably open the doors to Fort Knox if you asked nicely enough.”

“I don’t…” Aimee began.

Erin waved a hand. “As long as you’re on our side it’s all good in my book, girlfriend.” She placed the player beside the others Aimee had stacked on the cart. “Might want to go by Mr. Belding’s room first. He was asking about you, and…” Her voice dropped. “I heard the doctor talking to his daughter in the hall. Doesn’t sound like he’ll be going home. They’re sending him to some nursing facility. They’re telling him tomorrow.”

Aimee stood. “But his dog. She’s all he talks about.”

“I know.” Erin dropped her gaze. “Listen, I gotta go. Just wanted to give you a heads-up.” She pursed her lips. “Go see him.”

When Erin was gone, Aimee finished loading her cart and angled it out of the small room. For the millionth time, Aimee wished she had real powers, powers that would let her heal Mr. Belding, let him go home to his little one-bedroom house, his favorite chair and his dog. But all she could do was listen, hold his hand—just be with him.

It wasn’t enough.

“Aimee,” one of the nurses called. “There’s a guy looking for you. I sent him to the waiting area—but you know he really shouldn’t be up here this late. I’m not sure how he made it past the guards.”

With a nod, Aimee deserted her cart and hurried to the waiting room. When she and Ben had first started dating there had been a number of such incidents, but the guards had never let anyone past their station.

At the threshold of the waiting area, she stopped. Standing with his back turned to her was a large man, over six feet tall with dark hair that skimmed broad shoulders. Kevin had worn his hair long, pulled back in a ponytail more often than not, but still the sight of a man with hair longer than the norm stopped her for a second.

As if feeling her gaze, the man turned.

It was then, when she could see his eyes, that she knew how he’d gotten past the guard.

Magnetism, hot and strong, like arms of molten metal wrapped around her, pulled at her.

She sucked in a breath, her eyes widened. Unable to move, she just stood there, struggled to conquer whatever had taken hold of her emotions. The man took a step forward, then faltered, too. His eyes flared.

Energy seemed to pulse between them.

Aimee lifted a hand—to protest…reach out to him…she didn’t know what, but with the gesture her daimon skills clicked in. Her eyes widened more. The magnetism was still there, wrapping around her, caressing her, warming her, but there was more—something she was sure he was incognizant of—a vortex of hurt and need that threatened to suck her off her feet, send her flying toward him.

With stiff legs she staggered to a chair and braced her hands on its back. “Who are you?” she asked.

Chapter 2

T he blond angel caught Drystan off guard. It wasn’t her elfin beauty; he’d seen that on TV. It wasn’t the shock, verging on horror, that pulled at her features as she stared at him, asked who he was.

It was the hunger that roared through him as soon as he’d turned—the burning need to be near her, touch her…feed off her. He bit down on his lower lip, let his fangs puncture his flesh, his own blood filling his mouth.

She couldn’t see what he was doing. His actions, his fangs, everything that would identify him as one of the undead was hidden by his beguilement. She, like the guard downstairs and the nurse who’d barely cocked an eyebrow when he had asked for Aimee, could only see what Drystan wanted them to see—a human male, no more intimidating than a three-year-old child.

The bitter taste of his blood brought him back under control, reminded him why he was here.

“Drystan Hurst. I work for City Brides. We hoped you’d agree to be our featured brides next month.”

“Drystan?” She frowned. “I’ve heard that name before.”

He cursed under his breath. It hadn’t occurred to him to give her a false name, but he hadn’t thought his ex-family would have mentioned him, either. It had been ten years since his “death.” Ten years the Myhres had spent eliminating his memory. Even his headstone had been removed—and it hadn’t borne his true name. He hadn’t learned it himself until after his death. He’d been Drystan Doe until twelve when the Myhres took him in. Then he’d taken their name with pride—ignorant weak child that he’d been. Just like the fragile woman standing in front of him.

He laughed. “It’s not an uncommon first name—at least not around here. A lot of people in this area have roots in Norway.” He tilted his head. “But you know that. You’re engaged to a Myhre.”

“Yes, I am.” Her fingers clamped onto the red, padded back of the chair in front of her.

“So, will you talk to me?” He ran his tongue over the tip of his fangs and took a step toward her.

She retreated, not physically, but emotionally…or…he couldn’t put a name to what she had done. She had been there one moment, energy just out of his reach, like he could hold out a hand and stroke the welcoming warmth that surrounded her. Then the bubble had contracted, pulled close around her, robbing him of…something.

“It doesn’t have to be here, if you’re busy.” He said the words, but his mind sent a different message, his beguilement working overtime to convince her she had nothing else to do, could waste whatever time he needed.

“That…that would be good.” Her eyes were wide, gray, almost silver from where he stood. She gestured toward the hall from where she had entered. “I have rounds, people who expect me.”

Already moving forward to take her hand and lead her to the small couch a few feet away, Drystan stumbled to a stop. “Of course you do.” His brows lowered.

“Maybe tomorrow, in the afternoon? At your office?” Her hands, which had looked tense earlier, relaxed atop the cushion, and she tilted her head to the side, exposing a length of smooth, pale skin.

A throb of desire knocked into Drystan. He curled his thumbs over his fingers until he could feel the strain in his knuckles. “Tomorrow,” he repeated verbally, but his thoughts were saying “now.”

She nodded her head, as if relieved. “If you have a card, you can leave it at the nurse’s desk. I can call you when I wake up—after shift I usually go home and sleep a bit, but I’ll be up by two. Will that work?”

Of course it wouldn’t work. She was supposed to meet with him now, listen to everything he had planned to put into her head, then scamper back to the Myhres and wait until the time was right for her to humiliate them in the most public manner possible. “Six would be better,” he replied. The sun would set by five, giving him time to be fully prepared for his next meeting with this puzzle of a woman.

“Six,” she repeated, pursing her lips. “Fine, at your office?”

He thought quickly. “It will be closed. How about…” He named a restaurant that was private and comfortable with serving mixed company—alive and undead. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a card. “In case you need to get hold of me.” He held the card between two fingers, willing her to take it, and to believe the words she would see printed there.

She held up one hand. “I’m sure it will be fine. I really have to go now. Until tomorrow.” With an unsure smile she hurried from the room.

Drystan waited until he heard the wheels of her cart squeak down the hall and through a set of swinging doors before dropping his cloak of beguilement.

The question she’d asked when she’d first appeared echoed in his head, Who was he? He wasn’t sure he knew the answer right now, but more important, who was she? What was she and would he be able to bend her to his will? Would he be able to get her to do as he wanted, and if he couldn’t, what would he do next? How far would he go?

Aimee walked away from the waiting area as quickly as her feet could carry her without breaking into an all-out sprint. Once through the swinging doors that led to the H hall where Mr. Belding was staying, she slumped against the wall and let her pounding heart and spinning thoughts slow.

What was Drystan Hurst? He wasn’t human, that much was sure. No human could hold the darkness Drystan did and function.

Another daimon sent to check on her? Daimons served as intermediaries between heaven and earth, but not all had the same purpose as Aimee. Some served a totally different role—to tempt, not help, humanity.

Could that be what Drystan was? Was he here to tempt her? To punish her for turning her back on her calling?

The doors swung open beside her. Aimee grabbed her cart and jerked it out of the way. It banged into the wall, knocking a line of books onto the floor.

The night nurse, who had directed her to the waiting area and Drystan, bent to help retrieve the books; between her fingers was a white business card.

“That guy left this for you.” She held out the card.

Aimee stared at it, her hands glued to the books she’d just rescued from the linoleum. “What is it?” she asked.

The nurse frowned. “A business card.” She glanced at Aimee from the corners of her eyes. “Are you okay?”

Aimee laughed and began shoving the books back on her cart. “I meant what’s it say?”

Her brows still lowered, the nurse flipped the card around so she could read it. “Drystan Hurst, Features Editor, City Brides, then there’s a phone number and address.” She held out the card again.

Aimee pretended not to notice. “Have you heard of them?”

“City Brides?” The nurse pulled back, something flickered in her eyes, then slowly as if not sure of her words, replied, “Of course. When my cousin was getting married she bought every copy.”

“Is it monthly?” Aimee asked. She was sure she had never heard of the magazine.

“I think…yes.” The nurse nodded. “It’s monthly.” She seemed relieved with her answer, like she’d been under great pressure to get it right. She dropped the card in Aimee’s lap and stood. “Word of advice, though.”

Aimee pulled her gaze away from the white cardstock to look at the nurse.

“Don’t let your fiancé catch you with him.” She nodded to the card. “Even if it is innocent. There was something about him…” She shivered. “He has bad boy written all over him. I may have trouble sleeping.” She pushed against the swinging door with her hip and shot Aimee a wink. “In a very, very good way.”

Alone, Aimee twisted her lips to the side and considered the card. It had passed through the nurse’s hands before getting to Aimee. That had to have diluted any energy Drystan had left on it. She carefully placed her fingers on the top and bottom edges, so her skin made as little contact with the card as possible. A tiny shadow of energy pulsed against her finger pads, so tiny she wouldn’t have given it a passing thought if she hadn’t met Drystan, witnessed the strange pull he had in person.

She blew a puff of air from between her lips, shook her head at her wayward thoughts.

What had she been expecting? Even if Drystan was a daimon, sabotaging a business card was hardly daimon style.

Feeling more secure, she gripped the card firmly, letting the pads of her thumb and forefinger both press against the cardstock, then she closed her eyes and concentrated on amplifying the energy she’d been hiding from seconds earlier.

Darkness hit her first. So dark, so lacking in hope she wanted to step inside the pit, soak all the sorrow she felt emanating from that card inside her…make it disappear.

But, she reminded herself, she had made the choice. She would no longer let herself be a daimon.

She had to keep her resolve, couldn’t let the pull of this energy so opposite of her own lure her. Still, even with the thought pounding in her head, the need to neutralize what she felt coming from the card, to convert it to light, was almost overwhelming.

But she couldn’t. Her daimon skills had failed her and her charge before. She wouldn’t make that mistake again. Let the powers in heaven assign someone else, someone who wouldn’t fail.

But—she stared down at the black print—there was so much need there, even in this tiny two-by-three-inch card. If such a small sample was so full of darkness, how much did the man himself contain?

Chapter 3

D rystan hid in the shadows, willed his beguilement to hide him completely. He’d delivered his card to the nurse, then pretended to leave, but instead he’d gone searching for Aimee. Her resistance to him was unprecedented. She didn’t know him, had no reason not to believe whatever he suggested.

To his knowledge, that was the only way a human could resist beguilement—if they already knew him, already had expectations of him. Even then it might not work, but to be honest, he’d never risked it, never approached anyone from his past. When he first rose, he hadn’t wanted to see the distaste in their eyes, had been afraid he’d weaken, turn back into the little boy deserted by his mother, run.

He was over the fear now, had no need to hide, but he still hadn’t approached the Myhres. He didn’t want them on guard; he wanted to surprise them, shock them, when he delivered his revenge.

The squeak of wheels sent him sinking deeper into the shadows of an unoccupied nurses’ station. Aimee swept by, her brows lowered in thought. She stopped outside a door a few feet away, smoothed her scrubs and took a deep breath. With a smile that would melt the polar ice caps, she backed into the door, pulling her cart behind her until it set half in the hall and half in the room.

Wrapping himself in illusion, Drystan followed her steps, stopping so he was hidden behind the door. If anyone looked his way they would see nothing more disturbing than a janitor taking an unauthorized break. If Aimee looked his way…Drystan had no idea what she might see.

Luckily, the soon-to-be Myhre seemed completely caught up in conversation with the room’s occupant.

“I found you a new mystery, Mr. Belding. You want me to read some to you?” Drystan could hear the smile in Aimee’s voice. It made him ache inside, in his core.

An older man’s voice rasped a response. Aimee made some kind of soothing sound deep in her throat. Drystan felt himself moving, being pulled closer by nothing more than the promise of relief he heard in Aimee’s tone. She murmured again. Drystan stopped by the open door, his fingers curling around the wood. He closed his eyes, soaked in the energy emanating from her. Her voice…it was like a gentle hand wiping away a tear or a kiss on a child’s hurt knee.

The man spoke again. This time Drystan could make out the words.

“They’re putting me away, you know. No reason to lie. I’m old and I’m dying. Doesn’t make me stupid.”

Drystan peered around the door’s edge. An old man lay on a hospital bed. He was pale and shriveled, dry, like a leaf minutes before it crumbled to dust. And he was right; he was dying. The scent clung to him, but it wasn’t thick yet. The man had months, maybe years with today’s science, before he succumbed. But the smell was there, the moldering scent of death.

“You know I wouldn’t lie to you.” Aimee rested a paperback book she’d been holding on the edge of the bed.

“So, when are they shipping me off? How bad are we talking?” The man jerked on the plastic tube that protruded from his nose.

Aimee pulled his hand away and adjusted the tube herself. “Better?” she asked.

He grunted. Aimee’s hand drifted from the old man’s face to his hand. Slowly she slipped her fingers inside the curve of his. Drystan could see the old man relax, see anxiety leaving his body, disappearing like mist.

The man took a deep breath through the tube, then stared at Aimee so intently that Drystan almost came around the door to protect her. “You have to save her,” he said. “They’ll kill her. Soon as they decide for sure I’m not coming back, that I won’t know what they did to her, they’ll kill her. And that will kill me.” A tear appeared in the corner of the man’s eye and he fell back against the pillow, like the life had been jerked out of him.

“You don’t know that.” Aimee’s words were soft, and filled with worry.

“I do, and so do you.” The man stared at the white tile ceiling above his bed. “I know it seems strange, but that dog is all I have. She was a stray, you know. Meant to give her to the pound, but when I took her down there, I made the mistake of carrying her back to the cage for ’em. I tried to shove her in, but I couldn’t do it. She wouldn’t let me do it.” He lowered his gaze back to Aimee. “Never saw a look like that on a dog. Terrified. She was terrified I was going to leave her, and I just couldn’t do it. Swore to her I never would, that I’d make sure she was always taken care of, loved.” The man sniffed, and fidgeted with the tubing again. When his hand dropped, there was moisture rolling down his sunken cheek. “Everybody deserves some love.” He turned his head to face Aimee; there was pain in his eyes, real, unmistakable pain. Drystan blinked at the realization.

“Don’t make me break my word,” the man finished, his voice no more than a whisper, then turned his hand palm up. Without a word, Aimee slipped her hand into his. As the man’s fingers closed over hers, Drystan took a step back.

The man loved his dog with such intensity it was staggering.

Drystan had never had a pet. Foster care didn’t really allow for keeping an animal and Maureen Myhre didn’t believe in them, claimed she was allergic.

What would it be like to love something with the thoroughness this man loved his dog? Or be the recipient of such love?

Drystan couldn’t imagine.

Behind him the cart began to move—Aimee leaving the old man’s room.

“I’ll do what I can,” she called, but softly, more to herself than the man.

Quickly, Drystan disappeared back into the space behind the door, concentrated on blending into the wall.

Aimee paused, glanced around, her gaze darting around the hallway, but her eyes never focused on the space where Drystan stood. Finally, she shook her head slightly, thinned her lips and continued down the hallway.

When she was gone, Drystan stepped around the door, stared into the now-dark room. The man mumbled in his sleep. Unable to understand him over the hissing of whatever machine the man was connected to, Drystan stepped farther into the room.

The man’s lips moved. Still unable to make out the words, Drystan bent closer. The man mumbled again, another spat of words Drystan couldn’t make out, then two he could. “…help me.” The old man’s eyes flew open and his hand reached out, grasping Drystan’s wrist. “Help me,” he said again.

The man stared at Drystan with no fear in his eyes. At first Drystan was shocked, then he realized the old man was asleep, talking in his sleep, most likely remembering Aimee, asking for her assistance, not Drystan’s.

The man’s eyes closed and his grip lessened. Drystan pulled the man’s fingers away from his wrist, started to drop them onto the bed, but without realizing he was going to do it, without understanding why, he gave the man’s fingers a tiny squeeze first, then gently laid them on the generic hospital sheet.

Help. Love. The old man wanted the impossible.

It was already dark. Aimee would be late for work if she didn’t hurry. Twisting the leash she’d brought in both hands, she stared at the closed door of Mr. Belding’s one-bedroom home. His daughter had told him a college student was watching his house and Garbo, his Toto-like dog. But while the college student was present, the dog wasn’t, and according to the fresh-faced girl, the animal hadn’t been there for three days.

Three days. That was two days before Mr. Belding’s doctor had told his daughter, Carol, that he didn’t think Mr. Belding would be able to make it on his own.

It was possible his daughter had taken the dog to her house, but…Aimee moved the leather leash to one hand and shoved the other hand into her pocket to pull out her cell phone. She flipped open the lid—five-forty. She had twenty minutes to make it to work. She’d been called in early tonight. Another aide had forgotten a birthday party and begged Aimee to cover for her.

Aimee had been more than happy to help out, especially because it gave her a perfect excuse to avoid Drystan. She tilted her head to the sky and took a deep breath through her nose. The reporter, or whatever he claimed to be, scared her.

She had gone to sleep this morning thinking of him, remembering the darkness that surrounded him. She’d awakened a few hours later with him still on her mind. So much need. She had never encountered such a void before.

A void. The shadow she had seen outside the Myhres’ two nights earlier. Had that been Drystan?

Her phone chirped, reminding her that she was due at work—almost past due. With one last glance at the house, she shoved the leash into her bag and hurried to her car.

Tomorrow she would find Garbo, think of a way to find out what Drystan was, and how she could permanently avoid him.

Drystan leaned against the metal-and-rock sculpture that decorated the entrance to the hospital. Aimee had stood him up—or at least not called. Normally this would have shocked him, but with her response to him, or lack of one, last night, he realized he would have been disappointed if she had fallen so easily.

Beguilement was easy, less messy than hunting, but it was also less fulfilling. Until Drystan had met Aimee, he hadn’t realized how much. Since awakening he’d prowled around his condo, waiting for her call, hoping she wouldn’t, wanting an excuse to search her out himself—to be the aggressor.

And she’d given it to him; she’d ignored him.

He had never been happier.

With his thoughts on Aimee, his concentration slipped, the web of deceit he’d wrapped around himself slipping with it. A mother who was headed his direction with two school-age children in tow ground to a halt. Her eyes lit on him and rounded with recognition of what he was—a threat to her, her family, everything she loved.

He smiled, letting his fangs show for just a fraction of a second, then snapped the beguilement back in place. Ignoring her children’s cries of complaint, the young mother jerked them closer, and abruptly changed her path, hazarding traffic rather than walk past him.

An older woman, seeing the mother drag her children off the sidewalk and onto the street, made a judgmental grumbling noise. His disguise again snapped in place, Drystan shrugged and shook his head in apparent agreement.

He was watching a group of interns grumbling among themselves over steaming paper coffee cups, thinking of signaling one, luring her to a spot behind the massive sculpture and relieving her of a pint or two of blood, when he felt the mood around him shift—lighten.

Aimee, an oversize leather bag slung over her shoulder, stepped out of the parking garage and into the crosswalk. Her head was down, her feet moving quickly. But even in her obviously harried state, the world seemed to lighten around her.

He watched her, willed her to look up and see him.

As if pulled by a string, Aimee’s head lifted and her wide gaze met his. He felt the tiny exhaled “Oh” in the center of his chest, an anticipatory tightening, a flicker of something light and filled with promise he hadn’t felt since he’d heard someone—the Myhres—wanted to adopt him.

The feeling, he reminded himself, couldn’t be trusted. Still, he couldn’t completely cut off the disturbing trickle of joy that wound through him as Aimee continued on her course toward him.

“You didn’t call,” he said.

Her hair was as wild as it had been the night before. Curls that would give under his hand, spring back when he removed his touch—the kind of hair that always look tousled, like she’d just left her bed, but innocent, too.

“I had to work early.” She gestured to the building behind him, then twisted her mouth to the side. “Why are you here?”

“I figured something like that happened. The all-night angel wouldn’t just stand me up.”

“Don’t call me that.” Her words were firm, almost terse. Drystan raised his brows.

“Please,” she amended. “I don’t care for the name.” Sadness touched her eyes.

Silence fell over them—Drystan unsure what to say. He should jump on this opportunity, take advantage of her melancholy, break her. He opened his mouth, determined to tell her the Myhres didn’t care about her, how they would use her for political gain, then discard her if she faltered even one step. Instead, to his surprise, “Are you okay?” came out.

She seemed as surprised as he was. A smile curved her lips, so sweet and full of hope, Drystan wanted to step closer, to soak the warmth he could almost feel radiating from her into his soul, store it for the cold days…years to come.

“People don’t usually ask about me,” she replied. Her gaze was on him now, fully, as if despite the beguilement he carefully held in place, she could see him, really, truly see him, and she wasn’t repulsed.

“I’d like to know about you,” he said, and he wasn’t lying. What had started as a game, a way to cause the Myhres embarrassment and suffering was quickly morphing into something else.

The thought scared him.

“For the magazine, that is,” he added.

The light in her eyes lessened. “The magazine. I don’t know. The Myhres…that is…”

“I’d show you a copy before it ran, of course. We’re a bridal magazine, not a supermarket tabloid.”

“Well—”

A kid on a skateboard slid down the concrete lip that separated the road from the statue they were standing next to. Without thinking, Drystan wrapped his arms around Aimee and jerked her out of the teen’s path.

Anger swarmed over him. His beguilement gone, he jerked his head to the side and hissed at the delinquent over Aimee’s head. In his arms Aimee flinched. He pulled himself back together, snapped his beguilement in place and stared down at her.

Her eyes were huge, her lips parted. “What are you?” she asked.

But Drystan barely heard her question. Warmth had radiated from her body into his. Her heart beat against his chest, so quick, so alive, while he was so slow, so close to dead. It was like walking into spring after years of barren winter.

He pulled her closer, wished they weren’t separated by layers of heavy coats and clothing. His hair fell forward across his cheeks. People passed them, brushing along with hurried steps to get out of the cold, but neither Drystan nor the woman in his arms moved.

“What are you?” she whispered again.

He stared at her parted lips, full but unstained by lipstick, just a slight sheen that glimmered at him, invited him.

“What do you want me to be?” he asked, then before she could reply, he lowered his head and caught her lips with his. His fangs scraped over her lips, pulling but not piercing her flesh. He cupped her face in his hands, holding her head so the temptation to bite down, to suck in the sweet taste of her blood didn’t overwhelm him. What he was doing was bad enough. He already knew she was resistant to his powers. He might not be able to make her forget this.…She might run.…

But she didn’t, at least not at that moment. Her bag slipped from her shoulder onto the ground and her hands crept up his chest until her fingers curled around the lapels of his coat and she held him almost as tightly as he held her.

Drystan stroked the soft inside of her mouth with his tongue. Sweet, almost as sweet as he knew her blood would be. His groin hardened. She rubbed against him. He started to pull back, afraid the feel of him would startle her out of their embrace, but she clung to him, pressed her pelvis against his, shyly, but still there.

A groan escaped from his lips and was devoured by their kiss.

People were staring; he could feel their gazes on them. With a swish of his arm, he raised a veil around them, caused snow to spin, blinding anyone who glanced their direction.

He was running his fingers over her cheek, dipping them down the curve of her neck, when a chime sounded, breaking the fog that surrounded them, bringing him back to reality.

Aimee pulled away. Her eyes looked heavy and unfocused, her lips bruised. Drystan could feel the quick beat of her heart, see her chest rise as she took in a breath. His own heart felt leaden in his chest. The muscle still worked like it had before he’d turned, beat like any other, but what he was feeling now…he’d thought this was in his past. Fear, pain, loss, he was used to, expected, but hope…love…those he hadn’t felt for years. He didn’t want to feel it now.

She blinked at him and he waited for her to ask again what he was, to jerk away, for her face to crease with horror at what she’d done, and with whom. But she just stared at him, pressed two fingers to her lips, then slowly pressed them to his.

“I need to go to work,” she said, softly, almost apologetically. She bent to retrieve her bag and a cell phone. As she pulled the phone free, a leather dog leash fell to the ground. Drystan scooped it up.

“You have a dog?” he asked to divert his mind from the emotions swirling through him.

She shook her head. “A patient. I was trying to help him out.”

“Trying?”

Her fingertips skimmed his palm as she took the leash.

She smiled, but her eyes were sad. “It’s important. I’ll try again.”

Her answer was incomplete, but Drystan didn’t ask her to explain, didn’t need to. She hadn’t found the old man’s dog. Drystan’s gaze drifted toward the hospital, to the window of the old man’s room.

“About…this…” she started.

Drystan grabbed her hand, pressed his fingers into her palm, let his thumb sweep over the fine bones of the other side. “Forgotten.” He paused and with his other hand, tilted her chin so she stared into his eyes. “It’s forgotten. Nothing happened between us. You didn’t even see me, just realize you need to see me, want to talk to me—that you trust me, will believe everything I say.” He pulled a breath into lungs that needed no air, felt his powers thicken, wrap around her.

Her eyes widened, dilated. He nodded; her head followed the up and down movement of his and he knew that it was done, that the kiss that had warmed him, made him forget how cold the world could be, had in her mind never happened.

Chapter 4

A imee didn’t know what Drystan had done or tried to do. She’d felt magic wrapping around her, felt it weave through her, confusing her.

She pressed a hand to her forehead. What had happened? She had seen Drystan; she knew that…or thought she did. The entire encounter was like a vivid dream, the kind that wakes you in the night and takes minutes to clear from your head, to convince yourself it was just a dream.

But her visit with Drystan was the opposite. Something was working inside her, trying to make her think it hadn’t happened, but she knew deep in her soul that it had.

“Aimee…” Andrea, the nurse on duty, called from behind the counter. “Can you stop by Mr. Belding’s room? His daughter left a couple of hours ago. They…talked.” Her lips thinned. “He isn’t doing well.”

Aimee shoved her cart back into the closet and hurried to the older man’s room.

Drystan watched Aimee from the shadows for any sign his suggestion had taken hold. Once she’d arrived on her floor, she had gone to a closet to retrieve the cart filled with books, then slowly began to push it down the hall. Every few steps she stopped, a confused look on her face.

His suggestion taking hold or some totally unrelated problem she grappled with?

He’d almost decided his lurking would tell him nothing when a nurse said something to her and she raced off.

He, of course, followed.

When she paused outside the same room where he had spied on her last night, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a second before placing a smile on her lips and stepping inside.

The old man was propped up on his pillows, a distant look in his eyes.

“She sent Garbo to the pound,” he said. “Sending me there, too.”

Aimee squeezed his hand, but didn’t say anything. At first Drystan was surprised that she would just sit there and let the old man suffer alone, but then he realized that was what the man needed, a listening ear, one that wouldn’t judge, but just be there for him. Must have been the role his dog played before.

Besides, anything she said would be nothing but platitudes. The old man was being sent away from the life he had known, the things he had loved. He was in the last stages of his human life. There was no way around it. No way to make the journey easier…except maybe not having to feel like he was taking the trip completely alone.

And that was why Aimee sat there, just holding his hand.

Drystan left the hospital and prowled the city. He was restless; some feeling he couldn’t pin down gnawed at him. He roamed, trying to shake the unsettling notion that there was something he should be doing, something he’d left undone, or maybe something he needed to undo. Finally, unable to relax, he found an upscale restaurant, one that would never have admitted him as a human, and stalked inside.

He sat in the back alone, sipping wine and pretending to eat. Across the room a woman sat with a date, both dressed to seduce—he with success and she with sex. Drystan watched them for almost an hour, stewed over the iniquities of life—the haves dining on filet and dressed in silk, the have-nots scrambling for change to buy a fast-food burger and pulling someone else’s cast-off coat around their shoulders.

Life was horribly unfair, always had been. Luckily Drystan was no longer victim to the iniquities that ruled human existence. He could make his own rules now.

The woman dabbed at her carefully made-up lips with a white linen napkin, uttered a few polite noises, then slid from behind the table—headed to the bathroom.

Drystan waited a few seconds, watched her sway her hips as if to some inaudible blues tune, then dropped his own napkin onto his full plate, and stood to follow.

She was waiting for him when he turned the corner—or might as well have been. She stood in a dark alcove, her cell phone flipped open, her fingers already pushing numbers. Without saying a word, he slipped the phone from her fingers and snapped it shut.

She was ready for him; he barely had to extend his powers for her to fall against him, her hands kneading his chest, like a cat preparing its bed.

He stroked her hair away from her neck, whispered against her skin—even grazed his fangs over her throat. She smelled expensive, unattainable, exactly what he hungered for, or thought he did.

Her body felt good against his; her curves were soft, her skin supple. Everything was right or should have been. He murmured against her throat, preparing himself as much as her for what he was about to do, but as his lips were about to touch her flesh, his fangs to puncture her skin, he paused.

He wasn’t hungry for her blood. Didn’t need it to survive, at least not right now.

He only had to feed once a week, could even stretch that. So why was he here, doing this? Violating this woman? Yes, she would walk away happy with no memory of what he had done, but still he was using her, like he’d been used—and with no higher mission to justify his act. The flash of conscience hit him unawares, angered him.

He pulled back his lips, a hiss escaping between his teeth.

He tried to shove the unwelcome tussle with morals aside, but the thoughts continued to roll through his mind.

He didn’t need this woman’s blood to survive—he wanted it to forget. Blood, taking it, tasting it, made him forget…made the pain he’d carried all his life subside, at least for a while. And tonight, after being so close to Aimee, seeing her comfort the old man, knowing all that was left for the old human was pain, loss…Drystan’s own pain had surged back tenfold, like the sea reclaiming a beach. He stared at the length of white skin the woman laid bare before him.

Morals be damned. No one had worried about morals when he’d been left beaten in an alley close to death. They’d chosen to hide his body rather than risk exposing the Myhre family to unsavory press. Left him where a vampire found him, fed on him, turned him into this. Drystan curled his upper lip, snapped his teeth together.

He did need this woman’s blood, like an addict needed a fix. He bared his fangs, prepared to bite.

An image of Aimee with her hand wrapped around the old man’s filled his mind.

With a curse, he shoved the woman away. She teetered on her heels, blinked up at him with her eyes vacant, no sign of hurt, or dismay, just a blank void—like the hole that was Drystan’s life. With a snap of his fingers next to her ear, he jerked her from the spell, murmured something about her date and her need to hurry back to him, then turned on the ball of his foot and stormed from the restaurant.

It was after midnight. The squat brick building in front of Drystan appeared empty, but it wasn’t. Drystan could hear the heartbeats of dozens of lost souls inside, desperate to escape, desperate to be loved. He approached the door, still not believing he was here, doing what he was about to do. He could lie to himself and say it was part of his game, that it would get him closer to Aimee, but gaining her trust wasn’t what brought him here tonight.

He knocked on the door, not expecting an answer, but choosing to try a mundane form of entry first. To his surprise, a male voice yelled out to him. “Closed. You got an emergency, call the Vet Line. It’s posted on the door.”

A white sign with red block print hung from the door, just as the voice claimed, but Drystan didn’t bother reading it. Instead he pressed a palm against the wood and whispered to the voice inside, urged the man to open the door.

He could feel a moment of resistance, the man starting to step away, then halting before shuffling close again. Drystan redoubled his efforts, making up for the wooden door separating them, cutting off at least some of his powers.

The sound of a lock twisting followed and the door swung open. A man dressed in unitarian gray and holding a bucket stared out at Drystan.

With a smile Drystan stepped inside.

Aimee sat in the small break room, a tuna sandwich untouched in front of her. Mr. Belding’s despair clung to her, like smoke after a night in the bars. She’d tried to lighten his mood, to pull the sadness from him, but the facts of his life were too set, too real. His life was ending. There was no way to change that, nothing that could make that fact go away.

Yesterday, he’d seemed better, stronger, but today he’d had time to face the changes, completely grip that his life as he had known it was over, that his dog was lost to him.

His dog. If only Aimee had been able to find her. If only she could have told him she was okay, safe. But the shelter had been closed, and she hadn’t wanted to make promises she might not be able to keep. What if she told him she would save his pet, then went to the shelter tomorrow and found her gone…dead?

Aimee shoved the sandwich away. What kind of daimon was she if she couldn’t even bring a few minutes of peace to a dying old man?

She’d been sitting there another ten minutes or so, when she heard voices outside the door arguing.

“Who authorized it? Are you sure it’s okay? Did someone ask him for paperwork, something?”

The voice that answered was low, confused. “I don’t know. He must have had something. I know everything was in order…it had to be.”

Curious and done pretending to eat, Aimee dropped her dinner into the trash and walked into the hall.

A nurse and doctor stood outside. The doctor frowned and placed her hands on her hips. “Did he give you something?”

The nurse shook her head. “No, but I know it was okay, and it made Mr. Belding so happy.”

Mr. Belding. Not waiting to hear the doctor’s response, Aimee rushed to the older man’s room.

Her soft-soled shoes padded over the floor, quiet—too quiet to warn the visitor in Mr. Belding’s room he had an audience. Still, the man, his broad back to her, tensed. Then as she stood there, her breath coming quick from her race down the halls, he relaxed, leaned forward and placed a small white dog on the bed.

For seconds, Aimee forgot to breathe, just stood there staring at the scroungy-looking mongrel prancing atop the bed.

“Garbo.” Mr. Belding leaned forward into Aimee’s view. His outstretched hands shook, as if he was afraid the dog that was leaving tiny black footprints on the otherwise white sheets wasn’t real, might disappear. He grabbed the animal under her front legs and pulled her close—until her nose touched his.

“How’d you…” the older man began, but as the dog began to wiggle from tip to tail, snuffling her nose over his face, he let the words fade—started talking to his pet instead.

Pulled forward by the scene in front of her, Aimee stepped into the room. The good Samaritan still stood with his back toward her. She reached out, wanting to meet the man who had succeeded where she had failed, to thank him.

Before her fingers could brush the material of his dark coat, he turned, and she found herself staring into the fathomless depths of Drystan Hurst’s eyes.

Aimee was in the room. Drystan had sensed her, felt his spirit lifting as she’d come to a stop outside the door. He turned before she could touch him, not sure what she remembered of their earlier encounter, not sure what he would do the next time her body made contact with his.

Her eyes widened when she saw his face. “Drystan, I…” She raised her hand, palm up, and gestured to the bed, and the reunion taking place there between Mr. Belding and his dog. “How’d you…”

Drystan. She’d said his name, hadn’t had to search for it—just knew it. The realization brought a second of joy. Then recognizing where his thoughts were going, the weakness he was exposing, Drystan curled his fingers into a fist and steeled his mind against the softness that threatened to take over when he was around her.

If she remembered his name so easily, what else did she remember?

“Mr. Belding’s an old friend. I was at the pound today, looking for a pet for my niece. She’s turning two.” He smiled, the lie flowing easily from his lips, reassuring him he was still in the game, not being sucked in by whatever strange softening power Aimee seemed to hold. “When I saw Garbo, I knew it had to be some kind of mistake. So, I paid her fee and brought her right here.”

“But it’s…” Aimee glanced at the clock “…after midnight and this is a hospital. How did you—”

Drystan shrugged. “I’m good with people.” He pulled a dog cookie from his pocket, held it up to the little mutt. Garbo let out a happy yap and plucked it from his fingers. “Dogs, too.” He smiled, willed Aimee to accept his words.

As he did, Mr. Belding made a sound, calling the dog back to him. Aimee opened her mouth, to ask another question Drystan assumed, but as she watched the old man murmur and coo to his pet, she let out a breath and all tension seeped from her body.

“Thank you,” she said.

A warmth crept over Drystan, made him smile somewhere deep inside, somewhere hidden, somewhere long dead or so he’d thought.

“That isn’t enough.” Aimee placed her hand on his sleeve. He could feel her fingers through the heavy wool, had to fight to keep from placing his hand on her back, pulling her close.

“What can I do to thank you?” she asked, her face tilted to his, her eyes free of all guile.

Just twenty-four hours earlier, he’d known the answer as well as he knew his own name, as surely as he knew why he hated the Myhres, would do anything to destroy them. But as he looked into her eyes, saw the sincerity, the gratitude for something he had done—he found himself at a loss for a reply.

She smiled and squeezed his arm with a quick pressure of her fingers. “The interview. I’ll make time for it tomorrow. You can ask me anything. I’ll tell you anything.”

But would she do anything? Would she help him exact his revenge? Would she leave Ben Myhre at the altar?

Drystan stared into her impossibly bright eyes, felt the longing being near her seemed to bring. The void inside him had never felt bigger. He placed his hand on top of hers. She gasped and the light in her eyes flickered.

She started to tug her hand away, but, almost desperate in his need to touch her, he held fast.

Suddenly he realized destroying the Myhres wasn’t enough. He needed what he felt when Aimee was near, needed to touch her, needed her. She made him feel alive, more alive than he’d ever felt—even before joining the undead.

She tugged again, pulled her fingers free, wrapped the fingers from her other hand around the one he’d held—stared at him—uncertain, wary.

He knew the look, hated it. She was afraid of him, saw him as different, beneath her. The spot that had begun to warm inside him cooled, died. He might think he needed her, might want her, but she could never want him, accept him—no one could. Maureen Myhre had done him one favor by teaching him that.

Now he had to hold that truth close, keep from letting the magic Aimee wielded cloud his mind, and keep him from seeking his revenge: destroying the Myhres and anyone who stuck by their side.

Chapter 5

A imee waited outside the restaurant, her pashmina shawl, a gift from Ben, pulled tightly around her. It was a little too cold for just the wrap, just like it was a little too snowy for her three-inch heels, but Aimee had fallen victim to vanity—a vice she had never had before ignoring her daimon calling.

Chewing on her lower lip, she stroked the cashmere. It had been four months since she had walked away from being a daimon, had started ignoring the almost constant peals that chimed inside her head—a soul in need looking for his or her personal daimon—but in the past few days, she hadn’t heard a single chime, not even a hum.

No nagging from her daimon conscience, and now falling victim to one of the most basic of human failings—vanity. Could she actually be turning human? It was what she wanted….

“Aimee.” Drystan Hurst stepped beside her, his head brushing the scalloped edge of the restaurant awning. Snow dotted his black coat. Without thinking, Aimee brushed the flakes from the wool. Drystan, his hands covered in leather driving gloves, captured her fingers and stared down into her eyes.

“Are you this solicitous with everyone?” His tone was light, but there was an intensity behind his gaze that made her want to pull her fingers away, like she had last night. This time she left them in his grip, tried for a light tone to match his.

“Hazard of my job,” she replied.

“I didn’t realize hospital aides took their roles so seriously.”

There was a sharpness to his words and Aimee wondered for a second if she was supposed to take offense—if that would be the normal human reaction. But then he smiled and rubbed his gloved thumb over the backs of her knuckles.

“I doubt they all do. I think you may be…special,” he added then leaned down.

Her breath catching in her throat, Aimee edged forward on her toes. Snow covered the tips of her kid-leather pumps, icy water leaked in through the keyhole design that decorated their tops; she ignored the tiny discomfort, ignored everything except Drystan.

“Well, I guess we should get inside.” Drystan dropped Aimee’s hand, stepped away so suddenly she teetered backward. Seeing her predicament, he placed a hand on her shoulder to steady her, but his touch was impersonal, cool.

She flipped the end of her shawl over her shoulder, hiding the flutter of disappointment that washed over her, tucked her hand into the arm he offered and let him escort her inside.

The restaurant was full, but after a few earnest words with the maitre d’, Drystan guided her to a table.

“I’ve never been here.” She glanced around, avoiding Drystan’s eyes, and tried to slow her heart, which seemed to be skittering inside her chest. The maitre d’ had taken Drystan’s coat and her shawl. As Drystan walked to his chair, she looked up, took advantage of his turned back to study him. His dress shirt hugged his body, showed off the V shape of his tapered waist and broad shoulders. Candlelight danced on the table. He pulled out his chair, and caught her gaze for a second, his eyes seeming to flicker with the flame. A shiver danced over Aimee’s skin, made her wish she’d kept the wrap, had something to pull around her, hide behind.

“Really? Your fiancé never brought you here?” The question should have been innocent, but the words seemed to fall between them, land on the table like stones, hard and unyielding.

At the mention of Ben, a mantle of guilt settled over Aimee.

She pinched the stem of her water goblet and stared at the ice cubes floating inside. She had no reason to feel guilty. She hadn’t specifically told Ben she was having dinner with a reporter, but if she had, he would have been thrilled—which was why, she told herself, she hadn’t bothered. Besides, a feature article would be the perfect wedding gift. Maureen Myhre had been perfectly clear that media coverage was of utmost importance—more important than the wedding itself, if Aimee read the older woman correctly. Which, of course, she did.

Aimee sighed. How she wished she didn’t always read others’ motivations so clearly. She’d like just once to be blindsided by someone’s nature—surprised. Maybe that was why she’d agreed to this dinner. Drystan was a puzzle, a void of dark need but with a strange light that seemed to flicker in and out, like a flame struggling to come to life.

She looked up; Drystan’s gaze was still on her. “Ben and I don’t go out much—at least not to restaurants.”

“Oh.” Drystan laid his hand on the white linen cloth, his fingers curled toward the table.

“What?” she asked. His gesture had been dismissive, as if her response were to be expected and pitied.

“Doesn’t it bother you that your fiancé doesn’t take you out, just the two of you?”

Something began to wind around Aimee, something she couldn’t see or hear, but could feel—a coaxing that made her body want to sway, her mind want to agree. Her head started to nod, then, realizing what she was doing, she frowned and focused on Drystan’s question. “I don’t mind,” she replied.

In fact she preferred it. She and Ben hadn’t spent a great deal of time alone yet. Once she actually married Ben, she would have to, and she’d face another problem, one she hoped wouldn’t bother her once her daimon life was completely in her past. Physical intimacy without love was a lie to Aimee. Daimons didn’t lie. As far as Aimee knew they were incapable of it—even daimons of the dark.

Of course, daimons of the dark probably didn’t see the human act of sex as a declaration of anything. Just another base desire to use against humanity.

If Drystan was a daimon, was that how he saw it? She touched her fingers to her lips. She had wanted to kiss him outside. Was that why? Was he using daimon powers against her?

“But you have to admit…” he placed his hand over hers, curled her fingers into his palm “…this is nice.”

His fingers were cool against hers—too cool for a human, but not unpleasant, actually to Aimee quite the opposite. She hooked her fingers around his, let warmth pass from her body into his.

The exchange was tiny, warmth, nothing more, but it made the daimon inside Aimee lumber from forced sleep. Made Aimee want to flood Drystan, body and soul, with light, hope, love—but she couldn’t. That’s what she had done to Kevin—unharnessed the almost desperate love she felt, her hopes for what he could become—and he’d staggered under the weight. No more able to bear that burden than the ones life had already given him. Yes, he’d seen what he was doing was wrong—not the solution, but rather than taking time to assess, to rethink, he’d taken the quick way out…pulled the trigger.

Aimee jerked her hand away, broke contact, then stared at her menu, refused to glance up at the man she couldn’t quite read, who scared and intrigued at the same time.

Aimee pulled her hand so quickly from Drystan’s that even with his vamp senses he didn’t have time to react, but he felt the loss—her hand warming his…and something else, something sliding from her to him, making him feel…safe.

He fisted his hand on the table. Safe. It was a ludicrous thought. Of course he was safe. He was a vampire—who did he have to fear?

“It’s good not getting to be alone with your fiancé doesn’t bother you,” he murmured, hoping to bring their conversation back where it had been, to find an opening to drive a wedge between Aimee and the Myhres. “He certainly takes you enough public places.” He picked up his glass, took a sip of water. “Of course, now that I think of it…” he frowned “…all those places are political, aren’t they?”

Aimee glanced up, gazing at him with the clear beauty of her eyes—innocent, sweet. “He’s a state legislator.”

“Who wants to be governor,” Drystan added.

“Yes.” Aimee gazed at him, her face open, expression frank, as if waiting for him to continue.

“That doesn’t bother you?” Drystan dropped his hand to his lap, balled his napkin in his fist.

“That he wants to be governor? Why should it?”

She seemed sincerely confused now. A line formed between her brows and she blinked as if truly struggling to make out his meaning. “There are much worse ambitions, and being governor…that could be good, no, great. Think of all the things you could influence, the people you could help.”

“You want to be married to a governor?” Drystan felt as though he’d swallowed a lead ball. Despite the happy glow that surrounded her and her work at the hospital, Aimee wasn’t the angel he’d thought her to be. She wanted the same things the Myhres wanted—power, influence, a political office for her husband if not herself.

She dropped her gaze to the base of her water goblet, twisted the glass back and forth on the tablecloth. Then, without warning, she looked up. “Is that wrong? To want to do something that would give you real power? Power to help people like patients who don’t fill their prescriptions because they can’t afford it? Or mothers who have to choose between shoes for their kids and a mammogram? Is that wrong?”

Drystan swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. If anyone else had been asking him these questions, he’d have known they were attacking him—and been justified. His tone had been laden with accusation and judgment. But Aimee still had that same damn look of receptiveness, like she truly wanted to hear his opinion. Was what she was doing wrong?

He wanted to yell yes, to tell her nothing could justify marrying into the Myhre family, that the quest for power no matter the motive behind it was wrong, hurtful. He wanted to hurt her, make her cringe and agree to stop her plans. He opened his lips. “Not wrong. Not wrong at all.”

Her lips curved into a smile, lighting her face, her eyes, the space around them. Drystan’s annoyance with his own honesty faded before it could even materialize as a frown.

“I don’t think you could do anything wrong,” he murmured. “Not intentionally.”

Her smile disappeared; the glow behind her eyes dimmed. “Intentions don’t matter. Outcome does.”

And that was it. The conversation was over like someone had sliced through a phone line. Suddenly, desperately, Drystan wanted to bring the joy back to her eyes.

He placed his hand on the table, not touching hers, almost afraid to touch hers.

“Intentions do matter—a lot.” If Maureen Myhre had taken him in, trotted him out at every media event, but her intentions had been true—to share something with a boy who needed a family, who needed love—would he have wandered off the path? Would he have acted out in a ridiculous attempt to gain her attention?

Perhaps. But he wouldn’t be able to blame her then, wouldn’t hold the hate that festered inside him.

“Sometimes,” he continued, “intentions are everything.”

There was sorrow in her eyes now, deep and intense. Drystan pressed his fingers into the linen, felt the lines of the cloth, stopped himself from grabbing her hand, telling her everything would be okay—he would make it okay.

“Intentions didn’t save Mr. Belding’s dog. You did. I intended to help him but failed.”

“But I wouldn’t have saved him, if I hadn’t seen—” Drystan stopped the flow of words. He’d almost given himself away.

“Seen what?”

It was too much, he’d come too close. The conversation was getting them nowhere—or nowhere Drystan wanted to go. It was time to up the stakes, to take Aimee somewhere he could work on her alone—before his intentions were lost, before he fell under her spell and forgot who he was, what had been done to him.

He placed his hand over hers, captured her gaze with his and began to weave a cloak of beguilement around them. He’d take her back to his apartment, work on her, make her see the cost of marrying into the Myhres was too high, that she could help others without selling herself…losing her soul.

Aimee blinked, tried to focus on where she was, how she’d got here. She was in an apartment, sitting on a couch. Her palm rested on the seat next to her…cool to the touch, leather. She blinked again, her mind processing this bit of information.

The room was dimly lit, one lone table lamp given the job of illuminating the entire space. Music floated around her, soft, sultry, something with lots of horns and a seductive beat.

Not the type of music Ben, who preferred the dramatic sounds of opera, would have chosen or the jarring rap Kevin had cranked in his rusted-out compact.

All in all the place was peaceful, tempting. The kind of place that made her want to kick off her shoes and let herself slide down the cushion, just lean back and relax, forget everything bad that was going on in the world, everything she couldn’t fix.

She closed her eyes, considered for a second letting the apartment win her over, ignoring the nagging thoughts that said she shouldn’t be here, but a ping stopped her, caused her to sit up straighter, look around.

The place was an illusion, a snare. Underneath its calm exterior lay a history of dark emotions. No amount of music, stylish furniture or dim lights could hide that from her.

Whoever lived in this apartment must seethe with anger, malice and hate for the disturbing imprint to be so clear. She edged forward on her seat, strained to see past the lamp’s small ring of light into the nearby kitchen.

Someone very troubled lived here.

And she wasn’t alone.

Uploaded by Coral

Chapter 6

A imee was stirring.

Drystan had flooded her with every strand of beguilement he could pull from his body, from resources he didn’t know he had, and now he was paying the price. He placed two wineglasses on the granite counter with shaking hands, started to grab the unopened bottle of merlot he had already pulled from the wine rack, but instead reached into the refrigerator for another bottle. One of the bottles he got delivered secretly to his home every Sunday night.

He jerked the cork from the glass neck, started to tip it over his glass, but with a curse pressed it to his lips instead. Blood, thick and heady, rolled down his throat. Even unnaturally cold, straight from the refrigerator, he could feel it moving through his system, renewing his depleted energy stores.

The slight crunch of Aimee shifting on his leather couch alerted him she was now awake, aware, but he couldn’t face her yet. He pressed his palms onto the countertop, took a step back and let his head hang for just a second between his outstretched arms. The muscles in his back pulled, relaxing him.

The couch crackled again. His gaze darting from the door to the bottles, he picked up the chilled bottle and filled his glass halfway. After filling Aimee’s with merlot and topping off his own with the wine, he picked up the glasses and strode into the living room.

“I brought your wine.”

Aimee stared at him with round eyes. For a second, he thought his ploy had failed, then she pulled in a breath and slowly collapsed back against the leather sofa.

“Red? I don’t usually drink red,” she said.

“That’s why you wanted to try it.” He leaned down, let his fingers brush hers as he handed her the glass. The contact was tiny, but he hungered for it. A zap of electricity shot through him as his skin touched hers. He turned away to hide the flash of desire that knifed through his body.

“Your apartment is nice.” She took a sip of the wine, then slid it onto the table next to her. “Funny, I don’t remember coming here.” Her gaze was on the glass, her body still.

“I’m sure. You weren’t feeling well. My apartment was close. Seemed a better solution than sending you off in a cab.” He took a drink, letting the red liquid linger on his palate for just a second.

“Oh,” she responded.

He waited, willed her to accept his words.

“I have Garbo now. She couldn’t stay at the hospital.”

Her sudden change in topic threw him off balance. He held his glass to his lips, inhaled the scent of blood and fruit, bought time to translate what she had said.

“She’s a wonderful dog,” Aimee continued.

The old man…Drystan sat his glass onto the floor. “Will he get to see her again?”

Glancing around the room, it took Aimee a second to answer. When her eyes found his, they glowed. “I talked to the people who run the home his daughter found for him. He’s leaving for there tomorrow. They said as long as she behaves herself and no one complains, Garbo can visit as much as she wants.”

“No one will complain.” Drystan would make sure of it.

“No, I don’t think they will.”

A moment passed between. Drystan smiled, content, happy….

He shook himself, sat forward in his chair. What was happening? He was slipping…almost as if Aimee were the one with powers…the power to lull him into forgetting who and what he was, the rejection that had made him into this. He clenched his teeth together, focused.

“The wedding’s only a few days away now. Are you getting nervous? Any second thoughts?”

Aimee swirled her wine, seemed to be admiring how the red clung to the side of the glass, then slowly rejoined the rest. She looked up, cocked her head. “I don’t think so.”

“Really?” Drystan waited, but she shook her head and set down her glass again. He took a sip of his wine/blood cocktail, both to cover his frustration and to gain strength, then asked, “You haven’t known the Myhres that long. Does that bother you? Aren’t you worried there are skeletons they might be hiding?”

She pursed her lips; doubt flitted behind her eyes. “Is this for your article?”

The article. “Yes. No. I’m just looking for a new hook. Everyone’s heard the ‘official’ story. I’d like to hear something new, personal.” He tapped his fingers on his thigh, wished he’d thought this through more. He’d imagined telling her his story, the horror in her reaction, then her agreeing to his plan. Or if that failed, her falling for his beguilement. Unfortunately neither seemed likely at this stage. For whatever reason he was having a hard time working the conversation around to the Myhres’ betrayal of him. And while he’d managed to confuse her enough to get her to his apartment, he doubted he could pull on his powers sufficiently to send her on her way convinced she should dump Ben at the altar. It was still days until the wedding. After witnessing her resistance to his spells, he couldn’t risk that the beguilement would hold that long.

“Ben had a brother. His name was Drystan.” She angled her neck, caught Drystan’s gaze, a spark of recognition in her eyes. “I knew your name was familiar.”

“The drug addict?” Drystan reached for his glass. She’d turned the conversation for him, and suddenly he wished she hadn’t. “I’ve heard about him. Are you saying he’s their skeleton?”

“Perhaps. Maureen doesn’t talk about him, but Ben has mentioned him.”

“Has he?” Drystan feigned disinterest, but his fingers pressed against the stem of his glass. With a crack, the stem snapped.

His vamp reflexes saved the drink, his hand cupping to catch the bowl of the glass, the stem falling onto the wood floor with a clatter.

Aimee’s eyebrows lifted.

“Must have been cracked.”

“I guess.” Aimee’s gaze stayed on the glass’s base until it finished its trip rolling across the floor, stopping at her feet. Drystan expected her to pick it up, but she just stared at it, almost as if she were afraid of the one-ounce fragment of glass.

“I think Ben misses him,” she added.

“Really?” The question was sharp.

Aimee’s gaze shot to Drystan’s face, tried to capture his, but he evaded her, staring at a point just left of her head instead.

“I’ve heard the Myhres didn’t treat him very well while he was alive. Used him for media coverage—‘look and see how generous the Myhres are, taking in the poor, discarded child of a drug addict.’ But at the first sign of trouble, of teenage rebellion, they turned their backs on him, did their best to make sure everyone knew he wasn’t a Myhre, not really.”

“I hadn’t heard that version.”

Drystan was sure she hadn’t. No one had, no one but he and the Myhres knew the truth. He swallowed the last of his drink, stood and set his glass on the table beside Aimee, ignored it as it rolled back and forth, dangerously close to falling onto the floor and shattering.

He moved to bend over her, his hands on the cushion behind her, trapping her.

“Teenagers, tough as they act, can be fragile. But when this boy needed love the most, what did the Myhres do? They turned their backs on him, walked away.”

“Loving someone isn’t enough. It won’t save them.” Aimee lowered her face, stared at the wineglass still balanced on the edge of the table beside her, then she snapped her gaze to his, pressed her palm to his chest, over his heart. “They have to love, too—themselves, even the people they think don’t love them. Do you think this boy did that?”

Heat poured through Drystan, but not from anger. Understanding. She was making him understand another side of things, a side he didn’t want to understand. He could feel himself weakening, listening to her, as if her hand pressed to his chest, the heat pouring from her, was melting his resentment.

He pulled back, broke the contact. Placed his own cold hand where her warm palm had been seconds before.

As he moved, she stood; there was intent in her eyes, purpose. “What happened to this boy…man, he was grown when he died…was tragic, but how do you save someone bent on destruction? How do you make someone love himself?” Her hands fisted at her sides. Lines of stress showed in her neck.

She was angry, but Drystan was angry, too, had gone too long holding this anger inside, sharing it with no one.

“Do you know how he died? Not the official story, the real one? You haven’t heard that. He wasn’t the one looking for drugs. He’d given that up years before. No, it was the golden boy, your understanding fiancé. He went looking for a high, ran into a bad group instead, was almost killed—would have been if this Drystan hadn’t shown up, pulled sweet, ignorant Ben from that pit of greed and desperation he could never understand, had never experienced before. No, sweet Ben, the rich child, who was handed everything in life, playing at being a bad boy, saved by his worthless white trash adopted brother.

“That’s the real story. Sound anything like the story you heard? I doubt it, because the Myhres left Drystan holding the drug deal, twisted what happened to protect Ben, let the world think Drystan was the problem, got what he deserved.

“But they had no choice, now did they? Ben was alive. Drystan was dead. Why shouldn’t he offer one final sacrifice? Like his life wasn’t enough. Not for the Myhres.” Disgusted, with himself, the Myhres and Aimee for getting him to spill the poison that had been swirling through his veins for a decade, Drystan started to turn, to run away and hide until he could regain control, bring himself to face her again, but she grabbed him by the arm.

“I’m sorry.” And she was. Drystan saw it on her face, felt it in how her fingers pressed into his skin—firm but gentle—as if sharing strength rather than attempting to use it to hold him.

He’d done what he’d hoped or started the process. She’d softened to him, seemed receptive to anything he wanted to tell her now, but all thoughts of swaying her, of convincing her to publicly denounce the Myhres fled from his head. All he could think of was how good it was to feel her touch, to see the understanding in her eyes…and how much he wanted…needed more…from her.

He placed his hand against the curve of her jaw, ran his thumb over her cheek. Her lips parted. He waited for her objection, unsure what he would do when she did. Stop himself or try to pull from his depleted reserves, force her to forget Ben for just a few hours, force her to let Drystan pretend he was something he wasn’t—loved.

So much hurt. That was all that Aimee could think about—the pain rolling off Drystan. The daimon she had shoved into a dark corner inside her wanted to open to him, sop up the dark emotions inside him like a sponge, but she couldn’t, knew from her experience with Kevin it would do no good. It might even make matters worse.

You couldn’t “fix” a human; they had to do that themselves. Still…She turned her head, pressed a kiss to the palm that caressed her cheek.

He stiffened, shock flashing through his dark eyes—darker than she remembered them being. Then in one forward motion, he pulled her to him and pressed his lips to hers. Something sharp grazed her lower lip, but before she could pull back, analyze what it was, his tongue found hers and her body began to react in the most human of ways.

Daimons didn’t mix with humans—not like this. It was…frowned on. Aimee shoved the thought away, let her hands slip onto Drystan’s shoulders, feel the strength there, the way his muscles moved under his blazer as he pulled her even closer.

Need. He needed her. Nothing could be more seductive.

His lips left her, trailed down her neck. She tilted her head, enjoyed the feel of his mouth pulling at her skin. Something sharp dragged against her throat; her hands tightened on his shoulders and the sensation was gone. Drystan murmured something under his breath, against her skin.

His hands moved to her hips and he pulled her pelvis to his body. His erection pressed into her. She knew what it was, what it meant. She’d seen what the bad humans did in the pursuit of lust, but now caught in the web herself, she couldn’t pull away. Instead she wanted to push forward, discover for herself everything being human meant…wanted to discover it with Drystan.

Her hand lowered almost by its own accord, skimmed Drystan’s chest, paused to press against his breastbone, feel the slow but steady beat of his heart.

She knew what she was doing, about to do, was wrong, both as a daimon and a human. Daimons didn’t mix with humans, not like this, and humans didn’t cheat on their fiancés. Wrong. She was about to do something morally, undeniably wrong.

The thought should have stopped her, but strangely it thrust her forward. Doing everything right hadn’t saved Kevin, hadn’t made her the perfect daimon. She couldn’t see how it would make her the perfect anything. Perfection didn’t spring forth fully developed like Athena from Zeus’s forehead. Perfection was created, bit by bit, mistake by mistake.

Maybe doing something wrong was the first step in learning how to do right. Aimee’s hand continued its descent until it rested on Drystan’s groin, until she could feel the hard pulse of him beneath her palm.

Chapter 7

T he scent, taste and feel of Aimee almost over whelmed Drystan, made it hard to keep his vampire nature hidden, to keep him from plunging his fangs into the blue vein that lay just beneath her porcelain skin. He wrapped his hand around her cascade of curls, pulled them from her throat, brushed his lips up and down the column of her neck. So tempting. So hard to resist.

Her hand was on his stomach, her fingers curling into the white cotton shirt he wore, nails scraping against the material. He licked his lips, willed his mind to slow, not to slip.

Everything about this moment was impossible. He wanted to remember it, savor it.

Then her hand moved, dropped until her fingers pressed against his sex, caressed the hard rod, the visible sign of his need. He almost bit her then, did let his fangs nip against her skin, enough that a tiny taste of blood made its way into his mouth.

Sweet, sizzling…like exploding candies he’d eaten as a child, but better, so much better. One tiny taste wasn’t enough—only made him want more.

Her hand began to move, unzipping his pants. He shrugged out of his jacket, let it fall to the ground. As his erection sprang forward into her hand, he pulled back, tilted her face to his and stared into her eyes.

“Do you want this?” he asked. Suddenly it was important he knew she was choosing this as clearly as he was. He might make her forget this encounter later, but for now he needed her to want it, to want him, as much as he wanted her.

She answered by rising on her toes and pressing a gentle kiss to his lips. Then slowly, surely, she slipped each button of his shirt free, pushed the material away and skimmed her fingertips across his chest—traced each line of muscle, every ridge and indentation.

His sex hardened more with each pass of her fingers, his fangs seemed heavy in his mouth. He had never wanted anything more than he wanted this woman.

He unzipped her dress, watched as she let it slip forward, revealing her breasts as it folded slowly onto the floor. She wore nothing but a bra and panties underneath, no hose or slip to block his view. She stepped out of the circle of fallen silk, her heel catching on the cloth, but her eyes never leaving his face.

She was giving him something, he could feel it, was unsure what it was at first, then it hit him. She trusted him, believed he wouldn’t hurt her. He started to pull away, knowing that was a lie, that this time together could only end in pain—as all things ended with Drystan—but she grabbed both his hands in hers, held them palms up, her thumbs resting on top.

“Do you want this?” she asked.

Damn his soul to hell, he couldn’t lie, not about this. He pulled his hands from hers, thrust them into her hair and pulled her face to his. “More than I’ve ever wanted anything.”

Making love with Drystan was no simple physical act. Body parts touching, nerve endings reacting, it was all there—but there was more. Aimee ran her hands down Drystan’s chest, let her warmth flow into his body, breathed in as he blew out, devoured the darkness inside him. It wouldn’t change who he was or have a lasting effect. She wouldn’t lie to herself and say that it would, but for now it felt good, fed the bit of daimon still inside her, made her want more. And Drystan had more, was a never-ending pit of darkness, longing—a truly lost soul who needed Aimee as much as she needed him. She wanted to change to pure spirit and seep inside him, be inside him—closer than two humans ever could be.

But only a daimon who accepted her powers could do that, and Aimee didn’t, wouldn’t. But she would make do with the next best thing. She kicked her dress to the side and slipped her thumbs under the elastic of her bra. It was time to get closer—past time. Her body tingled with the need, outside; inside all of her screamed for Drystan’s touch, for the feel of his bare skin against hers.

His hands clasped her face, pulled her mouth back to his. The sting of something sharp piercing her lip almost jerked her from the moment, but then his tongue lapped away the pain, and she could think of nothing but Drystan, his scent, his touch—she pulled her mouth from his, ran her tongue down his neck—his taste. She had never felt so alive, so in the human body she normally only occupied.

She wanted to experience more, to feel more.

She grasped his pants and shoved them out of her way. Drystan moved with her, as if he could read her mind, as if they shared the same thoughts. He stepped forward, while she clung to him, her fingers digging into his shoulders, her breasts pressed to his chest. The backs of her knees hit the couch and he slipped an arm behind her, lowered her onto the cushions.

The leather clung to her heated skin, the smell of it mingling with Drystan’s scent, forming a masculine mix that Aimee pulled into her lungs, wished she could bottle and keep forever.

She ran her hands up and down Drystan’s now bare back. He leaned down, skimmed her neck with his lips, his palms finding her breasts. She arched into his touch. Her breasts were heavy, and his touch cool—nothing could feel better.

Except…he lay atop her, his weight pressing her deeper into the cushion. Her legs inched apart, his thigh falling between hers. Anticipation coiled inside her. Then his erection pressed against her. She tilted her hips, parted her thighs until the tip edged inside.

Her breath caught in her throat. Then Drystan murmured against her ear and guided his erection inside her.

Aimee’s back curved again, this time angling her pelvis toward Drystan, urging him to go deeper, faster inside her, but despite her almost frantic need, he moved slowly, letting her body stretch, letting her feel every inch as he edged inside her.

His lips found her breasts; his tongue swirled the aching tips. Aimee’s hands dropped to her sides, pushed against the cushions. So many sensations were pulsing through her, she didn’t know what to do, how to react.

“Relax, enjoy,” Drystan murmured. “Forget everything.”

All tension left her hands, arms, her mind leaving only the growing feeling of tautness spiraling inside her, where Drystan’s body met hers, slid in and out. Drystan nipped at her breast, pulled the nub in between his teeth and rolled his tongue around it. Aimee grabbed his sides, held on to the firm muscle. So much sensation…She shifted beneath him, ran her fingers over his chest, then leaned up, grabbed the skin on his neck between her teeth and nipped him back.

Drystan stiffened, then a growl rolled from his throat, his pace quickened, his body moving in and out of Aimee’s until she felt her spirit slipping, leaving the human body assigned to her and floating overhead, hovering. This wasn’t supposed to happen. She was supposed to have given up this ability by turning away from her daimon self, but being with Drystan, experiencing his touch, accepting his darkness…Below her Drystan continued his movements; her body reacted by tightening around him. Aimee could feel the patter of her heart, his teeth grazing her skin. Her spirit was separate, but still connected—the best of both.

His pace became even quicker now, and Aimee, not wanting to miss anything, forced her spirit back down to the couch, into her body where she could feel everything, miss nothing no matter how small. His hands slipped behind her buttocks, tipping her upward, increasing the depth of each thrust. Aimee’s breath came out of her chest in tiny pants and her body began to tighten on its own, without her control.

She gripped Drystan’s sides, dug her nails into his flesh. His mouth dropped back to her neck, his lips caressed her skin. Even as he moved inside her, brought her body to the edge, he seemed tense, holding something, a piece of him back.

“Let go,” she whispered, to herself and Drystan. He thrust again, and her body reacted, released and tightened and released again until she felt herself propelling upward, back out of her body, her spirit swirling overhead in a kaleidoscope of human and daimon senses—one almost indiscernible from the other.

As she twirled there, caught in an eddy of emotion, she felt a sharp prick at her neck, the undeniable pain of something sharp sliding into her skin…her neck…her vein, and even before the next wave of euphoria hit, she knew what Drystan was, how he held such darkness.

The man she had made love to, who made her feel both human and daimon, made her appreciate both, was not a dark daimon as she had feared, but he wasn’t human, either.

No, he was the one being who could do the impossible—walk the earth alone, without even his own soul for company.

He was a vampire.

Drystan had resisted as long as he could, denied the hunger that raged inside him, but at Aimee’s whispered words, her permission to release what he was hiding, to relax, be himself, the dam had broken. He’d punctured the skin of her throat, taken the first tiny sip of her blood and known he was lost. No matter if she followed through with her plans, married Ben or left him at the altar as Drystan prayed, Drystan would never be the same, his world would never be the same.

Because this time, if…when…Aimee left him, he’d be alone, more alone than he’d ever been in his life.

Aimee stirred beneath him, stiffened. For a second fear lanced through him, fear that his beguilement had failed, that she realized what was happening—what he was—that she would shove him away, look at him with disgust and dread. But as quickly as he had noticed her movement, she relaxed again, tilted her head farther to the side, baring more of her neck, ran her hand up his chest until her fingers brushed his throat, her nails scraped his skin.

Her blood filled his mouth. Sweet but light, it crackled through his veins, through his heart, warmed him more than a roaring fire. His sex, spent just minutes earlier, began to stir, desire for this woman who wasn’t his, never could be, building again.

He wanted her sexually, spiritually, completely. He drew another mouthful of her blood, let it slide down his throat. Aimee moved again, rubbing her breasts against his chest. Her fingers stroked the side of his neck, gentle, soothing, telling him everything was okay, would be okay, and for that moment Drystan let himself believe her. He shoved aside all doubt and hate, shoved aside everything except being with Aimee…being accepted, feeling loved.

He swallowed hard at the last thought, but as Aimee’s fingers shifted from his neck to his side and the pressure changed from stroke to knead, as her breath fell faster from her lips, in sharp pants, he forgot his doubts and pain, was pulled back into what was happening.

Her thighs parted beneath him. His lips still on her throat, her blood still winding through his body, he took her again, slipped inside the warm welcome of her body. She tightened around him; he groaned from the pleasure, his mouth pulling away from her neck as he did.

Aimee moved again, her lips parting to let out a murmur of objection mixed with heavy gasps. She grasped his head, pressed his mouth back to her throat.

He stared at the woman in his arms. She was enjoying his feeding, perhaps as much as he. The exchange didn’t repulse her, at least not now in the midst of their passion. He could relax, be with her in every way, not hide who or what he was…at least for right now.

With the realization soaring through his body, he placed his mouth on her neck, let himself truly relax, enjoy the taste of her blood, the surge of energy he seemed to get as it trailed through his body. Her hands grasped at his chest and she quivered beneath him—as if the act of taking her blood alone was enough to bring her to the brink.

And suddenly Drystan was there with her—just knowing she was getting such pleasure from him excited him more than any sex act alone ever had. He increased his pace, his mouth never leaving her neck. Together their bodies began to shake, their muscles tensed, then relaxed and tensed again, until Drystan could hold on no longer and he exploded inside her. Her head flinging back, her back arching, Aimee clung to him as no one had ever clung to him before, and just for a second as her orgasm swept over her, Drystan felt something lift him up and away…away from his body and any pain he had ever known.

It was dawn and Aimee was alone, or might as well have been. Drystan, her vampire lover, was dead, and would stay that way, if the tales she had heard were true, for at least another eight hours, when the sun started to edge down past the horizon.

She placed her palm over his bare chest. His heart, which she had heard beating only a few hours earlier, when she was pressed against him marveling at what had passed between them, was still, cold, lifeless—just like a corpse.

He was a corpse.

How did it feel to have your heart start and stop each day? To feel your life drain away over and over? That alone would pull most humans down into a dark mire of emotion, but Drystan…his darkness was deeper than that, reached farther back into his mortal life.

Drystan, she realized, was the adopted son of Maureen Myhre—Aimee’s future brother-in-law. Which meant his stories at dinner were true, or at least true to Drystan. Who knew what the Myhres’ side of things might be?

Aimee lay down, her cheek pressed against Drystan’s cold chest; a tear leaked from her eye, dropped onto his skin. Drystan’s reality was so much worse than Aimee had imagined—for him, for her, for the two of them.

She stayed there another hour, just to think and to be with him. She’d betrayed Ben. She’d known she was doing so last night, when she gave in to the physical need to be with Drystan, but now alone in Drystan’s apartment, lying on the bed next to him, she realized how complete her betrayal had been. She had slept with another man; that alone would be unforgivable in most human relationships. But Ben didn’t love her, he was marrying her for purely political reasons.

He didn’t love her—but he had loved his brother.

No matter Drystan’s doubts, Aimee was sure of it. So not only had she slept with another man, but that man was Ben’s brother, a brother he thought dead, for whose death he blamed himself.

How would he react to knowing his brother was alive, that he could speak to him?

She stroked Drystan’s cold chest. But she couldn’t tell Ben, couldn’t let him know Drystan’s secret—because that would mean betraying Drystan, too. Once again, intending to or not, she’d interfered with humans’ lives, stood on the brink of possibly destroying someone.

Her mind whirling, she walked to the bedroom, but paused at the threshold. A king-size bed complete with oversize pillows and a down comforter dominated the room.

A bed for a man who never slept.

Why bother? Another wave of sadness swept over her. Maybe his way of clinging to his past humanity?

Lore said vampires lost their humanity, their souls—that because of this they couldn’t enter a church or touch a cross. That would certainly explain the void she felt inside him.

Aimee pulled the cover off Drystan’s bed, then walked back to the couch, the blue comforter trailing behind her. Carefully, she tucked it around him and brushed a bit of hair away from his brow.

He was beautiful and…she leaned down, kissed his unmoving lips…he was Drystan. The lore was wrong; he had a soul. She wouldn’t feel like this if he didn’t.

But he was still lost in his darkness, and as she had told him last night, no one else could save him from that. No matter how she felt, how much love she had to give, he had to save himself.

So, Aimee, the daimon…human…she was unsure what she was anymore, couldn’t stay with him, had to leave, had to let him sort things out on his own. Had to, in the face of her own actions, sort things out for her own life.

She had tried being daimon, then, having failed that, tried being human. Now it appeared she was failing there, too. She couldn’t tell Ben that Drystan lived, couldn’t choose Drystan over Ben.

All she could do was run away from them all, leave them all behind and let them sort it out for themselves…but she knew deep in her heart she couldn’t do that, either.

Chapter 8

I t was dark and cold. Normal for Drystan’s first waking moments, but this time his hands groped around him, searched for something…someone…For some reason this time he didn’t expect to be alone…but he was.

He sat up, let his mind come to full awareness.

He was alone. Aimee had left. He should have expected that, but he hadn’t. Deep inside, even while in his vampiric coma, death, whatever this curse put him through each day, some bit of hope that this time he’d awake to a gentle touch, a smiling face, to Aimee, had stayed alive.

He should have known better.

He shoved aside the comforter that covered his chest and stood. He started to move toward his bedroom to retrieve clothing for the night ahead, but his feet tangled in the cover he’d just tossed aside. He stopped, stared down at it.

A cover. He bent and retrieved the tangled mass. Something so simple, but it told him last night hadn’t been a dream and, more important, that Aimee hadn’t run from him in horror. No, after he’d passed into unconsciousness, she’d stayed at least long enough to find this comforter and tuck it around him.

At least for a while he hadn’t been alone. That was worth something.

He balled the covering in his hands, wished he’d known what she was doing at the time. If simply asleep, he might have felt her touch, realized she was close, but as a vampire after dawn he was dead to everything, literally.

He strode to his bedroom, tossed the cover onto his bed and pulled slacks and a shirt from his closet.

She hadn’t left scared. Had she even realized his state? He shoved his arms into sleeves and began shoving buttons through holes. No. She couldn’t have. If she had, she would have thought him dead, called 911.

So, what did that mean? She’d tucked the blanket around him, but not tried to wake him, not got close enough to realize he was dead, albeit temporarily. Or maybe he looked more alive than he thought. He’d never actually seen a vampire after the day coma hit. Maybe the sight wasn’t as disturbing as the reality felt.

Either way he had slipped by not beguiling her before the sun rose. He had used his powers some while he fed, but he’d still been drained from getting her to come to his apartment at all, and he’d seen Aimee’s resistance. He couldn’t count on the little power he’d used on her to keep her from realizing what had happened.

He had to find her, see what she remembered.

See which meant more—the comforter tucked with care around his body or the fact she was missing now.

Aimee pulled back the heavy curtain and stared out into the street. It had been dark for hours. Drystan would be awake by now. Was he looking for her? What would she do if he came for her?

“Aimee, would you like some brandy?” Maureen Myhre paused on her way through the living room. “I usually have a glass before bed.”

Aimee dropped the curtain and studied the older woman. Was she the monster Drystan made her out to be? Aimee resisted the urge to reach out with her daimon powers and see. She already knew the answer; she’d analyzed Maureen and Ben when she first met them, before allowing herself to be brought into their world.

Maureen Myhre was ambitious, blinded like so many humans by the drive to succeed. The carefully coifed matriarch had forgotten exactly why she needed that success in the first place, forgotten about love, had let power overshadow it.

She wasn’t evil. She was human.

Aimee sighed. “No, I’m fine. Thanks.”

Maureen took a step, then stopped. “Is everything okay? There isn’t something you need to tell me…someone from your past…a reason you asked to stay here until the wedding?”

“I told you my lease was up.” Not a lie. Aimee never had a lease. It was up the day she moved in. The landlord just let her stay as she wanted.

“Yes, it’s just…” Maureen placed pale hands on the back of the couch. Her arms were stiff, tension showing in her shoulders. “It was so sudden. You hadn’t mentioned…”

“I’m not much of a planner.” Aimee tilted her head, smiled, a sad tilt of her lips, she knew, but all she could manage. “I hope that doesn’t bother you. A governor’s wife probably needs skills I don’t have.”

With a flick of her wrist, Maureen brushed the comment aside. “You have other assets.” The line that had formed between her brows faded for a second, then reappeared. “So, no one from your past? Nothing you need to tell me before the big day?”

Aimee’s hand found the curtain, held on to it for support. “No, no one from my past.”

Drystan was back at the Myhre house. He’d hoped he’d never have to return here. He had hoped he’d done enough to convince Aimee she didn’t belong with these people, but when he’d gone to the hospital looking for her, he’d learned she’d taken the rest of the week off—to prepare for her wedding.

Then at her apartment, he’d discovered something even more disturbing. She had let the place go and was living with the Myhres permanently.

Despite his best efforts. Despite their lovemaking and the feeling he’d had while with her last night, she was still going through with it. She was choosing the Myhres over him.

And despite all that, here he was standing outside the Myhre house, hoping he’d see some sign that none of what he’d heard tonight was true. That Aimee would see him standing here and rush out, tell him all of it was lies.

Aimee’s fingers tightened around the draperies. Drystan was there—outside in the snow. He’d come. She’d hoped he would, that maybe, just maybe, enough had passed between them last night that he would come here to find her, that once here he would have no choice but to face the demons that haunted him, face his past and his adopted family.

She waited, watched for some sign the dark void she knew was Drystan planned to approach, to knock on the door. But he didn’t move, not even when a truck swerved on an icy patch, came within inches of bumping onto the curb where he waited. He just stood there like a statue, unmoving…uncaring.

The curtain tumbled from the rod above Aimee’s head, torn down by the force of her grip.

“Aimee? Are you all right?” Maureen again, a tumbler of amber liquid in her hand. She’d been watching Aimee all night, pacing past the door to the living room under one pretense or another. “Oh, the curtains.” Maureen hurried into the room, slid her glass onto a walnut side table and bent to pluck a corner of the heavy drapery off the floor. “What happened?”

Her gaze back on the dark spot she knew was Drystan, Aimee didn’t reply.

Maureen picked up the fallen curtain and peered out the window. “Is someone out there? Should I call the police?”

Forcing a laugh, Aimee took one end of the curtain and began folding it. “No, I was just watching the snow. I thought I saw an animal moving around out there. Maybe it was Santa!” She smiled and hoped her joke would take Maureen’s mind off calling the police.

“Oh, it was probably that dog you brought here.” Maureen patted the curtain, which now hung folded from her arm. “I let her out. That’s okay, isn’t it?” Doubt flitted behind the older woman’s eyes. “I’ve never had a dog. She won’t run off, will she?”

This time the smile on Aimee’s lips was real. Maureen was falling for Garbo. The little creature might be better at daimon skills than Aimee.

“Maybe I should go look for her.” Maureen started to turn. Aimee jumped forward and grabbed her arm. “No.”

At the shortness of Aimee’s tone, Maureen frowned.

Aimee inhaled, relaxed. “You’re ready for bed. If she doesn’t come back soon, I’ll go look for her.”

After a few seconds more of reassurance from Aimee, Maureen left. Aimee turned back to the window and Drystan. With the curtain down, the only thing shielding her were the ivory sheers. And with the tree lit behind her and his vampire vision, he could surely see her standing here, had watched her exchange with Maureen.

Maureen. Aimee had panicked when the woman had mentioned going out into the snow…out where Drystan waited. Aimee had hoped Drystan would come here, and by being here, be reminded of his human past, find something inside himself that let him forgive the Myhres and accept himself. But he hadn’t. He was still a dark void of pain, nowhere near healed.

Would he have hurt his adopted mother? Aimee didn’t think so, but she hadn’t thought Kevin would turn the gun on himself, either.

Something moved in the darkness, a flash of white pelting across the ground. Aimee shoved aside the sheers and pressed her hands to the glass. Garbo. The little dog was in the front yard, heading for the street, heading for Drystan.

A chill clawed its way over Drystan’s body, gnawed at what was left of his spirit. Aimee was watching him from inside the Myhres’, but had made no move to acknowledge him. She’d stood for minutes talking with Maureen. An icy rod had shot through Drystan’s center when he’d seen the woman whom he had once thought loved him or at least cared about him.

Seeing her now next to Aimee made this all the more real, Aimee’s rejection all the more hurtful. Anger vibrated through Drystan’s body. How he wished the Myhre matriarch would step past that heavy wooden door, out into the night. He had never faced her, never made her face what she had done to him. Maybe it was time. Maybe her terror when she saw him would be reward enough.

His hands balled into fists at his sides, his fingers curling so tightly into themselves his knuckles popped.

Liar. He clenched his jaw, forced his eyes away from the window. He was lying to himself. He didn’t want Maureen Myhre to come out her door, didn’t want to face her. If he had wanted that, he could have done it ten years ago—easily wreaked his revenge as soon as he arose, killed her. But he hadn’t…because somewhere deep inside, he knew she had been right, that he was nothing but a white-trash boy unworthy of saving, unworthy of love. His mother had been an addict. One of his only memories of her was holding her stash when the police raided the bar where she “worked.” He’d given it back to her as soon as they left—known even at that young age what it did to her, but helped her. Then when he got old enough, he’d gone down the same path.

Since that last night, one question had never stopped swirling through Drystan’s mind.

If Drystan hadn’t existed, if Ben had never met him, would the golden boy have become involved with drugs? Or was it, like Maureen claimed, Drystan’s fault?

Drystan cursed his weakness, forced the questions back into the cranny where he kept them hidden. Maureen was at fault. He couldn’t forget that. If she had shown him real love, he wouldn’t have done what he did, and Ben wouldn’t have had Drystan’s condemnable example to follow.

He should stop with the pretense, face her…kill her. His face contorted, his beguilement dropped. If anyone had stood near they would have seen the monster that he normally kept hidden from himself, everyone. Lips pulled back, fangs obvious, his face changed when in such a rage. He knew it, hated it. The transformation, ease of it, was undeniable proof of the demon that lived inside him—that had since birth. But tonight he would embrace him, and finally let this demon Drystan do what people like Maureen would expect.

A siren sounded in the distance, an accident somewhere. The demon Drystan embraced the sound. It was an ugly night—matching his mood. Soon more sirens would be called, here, and Maureen would get the news coverage she craved—too bad she wouldn’t be alive to enjoy it. He turned back toward the house, one foot moving out, ready to take the first step.

But Maureen was gone. Aimee stood alone in the window. Her body angled to the side, her face closer to the glass.

She was searching the darkness for something. Even under the control of his devil, Drystan’s heart caught, stalled his steps. Just as quickly he realized her gaze wasn’t on him, it was closer to the house, scanning the front yard. His gaze followed the line of hers.

A small white form zigzagged across the lawn, almost invisible against the backdrop of snow. Drystan stepped back, unsure what he saw. Then a tiny yelp broke through the night and he was hit from the side by twenty pounds of wiggling, damp dog.

Aimee’s fingers flattened against the glass. Garbo had run into Drystan, stood dancing on her legs now, begging him to pick her up—but Drystan had changed. Sometime in the last few minutes while Aimee had been focused on Maureen, then Garbo, Drystan had changed. The darkness that lived inside him had grown, morphed into something monstrous, carnivorous, devouring every speck of goodness and humanity that was left inside her vampire lover. He practically glowed with malevolence, like a pressure cooker heated past its limits, ready to explode.

His dark figure stooped, picked up the tiny white dog. Aimee heard a yelp. She shoved her body away from the glass with enough force that the seal holding the pane popped, then hurried toward the door, tripping over her own feet.

If he hurt the little dog, it would be Aimee’s fault for coming here, for praying he would follow her, finally face his past.

If he hurt Garbo, another piece of Aimee would die, and worst of all, so would the little piece of hope that still struggled to survive inside Drystan.

Chapter 9

D rystan held the squirming creature in his arms, his mind fighting to make sense of what was happening. The demon inside him said to toss the animal aside, or use it, drain it like other vampires did when desperate for blood—to send a message to whoever owned the animal that the streets weren’t safe at night, that nowhere was safe. They should hide, cower inside their mansions. The money and love they’d poured into their little pet couldn’t protect it.

He grabbed the animal by the scruff of the neck, pulled its face up to his, snarled. Black eyes glistened back at him, confused.

Drystan lifted his lip, ready to snarl again, and the creature whimpered, the first signs of fear appearing in its eyes. Doubt slivered through Drystan. The hand holding the animal began to shake; the dog began to shake, too. And suddenly he saw what he was doing, saw Garbo staring back at him, quivering, her body curling into itself.

Drystan’s nostrils flared. He pulled the tiny dog to his chest, cradled her there and murmured reassuring noises in her ear. She whimpered again, but softer, and slowly her struggling ceased. Still he could feel her tiny heart beating hard and fast against his chest.

What was happening to him? Where was his control? He’d spent the ten years since his rising focused, never allowing himself to get too angry or happy, building a life filled with apathy. Now in the past three days his moods had swung maniacally. He didn’t know himself, was afraid of which Drystan would appear next.

A column of light split the night, grew wider. He blinked, realized it came from the Myhre house. Aimee stepped onto the front porch. Her feet were bare, her arms wrapped around her. The warmth of her called to Drystan as strongly as it had the night before, stronger, but he dropped his head, stroked the little dog in his arms. “She’s looking for you,” he whispered. “Not me. She doesn’t want to see me, and I can’t see her…not now.” Maybe never.

Aimee took a step toward the snow-covered walk, but stopped as he bent, placed Garbo on the ground. The little dog stood for a second, her neck twisting back and forth as if unsure what to do.

“Go.” Drystan gave her nudge, then pulled his beguilement around him and disappeared into the darkness.

The next day was the eve of Aimee’s wedding—the day before Christmas Eve. She woke to Garbo snuffling at her face, nudging Aimee with her nose. The dog was safe. Drystan had lowered her to the ground last night, then disappeared, faded until Aimee couldn’t discern his dark form from the night around him.

She was getting married in less than two days and all she could think of was Drystan. However right or wrong it was, she wanted to be with him.

A failure as a daimon and a complete mess as a human. What was she going to do?

She sat on the edge of the bed, one hand scratching Garbo’s head, the other resting on the satin comforter. She ran the pads of her fingers over the smooth material—so different from the plain cotton cover that she had draped over Drystan.

She couldn’t save Drystan. She knew that, had seen how close he’d come last night to sinking into a darkness from which he would never return—but she couldn’t walk away, either. Despite the short amount of time she’d known him and all the things she didn’t know about him—she loved him.

So what did she do? She couldn’t marry Ben, she realized that now—probably would have realized it even if Drystan hadn’t come into her life. She didn’t love him and he didn’t love her. By letting him marry her for all the wrong reasons she would be cheating him out of the life he could have, the love he could find.

But what did that mean for her? She couldn’t save Drystan, but couldn’t be with him the way he was, either.

“I’ve kind of made a mess of things, haven’t I?” she asked the dog, who stared up at her with a sad kind of wisdom. “Drystan needs to face his past, and his future. It’s the only way he’ll be whole.” The dog shoved her nose into Aimee’s hand, flipped it. Aimee started to stroke her back, but the dog stood, shook, then plopped down beside Aimee, her gaze steady, encouraging.

Aimee’s hand dropped to her lap; she started to stand, but her knees bent beneath her. “I’ve made a mess of things. No one can fix it for him. He has to face his past and accept who he is,” she mumbled the words. The dog stayed in place, intent. With a light laugh, Aimee looked up, stared at Garbo. “Maybe you are a daimon.”

Then she walked to the closet and began pulling on her clothes. She had a lot to do in very little time.

Drystan tapped his fingers against his glass. He was the only occupant of the busy bar’s patio. He’d come here tonight thinking he’d relieve the feelings churning inside him by targeting some coed or bored female executive, luring her into one of the bar’s many dark crannies, enjoying her blood, her hands on his body.

But despite the many curves that had brushed up against him, hands that had flickered over his arm, eyes that had caught his over a lifted glass, his body had been unmoved, his hunger unstirred.

He didn’t want these women—not for sex or blood. He didn’t want anything right now except Aimee. She had become an obsession—an even greater one than revenging himself on the Myhres.

He took another sip of whiskey. It rolled down his throat, cold and tasteless. He gripped the glass, squeezed until he knew it was within seconds of cracking. Even a twenty-one-year-old bourbon couldn’t warm him anymore.

A door opened behind him; music and the smell of cigarettes spilled out. Public smoking was illegal here, but like so many things, like Drystan escorting the occasional guest into a dark corner, the owner ignored it. Drystan set down the glass, followed the swaying steps of a group of twentysomethings with his eyes, but he didn’t move to stand—had no interest. He picked up the glass, slammed it against the metal tabletop, felt it shatter in his hand. He shoved his palm into the fragments, grinding them into smaller pieces, dust. The tiny shards fell onto the ground, sparkling in the bit of light that leaked from the bar, but Drystan’s palm was barely touched, just little black bubbles of blood, like old oil. As he watched, the skin underneath healed. Even the physical pain was fleeting. How could his body feel pain when his spirit was so glutted with it?

He stood then, not sure where he would go, what he would do, only knowing he was tired of spending every night alone with only the occasional pretense of closeness with another living being. As he dusted the last of the glass from his palm, pushed the chair back against the table, he saw her—Aimee standing under the streetlight, her white coat reflecting the light, her hair forming a halo around her face.

And damn his weakness, his heart leaped and his hands began to shake.

His pain was thick tonight, darker than Aimee had seen it, but thankfully the monstrous cloud she’d seen engulf Drystan last night was missing. Guessing he frequented the same place night after night, places where the clientele knew vampires were real, she’d gone first to the restaurant where they’d had dinner. A waiter had suggested this bar. He’d looked at her sideways, and she’d known he thought she was some kind of groupie, a vamp tramp as she’d heard them called. She’d let him think what he liked. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but finding Drystan, trying one last time to get him to let go of the hate, pain and resentment of his past. It was the only thing that would save him, the only way they could be together.

Drystan hesitated, his hand opening and closing as if checking his grip. She pulled her lower lip into her mouth, bit down and waited. She had nothing to say, not yet. If he wouldn’t come to her, wouldn’t give that much, then her cause was lost, Drystan was lost.

Drystan couldn’t believe she was here. He blinked, waited to see if his eyes were fooling him, if she was some kind of vision, a mix of the swirling snow and the three glasses of bourbon he’d consumed tonight. But Aimee didn’t disappear, didn’t turn away. Instead she leaned forward as if about to approach, then stopped herself, her lip disappearing into her mouth.

Her eyes were huge, her arms wrapped around her body. She was unsure, afraid. Just like he was.

Without letting his mind form another thought, he shoved the table out of his way and strode off the patio, into the circle of light where she stood.

Once close to her, he didn’t know what to say and he felt foolish. “You left your apartment.”

She nodded. “I had to.”

It wasn’t an answer, not to the unasked question that hung between them, but for now Drystan let it lie. Did she remember everything that happened between them, their lovemaking? Had it been as real for her as it felt to him? “I was looking for you.”

She didn’t reply, kept her hands on her arms.

“For the article,” he added, suddenly afraid he’d misread everything, that what he’d felt the previous night hadn’t been real, that without meaning to he’d spelled her into wanting him, into making love. He had played with her head only a little earlier. That could have left her weak, easy to sway to desires he was too weak to keep hidden.

She curled her fingers around the lapels of his coat, rose on her tiptoes, then pressed her lips to his, and all questions, all thoughts evaporated from Drystan’s mind. His hands found her waist and he let himself relax, believe…again.

But then, with no explanation, she stepped away. Her hands stayed on his chest, but her body was an arm’s length away. He could feel the cool air where she had been. She smoothed his coat, stared at the button in the middle of his chest, then put another step between them, turned on the ball of her foot and walked away.

Drystan stared after her…stupidly…no words coming to his mind. She couldn’t be leaving, couldn’t be going back to the Myhres’. She had found him, searched him out, hadn’t even taken the time to explain…to let him know what she knew or had figured out.

She was leaving him, like his father, his mother…the Myhres. Like everyone he had ever dared trust.

Anger bubbled inside him. He wouldn’t let it happen—not this time. She had to come with him. Had to choose him. He could make her. He would make her.

Aimee could feel Drystan approaching—a pulse of angry energy pounding closer and closer. She sighed, her shoulders curving under the weight of what this meant.

He hadn’t let go of the anger inside him, not yet. Couldn’t come to her with just love, instead let anger and resentment drive him.

How far would he let it take him? She slowed her steps until she could sense him right behind her.

“Aimee.” He stepped in front of her. She let her body jerk as if surprised by his appearance. “You need to come with me. You want to come with me.”

The air seemed to thicken around them. The world past Drystan disappeared, as if they were standing in complete darkness, a dim light shining on only them.

The intensity in his voice increased. “Come with me.”

Her hand began to lift. She stared at it, surprised by its movement.

“You don’t want to marry Ben. You never did. You can stay with me until the wedding is past, or…” He paused, seemed to think. “You can call the media from my apartment. Get everything out in the open.”

Ben. The name ripped through the fog that had settled around Aimee. This wasn’t about Drystan wanting to help her, wanting her. It was about his revenge on the Myhres. Her hand ceased its movement. And this feeling, this urge to do what Drystan said, to believe and trust him, it wasn’t coming from her own brain. She shifted her gaze, stared at Drystan’s lips, saw for the first time the fangs that protruded slightly beneath his upper lip.

They didn’t turn her off, didn’t detract from his attractiveness in any way, but seeing them so clearly told her his powers, whatever hold they’d had before, no longer worked on her. From now on, anything that passed between them would be totally of her own free will, under her control—but Drystan wouldn’t know. There was no better test, no better way to discover how guided he was by hate, how much, if any, love still survived inside the pit of darkness and anger that too often seemed to swallow him whole.

She let her hand rise, let him take it in hers, and when he whisked her away in a whirl of twirling snow and shifting realities, she didn’t murmur a concern. She went with him, a placid look on her face, and a hole in her heart.

When the world settled down, Aimee was back in Drystan’s apartment, his bedroom this time. He hadn’t bothered pausing in the main room, exchanging words. And Aimee was glad, she saw the desire burning in his eyes, knew that at least was true, and she felt it, too. No matter what happened tonight with Drystan, she wasn’t going to marry Ben. She would figure out some way to let him down easy, to keep the wedding that wouldn’t be from damaging him with the media. She wasn’t worried about his heart; love had never been in play, not between her and Ben.

So tonight she would be with Drystan, get the need to feel his touch out of her system. Tonight she would think about the now—because later she might have to say goodbye.

They pulled clothing from each other’s bodies as they walked, Aimee moving backward, her hands on Drystan’s body grounding her, keeping her from stumbling. His kisses tasted of vanilla and oak, sweet and earthy. She fell back on the bed, sinking into the comforter she’d placed around him two nights before. He fell beside her, pulled her flush against him, then rolled so she lay naked on top of him.

He started to say something then, but she pressed two fingers to his lips. She wasn’t ready to hear him speak, to feel she needed to reply, too. Once she started talking she was afraid the words would tumble out, her daimon half would force her to say everything she was thinking, ruin this moment, perhaps their last together.

His lips closed and he watched her, expectant. She ran her fingers from his mouth, down his chin, his neck to the little hollow at the base of his throat. She replaced her fingers with her lips, pulled skin into her mouth, nibbled.

His hands tightened on her back, found her buttocks and began to knead.

She pushed herself up to stare down at him. Her breasts swayed, her nipples brushing against the hair on his chest. Her fingers curled toward his skin, her thighs parting, inviting him.

He pushed her farther upward, found the tip of one breast and pulled it into his mouth.

She could feel his erection, pressing against her, close to the opening between her thighs. She edged herself down his body until the tip nudged into her, slipped a little inside.

A gasp escaped her lips. He grasped her buttocks, keeping her in place, his sex barely held by hers, his lips on her breasts, his teeth grazing her skin. Aimee wanted to claw at his skin, to force him to release her so she could plunge downward, feel the full length of him inside her.

Instead, he reached lower, slipped one finger along her folds, found the nub that was hidden there, circled it until Aimee’s back arched, and her body tensed.

Her lips parted, her breath coming in pants. Drystan circled the nub again, allowed his erection to inch farther inside her. Her body began to quiver, her muscles to clench, and with no warning, without him fully inside her, her spirit begin to slip, but this time she bit down, forced her daimon soul to stay in her human body, to experience this orgasm as a human, with Drystan. As the waves hit her, she held on to the comforter beneath them, twisted and pulled until the material billowed around them.

Finally, as the last spasms passed, she collapsed. Drystan removed his mouth from her breast, lowering her until her head rested on his chest. He stroked her back, his fingertips tracing every bump of her spine.

Her heart slowed and her fingers began moving on their own, making lazy circles in the hair on his chest. His hand moved to her hair, his fingers weaving through the mass of curls until he reached her scalp. She sighed, a smile tilting her lips. She’d never felt so relaxed, so at home.

He lifted his other hand, skimmed his fingers over her side. Goose bumps tingled across her skin. She shivered, a pleasant shake of awareness, of her body and his. She turned her face until her lips pressed into his chest, swirled her tongue over his skin, tasted him.

He tasted of salt and smelled of soap, both very human, even though she knew he wasn’t…not any longer. She swallowed the lump that formed in her throat at the thought. Things couldn’t be simple for her, for them. No, Drystan had to be a vampire, a creature of the night, ruled by darkness, lost in his own pain.

She shoved the thoughts aside, determined not to think of them again, to keep this time special.

She raised her leg to Drystan’s waist, pulled herself higher on his body until her mouth found his, then she kissed him, putting every bit of longing she had into the act.

Chapter 10

A imee’s leg wound around Drystan’s waist. Her breasts brushed against his chest. He held her lightly, almost afraid gripping her too tightly would wake her, end the dream he’d created for himself.

So what that she’d tried to walk away? So what if she came with him only because he made her, beguiled her? Right now he only cared that she was here, with him.

Her lips met his, covered his with a need, a yearning that almost matched his own. Her tongue slipped inside his mouth. He met it with his own, guiding her away from the sharp point of his fangs. He hadn’t fed since he’d been with her two nights before, hadn’t felt the need, at least not physically, but with her here, her scent engulfing him, her heat beside him, he could feel the hunger growing.

His body thrummed with it. He flipped her over, beneath him, his weight pressing hers into the down cover. She pulled her lips free, stretched her neck as if inviting his bite, as if she knew what he wanted and welcomed it. It was too much for him to resist. He murmured to her, to himself, to whoever brought this woman to him, and trailed his lips down her jaw, her neck.

He lay there a second, listened to the speeding thump of her heart, the rush of blood through her veins. He could hear it, smell it; all that was left was to taste it.

She bent her head farther to the side, exposing the artery. He pressed his lips against the spot, felt the even but rapid jump of her pulse. She squirmed, her hands moving to his lower back, finding the indentation at the top of his buttocks and stroking, encouraging. As her fingers drifted lower, moved to the front, to his almost painful erection, he couldn’t resist any longer. He pulled back his lips and plunged his fangs into her throat.

Bliss, sweet and sure, swept over him. Her blood was just as he remembered it, or was it better? Had it been this fresh? This full of light and hope? He could feel it rushing through his body, warming him, changing him, making him think just for a while everything was okay—he was okay.

Her fingers wrapped around his erection and he groaned against her neck; never before had he had a partner who participated so fully in both acts, blood and sex. Aimee gave where others only took—took the thrill of bedding a vampire, experiencing the bite. The few humans who knew about vampires, who hung out at the bars looking for them, saw him as a novelty, something to experience and move on. Even though he took their blood, and experienced an orgasm, it was really all about them—their thrill, their walk with danger.

Yes, he occasionally cornered an unknowing, sated his thirst, but he never combined that mind control with sex. Using it to take the blood, playing vampire puppeteer in that way, felt wrong. To use the skill for sex was unthinkable.

But with Aimee he hadn’t had to, she’d come to him willingly. She hadn’t known he was a vampire, but she hadn’t turned from his bite, either, and she was back with him tonight. He’d brought her to his apartment, but hadn’t beguiled her into sex. That was a choice she’d made freely—or so he’d thought. Was he somehow controlling her without knowing? Had she not realized what had happened the last time, did she not realize it now?

He needed to ask these questions to know what she knew, but as she moaned beneath him and rocked her hips upward, he tamped them down, let himself go.

Her fingers moved along his shaft, guiding him, but caressing him, too. His muscles tensed, nothing but will stopping him from plunging inside her, thrusting in and out. Her thumb flicked over the sensitive tip of his erection, swirled like his tongue had swirled over her nipple, like his tongue did now over the puncture wounds on her neck. She shivered, moved her thumb faster, then placed the head of his shaft against her folds and lifted her hips once more.

Drystan cradled her in his arms, pressed a kiss to her ear, then lowered his mouth back to her neck and plunged inside—fangs and shaft, blood and sex, beautiful, natural—meant to be.

In and out he thrust, slow despite the pounding need to move fast, to reach the peak he knew waited. Her blood zinged through his body, increasing his excitement. Her fingers clawed at his chest in long, strong strokes, mimicking the in-and-out movement of his body inside hers.

Finally, she began to quiver in his arms; he knew her release was upon her. He increased his pace, let himself go, felt her tighten and relax around him, felt his body tighten and relax, as well. Then just like two nights earlier, his spirit shifted. His consciousness left his body, drifted overhead, but this time Aimee was with him, holding him, wrapping around him, keeping him warm, surrounding him with an emotion he’d never felt before, not this pure, this intense—love.

She loved him, and as they floated back down together, as the dawn crept closer, he realized he loved her, too.

It was almost dark again, and Aimee was still with Drystan, had stayed with him all day. She’d watched him this morning, held his hand as he stiffened, as the light in his eyes faded, as he died. She couldn’t think of it as anything else, realized now after witnessing the flash of panic in his eyes, he couldn’t, either.

It was a horrible fate, worse than anyone who knew of vampires realized.

Just thinking of it, tension ran through her body, her hands stiffening, her fingers forming claws. She wanted to scrape away the cocoon of death that had enveloped him, pull him back to the living—but she couldn’t. He was a vampire; nothing she could do, not even as a daimon, could change that.

His eyes were closed now. He’d shut them before the state hit, kept them closed as the light crept up the horizon. She ran a finger over his brow, his closed lid.

Kevin’s death had almost killed her, had driven her away from being a daimon, from herself. Could she stand spending night after night with Drystan, watching him die dawn after dawn? She slipped her hand into his, squeezed his fingers—he didn’t respond, not even a reflex.

A tear worked its way into the corner of her eye. If Drystan couldn’t change, couldn’t give up his hate for the Myhres, accept who he was, could she walk away, could she leave him to face this fate alone?

Neither choice seemed possible. Both almost physically painful.

But it wasn’t her choice to make. She wanted to be with Drystan, but she couldn’t carry his burden alone—he had to let go of some of it himself. If not, their life together would be haunted, by his hate, and her worry—that one day he would make the same choice as Kevin, or return to the monster who waited outside the Myhres’ last night.

She couldn’t do that to him or herself.

As the sun crawled from the sky, Aimee curled her body next to Drystan’s and waited. At midnight she was supposed to be getting married. She had a thousand things to do to prepare, but she wouldn’t leave Drystan until he awoke. She’d seen him die twice now. At least once she wanted to see him come back. She prayed the process held some joy that made the other bearable, something that made the altered state more trade than loss.

And she had to talk to him, had to tell him what she was doing and why, had to give him the chance to talk her out of it, to show her there was still some light left in his soul.

Then she had to go to the church, face Ben—whether with Drystan by her side or alone was yet to be determined.

Drystan moved his fingers, first just a tiny wiggle of the last joint, then bending and unbending the digits, reminding his body how to move. It had become a ritual for him to start with the slightest flicker of movement. Then as his courage increased, as he became sure that yes, once again he was alive, he’d open his eyes and eventually sit up. But tonight something was different.

Tonight he wasn’t alone.

Until just two nights earlier he had dreaded waking like this, realizing someone hovered near him while he lay at his most vulnerable. But after falling into his catatonic condition with Aimee by his side, he realized how much he hungered for a companion, to enter and leave the darkness with the hope that only having someone, Aimee, with him could provide.

“Drystan?” The pressure of her hands was no more than a whisper on his chest. His lips tilted in a smile. Her fingers slipped into his and he squeezed, a silent thank-you for staying with him, for being with him, even though he knew she’d had no choice; he’d given her no choice.

“Are you a…” she leaned closer, her breath falling across his face “…awake?”

He knew she’d changed the word at the end, been thinking alive. Now he knew how he looked when out. The same as how he felt—dead, cut off from everything, even his own mind.

He opened his eyes, stared up into hers. She smiled then, a slightly sad tilt of her lips, but still a smile. Her hands moved to his face, and she stroked his cheek. He stayed still, stretching the moment, the only pleasant awakening he could ever remember.

Finally, he sat up, reached for her, but she placed a hand on his chest, stopping him.

“Are you okay? Do you need to do anything?” she asked. A tiny line of concern darkened the space between her brows.

He leaned in, rubbed his nose against the line, pulled the smell of her into his lungs. Waking to her, holding her, made him happy. Again he tugged her toward him. Again she stopped him.

Her body was tense, her face wary.

Seeing how she watched him, Drystan grew wary, too. Slowly, he lowered his arms, let her pull away.

“I’m fine.”

She seemed ready to say something, but stopped.

That’s when he realized he owed her an explanation. She’d stayed with him through the day, had no choice in the matter. He’d sealed the apartment as soon as they entered it, disabled the phones, and before he’d gone completely under he’d put a spell on her, too, forced her to sleep by his side. Could he do that every night? Change her so she lived the same nocturnal existence he did?

So, she hadn’t sat here all day thinking him dead, but still she had obviously been awake before him. She deserved some kind of explanation.

“I’m fine,” he repeated. “I’m a—”

“Vampire.” She pushed herself off the bed, turned her back on him and stared at his dresser where a digital clock glowed the time, 8:00 p.m.

Her shoulders were square and pulled back. She was upset. He could understand that, was surprised she hadn’t run screaming at the door, wasn’t standing there beating on it now—surprised but also happy. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, placed his bare feet on the floor.

She glanced over her shoulder at him, picked up a discarded shirt and jeans and tossed them beside him.

“You know,” he said. His voice dropped. Despite the fact that she seemed under control, not panicked by her discovery, he couldn’t stop the uncertainty that filled him. What did she know of vampires? How did she even know they existed? Would she see him as others saw vampires, as the monster he sometimes became?

She turned. “I also know you’re Ben’s brother, and why you sought me out.”

His mouth twisted to the side. Ben. Somehow he’d forgotten for a few blissful hours that she was his adopted brother’s fiancée, forgotten that their relationship, whatever it was, was based on lies—his lies. But that didn’t matter now. It was Christmas Eve—the night scheduled for their wedding—and she was going nowhere.

Somehow despite all odds, he’d come out on top, he’d ruined Maureen Myhre’s plans and got Aimee for himself. He smiled and reached out to touch her, concentrated on bringing her mind back to him, away from where she was supposed to be, to whom she was supposed to be marrying.

He’d deal with the missed wedding later. Plant seeds in her mind for her to repeat to the media, but for now he just wanted to enjoy being with her.

She stepped back.

His hand fell with a thud to his lap.

“You can’t control me, Drystan.” There was no judgment in the words, but still they hit him with the force of a slap. “I didn’t stay here today because you made me. I didn’t come here last night because you put thoughts in my head. And I know you think the door is locked, that I can’t escape, but it isn’t true—not for me.”

She held her hands out to her sides, palms tilted up, middle finger and thumb curved slightly together, like some medieval picture of a saint or…an angel.

His nostrils flared. It couldn’t be. She couldn’t be. Angels didn’t exist.…Of course, most people didn’t think vampires existed, either.

“I’m a daimon—or was.” She frowned, seemed to lose her concentration for a second, then took in a breath and repeated herself. “I’m a daimon.” This time as she spoke the words the air around her began to shimmer, tiny rays of light shooting from her body, outlining her.

“A daymun.” He said the word like she had. He’d never heard the term, not in relation to anything he associated with Aimee.

“I’m a light daimon. There are others. I was assigned to Kevin.”

“The boy at the drugstore,” Drystan murmured, not knowing where this was going, not sure he wanted to know. Had Aimee been assigned to him? Had she been playing with his mind, trying to convert him from his vampire ways? His jaw hardened. As if his life was that simple—as if this state was something he chose.

“Are you here to judge me?” he asked. He snapped the jeans straight, then began jerking them on. “Or fix me? People have tried both before.” He pulled the shirt over his head, shoved his arms through. “They’ve failed.”

“I’m not here to judge you or fix you.” Her words were quiet, the glow around her softer now, pulsing, soothing. “You came to me, remember?”

“Maybe.” He took a step back, leaned against the wall. “Or maybe some cosmic puppeteer arranged that, too, planted a seed in my head.”

She blinked and her arms started to drop, then resolve flashed through her eyes, and straightened her neck, pulled her arms back to their angelic pose. “Daimons don’t make people do things. We don’t mess with free will—any choice you make is your own.”

Drystan’s jaw jutted to the side. He didn’t want to believe her, wanted to call her a liar, but he couldn’t. Angry with himself and wanting to be angry with her, he shoved himself away from the wall and strode toward the bedroom door.

“I’m not staying,” she called after him. “I’m going to the church.”

He ground to a halt, his palm smacking into the wall beside the door as he did. Without turning around or even looking at her, he replied, “Are you?” She said he couldn’t hold her, but he had no proof of that. She had stayed with him since last night. Why would she have done that if his powers didn’t hold her?

“Do you want me to stay?” she asked.

Drystan pulled back his fist, started to pound it into the wall, then slowly, his muscles tensing with the effort, uncurled his fingers, laid his flat palm on the drywall instead. “Would I have kept you here if I didn’t?”

A sigh, heavy with sadness, greeted his response. Behind him, Aimee moved—the energy in the room shifting as she came closer, close enough he could have spun, pulled her into his arms. But he didn’t—wouldn’t let himself. She’d lied to him, used him. He wasn’t sure for what reason yet, but he wouldn’t let her see his wounds, wouldn’t stand here and admit to needing her, to needing anyone. He’d been taken in again. This time would be his last.

“You’re hiding,” she said. He could feel her hand rise, feel energy warm like a heat lamp flowing from her palm, over his back. She was within inches of touching him, and he wanted that touch as much as he had wanted anything, but he stood still, refused to let his body arch toward her.

“How am I hiding? Because I only come out at dark? You know I have no choice in that. Because I didn’t search out the Myhres after I rose?” He kept his voice low, controlled, but felt the vibrations as the sound left his chest, knew she could probably hear the anger he was trying so hard to contain. “Maybe I did it to save them. Maybe I knew that if…when…I faced them I wouldn’t be able to stop myself. That the vampire in me would truly break free. That I’d kill them.”

She dropped her hand. Angry as he was, caught up as he was, he still mourned the loss, had to concentrate to not lower his chin to his chest.

“I don’t think you’re hiding from the Myhres. I think you’re hiding from yourself.”

He spun then, ready to confront her, but as he did, she disappeared. He spun again, faced the main room. Aimee stood with her back to the door, one hand resting on the top of the leather couch where they had first made love; the other was tucked behind her.

“I love you. I need to tell you that, but I can’t save you. I can’t keep you from hiding in hate. I tried that with Kevin and failed, learned that lesson the hard way. If I stay with you, I’ll be your crutch, something to keep you from having to face who you are, good or bad, to forgive, accept, move on.”

He took a step into the room, his gaze on her arm where it curved behind her. “I don’t want to move on.”

“I know.” She pulled her hand from behind her back, held it out showing it was empty. “Not everyone is out to get you. Not everything you can’t see or don’t understand is bad. If you believed in yourself, forgave yourself, you’d see that.” She turned, placed her hand on the knob. “I want to be with you, but I can’t, not unless you forgive yourself, accept yourself—good and bad. If you can shrug off those ghosts, I’ll be at the church.”

“The wedding—”

“Is scheduled for midnight. That gives you time to think things over. I can’t give you any more. If I do, I’ll weaken. I can’t let myself do that. It’s tonight or never.”

She didn’t want him to come. She’d set things up so he couldn’t come. He laughed, a dry sound like leaves crumbling. “Vampires can’t enter a church.”

Her back tensed, her hand tightening around the doorknob. “Being a vampire doesn’t change who you are, not if you don’t let it. If you give up the darkness, leave it behind, the doors will open. Goodbye, Drystan.” The space where she stood began to sparkle, her voice to fade. Drystan held a hand in front of his eyes, shielding them from the light. When he looked back she was gone.

Chapter 11

A imee stood on the other side of Drystan’s door, her palm pressed to the wood. No sound came from inside. What was he doing? Why wasn’t he already following her?

She waited another five minutes, before lowering her head and heading down the hall. He would realize the good still inside him, give up the resentment that he’d gathered around him like a protective cloak. He had to and he had to do it by midnight tonight.

As Aimee had stood before him, declared herself a daimon, she’d realized she was a daimon. She couldn’t ever be human. She might have failed with Kevin, but she’d done her best at the time, and one failure didn’t mean she would fail each time. No, it meant she knew more now, that she would be better next time.

And as she’d stood there, she’d heard the peal again, the call of a soul that needed her guidance, a hand to hold as it struggled to stay on the right path.

Her threat of midnight was real. One minute later and she’d be gone, off to help her new assignment. Leaving Drystan was hard—would be hard no matter what—but to leave him still like this, lost, wandering…That would haunt her as much as Kevin’s death. Kevin only sank into the darkness once. Drystan went there every dawn.

She rubbed her hand over her forehead and forced her steps to quicken. The Myhres were waiting for her. No matter Drystan’s decision, she knew now she wouldn’t…couldn’t marry Ben. He deserved an explanation.

Drystan sat in his chair, a glass of the bottled blood in his hand—warmed this time. He held the liquid in his mouth, let it slide down his throat. The raised temperature of the drink did nothing for him, the blood did nothing for him—didn’t zing through his body like Aimee’s had, didn’t warm him, make him feel anything except the monster he was.

He picked up the glass and strode to the kitchen—threw the stemware into the sink. Glass and blood splattered up the sides, onto him. His hands gripping the edge of the sink, he lowered his head between his arms and took in deep heaving breaths. Breaths he didn’t need—but the human action usually calmed him, made him feel somewhat in touch with his human past.

This time it did nothing.

He didn’t understand Aimee, didn’t understand himself, or the thoughts pinging through his head. Aimee was some kind of angel, some being of light. He was a vampire and she’d known it. How long? All the time? Had she been playing with him? But why? Why lower herself to be with him—then leave him?

He wanted to scrape the slivers of glass out of the sink and fling them in again. Instead he gripped the counter’s edge tighter, took deeper breaths, tried to think.

She’d said he needed to let go of the resentment, to love himself or some other do-gooder babble. Like he had done this to himself, like he, the victim, was to blame.

With a curse, he spun, grabbed the half-empty bottle of blood from the counter and stormed back into the main room.

Sitting in his chair, drinking the blood straight from the bottle, he made his mind slow, thought about what he wanted, what he’d wanted all along.

Revenge.

Aimee was right. It was time to stop hiding from what he was. He was a vampire. Time to show the people who helped make him into one exactly what they had created.

He had planned on giving the media a show. They were at the church now, gathered, waiting. What better time to step out of his coffin? What better time to take down the Myhres? To exact revenge as only a vampire could?

The church was empty when Aimee arrived. Determined to find Ben before the media appeared, Aimee had hurried from room to room, even called out, but nothing except her own voice greeted her back. Finally, she’d gone to the library—the room assigned to her, the bride. Someone had been here. Her white lace ball gown and the wreath of white roses that were meant for her hair hung next to a full-length mirror. The scent of roses pulled her closer. Her hand reached out, caressed the lace.

“Aimee, are you in there?” The door edged open and Maureen Myhre slid sideways into the room, as if a crowd of people pressed around the other side of the door struggling to see in.

Aimee jerked her fingers back, curled them into her palm.

“Get dressed.” Maureen pointed at the dress.

Aimee stepped backward, into the dress. “Is Ben here? I need to talk to him.”

“After you’re dressed. We’re going to do pictures before the wedding.”

“But—” Aimee could feel the blood draining from her face. She had to talk to Ben. She had to tell him she couldn’t marry him. She couldn’t tell Maureen—not before Ben.

“I know the old wives’ tales—bad luck and all that. Bad luck will be if you don’t get that dress on in the next five minutes. I have Andrew White from the Journal waiting on you two. If we want a picture in tomorrow’s paper, it has to be now.”

“I need to talk to Ben.”

“After you’re dressed.” Maureen strode across the room and began pulling the gown from the hanger.

Aimee stood by, unsure what to do. If she ran from the room, looked for Ben again, she could easily run into the reporter instead.

But…She stared at the dress Maureen now held out for her. If she put it on, let the interview happen, was she compounding her sin?

“Aimee?” Maureen gave the heavy material a tiny shake.

Praying this would work out somehow, Aimee shrugged off her shirt and pants and stepped into the gown.

Spotlights shone on the white brick church, illuminating the building like the crown jewel in a princess’s tiara. Black limos, expensive imports and media vans lined the street outside.

Aimee was inside that church, marrying Ben. Drystan braced his feet, clenched his fists at his sides. The blood he’d swallowed earlier churned in his stomach, refused to digest.

A wide staircase curved up toward massive double doors. Twin white crosses constructed of roses hung on the doors.

Drystan placed a foot on the step, his hand on the cold metal railing. He was here, he was going in. He was going to…His mind drifted, the blood in his stomach hardened, seemed to weigh him down.

Why was he here? What did he want? How would humiliating the Myhres, killing them, even, solve anything? Would it bring Aimee back? Would it bring him the life he’d always wanted?

His legs bent beneath him. He sat on the cold snow-covered steps and spread out his fingers, pressed them into the snow. Someone should have cleared this. If Drystan were marrying Aimee, had everything Ben was about to have, he wouldn’t have allowed any detail to go unnoticed. He would have spent the last three months making sure every little aspect was perfect.

But Aimee didn’t mean anything to Ben, not like she did to Drystan.

The thought should have made him angry, given spark to the rage he’d somehow lost as he traveled here from his apartment, but it didn’t. Not this time. This time he just stared at his fingers resting on the snow, thought of how if Aimee’s hand were there beside his, the snow would melt, the cold would go away, Drystan’s pain would melt.

But it wouldn’t go away, hadn’t. The small chip of resentment and anger he kept tucked inside him at all times had prevented that. Aimee had given him everything he had ever wanted, but it hadn’t been enough. He’d still clung to old hates, still plotted to get even.

How could a daimon, an angel, love someone like that? How could he love someone like that? He raised his head and stared at the sky. Big fluffy snowflakes began to fall, landing on his face. He closed his eyes, let them cover his lids.

He had a choice to make. He could cling to the hate and resentment that he’d carried with him since childhood or he could let it go, take responsibility for his choices—accept what had happened in his past and move on. Let himself love and be loved—let love be more important than anything else.

Moisture leaked into his eyes. He reached up to brush it away, then paused. Into his eyes. The snow on his face was melting. He pulled up the hand that had been lying on the snow, flipped it over. Beads of water clung to his palm—snow melted by his body, his warmth.

He folded and unfolded his fingers, unable to grasp what was happening, then reached up and pressed his fingers against his upper teeth. The fangs were still there. He was still a vampire.

For a moment, he sank back, then slowly his spine straightened. He was still a vampire, like he was still Drystan. Maybe that was the point—accepting, not hiding, not trying to change what he couldn’t.

He stood, his hand back on the railing. It felt colder now…the difference between his warming body and the icy metal more obvious.

All that stood between him and Aimee were two cross-covered doors, and Ben, the brother who thought Drystan was dead. Squaring his shoulders, he walked up the steps. At the top he paused again. The brass doorknob shone against the dark wood.

His hand shaking, he reached out and wrapped his fingers around the cold metal.

The vestibule of the church was dark as Drystan stepped inside. Thick carpeting covered the floor, the smell of candles filled the air, and everything was perfectly still, perfectly quiet—no lightning bolts searing him to ash, no avenging angels dropping from the sky, swords drawn to pierce him through the heart.

A holy water font, carved in marble, hung on the wall. Drystan wasn’t Catholic, had rarely entered a church before his rising, but the belief that he couldn’t, that he was cursed, had been yet another burden to add to all the others he carried.

Holding his breath, he dipped two fingers into the font, then out. Water dripped onto his shoes, made little round dark spots on the carpet, but that was it—the extent of the chaos.

Aimee was right. Becoming a vampire hadn’t made him evil. If he was a monster it was because he allowed himself to be one, let the anger make him into one.

He took only a moment to let the realization sink in, to accept that he had made the choices that led him to where he was, that while perhaps the Myhres could have also made different choices, ultimately he had created his destiny.

A chime sounded from inside the sanctuary. Leveling his shoulders and raising his head, he held his gaze steady. Unashamed, he strode toward the closed doors. He had a wedding to stop.

The doors glided open on oiled hinges—not a whisper to alert the occupants of the chapel of Drystan’s arrival. His heart thumped in his chest. This was it, the moment he’d dreamed of, but now his goal was so different. He was going to stand exposed for the world to see, for the Myhres and Aimee to see.

No more hiding, from them or himself.

The room was dark, lit only by flickering candles.

At the front near the altar holding a candle of her own stood Aimee, dressed in a billowing gown of white with a ring of roses peeking from her hair. Beside her was Ben, another candle in his hand.

Drystan was too late. They were lighting the unity candle which stood waiting on the altar. The ceremony was over. Aimee was married.

A hollow ache began to build inside Drystan’s chest. He reached for the door before it could fully close, trap him in here with Aimee and Ben, the people sure to start clapping, the joy that would never be his. But as his fingers hit the wood, he stopped. He was running, hiding again. He’d sworn to himself he would stop. If he could face this, he could face anything. If he didn’t face this, it would, like every other pain he’d experienced in his life, fester and grow, twist his spirit, make him back into the monster he had just conquered.

He turned, faced the sanctuary.

Aimee had moved, was halfway down the aisle, but she was alone, the lit candle still in her hand.

“You came.” The flame bounced up and down in her hand, like she was shaking, excited, nervous.

“I…It’s almost twelve. I’d thought…” She stopped, looked over her shoulder. Ben stood unmoved, stiff, his gaze locked on Drystan, all color drained from his face. “I told Ben a little, but not everything. Not how…” She let the words trail off again.

Drystan’s muscles seemed to have locked up, his voice to have left. He forced his fingers to let go of the door, his arm to drop at his side. He made his gaze flow over the darkened pews, ready to see shock, fear even, but there was nothing—the pews were empty.

“Is it over? Where is—” he gestured to the empty church “—the media? Maureen didn’t…”

At his mother’s name Ben took a step forward. “She’s holding court in the reception hall. It’s behind the church.”

Aimee was beside him now, the candle glowing in her hand. He could see the detail of her dress, the lace that covered her bodice, the tiny pearls stitched along the top. “You’re beautiful,” he murmured. He couldn’t stop the pain inside him, but he clenched his jaw, refused to let it take over.

“So are you.” She ran her hand down his arm, her touch soft, her face filled with disbelief. “You’re different.”

“Not so much.” He pulled back his lips, showed her his fangs.

“Not there. Here.” She placed her hand on his chest, over his heart.

Her touch hurt; to have her so close and know she couldn’t be his hurt. “I…I hope you and Ben will be happy,” he said.

“Ben?” Her lips stayed parted, her gaze darting to the side where his adopted brother still stood stiffly next to the altar. “We didn’t get married. We called off the wedding, managed to convince the media it was all a stunt to get their attention, to get them to listen to Ben’s new plan to help youth like Kevin who have no one, who turn to drugs as an escape.

“The church was already set up for the wedding.” Aimee waved her hand around, gesturing at the candles. “Ben and I were just cleaning up, and waiting, hoping you’d come.” She licked her lips, seemed about to say something else, but Ben took a step forward.

“I told them my story…our story.” The candle in Ben’s hand bobbed with his words. “Mother wasn’t happy, but once it was out, she had no choice but to go along, to act like it was our plan from the beginning. By the time they leave she’ll have convinced them and herself it was her idea all along.” He laughed, but it was a nervous sound, made Drystan want to look away.

Then everything Ben and Aimee had said sunk in, and he did look away—back to Aimee. “You didn’t get married?”

She shook her head. Drystan smiled, grabbed her then. “You didn’t get married.” Hot wax from the candle dripped onto his sleeve. He ignored it, ignored everything but Aimee.

But something was wrong. She wasn’t smiling, didn’t look like she shared the joy racing through Drystan’s body. “No, but there’s something else I have to tell you.”

He dropped his hands, let her pull away. She was going to leave him. He stepped back, turned to face the wall. It was too much, this roller-coaster ride she’d put him on.

“I don’t want to leave…you know that, but I don’t have a choice. I told you, I’m a daimon. I have to answer the calling. Someone needs me.”

He needed her.

Her hand landed on his shoulder; he ignored her touch, fought to stay under control, not to slip backward.

“I’d stay—” The church bell began to strike. Panic washed over Aimee’s face. “I want to stay. Believe me. I love you.” As the bell continued to toll, her voice grew faint. Realizing he couldn’t let her leave like this, couldn’t let their last seconds be lost in his anger, Drystan spun, reached out for her, but as the bell struck twelve, she faded and was gone.

It was dark and cold when Aimee materialized. She was on a street somewhere, a street she didn’t recognize, not that she would recognize much through her tears. She swiped the back of her hand across her cheek. The lace on her sleeve scratched her quickly numbing flesh. She glanced down, surprised to see she still wore her wedding gown.

What kind of soul needed a daimon in a wedding gown?

Unable to process that she had lost Drystan, given him up to follow her duty, she staggered forward. Her slippered feet slid in the snow; her hip knocked into a Dumpster she hadn’t seen in the dark. She glanced around, saw no one and let herself succumb to a moment of weakness, let her knees bend and her body sag to the ground. She sat there, her body hunched, her chin pressed to her chest and took in heavy breaths of cold night air.

In the distance a car door slammed. Voices murmured. Aimee reached out and pressed her hand against the brick wall beside her, tried to gather the energy to stand, but she couldn’t—not yet. She dropped her hand, kept her head down and said a silent prayer that the voices would pass by, that neither belonged to her new charge—not yet. She couldn’t meet him or her yet.

“This was it? I was so out of it…” a male voice spoke softly. “It’s still a bad neighborhood. After you died, nothing was done, not that I know of.”

“I know.” A new voice, deeper. Aimee could hear emotion running through it…sadness, resolve. Something inside her stirred, recognition. The voice belonged to her charge. She had to get herself together, face him. She sucked in a breath, pressed her hands to her face and willed herself under control.

“Aimee?” The second voice, the voice of her charge.

Aimee blinked, a new recognition rolling over her. She looked up, her fingers curling into the skirt of her gown, her heart thumping so hard she could hear nothing else.

Standing in front of her, his shape silhouetted by headlights that shone at his back, was Drystan.

In two steps he was beside her. His hands reached for her waist, and he pulled her off the ground.

“I thought I’d lost you,” he murmured against her hair. “But you’re here. You’re here.”

Aimee was trembling, her hands shaking so badly she could barely wrap her fingers around the lapel of his coat. “How? You’re…you’re my…”

“Yours. I’m yours and you’re mine, and I’m never letting you go. Do you hear me? No matter what. Nothing can make me let you go.” His hands were in her hair and his lips on her mouth. And finally, Aimee realized what had happened, that she had made the right choice, that she could be a daimon and have Drystan, too. That he was her reward, and that he was right, nothing would ever separate them again—nothing.

She laced her arms around his neck, met him, kiss for kiss, and held on, just like she planned on holding on, forever.

Table of Contents

Dear Reader, “The Vampire Who Stole Christmas” is my first published venture into the world of vampires. It is definitely a tale of the undead, but it is also a holiday story. I wanted to honor both. I didn’t want to skimp on the aspects that attract so many of you to vampires, but I also wanted you to walk away with the warm feelings everyone deserves at this time of year. So, “The Vampire Who Stole Christmas” is a vampire romance, but it is also a story of revenge, despair, self-forgiveness and ultimately love. It’s the story of two people who think they have failed everyone, including themselves. It takes you through their journey as they attempt to alleviate their pain, only to discover the true road to happiness takes a very different path. I hope you enjoy it. Lori Devoti I grew up on a dirt road where many people dumped their unwanted pets. These animals would arrive at our home covered in mange, mats and with wounds too horrible to describe here. I can remember the tears in my

I grew up on a dirt road where many people dumped their unwanted pets. These animals would arrive at our home covered in mange, mats and with wounds too horrible to describe here. I can remember the tears in my father’s eyes when he had to put one such animal down because its injuries were too great to be healed. I also remember the appreciation and love the ones we could help showed when my mother bathed them, fed them and found them homes—or took them into our own.   I dedicate this novella to the Humane Society of the United States and everyone who has ever taken time out of their lives to help a hurt or deserted animal. Hugs and good homes to all.…

Chapter 1 T he snow whirled round and round, like tiny tornadoes. Twirling flakes found their way past Drystan Hurst’s collar and the hair that brushed his shoulders, the icy bits making it onto his bare skin. He didn’t shiver, didn’t bother to brush them away—his attention was too focused on the woman standing in his adoptive mother’s window. The white lights of the Christmas tree shone behind her revealing her form, lithe as a dancer, and the shape of her hair, a mass of curls he knew framed an almost elfin face. Aimee Polk, the all-night-drugstore clerk who had stood between a suicidal boy and seven hostages, had begged the boy to take her in their stead, had by all accounts talked him out of the mass murder he’d planned. Aimee Polk, who’d been sprayed with the boy’s blood when he’d turned the gun on himself, had been caught on film as she stood there shocked, sobbing, mourning the loss of the boy who seconds earlier had threatened to take her life. The media had gobbled it up. And

Chapter 1

Chapter 2 T he blond angel caught Drystan off guard. It wasn’t her elfin beauty; he’d seen that on TV. It wasn’t the shock, verging on horror, that pulled at her features as she stared at him, asked who he was. It was the hunger that roared through him as soon as he’d turned—the burning need to be near her, touch her…feed off her. He bit down on his lower lip, let his fangs puncture his flesh, his own blood filling his mouth. She couldn’t see what he was doing. His actions, his fangs, everything that would identify him as one of the undead was hidden by his beguilement. She, like the guard downstairs and the nurse who’d barely cocked an eyebrow when he had asked for Aimee, could only see what Drystan wanted them to see—a human male, no more intimidating than a three-year-old child. The bitter taste of his blood brought him back under control, reminded him why he was here. “Drystan Hurst. I work for City Brides. We hoped you’d agree to be our featured brides next month.” “Drystan?” She

Chapter 2

Chapter 3 D rystan hid in the shadows, willed his beguilement to hide him completely. He’d delivered his card to the nurse, then pretended to leave, but instead he’d gone searching for Aimee. Her resistance to him was unprecedented. She didn’t know him, had no reason not to believe whatever he suggested. To his knowledge, that was the only way a human could resist beguilement—if they already knew him, already had expectations of him. Even then it might not work, but to be honest, he’d never risked it, never approached anyone from his past. When he first rose, he hadn’t wanted to see the distaste in their eyes, had been afraid he’d weaken, turn back into the little boy deserted by his mother, run. He was over the fear now, had no need to hide, but he still hadn’t approached the Myhres. He didn’t want them on guard; he wanted to surprise them, shock them, when he delivered his revenge. The squeak of wheels sent him sinking deeper into the shadows of an unoccupied nurses’ station. Aimee s

Chapter 3

Chapter 4 A imee didn’t know what Drystan had done or tried to do. She’d felt magic wrapping around her, felt it weave through her, confusing her. She pressed a hand to her forehead. What had happened? She had seen Drystan; she knew that…or thought she did. The entire encounter was like a vivid dream, the kind that wakes you in the night and takes minutes to clear from your head, to convince yourself it was just a dream. But her visit with Drystan was the opposite. Something was working inside her, trying to make her think it hadn’t happened, but she knew deep in her soul that it had. “Aimee…” Andrea, the nurse on duty, called from behind the counter. “Can you stop by Mr. Belding’s room? His daughter left a couple of hours ago. They…talked.” Her lips thinned. “He isn’t doing well.” Aimee shoved her cart back into the closet and hurried to the older man’s room.   Drystan watched Aimee from the shadows for any sign his suggestion had taken hold. Once she’d arrived on her floor, she had g

Chapter 4

Chapter 5 A imee waited outside the restaurant, her pashmina shawl, a gift from Ben, pulled tightly around her. It was a little too cold for just the wrap, just like it was a little too snowy for her three-inch heels, but Aimee had fallen victim to vanity—a vice she had never had before ignoring her daimon calling. Chewing on her lower lip, she stroked the cashmere. It had been four months since she had walked away from being a daimon, had started ignoring the almost constant peals that chimed inside her head—a soul in need looking for his or her personal daimon—but in the past few days, she hadn’t heard a single chime, not even a hum. No nagging from her daimon conscience, and now falling victim to one of the most basic of human failings—vanity. Could she actually be turning human? It was what she wanted…. “Aimee.” Drystan Hurst stepped beside her, his head brushing the scalloped edge of the restaurant awning. Snow dotted his black coat. Without thinking, Aimee brushed the flakes from

Chapter 5

Chapter 6 A imee was stirring. Drystan had flooded her with every strand of beguilement he could pull from his body, from resources he didn’t know he had, and now he was paying the price. He placed two wineglasses on the granite counter with shaking hands, started to grab the unopened bottle of merlot he had already pulled from the wine rack, but instead reached into the refrigerator for another bottle. One of the bottles he got delivered secretly to his home every Sunday night. He jerked the cork from the glass neck, started to tip it over his glass, but with a curse pressed it to his lips instead. Blood, thick and heady, rolled down his throat. Even unnaturally cold, straight from the refrigerator, he could feel it moving through his system, renewing his depleted energy stores. The slight crunch of Aimee shifting on his leather couch alerted him she was now awake, aware, but he couldn’t face her yet. He pressed his palms onto the countertop, took a step back and let his head hang for

Chapter 6

Chapter 7 T he scent, taste and feel of Aimee almost over whelmed Drystan, made it hard to keep his vampire nature hidden, to keep him from plunging his fangs into the blue vein that lay just beneath her porcelain skin. He wrapped his hand around her cascade of curls, pulled them from her throat, brushed his lips up and down the column of her neck. So tempting. So hard to resist. Her hand was on his stomach, her fingers curling into the white cotton shirt he wore, nails scraping against the material. He licked his lips, willed his mind to slow, not to slip. Everything about this moment was impossible. He wanted to remember it, savor it. Then her hand moved, dropped until her fingers pressed against his sex, caressed the hard rod, the visible sign of his need. He almost bit her then, did let his fangs nip against her skin, enough that a tiny taste of blood made its way into his mouth. Sweet, sizzling…like exploding candies he’d eaten as a child, but better, so much better. One tiny tast

Chapter 7

Chapter 8 I t was dark and cold. Normal for Drystan’s first waking moments, but this time his hands groped around him, searched for something…someone…For some reason this time he didn’t expect to be alone…but he was. He sat up, let his mind come to full awareness. He was alone. Aimee had left. He should have expected that, but he hadn’t. Deep inside, even while in his vampiric coma, death, whatever this curse put him through each day, some bit of hope that this time he’d awake to a gentle touch, a smiling face, to Aimee, had stayed alive. He should have known better. He shoved aside the comforter that covered his chest and stood. He started to move toward his bedroom to retrieve clothing for the night ahead, but his feet tangled in the cover he’d just tossed aside. He stopped, stared down at it. A cover. He bent and retrieved the tangled mass. Something so simple, but it told him last night hadn’t been a dream and, more important, that Aimee hadn’t run from him in horror. No, after he’

Chapter 8

Chapter 9 D rystan held the squirming creature in his arms, his mind fighting to make sense of what was happening. The demon inside him said to toss the animal aside, or use it, drain it like other vampires did when desperate for blood—to send a message to whoever owned the animal that the streets weren’t safe at night, that nowhere was safe. They should hide, cower inside their mansions. The money and love they’d poured into their little pet couldn’t protect it. He grabbed the animal by the scruff of the neck, pulled its face up to his, snarled. Black eyes glistened back at him, confused. Drystan lifted his lip, ready to snarl again, and the creature whimpered, the first signs of fear appearing in its eyes. Doubt slivered through Drystan. The hand holding the animal began to shake; the dog began to shake, too. And suddenly he saw what he was doing, saw Garbo staring back at him, quivering, her body curling into itself. Drystan’s nostrils flared. He pulled the tiny dog to his chest, cr

Chapter 9

Chapter 10 A imee’s leg wound around Drystan’s waist. Her breasts brushed against his chest. He held her lightly, almost afraid gripping her too tightly would wake her, end the dream he’d created for himself. So what that she’d tried to walk away? So what if she came with him only because he made her, beguiled her? Right now he only cared that she was here, with him. Her lips met his, covered his with a need, a yearning that almost matched his own. Her tongue slipped inside his mouth. He met it with his own, guiding her away from the sharp point of his fangs. He hadn’t fed since he’d been with her two nights before, hadn’t felt the need, at least not physically, but with her here, her scent engulfing him, her heat beside him, he could feel the hunger growing. His body thrummed with it. He flipped her over, beneath him, his weight pressing hers into the down cover. She pulled her lips free, stretched her neck as if inviting his bite, as if she knew what he wanted and welcomed it. It was

Chapter 10

Chapter 11 A imee stood on the other side of Drystan’s door, her palm pressed to the wood. No sound came from inside. What was he doing? Why wasn’t he already following her? She waited another five minutes, before lowering her head and heading down the hall. He would realize the good still inside him, give up the resentment that he’d gathered around him like a protective cloak. He had to and he had to do it by midnight tonight. As Aimee had stood before him, declared herself a daimon, she’d realized she was a daimon. She couldn’t ever be human. She might have failed with Kevin, but she’d done her best at the time, and one failure didn’t mean she would fail each time. No, it meant she knew more now, that she would be better next time. And as she’d stood there, she’d heard the peal again, the call of a soul that needed her guidance, a hand to hold as it struggled to stay on the right path. Her threat of midnight was real. One minute later and she’d be gone, off to help her new assignment

Chapter 11