“Oh, yeah, sure.” She grinned. “The power within you.”

“Huh?”

“Your life has been mapped out, Amara. According to a prophecy told centuries ago you will have a child one day. She will restore peace to our kind and wield great power—one of those is said to be the gift of life.”

“Life?”

“Yes, to restore what once was living, now without death.” She grinned; my face folded into a frown. “The ability to return vampires to their original form.”

“Human form?”

“Yes.”

My hands crossed my belly; I looked down. “A child?”

“Yes.” She grinned, then shrugged. “I said I knew a way—didn’t say you were going to like it.”

Mike lifted a frozen me from under the arms and rolled me onto the pillow, tucking my feet under the blanket as he did. “Sleep now, Amara. We’ll talk about it in the morning.”

I nodded.

Eric sat and rolled up his sleeve. “I’ll just give you a little more—it’ll help you sleep.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

As the warmth of blood filled my mouth once again, I closed my eyes for a second and drank lazily, letting half of it slip down my chin.

“So tired, aren’t ya, kiddo?” Eric wiped the blood from my neck and chest with the towel Mike handed him.

“Eric,” I whispered before the softness of sleep swallowed my thoughts.

“Yes, beautiful girl.”

“How did you end up being Jason’s assistant?”

“I lied to the Council—told them the vampire and the pretty girl I’d been hanging out with was Jason and his girlfriend. They found out the truth, and my punishment was to assist in your torture.”

“Then, how did you get to Mike and Emily—to tell them?”

“Jason sent me on an errand—to get a t…to get something he needed.”

“A tool.” I rolled my face away, closing my eyes. “Don’t treat me like a baby, Eric. He sent you to get a tool.”

“Yes.”

“Did he know you’d get help?”

“Yes.”

I looked at him, my mind waking. “Why did he let you go, then?”

“He couldn’t admit it, but he wanted you rescued.”

“Why?”

“I’m not sure.”

“How do you know he wanted you to get help?”

“Because when he un-cuffed me and told me to go into town, I asked him if he was crazy—asked him if he knew where my allegiance laid.”

“What did he say?”

“He said yes.”

Mike’s shadow filled the space around Eric. “That’s enough for tonight, mate. Let her rest.”

“Okay. Amara, I’ll be right outside your door—just whisper and I’ll come.”

“Thanks, Eric,” I murmured.

The door closed, leaving me in darkness, and the peaceful tranquillity of blood stole me away.

In someplace, floating in dreamland, I let my mind wander to the lake. David—he would always be there, in our safe place, with me—no matter what the physical world thought of to tear us apart.

As the sunlight washed down over my face when I stepped out of the shadows, I saw him; playing my guitar, like always. But I knew I couldn’t go to him; knew there was a boundary there now.

I rested a flat palm to the glass, which frosted and turned cold under my touch. I’d never be a part of his world again, never lay with him against the rock while everything spun around us. All I could do was watch him existing in the innocence of the past while my heart ached to be with him. “I’m so sorry, David,” I whispered, leaning my head against the icy partition.

On the other side, long, bone-white fingers touched mine through the cold, and I looked up at David, who smiled at me; his dark green eyes sparkling in the corners—but his lips blue, his face ashen. “I’m not sorry, Ara. Now I get to keep you here for eternity. I’ll be waiting…waiting...”

“Wait,” I cried as his voice trailed off, leaving my hand alone against the cold glass. “David?”

The light in this world went black; the wind picked up around me, whipping my hair out behind me, wrapping my long, lace dress around me feet. And the glass fell away, leaving my hands falling through the absent air.

He’s gone.

I wrapped my arms across my body.

Everything is gone.

I felt nothing around me; not behind me, underneath me. I am alone.

“I love you, David, forever,” I whispered softly as I closed my eyes.

Quiet whispers urged my attention. My eyes stayed shut while my ears pricked. “I know she’s alive,” said a voice I didn’t know—a strong, austere voice.

“She’s dead. Now, will you please leave us to grieve her passing in peace,” Mike said.

I heard a thud, like a flat palm on wood. “I watched you leave the castle with her, Monsieur White. I know she’s alive. Now, show me to her, I beg of you.”

My eyes flashed open. Wait! I do know that voice.

“She’s sleeping.”

“She’s awake. I can hear her heart,” the man said, his voice carrying through the walls, right into my deepest cavity of fear.

Mike sighed.

“Please,” the man said, “just let me see her. Let me see that she’s all right, and I’ll leave.”

“What makes you think I’m going to trust you for one second with her.”

“I ask out of respect, Monsieur White. If I came here to impose or to hurt her, I’d have brought guards.” All went silent. I wished I were out there, watching. “I am unarmed, unprotected. See for yourself.”

A soft patting sound filled the silence. “Fine,” Mike said. “So you’re unarmed. That means nothing to me. How do I know you’re not here to kill her?”

“If that were so she’d already be dead.”

“All the same, you’re still not getting within an inch of her. Now leave.”

“Goddamn it, I fought for her. I fought for her,” he raised his voice, “I did everything I could to have her life spared, and I battled within the last inches of my political boundaries to save my son.”

Son? Arthur. That’s Arthur’s voice. I sat up. Arthur was the austere voice.