Epilogue
Malibu, California
Cyn leaned forward, smiling as she read the latest e-mail from Sarah. It tickled her that Sarah and Raj had gotten together. And at the same time, she was delighted to have a friend who truly understood what it meant to be mated to a vampire. Or soon-to-be married, in Sarah's case. Cyn pursed her lips thoughtfully, trying to figure out the best way to convince Raphael they should go to the wedding. Damn vampires were so prickly with one another, especially now that Raj had taken over his Sire's territory.
She pushed back from the computer and picked up a bottle of water, tilting her head back and drinking deeply. With no fresh air, Raphael's underground lair tended to be cool and a little too dry. Still, she preferred to work here during the day, while he slept on the other side of the room. She usually slept with him the first few hours, and then worked awhile, finally ending up back in bed with him before sunset. He liked to have her there when he woke, and she didn't exactly mind, either, since—
She froze, taking the bottle slowly away from her mouth and setting it blindly on the desktop as she turned to stare into the deep shadows over the bed. She'd heard . . . Her mind raced trying to recreate the precise sound and couldn't do it. There shouldn't be any noise at all. Raphael always slept perfectly still. She stood and walked over to the bed, her breath catching in her throat when she heard something again, but this time . . . Was that a groan?
"Raphael?” Her voice cracked with tension, her heart pounding fiercely inside her chest. He groaned louder, a sound of such anguish and pain that she threw herself onto the high bed in a panic, crawling over to him, reaching out blindly in the darkness to touch his face. Her lungs constricted in fear and she scrambled back to the bedside lamp, snapping it up to its brightest setting, before spinning around to examine his face in full light.
It was covered in blood. Cyn screamed, “Raphael!"
To be continued . . .