over the line to seem like a psychopathic stalker.
Psychopathic. A good word to describe him. Like falling down the rabbit hole, his life seemed dark and strange without her.
He battled to keep himself focused, keep his mind sharp. Every time he did something, it reminded him of her. He got in his boat to go to shore—he remembered bringing her to his island that first night. He looked at pictures of the crime scene at work—it reminded him of the park where he lost her. He got in his car to come home after a long day—it still smelled like her after all this time.
He took a deep breath, relishing the scent of jasmine and chamomile that lingered in his home. She was everywhere, he could not escape her. And heaven help him, but he’d started to want an escape.
It killed him to think about what he was missing. He had found heaven in her arms and hell without her. He could not go on like this forever.
If she didn’t come around soon, he would have to go to her one last time to erase all memories of their time together from her mind. Goddammit, he didn’t want to do that, but he would. Keeping vampires a secret meant their survival. No demon could know about them, especially one who hated them as Lyn did.
He threw his plate across the room. It shattered, sending ceramic bits mixed with uneaten toast crumbing to the floor.
****
Lyn sat at the kitchen table alone, eating her dinner. Looking at the omelet on her plate transported her back to the day Ky had made one for her. They had been so happy. She had been so happy.
He had attempted to see her, called her numerous times, and she denied him each time, refusing to allow him to talk to her. For weeks after the incident in the park, her fear kept her from returning his calls. She wanted to have her normal, sane life back. Now she found herself wondering what sane was.
Was it sane to believe every vampire to be the personification of evil? Not all demons acted the same, so why should she assume all vampires did?
Ky didn’t seem evil. Deadly, yes. She’d seen that with her own eyes. But she didn’t think of him as evil. And she’d spent a lot of time thinking about him, replaying their time together in her mind.
He had been nothing but good to her, treating her with tenderness, and taking care of her injuries. He could have taken advantage of her while she stayed in his home, but he had not. Instead he’d been a perfect gentleman.
There had been depth to their passion that went beyond anything she had ever experienced before. She wanted him in a way she’d never wanted any other man. Had Ky somehow influenced her into wanting him, like the vampires in the movies did?
She didn’t think so. If he’d been controlling her mind, he would have continued doing so after she refused to see him. He had been very persistent in his pursuit of her since that night in the park.
Every few days she arrived home to find a message on her machine requesting she allow him to explain. Had he been controlling her mind, he could have forced her to contact him or let him inside any of the times he’d knocked on her door.
Life seemed so empty without him. Every time she heard his voice she struggled not to call. Well, not at first. The first few weeks after the incident, she had been angry and upset. Ky had made an easy target for her pique at the time and that wasn’t fair.
In the past couple of weeks, she’d come to realize the fault lay with her attacker. He deserved her anger, her hatred. She now blamed Raziel for what happened to her, not Ky.
Lyn looked across the table at the empty chair. It taunted her, reminding her of her loneliness. She’d given up the one man in her life she thought she could love. A tear of regret rolled down her cheek at the loss. The loss of her normal world. The loss of passion.
The loss of him.
****
Two months later
Lyn rolled over in her bed, and kicked the covers from her body. She turned her head to look at the clock. Three in the morning and all was not well.
Ky had stopped calling. It hurt worse than she could have imagined. She had not realized how much she