Relentless (Vampire Awakenings #11) - Brenda K. Davies Page 0,109

Jasmine did to her. He’d gladly watch that bitch die a thousand more times if he could. Leaning closer, he brushed a kiss against Cassidy’s cheek. Love shone in her eyes as she smiled at him.

Everything he believed he knew about what happened to his sister was a lie, but if he was sure about one thing in his life, it was her love for him. And he was certain about his love for her. He’d die for her, but more than that, he would live for her as she’d brought him back to life in a way he’d never believed possible.

When his attention shifted back to Maya, he discovered her smiling at them.

“What happened after that?” Cassidy asked.

Maya’s smile slid away. “I’m not really sure. At some point, the agony became too much, and I blacked out. I woke hours later, and when I did, everything was too bright, too loud, and wrong. I had flashes of memory about what happened, but no idea how I got where I was or what was wrong with me.”

“The vampire who attacked you also changed you?” Cassidy asked.

“No,” Maya said. “The vampire who saved me also changed me.”

Chapter Fifty-One

“And who was that?” Dante asked.

Maya released his hand and rose to walk over to the fireplace mantle. Dante had already noticed more family photos there, but he hadn’t paid much attention to them. She pulled down the picture in the middle and returned to hand it over to him.

Dante didn’t take it from her; he couldn’t move as he was stunned speechless. He’d believed that when Maya opened the door, nothing would ever shock him again, but he was wrong. Somehow, he managed to keep his mouth from dropping as he stared at the handsome man in the center of the photo. Lewis Guthrie’s blond hair and blue eyes matched those of his daughter.

Dante recalled the quiet man who watched Maya like a lovesick puppy dog. Lewis had asked her out a couple of times, but Maya always turned him down. Still, Dante believed he was a good guy, which meant he wasn’t Maya’s type.

And then Maya vanished, and Lewis Guthrie became the main suspect in her case. Over the years, Dante’s memories of the way Lewis watched her like she was the most wonderful thing in the world, twisted until he turned Lewis into a serial killer in hiding.

He’d become convinced that all the times Lewis brought Maya coffee, carried her books, opened doors for her, or helped her with schoolwork weren’t the desperate moves of a lovesick boy, but the twisted manipulations of a psychopath.

“Lewis Guthrie saved you?” Dante asked.

“Yes.” Maya retreated to return the picture to the mantle. “He took me to his parents’ house after the attack, but we moved shortly afterward and kept on moving until Mateo was born. His parents live in Manhattan now, and Lewis and I bought this place a few years ago. We wanted the kids to have a more stable upbringing. Like the kids, Lewis was born a vampire.”

“So was I,” Cassidy said.

Maya returned to perch on the love seat. “It’s a small world.”

“That it is,” Cassidy agreed. “There aren’t many purebreds, but the number is growing.”

“If Lewis is a vampire, then why was he at college?” Dante asked.

“He always dreamed of living a more human life, and he wanted to experience what it would be like to go to college. Plus, he loves to learn. He’s earned three master’s degrees online, but my attack changed everything for him at our college,” Maya said.

“Some members of my family went to college too,” Cassidy said.

Dante pondered this revelation as he stared at the pictures over Maya’s shoulder. Now that he wasn’t purposely trying to ignore them, he saw Lewis in a lot of them.

“I spent almost as much time trying to find him as I did searching for you,” he said. “He was the only suspect in your disappearance.”

“By the time he stopped the attack, I was too far gone to be saved. If he hadn’t changed me, I would have died,” Maya said.

“What happened to the vamp who attacked you?”

“Lewis killed him.”

“Who was it?”

“I don’t know. Lewis didn’t know either, and neither did his friends. They’d never seen him before.”

“Why was Lewis there that night?”

“He was out walking with Jim and Tom when they witnessed the attack and intervened. Both Jim and Tom were there when I woke up, but they didn’t remember anything; Lewis and his father changed their memories. Jim owned