two struggling through the mire, and had stumbled upon one another. Why couldn’t they make it work?
Hell, he wished it wasn’t Christmas Eve. The moon was high in the sky, though he couldn’t see it standing here in the middle of the city illuminated by unnatural lighting. But he felt the moon’s ominous presence and knew he had better things to do than lament the love he could never deserve.
Just as he forced himself to turn and leave, the crowd burst into applause. The song was over. Daniel cheered along with everyone, shouting out a few whoops—until he saw a new singer walk on stage to renewed cheers, and the man put his arm around Olivia. She introduced him as Parker Troy and he agreed to sing a duet with her, “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.”
And then he kissed Olivia full on the mouth to uproarious applause.
Daniel slapped a hand over his heart and stumbled backward, his steps stuttering as rapidly as his heartbeat.
Knew it, his conscience whispered. She was never yours. That soul of yours? Dark to the core and as unworthy as they come.
Turning and pushing through the tangle of worshippers, he blindly escaped the roar that threatened to suck him down to the ground and stomp upon his tender heart.
Spying Olivia’s driver as he passed, he avoided eye contact with the man, then kicked it in gear and headed north until he arrived at the same place he’d been every other night for the past ten days. The girls standing before the shoddy wood fence ran toward him. Charity, the quiet one, was eight, and Mary was twelve, the bossy one who looked after her little sister and mother.
“Where have you been?” Mary said, grabbing him by the wrist and tugging him along. “She’s really bad. You said tonight was the night.”
Daniel flinched when Charity tugged his jacket hem. Wide brown eyes sought his. Her hair was tangled, and he bet she hadn’t eaten a wholesome meal in weeks.
“Is my mommy going to be a vampire?” the little girl asked.
“Charity, we said not to use that word,” Mary admonished.
Daniel winced and considered what to say. To lie to them would be cruel, and their mother hadn’t lied since she’d been bitten and had been struggling against the inevitable vampirism that could overtake her soul. Little girls shouldn’t have to know such horrors as homelessness and vampirism. Yet Mary was so straightforward, she was like a forty-year-old in a twelve-year-old’s body.
“Not if I can help it,” he offered. A mournful moan echoed from behind the fence. It was where the mother had been living with her daughters for the past few months. “She had anything to drink?” he asked Mary.
“No money for vodka. But I did get her some Pepsi.”
Since her mother had lost her job, the girl had been forced to grow up too quickly. Daniel could relate in a strange way; he’d been forced to view his life differently since vampirism had lost him his job. The body did what it had to do to survive. It was the minds of these sweet girls he worried about.
“I’m going to check on your mother.”
Mary shoved him toward the makeshift gate, while Charity clung to him. He put a palm to her head. It was so cold. She needed a cap, though the mittens he’d brought them a week ago were on her hands. How could he have forgotten caps?
Kneeling to put himself at eye level with the misfortunate shivering thing, he asked Charity, “You know what tonight is?”
She nodded. “Santa comes and brings toys to the kids who have homes.”
His heart shattered. He felt Mary’s stern admonishment of her sister without having to look at her stoic little face.
“Santa is make-believe,” he said and didn’t regret the truth. These girls deserved his honesty. “Christmas is the celebration of a great man’s birthday. Good things happen on Christmas Eve.” He stopped himself from saying “I promise,” and patted Charity’s head before pushing through the gate.
Laura Jones sought his gaze, her pale eyes—circled not with black makeup but instead darkened from her struggles over the past week—were wide and manic. Her shoulders shook and her hands did, as well, as she rubbed them along her jeans as he approached. He prayed she hadn’t succumbed to the madness.
Daniel had learned, only after he’d been bitten and had answered the insane compulsion to drink blood, that there were a few ways a mortal could avoid transforming into a vampire. They