All Souls' Night - Renee Rose Page 0,23

in true love,” she says carefully. “I just don’t believe there’s only one person out there for us.”

“But you found Charlie. Are you saying you’re not meant to be?”

“No,” she says softly. “Charlie is one in a million. I can’t imagine my life without him, even though I fought it at the time.”

I close my eyes and fight back tears again. “See?”

“But Gwen, you’re one in a million, too.”

“I feel so lost.”

“You’re not. You’re on your own path. And when it comes to true love—I think I believe in it now. But I think it’s up to us. Life is what we choose it to be. We make our own fairytale. Our own fate.”

We talk a little bit more, and even after she hangs up, those words ring in my mind and in my heart.

I sit up and push back the messy black mass of my hair. We make our own fairytale. Our own fate.

I know what I need to do.

Dimitri

Club Toxic is the most dangerous and exciting spot for a vampire in the world. Or, at least, it used to be. The varnish has worn off, but it was to be expected. All good things must come to an end.

I sip my drink and try not to look too bored. I fail.

I raise a finger and signal for another drink.

Across from me, a vampire friend sits, savoring a glass of wine. We’ve known each other for three hundred years.

“Long night?” my drinking companion asks.

I nod. He says no more. He understands. But in a few minutes, his blonde submissive will saunter into the club. She’ll come to his side. He’ll beckon, and she’ll kneel. And then their night together will begin, and mine will continue. The hours feel like forever when I'm drinking alone.

Lucius, my old friend and the owner of the club, comes to sit beside me. “You appear dissatisfied.”

“I never was that good at hiding my emotions, was I?”

“I seem to recall that while most of our kind lose the ability to feel, you somehow retained that part of your humanity. But you like to pretend you didn’t.”

My upper lip curls with self-disgust. “I highly doubt that.”

Lucius gazes at me. Unlike me, he’s hard to read. He keeps his face a smooth, blank mask, like most vampires. “What caused this malaise? And does it have anything to do with the calls I received the moment the sun went down about some young mortal named Gwen who came here two nights in a row?”

I stiffen. “What about Gwen?” I snap.

Lucius looks across the club floor. A youthful-appearing vampire stalks toward us, a threatening air all around him. “Ah. I think Charlie is about to tell us.”

Charlie. Who the fuck is Charlie?

It’s not like any vampire to allow another to ruffle him. At least, not to show it. Lucius remains in his chair, one elegant leg casually crossed over the other, but I have to fight the urge to rise to my feet to meet the angry newcomer. I want to square off and show my dominance like an alpha wolf instead of like my own kind.

Those emotions Gwen unlocked in me last night are still spilling out. And she’s still the epicenter of them. And to think this guy had anything to do with Gwen brings out something ugly and violent in me.

“Is this the one?” Charlie demands in a faint British accent, lifting his chin in my direction.

My fingers tighten around my glass.

Lucius gives a casual nod, completely nonplussed by the crackle of violence running between us.

“Who are you?” I demand.

“I’m a friend of Gwen’s. And I’m here to tell you to stay the fuck away from her.”

The time for pretending not to be ruffled is long past. I surge to my feet and square off with the immortal, toe to toe, chest to chest. “And exactly why is that?”

“She doesn’t belong here. In this place. With the likes of you.”

Well. I can hardly argue with that, and yet I still do.

“That is why I wiped her mind and told her never to return.” I show far more of my cards than I mean to.

Charlie relaxes slightly, studying me. “Tell me you didn’t enthrall her to leave with you last night.”

My lips curl back and I hiss, canines lengthening to fight.

Lucius rises from his chair, stepping between us. “As I told you on the phone, Charlie, Dimitri would not harm your friend. If she left with him, it was because she wanted to.”

Charlie looks at me. “Is