Crave - Teresa Mummert Page 0,79

and successful. But he never paid, so Moses collected his debt. I was never meant to be there. When I followed Viviana, he decided to kill two birds… so to speak. Viviana’s death would be payment for what was owed, and I would become someone he could teach.”

“What do you mean teach?”

“There are many worse things out there than eternal life. Much darker things.”

“Like voodoo?”

“There was no name for it back then but they say it had been around since before man was even created. Now it’s referred to as hoodoo. They believed God was the quintessential hoodoo doctor and Moses was a great conjurer.”

“I don’t understand what you’re telling me.”

“I’ve only fallen in love once, Eva. When I met Viviana, I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. When she… she died, I knew I would never be able to love anyone else. So I tried everything I could to bring her back to me. I spent years at Moses side, learning everything he had to offer in hopes of finding a way to bring her back to me. Moses claimed to be a necromancer, to talk to the dead, but not even he could make her rise. When there was nothing left for him to teach me, I vowed to kill him for what he’d made me do to her.”

This must be what it feels like to be staked in the heart. “Oh,” I whispered, fighting back my devastation that I knew he could feel as I looked at the blood-slicked floor between us. “Did you?”

He shook his head swallowing hard. “No. He turned dozens of vampires to protect himself from me. I spent years killing his scions until I was the only one left born of his blood. But by then, no one had heard from Moses in a hundred years. Olivie must have made a deal with him for something, maybe her seat on the council. Who knows how many of the members he has control over. I had no idea who I was being sent to find, Eva. I didn’t know it was you.”

“I still don’t understand, Elijah. What is it they want from me?”

“Do you believe in soul mates?” He asked and I cringed because I didn’t want him to continue on about his love for Viviana. Placing his finger under my chin, he tilted my face up to look at him. “Because that’s what we are. That’s what we’ve always been. I lost you that day in the French Quarter.”

I shook my head, pulling back from his touch. “That’s not possible.”

“Some people believe that we never actually die…”

“You’re a vampire.”

“I mean humans. Some believe humans never truly die. That their soul comes back over and over again.”

“Reincarnation? That’s impossible.”

“It was impossible. Look around you. Look at me?” His eyes were pleading with me to understand. “I shouldn’t even be here, Eva. I should have been dead hundreds of years ago. I’ve tried to kill myself in more ways than you could even imagine but I could never go through with it. I held onto hope that one day I would find a conjure that would bring you back. The reason Moses was never successful was because he had to be in love for it to work. But I’ve always loved you. You are one of a kind, Eva. Could you imagine how powerful vampires would become if they could come back from the dead? The human race would be wiped out. You are the pin to their grenade.”

“I’m not Viviana,” I replied defensively as I folded my arms across my chest, hugging myself as if trying to hold onto my sanity.

“No. You’re not. You are Eva, but your soul is the one I was meant to be with. You’ve lived countless lives and I was forced to suffer through this one for eternity... waiting.”

I reached up to his face, running my fingers along his stubbled jaw.

“I know you’ve felt it too, Eva. It’s like we’ve always known each other. It’s why you were comfortable with me from the first day we spoke. And now I finally have you, and I’m the one who is going to die.”

“I won’t let them hurt you,” my voice quivered.

The corner of his mouth quirked up into a sad smile as he brushed my hair from my face, tucking it behind my ear. “Maybe this way I get to come back.” There was hope in his eyes. “Will you wait for me