them quiet. She did not wish to overturn the applecart and send it all rolling over the road.
But he seemed to sense her unease. “What is it?”
“Nothing.”
“You are a poor liar.”
She smiled faintly and sipped her wine. “Nothing is wrong.”
An arch of an eyebrow challenged her words. “The city lies in ruin around you. One of your brief companions has become a succubus, the other is my prisoner to be tortured horrifically, and the third remains doomed. After all you have witnessed, I challenge your assertion that nothing is wrong.”
“I will amend, then. Nothing new is wrong.”
“Fair.”
They ate in companionable silence. It did not feel strange—it felt right. She sighed, sitting back, looking down at the glass of red wine she held and watching the red moon shine off the surface.
“There you are again. What is wrong?” he pressed.
“It would be so easy for me to forget. In your presence, it is so simple to ignore all that you have done…all that you are. I can see why others would be lulled into the quiet moments you might gift them. Moments where you are not the demon, but the man.”
“And such is the challenge I have placed in front of you. Tomorrow, I will take you to see what will become of Alfonzo. I will show you his fate. If, when it is done, you can look in my eyes and tell me that you accept your love for me, then I will be satisfied, and I will release this city.”
She stood from the table and reached for his hand. When he gave it to her, she tugged gently, urging him to follow her. He did, wordlessly standing and letting her lead them across the roof to the far side where she could see the bay. The harbor was beautiful, even if it was a little hard to see from where they were due the slowly growing buildings.
Everything glinted in the crimson light.
He walked up behind her and wound his arms around her, holding her to his chest. She once more leaned back against him and let out a wavering breath. She rested her hands atop his where they clasped around her waist.
All may come and go, but she now knew the one thing she wished to remain her constant. “I thought I would never come to think of anywhere as home again. I thought after I left Virginia, I would never want one. The life of the Roma was attractive to me at the time. Never staying in one place—making the hearth wherever you were. It was about those who lived around you, not the walls you structured there in an attempt to make it permanent. When they sent me away, I was convinced I would never have a family. Never have a home. Then I came here. I never thought much of this city. It was simply a place to conduct business. But after all the cities I’ve seen, after all the places to which I’ve traveled, this one always was my favorite.”
He let her speak uninterrupted, his arms tightening around her slightly.
“Life had become routine the past few years. I had income. I had a reputation. My life has never been normal—not by any stretch of the imagination. But it was beginning to feel comfortable.”
“Then I arrived.”
“Then you arrived. My life has always seemed to have one purpose—to collect the suffering of others. To feel the pain of all those around me, and to sympathize with all that I witnessed. I should not have been surprised when the very King of Dread and Suffering himself came to call.”
She turned in his arms to face him and laid her hands on his chest. “The King of Vampires came and demanded everything from me—my body, my heart, my soul, and my mind. You have successfully earned the first three. Could I give you the fourth in this moment—could you even rip it from me—there is little else I would wish for more. But I do not know how. I am sorry for my turmoil.”
“If that is all I receive before I meet the grave, I will die happy, Maxine. Know that I will be content with either path you choose. But tonight belongs to us.” To her surprise, he sank to his knees in front of her. “Maxine Parker, I give you my body, my heart, and my mind. I give you my soul—what little remains of the wretched thing.” He lifted a hand to cradle her cheek in