A Whisper of Eternity - By Amanda Ashley Page 0,65

stared at him, her heart pounding. "I can't do this anymore." She fisted her hands around her drink to keep them from trembling. "I don't want to be a vampire. I don't want to be part of your world. And I don't want you in my head."

"Tracy..."

"I mean it, Dominic. You said you would let me go if that was my choice. Did you mean it, or not?"

"I meant it."

"Then let me go."

"As you will," he said quietly.

She was filled with a wave of unexpected regret. He looked so stricken, so unhappy. Why couldn't she have fallen in love with an ordinary man? She had waited her whole life to fall in love and when she did, it was with a vampire.

Reaching across the table, he took one of her hands in his and kissed her palm. "Farewell, my best beloved one."

"Maybe things will work out next time," she said, hoping to erase the sorrow in his eyes.

"There will be no next time," he replied, and vanished from her sight.

Tracysighed. Breaking up was never easy.

She finished her drink and slid out of the booth.

It wasn't until she reached home that she wondered what he had meant when he said there would be no next time.
Chapter 20
Tracyfelt numb for the next few days. She went to bed early at night, spent her mornings painting, her afternoons doing housework and laundry and taking care of business.

She received a referral from Mr. Petersen and agreed to paint a country landscape for one of his clients.

She sawBryan at the beach every afternoon. It was refreshing to be in his presence. He made no demands on her and he was fun to be with. Though she didn't really feel like going out, when he asked her to go to dinner and a movie on Friday night, she agreed.

She refused to think about Dominic. With a supreme effort of will, she put him out of her mind. There had never been any future for them. No matter that she loved him. No matter that he had followed her through time. There was no place for them to come together. An eagle might love a whale, but there was no way for them to have a life together.

She had been afraid that Dominic wouldn't leave her alone, that she would hear his thoughts, that he would ask her to reconsider, but, true to his word, he didn't try to contact her in any way.

And that worried her.

There will be no next time.

His last words played and replayed in her mind, sounding more ominous each time. Had he meant that he would not pursue her in her next life? That had to be it. Surely he would not destroy himself because of her. Would he?

Time and again she was tempted to search him out, to go to the house below and see if he was there, but that would mean starting it all over again, and she wasn't sure she could do that. Until she could tell Dominic she loved him enough to share all of his life, it seemed better for them to stay apart.

And going out withBryan would only complicate things. She thought of calling him and telling him she couldn't make it and then decided a night out was just what she needed. There was nothing complicated about Bryan . He was fun and easy to be with. What harm could it do?

He arrived promptly at six on Friday night and they drove into the city for dinner.

"I had a call from my dad today,"Bryan said. "He wants me to come home and settle down."

"Are you going?"

"I don't know. Sometimes it seems like it's inevitable that I go home and become a cop like everyone else."

"But you don't want to."

"Not really. I miss my family, though. They all live close together. My sister just had her first baby." He slammed his fist on the steering wheel. "I just wish I knew what I wanted to do."

"Do you have to decide now?"

"Well, the next academy class starts in October. If I'm going, I need to make up my mind so I can apply before the cut-off date."

"Well, I'll miss you if you decide to go."

"I'll miss you, too."

He pulled into the restaurant parking lot a few minutes later. The Blue Lantern was a popular restaurant with a bar and a dance floor on one side, and a restaurant on the other.

They ordered drinks while waiting for their table.

Bryanglanced at the couples who were dancing, then looked