The Deadliest Bite

“Your destiny, if you choose to embrace it,” said Raoul. “You won’t seem old to her when you final y meet, because having most of your name chiseled to the demon’s heartstone has slowed your aging process by decades. But be warned. Even if you decide to wait for her, you’l have to endure tortures in the space between. As I said, the Rocenz has changed you. But its marks aren’t clean and precise, like a carpenter’s tool. They leave the scars of a brand. For some the dark fire becomes so al uring that they choose it despite the fact that it burns away everything that made them human.”

Cole touched the horns that had almost completely receded back into his skul . “She’s just a baby now? How do I fight it for twenty years?”

“Twenty-three,” Raoul corrected.

Cole’s eyes drank her in. He knew he wouldn’t see her again for decades, and I could see him trying to memorize every feature, right down to the beauty mark high on her right cheekbone. Final y he said, “You saw how wel I made it through the first couple of weeks. How am I going to pul off years?”

Raoul reached into his pocket as he said, “Soon Vayl wil decide that you need to travel to Romania, which has just recently embraced its roots as the country that birthed vampirism. Perhaps you wil find a use for these?”

I couldn’t see what he held at first. He did a little turning motion with one hand, set the object down with the other, then stepped back and watched with us. A pair of ruby-red lips smiled up at us as its blinding white wind-up vampire teeth chopped up and down so fast they looked to be stuck in the middle of the Antarctic without a hat or scarf to keep them toasty warm. The vamp mouth walked around in circles with the help of a pair of pointy-toed black dress shoes.

Cole’s chuckle started somewhere near his belt buckle and by the time it emerged from his throat he was doubled over and slapping his thigh. Which isn’t easy when you’re mostly spirit.

“Excel ent! I can just see Vayl looking down his nose at those, going, ‘Those are not in the least bit amusing. Also, you cannot get a good anchor into your victim when you are gnawing at him like some kind of jackal.’ I’l take two!”

Raoul handed him the teeth. “They’l take form for you as soon as you reenter your body.”

“Magical!”

Raoul smirked. “Just don’t lose them.” His eyes sent the bigger message, or your sense of humor.

Cole nodded. “Gotcha. Thanks.”

Raoul clasped his hands behind his back. “Anytime,” he said, his faint Spanish accent suddenly a little easier to detect. By damn, he is getting attached to us! “We must leave soon,” he said, nodding to the golden cords that surrounded us. They were beginning to fade. “Perhaps you’d like to say goodbye?”

“Can she hear me?” Cole asked.

“At some level.”

Cole went up to E.J. Wow, she was tal ! Her eyes were nearly at the same level as his. I felt tears prick my eyelids. To see the child I’d give anything to or for standing, al grown up, beautiful and healthy, blew me away. The man who’d decided to spend the next chunk of his life hoping she’d save his soul walked to within a few inches of her. Her gaze, uplifted and thoughtful, flew far past his tired blue eyes. But he didn’t seem to mind.

“Ezri, it’s Cole Bemont. Remember that name, okay? It’s going to be a big deal to you someday.” My hand flew to my mouth when his you-real y-should-hug-me grin appeared. I hadn’t seen it in so long I’d almost forgotten how happy it made me when it came out to play. “I’m not the man that you’re going to need me to be yet. But I’ve got a while to get myself straight. And, I promise, by the time you’re ready for me, I’l be set to sweep you off your feet.” He leaned forward to murmur into her ear. Her eyes came to his face, sparkling as they found a new focus. When he pul ed back she was smiling straight at him. The breath left him in a long sigh. He blew her a kiss.

And then he turned to Raoul.

“Okay, dude. Take me back to my so-cal ed life. I’ve got work to do.” CHAPTER SEVEN

Wednesday, June 13, 3:15 a.m.

Raoul dropped us into our bodies so fast it felt like faling from a plane without a parachute. And the pain of reuniting sum and substance—wel , my brother, Dave, wrestled in high school. One Saturday morning, somewhat miraculously, I didn’t have to work. So I went to his tournament, where I saw one of his teammates throw a guy onto the mat. Happens al the time, but this snowy day in January the kid tried to catch himself—and failed. His arm broke so severely that I could see the bone shove the skin out of place. His shocked scream reminded me of the sounds Cole and I made now as every one of our nerve endings fused back to the source of their existence.

“I wish you would stop doing that,” Vayl said as he helped me to my feet. His lips pressed into a straight line as he continued, so quietly I thought only I could hear. “Every time you leave I am more certain than ever that you wil not be returning.”

I realized I was wrong about how the sound carried into the velvety black countryside when Aaron said, “Roldan told me you were a badass.” He stood on the gravel drive with his fists stuck deep in the pockets of his bleach-stained jeans, most likely so we couldn’t see his hands shaking. When he realized he had Vayl’s attention he went on. “He warned me to kil you quick, otherwise you’d shred me like grass clippings. But there you are, kissing up to some chick who’s been impersonating a blackout drunk for the past half hour. How am I supposed to believe you’re going to save my skin when you’re just another whipped—” He gasped, stopped in mid-sentence by the whirlwind of movement and coiled violence that ended with Vayl dangling him in the air by the throat.

My sverhamin’s voice seemed to rise from a place guarded by iron bars and rusted chains as he said, “You are stil the same sharptongued coward who let your brother take the blame for every foolhardy escapade you ever attempted, including the theft of the wagon that led to your deaths over two hundred and fifty years ago. But I have changed. I wil no longer countenance disrespect from you.” He set Aaron back on his feet. Dropped his hand and watched him rub the red spots away from his neck. I couldn’t find a single speck of regret on Vayl’s hard-lined face. Just twin flares of rage flying out of his deep black pupils as he said, “I have had a great deal of time to think of how I might put right what went wrong during our lives together. Do not tempt me to turn you so that I might have eternity to teach you how to behave like a decent