Olivia was too stunned by Campbell’s public declaration of love to respond. She just kept staring at the TV screen, even after the video feed cut away from Campbell and Colin. The two TV anchors looked stunned.
“I don’t know what to make of the past few days, Frank,” the woman said to her co-anchor.
“I’m right there with you, Candice. Only time will tell what new revelations will come from the vampire community. But remember what Mr. Raines said, ladies and gentlemen. This makes no difference in just how dangerous the world continues to be at night.”
When the news shifted to the weather, Mindy lifted the remote and turned off the TV.
Olivia continued to stare at the black television screen. “Did that just happen?”
“Unless you and I are having the same dream, yes, it did.”
Olivia felt Campbell’s presence before she saw him. Slowly, she turned in her seat to see him standing outside.
“I suddenly feel the need to be anywhere but here,” Mindy said.
Olivia paid her no attention as she crossed to the front door and opened it. “I saw the news,” she said. She had no idea how to voice everything she was feeling. All she knew was that she wanted to grab him and never let go.
“Mindy,” Campbell said.
“Yeah?” she said.
“Colin will take you home.”
Suddenly, Colin stood in the doorway, too, his forearm propped against the outside since he couldn’t cross the invisible barrier.
“No, I’ll stay here tonight.” Even though Mindy had thawed a little toward Campbell and his team, Olivia doubted her deep fear of vamps would ever go away.
Colin gave Mindy a crooked grin that Olivia knew was meant to help alleviate her fear. “You’re safe from me. I couldn’t drink from you even if I wanted to. I do and I die, for good this time. So you have a choice. You either allow me to take you home or you can stay here and listen to these two make wild monkey love all night. I’d vote for going with me. I’m really kind of fun to be around.”
Campbell made a sound of frustration, and Olivia’s face flamed with embarrassment. Mindy stood slowly and pulled a wooden stake from where she’d hidden it in her waistband below her shirt.
Colin placed his hand over his heart. “Now you’re just hurting my feelings.”
“He won’t hurt you,” Olivia said. “He’s the one who carried you out of the club.”
Mindy averted her gaze, but not before Olivia saw that Mindy remembered what Colin had done without being reminded. She sensed a struggle going on in her friend—the beliefs she’d held for so long against the fact that she was standing across from the vampires who had saved her life.
“I’m leaving in thirty seconds. Your call—monkey sex sounds or my sterling taxi service.” He retreated to the truck to wait.
Mindy rolled her eyes and muttered something about big egos but approached the door nonetheless. She paused and looked up at Campbell. “How you ended up with that for a best friend has got to be one of life’s great mysteries.”
“He has his good qualities.”
“If you say so.”
Her hand firmly around the stake, Mindy glanced up and down the street and headed for the armored truck. Colin sped off the moment she got her door closed.
“Alone at last,” Campbell said.
“Whatever will we do with ourselves?”
He gave her a wicked grin. “I have a few ideas.”
She tugged him inside, and he locked the door behind him. In a blink, he lifted her in his arms and made quick work of the stairs up to her apartment. When he placed her on her feet, she lifted to her toes, took his face in her hands and kissed him. With an animal sound that had nothing to do with him being a vampire, he pulled her close against him and deepened the kiss until her head spun.
When their lips parted, she said, “I’ve missed you so much. I was afraid you were never coming back.”
“I considered staying away. I thought it would be easier for you.”
She leaned back so she could meet his eyes. “How could living without you make my life easier? I’ve already lost one man I love. I don’t want to go through that again.”
“It could happen. Every day that I go out and do my job, it could happen. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to shield you.”
She bit her lip at the thought of him dying the final death. “I choose not to think of that. But if it’s a choice between living with that knowledge but having you in my life and not having you at all, I know which one I’ll choose. Every time.”
He framed her face with his big hands. “I love you, Olivia DaCosta.”
“I know. I saw it on the news. After all, they do say it’s News You Can Trust.” She smiled.
“I hope you don’t mind that all of New York knows now.”
“I’m guessing it’s probably spread across the whole country now,” she said. “I’m hoping my mother hasn’t had a stroke. But no, I don’t mind. A lot of people will hate me for it, but I don’t care. I’m not listening to them. I’m only going to listen to my heart. And you know what it’s telling me to do right now?”
“No.”
“Take you to bed and not let you leave until daylight forces you to.”
He smiled. “I like that idea.” But then his smile faded and sadness took its place. “First I have to tell you something that might change your mind.”
“I can’t imagine what.”
He walked across the room and stood staring out the front window. “I’ve never told anyone this before.”
“You can tell me anything.” She wanted to cross to him, but she sensed he needed the distance.
He said nothing for so long that she grew nervous. Finally, he turned toward her. “I’m responsible for someone’s death.”
“Yes, I know. I was there.”
“Not the guys who attacked you. Right after I was turned, I almost drained a girl, a college student named Bridget Jameson. She was walking home after a night class.”
Olivia had said he could tell her anything, but she hadn’t expected this. She sank onto the arm of the couch and pushed an instinctual fear away.
“The vampire who turned me, my sire, was a criminal I was chasing. He’d attacked a deli owner in his store, but something made him run. I still don’t know who he was, because I never saw his face, and the deli didn’t have a security camera. He bit me, forced me to drink his blood then didn’t stick around to usher me through the transition.”
“Why did he turn you instead of killing you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he thought that was a better way to get me off his trail, strike back, who knows. But when I came out the other side hungry for blood, I attacked the first person I came across. When I realized what I was doing, I was horrified. I thought I’d gone suddenly insane. I dropped her and ran. I was on the verge of jumping off a building when another vamp found me and talked me down. Even when I told him what I’d done, he helped me. He’d been a doctor but since he couldn’t treat patients anymore, he found ways to help vampires.”
“He didn’t turn you in?”
“No. I didn’t actually kill Bridget. I learned later, though, that I might as well have. I just left her lying there, and the scent of her blood drew another vampire. He finished her off. I wanted to die for good. I still think of her, wondering what her life might be like now.”
“She might not have survived the virus,” Olivia said.
He stared at a spot on the floor. “But she would have had the chance.” He paused, lost in what-ifs. “David, the vampire who took me in, helped me learn to live as close to a human life as I could.”
Olivia swallowed, trying to take in all this new information and determine if it changed how she felt about Campbell. Despite how she cared for him, she was surprised her survival instinct hadn’t yet sent her fleeing. That
