Must Love Fangs

“Is there anything I can do?”

“Actually . . . ” I bit my lip. Was it too much to ask of our friendship? “Would you mind looking up someone in the database?”

“You want the phone number of the vampire you were dating?”

I held my breath. “Something like that.”

“I already checked his profile, and he sent your fake one a message. Said he wants to meet tonight. Has a surprise for you.”

My heart pounded. “A surprise?” Maybe he’d decided to turn me. Hope made the world suddenly bright again. “Give me his number. And thank you, Ryder.”

“Hey, what are friends for?”

• • •

Andre didn’t answer his phone. I remembered that he hated phones, though, so I left a text message stating that I wanted to meet him. And for the next six hours, I checked my phone like crazy.

Nothing.

Just when I was ready to give up hope, my phone buzzed with a text. I scrambled for it and picked it up with shaking hands.

My bodyguard will pick you up at Konstantine’s. Be there in a half hour. I think you’ll like my surprise.

Yes!

I scrambled to my bathroom and checked the makeup I’d put on in the hope of meeting with Andre. I checked my hair and tugged at the neckline of my simple black dress. I shuddered at the faintest mark of his bite still on my neck, now scabbed over. If he was turning me tonight, that meant he’d have to bite me again. A wave of revulsion crashed over me, quickly pushed away by an overwhelming sense of elation. Just one nasty bite . . . and then I had eternity.

No more worries about my health. About hallucinations. About any of it. Hope and need pushed through me, so strong that it made me stagger. Please, God, let this work. I said a quick prayer, kissed my mother’s Virgin Mary figurine for good luck, and ran to the front door. I had just enough time to make it to the restaurant. I opened the front door and—

Josh was there, his hand raised as if about to knock. He eyed my sexy dress, my high heels. A grocery bag was in his hand again. He raised his eyebrows at my outfit. “Where are you running off to?”

I reached up and gave him a hard, fierce kiss of excitement. “I’m going to see Andre. He says he has a surprise for me. I think he’s going to turn me!” I flung my arms around him in excitement. “Isn’t that great?”

He didn’t hug me back. “Marie—”

I pulled away, shaking my head. “Josh, I love you, but I don’t want to hear it right now. Not when I’m so close to reaching my goal. After this I’ll have eternity! I’ll live.”

“You love me?” He gave me an odd look.

Whoops, had I said that? I gave him another quick kiss. “I do. I love you. I’ll prove it when I get home.”

But he slowly shook his head. “You don’t get it, Marie. If he turns you . . . I won’t be here when you get back.”

“Why not?” He wasn’t going to go all principled on me now, was he? I’d thought we were past that. “Josh —”

“Marie, if you pick this vampire, you’re picking him for all eternity. Remember that I told you how seriously they take that? He’s not going to let you walk back out the door and into my arms.”

I stared at him. I hadn’t thought further than getting turned. How stupid of me. How shortsighted.

His face grew tight with anger. “Just because you choose to go after this plan of yours with blinders on doesn’t mean I will. If this guy wants to turn you, it’s because he wants an eternal companion. I don’t want that to happen. We’ll find another way.”

We? “You’re not the one dying,” I said bitterly. “I’m not about to turn back now— not when this is in my grasp. You can’t ask me to choose between you and dying, Josh. That’s unfair.”

“I’m not asking you to,” he said quietly. “I’m asking you to trust me to find another way. We’ll go to more doctors. See a specialist. Check with the Alliance doctors—”

“Don’t you think I’ve tried everything? Don’t you think I know what my options are? I don’t know how much time I have, Josh. The hallucinations, the anxiety, the insomnia—they’re worse than ever. I can’t keep doing this. You can’t ask me to keep going in the hope that something will change.”

“Just give me a week, Marie. That’s all I ask. You say you love me. Do you love me enough to trust me for another week?”

I stared at him. Another week of misery. Of sheer exhaustion. Hallucinations that told me that my brain was shutting down. Of dragging myself through every hour of every day.

Another week in Josh’s arms.

But what if Andre didn’t want to wait? What if he changed his mind?

I couldn’t risk it. I leaned in and gave Josh another kiss. “I love you,” I told him softly. “I do. But I’m not changing my mind.”

He stared at me, his face cold. “I’m not going to sit back and let you ruin your life, Marie. This is a mistake. I know things about vampires that you don’t. This one’s not a nice guy. I don’t trust that he’s going to turn you. He’s just using you as his personal soda fountain—”

I suddenly remembered that Josh had bitten me, too. “At least he didn’t put a mate mark on me and then lie to me about it.”

“Fat lot of good it’s doing,” he said angrily. “Especially since you’re determined to run headlong into a vampire’s arms.”

“How could you do that to me? Stake your claim on me like I belong to you?”

“Last night you were quick to say you were mine. Are things different now that you’ve had a chance to sleep on it?”

Tears of frustration threatened to spill from my eyes. “Please. I have a chance at more time. You can’t ask me not to take it.”

“And I won’t,” he said, moving in to brush my tears away with his fingers. Then he kissed my forehead. “Let’s talk about it.”

He pressed more light kisses to my face, my nose, my cheek. Light, loving kisses of affection. God, I loved his kisses. He moved past me and gestured at the kitchen. “You should see what I brought you.”

I nodded, pretending that I was just about to follow him. When he moved into the kitchen, still talking, I tore down the stairs and raced across the lawn to my car. I got it started in record time and was backing out of my parking space just as he appeared at the head of the stairs, looking utterly furious.

I mouthed, “Sorry” as I peeled out of the parking lot.

After tonight, I’d have all eternity to make it up to him.

Chapter Fourteen

The sedan pulled up to a posh brownstone in an exclusive part of Southlake Town Square.

Not exactly what I’d pictured for a vampire, but it did scream “money.”

The driver nodded at the house on the end. “We’re here, miss.” He watched me with attentive eyes, his nostrils flaring every now and then to catch a scent, which told me he was some kind of shifter. He was big and burly, like half the shifters I knew of.

“Thank you,” I said quietly and opened the door, stepping out onto the curb. I moved to the steps of the brownstone, studying it. The exterior was neat and well maintained, with a box of white flowers hanging at one window. Very homey.

It didn’t scream vampire, but maybe that was the point.

I knocked, feeling anxious. What if I turned around and Josh was there to try and “rescue” me from the situation again? What would I do then?