By the time he finished speaking, fresh tears streamed down Julie’s cheeks. “I won’t.”
“That doesn’t mean you can’t still talk to Preston,” he assured her.
“I know.”
“Also, talk to your friend Paris and apologize. She’s a good friend; don’t blow it.”
Julie’s lip trembled. “I will, and she really is.” Then she threw back her shoulders and lifted her chin like a soldier marching off to war. “I’m ready. Let’s do this.”
Releasing her shoulders, Dante turned and rang the doorbell. Julie continued to fidget as they waited for the door to open. As the seconds ticked by, he found himself hoping Mrs. Abbott was home. Maybe he should have called first.
He was beginning to think this reunion wasn’t going to happen right now and the cluster of vamps at the end of the street was about to be disappointed. Then someone called from within, “I’ll be right there!”
Julie shifted back and forth faster as she gnawed her bottom lip like a beaver chewed on wood. Then the wooden inner door opened, and Mrs. Abbott blinked at him from behind the glass door. Her hair was wet, and she looked as if she’d tossed on her clothes.
At first, she looked astonished to see him, and then she started to smile. Her smile faltered when Julie’s anxious movements drew her mother’s attention.
It took a few seconds for full recognition to dawn on Mrs. Abbott’s face. When it did, she flung the outer glass door open and hit Dante with it. He didn’t make a sound as he edged away from the door while the mother and daughter embraced.
“Julie, my God, Julie!” Mrs. Abbott sobbed as her shoulders shook, and her words became difficult to decipher. “I’m so glad you’re home. My baby, oh, my baby.”
Julie was crying too hard to reply as she hugged her mom back. Wanting to give them time alone, and trying not to draw attention to himself, Dante edged down the steps. When he reached the sidewalk, he slipped into the flow of people strolling by before either of them realized he was gone.
Dante jogged across the street and over to where Cassidy, Kyle, Julian, Aida, and Preston waited at the corner. When he opened his arms to Cassidy, she stepped into them. She rested her head on his chest as they turned to watch the joyful reunion.
It was a few minutes before Mrs. Abbott and Julie realized they’d forgotten about Dante. Mother and daughter lifted their heads to look around. When they didn’t see him, Mrs. Abbott opened the door and led Julie into the house.
“I understand why you do this, but that made it a whole lot more special,” Cassidy said.
“Unfortunately, there isn’t always a happy ending,” Dante said.
Cassidy didn’t want to think about those times; she intended to bask in the joy she felt from experiencing this time. “I’m going to help you with your next case too.”
Dante laughed and kept his arm around her shoulders as they turned to stroll down the street with the others.
“Let’s hope the next case is a little more normal and doesn’t involve vampires,” he said.
“I second that,” Kyle said.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Dante felt like someone had picked him up and thrown him back in time twenty years as he studied his old college campus. While some things had changed, many things remained so similar, he felt like he could almost touch the past.
They stood on the edge of a couple of acres of grass they called “the lawn” in his day; he’d bet they still called it that now. Students milled around the lawn as they talked with friends and played games. There weren’t as many kids as there used to be, but that was probably because the spring semester was over and the summer semester had started.
As he had when he attended school here, kids threw frisbees across the lawn. Students sat in the branches of the large maple tree everyone climbed, and the building across the way—though freshly painted a grayish-blue instead of cranberry—was still the women’s dorms.
The clothes and hairstyles had changed, and he didn’t recognize any of the faces, but the laughter and carefree attitude of young adults enjoying their freedom remained the same. He recalled that carefreeness and the feeling of having the world at his fingertips.
He’d been so confident everything would work out exactly as he planned. Nothing was going to stop him from living his dreams. And then, something did.
But now, he had new dreams, a new family, and a life he’d never allowed himself to hope for after losing everything he once loved. This world, and that life he dreamed about, would never be his, but it was never meant to be his.
However, he had love again, and he would fight to the death to protect it. And maybe he would finally have some answers too.
“Can I see that picture of your sister?” Brian asked.
Dipping a hand into his pocket, Dante carefully removed the small photo of Maya he’d tucked inside. He also had a picture of Lewis Guthrie. If Brian couldn’t find Maya, he might be able to locate Lewis. And if he did, Dante would do whatever it took to get the answers he sought from the man.
Dante gazed at Maya’s beautiful, smiling face before handing the photo to Brian. He wasn’t exactly sure how Brian’s ability worked, he didn’t think Cassidy knew either, but after Brian looked at Maya’s photo in Cassidy’s old apartment, he led them here.
Brian stared at the picture for a minute before closing his eyes and bowing his head. Beside him, Abby searched the lawn as Cassidy studied the students.
A breeze caused the leaves overhead to rustle as the wind stirred the trees. In between the students, robins hopped across the grass as they hunted the worms driven from the earth by last night’s rain. Dante focused on the
