“I bet you wish you could get Angele back here in my place.” There was jealousy in that question.

But to her surprise, Torija shook her head. “I was seventeen years old. I hadn’t transformed into a born vampire. It was easier for Angele to keep me on the straight and narrow path, but the Victorija you first met? I don’t think she could’ve gotten through to me.”

“And I could?”

Torija stood and walked over to the window. She put her glass of whisky on the sill and braced one arm against the wall.

“Torija?” Daisy said. She could feel Torija’s need for blood rising by the second, but also a confusion over what she was feeling. Daisy was pulled to her like a magnet. She walked up behind Torija. “Torija? Could I?”

Torija balled her fist and softly smacked the wall. “You’re stubborn, obstinate”—she turned to face Daisy—“kind, and the bravest person I’ve ever met. Why you took the chance to come and find me, I’ll never know.”

Daisy took a step forward and put her hand on Torija’s chest. “Because I knew there was a better person there. Every time I went into Angele’s memories, you called to me for help. The hurt, the pain, the trauma you went through, it was too much for anyone. I believed that you could be redeemed.”

Torija could literally feel the warmth from Daisy’s palm on her chest. It was seeping into her chest and spreading around her upper chest and arms. This was more than blood hunger or because Daisy was her accidental blood bond. Her heart was cracking open from the warmth and care Daisy was giving her.

Torija was frightened to put a name to the feeling that was growing for Daisy, but one thing she did know—the answer to Daisy’s question. “You could, you have.”

Daisy looked slightly confused. “What?”

“You asked if you could get through to this Victorija, and the answer is, you have.”

Daisy smiled softly and, with her free arm, took Torija’s hand.

Before Daisy could say anything she said, “I can’t ever change what I am, and what I’ve done. I’ve killed, I’ve hurt, I’ve destroyed—”

“But you can do better. We can do better together. You heard what the Reaper said—this descendant thing I’m meant to be, you, me, Amelia, and Byron can draw all corners of the community together against Anka.”

Little did Daisy know that Byron would take her head if she went anywhere near her home. But the warmth from Daisy’s hand had now spread all over Torija’s body. She felt lighter, energetic, and aching to touch Daisy.

She cupped Daisy’s cheek and said, “Why would someone like me, having done the things I’ve done, help bring the community together?” She felt Daisy shiver at her touch, and every sense was on fire.

“Because you recognize the darkness. You’ve been in it, you’ve drunk it in, then found that there was still light there to grasp hold of and hold on to.”