Chapters (48)
- Cover
- Title Page
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Books by Erin Jade Lange
- Back Ad
- About the Publisher
“When you’re in there, it’s a boys’ room, not a men’s room,” Lina teased. “Charlie and I were just chatting about my travel shots.”
Dexter craned his neck to take in the many frames. “So many destinations, so little time.”
“Some of us have more time than others,” I said.
Lina smiled. “We sure do.”
I took in her messy blond hair, her dark eyes—dark, but not black. She looked every inch a human, but I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she was immortal—that she was vampire.
But how? To look like this, to live like this, among humans, in the light, it was impossible.
Unless . . .
“It’s getting late,” Dexter said. “I guess we should head out. Coffee’s on me, okay?”
He pulled a wallet from his back pocket and met Lina at the cash register to take care of the bill. She made a show out of refusing his money but dropping heavy hints that he should leave a tip worth far more than the coffee. Which, of course, he did.
I tried to make up an excuse to stay behind, claiming I didn’t want to see Reg and Sal, but Dexter insisted on walking me home.
“I just asked you on a real date. That means I need your uncle and your brother to like me. No way will that happen if I leave you alone in the middle of the night.”
I shot a meaningful look at Lina. She knew exactly why I wanted to stay, and from the look in her eyes, it almost seemed as if she’d been waiting for it. But she didn’t come to my rescue. Instead, she sided with Dexter.
“Let the boy walk you home. It’s dark.”
“I’m not afraid of the dark.”
“You should be. Nowhere’s not as safe as you think.”
Dexter held the door for me again on the way out, and just before I passed through it, my eyes fell on the picture by the front door, the one that had caught my eye on my first visit to All Hours, of Lina in the arms of a man in front of a pyramid. Lina looked ever the same as her other photos, but this time it was the man who caught my attention. He was clean-shaven, about twenty years younger, hair black instead of gray, but the strong build and the keen eyes were the same.
The man holding Lina was unmistakably Sal.
Twenty-Two
He Said
“WHAT IS SHE?!”
The question flew from my mouth before I’d even crossed the cottage threshold, and it was punctuated by the front door slamming against the wall as I threw it open.