Her eyes were utterly black. Her face was absolutely expressionless. Perfect and calm, she stared at me, breathing in my fear and feeding her blood lust. It was as if she were dead already, and from the back of my thoughts came another flash of Kisten. I’d seen his eyes like this…on his boat.

“Just let go,” I whispered, my breath shifting the hair about her face. “We did it, Ivy. Just let go.”

A shimmer of distress crinkled the corners of her eyes. “I can’t…,” she said, her sudden fear making an ugly crease in her forehead as she struggled with herself. “You gave me too much. Damn it, I…” Her expression smoothed as her instincts took over. “I want that again,” she said, her voice dropping in pitch. It sent a shudder through me, and her grip tightened. “Give it to me. Now.”

I could see her conscious thought shutting down to protect her sanity. I was losing her. If I did, I was dead. Panic burbled through my soul as she jerked my head to the side. “Ivy!” I said, struggling to keep my voice calm, but failing. “Wait! You can wait. You’re good at that. Just wait. Listen to me.”

My heart pounded, but she hesitated. “I’m a monster,” she whispered, her words on my skin sending ribbons of sensation through me. Even now, as I saw my life ending, the damned vampire pheromones tried to lie to me. “I can’t stop.”

Her voice was almost her own again, pleading for help. “You’re not a monster.” I carefully placed my palm against her shoulder in case I had the chance to push her away. “Piscary screwed you up, and you’re getting better. Ivy, we did it. All you have to do is let go.”

“I’m not better.” Her voice was thick with bitter self-recrimination. “It’s the same thing as before.”

“It’s not,” I protested, feeling my pulse slow. “I’m conscious. You didn’t take enough to hurt me. You stopped. Just. Let. Go.”

I held my breath as she pulled her head from mine to look me in the face. I could see myself in the black depths of her pupils, my hair mussed and tracks of tears I hadn’t noticed marking me. I saw myself in her eyes, and I remembered…I’d seen myself mirrored in someone’s eyes before, as I stood powerless and fearing for my life. I’d lived it.

And suddenly, it wasn’t Ivy’s lily-white fingers gripping my shoulder, but a memory of someone else’s. Fear came from my past, shocking through me. A flash of memory took the place of my reality. Kisten…