He pulled her back into the warm circle of his arms and held her tightly. An embrace that would have crushed bones when she was mortal, but which now felt just right. Dropping kisses along her temple, her cheek, her jaw, he worked his way to her mouth. His lips sealed over hers and Bev’s unbeating heart burst with joy. He kissed her deeply, and when he pulled away, she reeled from the passion and excitement he so easily sparked.
“Come on,” he said as he took her hand and led her to the stairwell. “There’s something I want to show you.”
She was more than happy to leave the dark, dreary basement, hoping never to return.
They crossed the living room and foyer upstairs. He removed the black button-down shirt he wore with his black jeans and boots. She slipped into it and then they stood out on the veranda, admiring the neatly trimmed town square sprawled before them, illuminated by a full moon and the antique street lamps. Bev pulled in a deep breath of fragrant air, mentally cataloging every scent that filled her nose and chased away the dank, dusty scent of downstairs.
“Absolutely beautiful,” she said, sighing contently. Then her head shifted and she stared at her Victorian, remembering everything that had happened there however-many nights ago. She had no idea how long the change had taken.
Smiling again, she said, “You fixed my house.”
Cane’s gaze followed hers. “The patio doors are different than the previous ones, but as close as I could find on short notice. And the holes in the walls are repaired. I finished your paint job.”
“Nice. Thank you.” She wondered, though, how she could live in that house when it was so light and bright and airy. So many windows. She’d have to change the drapery from sheers to heavy curtains. And that would ruin the ambiance of the entire place. Damn.
As though his thoughts ran along the line of hers, Cane said, “You can move into my house. Already sun-proofed. And I have a house in the mountains too.”
“I love the mountains.” She realized there were so many things they didn’t know about the other. “This is going to be fun, getting to know each other.”
He chuckled. “The Twenty Questions are gonna have to wait, sweetheart.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah.” His grin was a wicked one as he swept her up in his arms. “You’re immortal again. I can’t break you.”
She laughed. “We might want to leave the TV on, loud, to drown out my screams.”
“The brick walls are thick, baby. Scream all you want.”
A thrill of anticipation and desire chased up her spine, making her shudder in his strong arms. But there was one thing she wanted to know before they waltzed too far down Hot and Heavy Lane.
“Cane,” she asked as he kicked the front door shut behind them. “What happened to Amy?”
“I killed her,” he said without hesitation. Without regret or remorse.
“I mean…before she came after me.”
His jaw tightened for a brief moment and his black eyes clouded. “I killed her.”
Bev didn’t get it. “She didn’t want to be a vampire?”
“She didn’t want to exist. To remember. I didn’t know, didn’t understand. She was living on the streets, trading her body for meth. I found her in an alley, eating food from a trash Dumpster, then vomiting it. I watched her, night after night. When she was on the verge of overdosing, I turned her. I thought…” He shook his head. Climbing the stairs to his room, Bev still cradled in his arms, he said, “I thought I could save her. That if she were a vampire, she wouldn’t be a homeless, drugged-out teenager. She could have made something of herself, survived a horrible childhood and become something else. What I didn’t know was that she didn’t want to live.”
Bev shivered at the memory of Amy’s wild, vacant eyes. “She was soulless.”
“Yes. Even before I turned her. She was just a body with a head full of horrific memories of abuse and solitude. And she was stuck with them for eternity because I made her a vampire.”
“Oh.” Now she got it. The anger, the violent rage. Amy had hated Cane for turning her because she’d been trying to escape her memories and her life. Not be chained to them for centuries. “How tragic. But how could you have known? You wanted to help her.”
He crossed to the enormous bed in the center of the room and set her in the middle of it. “I fought so hard to retain my own soul during the change.” His weight made the mattress dip as he settled beside her. “I wanted to become a vampire. I had a choice—an opportunity to continue my existence—and I took it without a second thought. And because I knew what I was doing, I somehow managed to keep my humanity. For the most part. The first few decades were…a little sketchy. I had to work hard to train myself not to prey on humans, not to crave their blood. And even hunting animals was a challenge at first. But I didn’t want to be a demon. I just wanted to…still exist on this planet.”
“Lucky for me,” she said as she lifted a hand and swept her fingers over his clenched jaw. “You have to forgive yourself for Amy. She was twisted and tormented before you came along. You were just trying to help her.”
“I’m so sorry she came after you. I had no idea, Bev. I never would have left you alone if I’d known she was lying in wait, ready to pounce.”
“I believe you. And it doesn’t matter now anyway. Or maybe…maybe it was a good thing. Meant to be. Otherwise.” She glanced around the dimly lit room at the boxes stacked along the far wall. “You would have left me.”
He nodded. “And it would have been the death of me. I would have understood all too well what Amy had to live with, day after day, year after year, decade after decade. The memories of you, of our night together, would have haunted me. Drove me mad because I couldn’t have you.”