"What did you call me?"
"Neighbor," he said quickly.
"Before that."
"Nothing."
Okay, this was too friggin' weird. And she wanted, no she needed, an explanation.
"Talon," she said, leaving the chair to stand before him. "Tell me what's going on. You know who Nynia is, don't you?"
His obsidian eyes flashed. "Do you?"
Oh God, it was true! He knew her. Somehow he remembered the past too.
He hadn't changed a bit. He couldn't be in daylight. He wasn't an American citizen and yet...
Oh, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure this one out. Somehow, Talon was Speirr.
He was a vampire or an immortal or something. She knew it.
"How do you remember me?" she asked him.
"How could I ever forget you?"
She ducked his lips and pushed him back again. "Smooth, but that doesn't answer my question. There's something really odd about you, Talon. And it doesn't make sense that you are now as you were in my dreams. Not even I look the same. But you do. Why?"
Talon wanted to tell her, but couldn't find the words. After you died I sold my soul for vengeance to a Greek goddess who now owns me so that I can spend eternity hunting down and killing vampires for her. Even he had a hard time believing the truth of that statement and he'd been living the reality of it for fifteen hundred years.
She growled at him. "You're stiff again."
"Can't you just live for the moment? Accept me as I am?"
"Okay. But answer me one thing."
"What?"
"When did you graduate high school?"
He looked uncomfortable with her question. "I didn't."
"What year did you drop out then?"
Talon backed away from her. These were things he couldn't answer. Things he refused to answer.
The hurt in her eyes tugged at his heart.
"What's the deal, Talon? I'm not stupid. No one is so allergic to sunlight that they can't even walk in front of a window. And don't think it has escaped my notice that you never show your teeth. If I get too close to them when we kiss, you immediately pull away."
Talon wished he dared use his powers to make her forget him. To change this subject to something less volatile. "What? You want me to admit that I'm a vampire? That I howl at the moon when it's full?"
"Are you? Do you?" She stepped up to him and placed her hand against his chin as if ready to pry his mouth open. "Show me your teeth, Talon."
He stepped back. "I can't."
She gave him a mean glare. "You're Speirr, aren't you? Somehow it is you, you, I see when I dream. Isn't it?"
He looked away.
"I won't tell anyone," she insisted, softening her voice. "I just need to know."
"What difference would it make?" he snapped, growing tired of this conversation. "Would you throw me out?"
"No," she said breathily, sounding reconciled. "I don't think I could ever throw you out."
"Then why do you have to know?"
The fire returned to her eyes as she narrowed them on him. "Because I want you to be open and honest with me, to share your life."
Her words tore through him. Bitter longing swelled inside his heart as he remembered how hopeless having her had seemed as a mortal man. Back then only social standing and gossips had stood between them. Now the entire universe was united to keep them apart. "What makes you think I want to share my life? Maybe I'm just using you for sex."
Her face stricken, she backed away from him. "Are you?"
The pain in her eyes ripped him apart. He didn't want to hurt her.
"Are you?" he asked, turning the question back on her.
"Tell me what it is you want from me, Sunshine."
"I honestly don't know. Part of me is drawn to you and part of me is scared of you. There's something very dark inside your eyes. If I wanted to get to know you better, would you let me?"
"No," he said between clenched teeth, "we can't."
"Then you owe me a reason why we can't. You know I'm not some child in need of a father to make my decisions for me. I thought you respected me."
"I do."
"Then treat me like an adult. Tell me why it is you refuse to answer even the most basic question about yourself."
What she asked for was impossible. He could never tell her about his current life, not unless Acheron or Artemis released him from his oath.
"If I tell you who I am, your life will be in danger."
"I live in New Orleans over one of the most popular clubs in town and park my car in an alley where two men were murdered last night. My life is always in danger."
"Those weren't men last night and they weren't murdered." Talon didn't know why he let that escape.
"Then what were they?"
Tell her...
The command was so strong. Never once had he broken his Code of Silence. Never.
"The Daimons wanted to party with your girlfriend, Celt. Don't leave her unprotected."
She had a right to know what was out there gunning for her.
"Talon." She stepped into his arms and placed her hands on his face. Her touch was soothing and warm.
It almost succeeded in breaking him.
"Trust me. Whatever it is, I won't ever tell a soul."
"I can't, Sunshine. I can't."
"You won't, Talon. You won't." She expelled an irritated breath and dropped her hands. "Fine. Keep your secrets. Go ahead and blow me off. Live a happy life and do whatever it is you do."
She moved away from him.
Talon reached for her, but she bypassed his hand. "Sunshine..."
"Don't touch me. I'm mad at you."
"Please don't be mad at me."
She shook her head. "Oh, you're good with those puppy-dog eyes. That deep note in your voice. But I'm too far gone now to care. Just leave."
He winced at the pain in her voice and her command. It cut him all the way to his heart.
In that moment, he realized something. Zarek and Acheron were right. He was scared. Scared of leaving and scared of staying.
The last thing he wanted was to lose Nynia again and yet as he looked at Sunshine, it dawned on him that though she might have his wife's soul, she wasn't his wife.
She was someone else. Someone new and exasperating. Nynia would never have gotten mad at him. Not even when he deserved her anger. She'd always been timid and shy. Not bold and demanding like Sunshine.
If he said to leave a matter alone, Nynia would nod and drop the subject. She would never have kneed a Daimon or fought an alligator.
But even more astounding, he had to admit that he liked the fire in Sunshine. Her ability to stand up to him and the world around her.
"What?" she asked, blinking her eyes as if she couldn't believe what she saw. "You're still here? I thought I gave you an order."