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Lawrence searched her face as she cringed away from him. “You’re the one, aren’t you? You were with Susan when she died.”
Laura sucked in a breath, her eyes were red from crying. “S-Susan . . . yes, I was. Yesterday. It was h-horrible. I didn’t understand what was going on.”
His expression held so much pain it was difficult not to look away. “She was my wife.”
“She said your name. She whispered it . . . before—” A sob caught in Laura’s throat. “Oh God. I tried to help her, but there was nothing I could do.”
“Then it really is true.” Lawrence blinked hard, his black eyes shone with tears. “The last of my hope is gone.”
“No.” She shook her head. “There’s always hope for new beginnings. Everyone has to deal with horrible things in our lives, but we need to move past them and start again.”
“Start again. Even for something like me?”
“Everyone deserves a second chance.”
Lawrence exhaled deeply. “Leave now. Don’t look back.”
He let her go. She hesitated only a moment, looking at me and Declan, before she took off for the door, wrenching it open to give me a brief glimpse of the bright sunlight outside. It was painful to realize how close we were to safety.
Laura ran through the door, and it closed behind her. The light disappeared, leaving us again in shadows.
I was glad she was safe, but that hope she’d mentioned disappeared right along with her. I didn’t chance looking at Declan again; I kept my attention focused on the vampire who’d just surprised me by doing a kind thing, letting Laura safely escape.
It was a little bit encouraging.
“What about us?” I asked after a long moment of silence passed. “Can we leave, too?”
Lawrence studied the ground as if transfixed by it. “No.”
My stomach twisted. “Why?”
He raised his gaze to mine, and he didn’t look as rational as I’d hoped. “Because what’s in your veins kills my kind. Before, I thought it was for the best—that vampires were monsters and that I was one of the few that deserved to live. Funny how things change.”
When he pulled the silver stake he’d stolen earlier from Declan out of the back of his pants, every muscle in my body clenched with fear—for myself, for Declan.
This vampire wanted blood. He’d already consumed as much as he could drink, so now he just wanted to watch it spill.
“You need to stop this.” Declan’s voice was much more controlled than mine was. “It doesn’t have to end like this.”
“With death?” Lawrence studied the stake he clenched in his hand. “Everything ends with death. I would have done anything for my wife, but I wasn’t given that choice. Victor chose my destiny. This is all his fault.”
Declan looked at me, his expression tense. His eye moved to the door fifty yards away from where we stood. He was giving me a silent order. He wanted me to make a run for it while he held Lawrence back.
“Your wife wouldn’t have wanted this,” I said instead. “She loved you. She accepted you even when you changed. You tried to be human so you could stay together. She wouldn’t want to know you became a cold-blooded murderer. There’s still time to stop this.”
His gaze tracked to me. “I’m not human. The more I kill, the better it feels. The more right it feels.” He looked at Declan. “I’m sure you know how that is.”
Declan shook his head. “I’ve never taken pleasure in what I have to do.”
I’d tried to talk sense into Lawrence, but he wasn’t seeing reason. He’d embraced the monster within him. And that monster was the only one in the general vicinity with a very sharp, very deadly weapon in hand.
Lawrence was silent for a long moment. “I’ve seen you protect this woman. You’d kill for her—anyone who’d threaten her life. Am I right?”
“Would I kill for her?” Declan glared at him. “In a heartbeat.”
Lawrence didn’t look away. “Would you also die for her?”
Declan didn’t hesitate to answer. “Yes.”
