Page 47 of Hidden

Later I’ll figure that out and look back on this moment.

Later I’ll understand that when he looks at me again, he’s trying to take my memory of the night.

He pulls back, his lips drenched in my blood, my body arching toward him. And as those irises swirl once again, I promise myself the sadness in his eyes is just because he didn’t get what he wanted, which was my yes.

And isn’t that the crux of everything wrong about being a woman. Human. Vampire. They’re all the same. It’s all or nothing and in the end, I’d lose myself to a bond I wasn’t sure about to begin with.

I made a promise once that I’d never lose myself again. And then I made the same promise to Angela.

I intend to keep it now that I know more.

I feel him inside my head, sifting through my memories of tonight. That’s when I get it. He’s trying to change my memories. From the moment we tossed Davi out, to the moment I said yes for tonight. Just tonight.

And I won’t let him have it.

My memories. Before he can steal them, I put them in a box. Hide them in my mind.

Even as he attempts to replace them with laughter and a night of mingling and opportunities. None that include him. None that include Enzo. Barely any of Davi.

But I won’t let him.

I blink and he’s gone. Taking his warmth, his scent. Giving me exactly what I asked for.

So why does it ache like I just lost everything I ever wanted?

The cold glass of the rooftop access door holds me in pieces. Half-zipped dress. Hair down where it should have been up. And at my throat, two fresh punctures from him. Older ones lower on my throat, Enzo’s, still healing. A bruise blooming under my jaw the shape of a mouth.

He tried to take my memories. He left the proof on my body.

I am not sure I will ever be able to forgive him for either.

Chapter Twelve

The humid Julyair soaks into my cold skin as I overlook the city.

Philadelphia spreads out below me, lit up the way it has always been. The same skyline I have looked at from this terrace for years.

I don’t know how many of those lights are vampires.

The thought arrives with no warning, and I can’t put it back where it came from. The biggest night of my career, still echoing two floors below me with laughter and guests, and I can’t make it matter.

I worked so hard for Angela. Only to learn everything I worked toward was a lie. Preserving history. Raising money for research for what I thought would benefit the future of all the lives below me.

Vampires.

I know less about the world now than ever.

The elevator dings behind me. I don’t turn around. If it is Leif again, I don’t know what I will do and I would rather not find out.

“There you are.” Judy’s voice. Not Leif’s.

Leaning against a railing, I barely turn toward her.

She could be just another vampire. Though Judy is older, past retirement age, her beauty now just a remnant of who she once was.

Her eyes, however, are clear and a little too knowing if you ask me.

Still holding a flute in her hand, she leans against the railing in the opposite direction.