Page 20 of Eternal Surrender

I answered with merely a raise of an eyebrow.

“I’m not sure why that surprises me,” Alex said.

“Can we please refocus on the issue?” I asked, keeping my tone polite. “My personal life pales in comparison to the fact that vampires are dying.” I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts, searching the darkness as though the answers lingered just beyond and might just emerge from the shadows.

Silence ensued.

Jacob straightened his back. “I’m afraid you’re on your own, William. For now anyway.”

“I’ve been waiting here, losing time,” I said, suppressing my panic.

“Jacob, you can’t just abandon us,” Alex pleaded. “We’re not even sure how much time we have.”

“Who mentioned anything about a time limit?” I saw Jacob’s expression and cringed. “You’re suggesting I may run out of time to revert?”

He stared off past me.

“Great,” I snapped. “How much time are we talking about exactly?”

“Days, weeks, perhaps,” Jacob answered.

“Where did this time thing come from?” My hands started shaking again.

“This isn’t the first time this has happened,” Jacob said, “two vampires joined like you.”

I opened my mouth to speak and then closed it quickly again.

“Say it.” Jacob stepped into my line of sight.

“I don’t trust any of you,” I said flatly.

“We have a name,” Catherine sounded rehearsed. “A vampire that has direct knowledge of what’s happened to you.”

“Who?” I muttered.

Catherine’s frown deepened. “More like what.”

My focus lingered on each of them waiting for someone to continue.

It was Jacob who did, saying, “His name’s Paradom.”

“How do you know him?” I asked.

“Through Lucas,” Jacob said. “His charity serves the homeless. That’s where Lucas came across Paradom.”

“Paradom’s homeless?” I asked, hating the sound of this.

Catherine raised her chin. “Go take a look at him, and you’ll soon want to reverse this mess.”

Jacob snapped up his hand. “No one will approach him. Understand. Least of all William.”

My gut wrenched as my imagination spiraled.

“Our priority must be to find out what is going on in London,” Jacob said, “before it migrates to other cities.”

“It’s self-limiting,” Catherine said. “Vampires can’t catch it from each other.”

“We’ve only seen cases in London, so far,” Jacob added.