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“Two,” I replied.

“Sounds better.”

“It wasn’t,” I said. “Dream-Declan was untouched, unscarred. He’d never experienced violent battle or pain. He looked like someone I would go on a date with, back in my previous life.”

“How is that not better then?” he countered stiffly.

“Because he wasn’t really you,” I replied. “He was just some guy who sort of looked like you.”

“I’m not perfect. Never was, never will be.”

“Perfection is highly overrated,” I told him.

“If you say so,” he replied.

He’d never believe it, but, for all his struggles, Declan Reyes was already perfect just as he was.

We reached the stairwell, and we were greeted with a disturbing array of screams and crashes coming from the level below us.

Declan looked at me. “Probably not a good idea to go down there.”

“That’s where Jackson is,” I told him tightly. “If he’s still alive.”

He nodded. “I need to get you out to sunlight first. Then I’ll come back for him.”

Fear knifed through my gut. “Like hell you will. You’re injured.”

“I’m not leaving him here.”

“Fair enough. Because I feel the same way about that woman.”

He eyed me impatiently. “The woman you don’t know. The woman you’ve never met.”

I met his gaze, just as impatiently. “Yeah, that’s the one. And I’m going to help get her the hell out of here.”

I stopped climbing after two floors.

“This is where the Nightfall project is,” I said, eyeing the metal door with “18TH FLOOR” on it. I felt Declan’s frown, so I elaborated. “That’s what they call the dhampyr breeding experiment here.”

“Nightshade, Nightfall.” He shook his head. “Is there no originality anymore?”

I shrugged. “Doesn’t seem like it.”

I eyed the keypad next to the door. “Lawrence said he was locked out, so he never knew his wife was a part of the research here. How do we get in?”

“Like this,” Declan gripped the door handle and pulled. It opened.

I looked at him with shock. “How did you know it was unlocked?”

He shrugged. “An educated guess. I figured that Lawrence took out the main power grid on purpose to unlock all the doors so he could let his fanged friends out.”

Sure. Worked for me.

The hallway that stretched out before us seemed identical to the floor we’d been on. It felt a bit like a hospital hallway, and it smelled extremely clean as if it had been recently flushed with antiseptic.

It was dark here and very quiet—too quiet—as if everyone had already escaped. If there had been anyone here to begin with.

I stopped walking and listened hard...and heard something. A steady pounding noise. “That might be her.”