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“Jacques, look out!” Eden screamed, and a blade stabbed into my back.

Laughing, I gripped Jack round the throat and broke his neck. I flung the body away in fury.

“Oh God, I’ll call an ambulance,” Eden cried, running to the phone.

“There’s no need.”

“You’ve a knife in you! Of course, there is.”

“Eden! Look at me,” I commanded as I pulled the blade out of my back.

Eden stared through wide eyes as the wound healed. “What are you?” Eden asked, backing away.

Sadly, I sighed and took a deep breath. This was not the way I wanted Eden to find out.

“Eden, I am not mortal. Darling, I cannot be killed except by direct sunlight. I’ve been looking for the perfect moment to share this with you, but I’ve never come across the right opportunity.”

“Not mortal? Then what are you?”

“My race is called Vam’pirs. We are older than the human race and once lived in a city called Kaltos. I am over thirteen thousand years old.”

Eden looked at me and began to laugh hysterically. She waved her hand towards her dead husband and laughed even harder.

I slapped Eden gently around the face, and she stopped laughing with a sob. “Your ex-wife and son?”

“The same as me. As are James and Amelia.”

“And nobody thought to tell me.”

“My love, I wasn’t sure just how you would handle the knowledge. Truthfully, I was frightened of losing you again.”

“We’ve met before?”

“I’ve met your soul before, and I loved that past owner as much as I do you.”

“Did she know about Vam’pirs?” Eden asked, somewhat hysterically.

“Yes. Elizabeth made the choice not to join me, and I will now offer that option to you.”

“Join you?”

“Eden, I offer you immortality, but first, you must understand certain things…”

And so, my story began.

I left Eden alone to read this tale and waited in great fear as to what she would say after finishing it. I have not held back much and have told Eden everything she needed to know. Jack’s body I threw over the cliffs and let the sea take. Jack might as well be useful somehow—and feeding the sea life was the one good thing he’d done. Eden appeared three nights later, taking my hand.

“Jacques, I will drive you crazy,” Eden stated.

Hope rose slowly.

“You can drive me mad all you want.”

“Plus, I’ll spend your money like there is no tomorrow.”

“Always possible to get more.”

“Jacques, I will want to spend more time with James and Amelia.”