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But the rumble in Isabel’s stomach couldn’t force her to stop her forward progression. The paintings she’d memorized flashed behind her eyelids and beckoned her forward with a strange force. Melody had referred to her drive as an obsession, but to Isabel it felt more like a familiar voice calling her home.

The glass pyramid entrance caught the morning sunbeams and reflected them in a rainbow of colors, making it hard to look at without being blinded. Isabel felt her heart speed up as she caught sight of it. Her feet joined, speeding her journey forward. She stopped at the entrance and took a deep breath before stepping inside.

Her footsteps echoed in the space as she approached the center of the pyramid and looked up. It felt so much larger in person than in the photographs she had seen! Her breath caught in her chest and a smile spread across her face.

How long she stood there staring at her surroundings she didn’t know, but she was rudely returned to the present by the elbow of a stranger smacking into her shoulder and knocking her off balance. Isabel shook her head, rubbed her arm, and entered the museum proper.

The sweeping stone passages led her deeper and deeper into the exhibits. Some were familiar, like theMona Lisa,while others she’d never seen before. Her chest throbbed for her to hurry up and find Sebastian’s works, but everywhere she looked, something new caught her eye.

The moment she entered the correct room, she knew. Even before she saw the paintings with her eyes, her entire body reacted. She felt like a hand had reached out and dragged her across the room to stand in front of the trio of art.

Each piece depicted a different time period with the same female subject; the first was set during the Renaissance in Italy, and the second looked very Victorian Italy. The third, however, was almost out of place. It elegantly showed the woman standing in front of the Salt Lake City LDS temple with Christmas lights twinkling all around. She could have sworn the lights flickered and the water in the fountain rippled as she stared.

And then there was the woman. Isabel felt her knees go weak as she stared into her own eyes. The face was hauntingly lifelike, exactly as the articles had described. Even the individual strands of her flyaway hair seemed to float on a non-existent breeze beneath the starlight.

She reached out, knowing well that she could not reach the painting from behind the velvet rope. But she desperately wanted to touch the surface, feeling like something important would happen when she did.

But then her eyes fell on a shadow behind her likeness and her hand shot back to her chest. Fear screamed in the corridors of her mind, yet the shadow’s glowing red eyes froze her in place. She couldn’t even blink. In all the time she had spent studying these paintings, she had never noticed the malevolent aura before.

The stare held her captive until her body took over and closed her stinging eyes. No sooner had she blinked than the shadow disappeared, leaving no trace that it had ever existed in the first place.

CHAPTER3

Vernazza, Italy. July 25, 2006

Sebastian had no desire to leave his homeland and travel to Paris. Yet he could no longer stand idly by. His precious paintings had been away for more than a year with no reward. At the very least, he had to see them again.

And he knew it was time. That same pull he’d felt toward his sweet Muse from the moment they met had suddenly grown stronger overnight. Had she come closer? It was the only reason he could think of. Perhaps she had seen the paintings and come to find him!

He had to know. And while a horse carriage or ship were the travel choices he would feel most comfortable with, one was no longer an option and the other would be too slow. Humans these days traveled in cars, buses, and planes. He knew that much. But the thought of stepping into any of those metal beasts set his brain on fire with fear.

“But why? It isn’t that you can die,” Sebastian argued with himself as he again picked up the train ticket and held it up to the torchlight. Yes, a plane would certainly have been the fastest option. But a train kept him safely on the ground. It was the best compromise he could make.

He donned his leather cloak, his sunglasses, and tucked the train ticket into the pocket of his black jeans. The train left just after sunset, but arrived well after sunrise. It was going to be incredibly risky getting to the Louvre during the day, but as long as he kept his skin covered…he shouldn’t begin to burn. Theoretically.

At least his travel to the train station would be safe enough. Sebastian picked up his bag and began climbing the stairs into the castle proper. The tether on his heart hummed and pulled as if it somehow knew he was headed in the right direction. He paused at the windows and peeked through the drawn curtain, nodding when he saw the final rays of the sun slipping behind the horizon.

And before he knew it, he was seated in the rattling cabin of a train. Three other men slept around him to pass their overnight ride. Sebastian, on the other hand, remained wide awake and wound as tightly as the string of a violin.

The passage of the countryside was fascinating. “After all these years…I’m finally leaving my beloved Italy. As if I’m a modern man or something,” he murmured, his cold breath leaving no fog on the window to which he pressed his nose. “And for what? The possibility that I might finally find her?”

He certainly hoped so. If he didn’t find her in this life and mix new paints, would he ever be able to find her again? It wasn’t likely. Her lineage had obviously left the homeland, and with all these modern modes of transportation, who knew how far they would go before she was reincarnated again! The very thought of having to search the entire globe filled him with deep darkness.

And so, despite none of them ever having answered his prayers before, Sebastian called upon any existing gods in the heavens. “Let me find her,” he begged. “I can’t survive eternity without knowing I will eventually see her again. I’ll go mad.”

* * *

Paris, France. July 26, 2006

The same prayer passed his lips a thousand times before he finally reached Paris. Sun streamed through the glass and Sebastian had long since covered up completely. He could feel the stares of his fellow passengers, but after this many centuries of being a vampire, he was used to such things. As long as they only thought he was an eccentric dresser, he would be fine.

He tucked his bag under his arm and rose as the train ground to a halt. Silently, he waited for the other three men to leave the carriage before passing through the door himself and into the busy central passage of the train.

Crowds were even more terrifying than modern transportation. There was an extra benefit to dressing so strangely, however; the crowd parted in Sebastian’s path as if he were a blade. Once he stepped off and into the Parisian sunlight, he pulled his hood more firmly over his head and began searching for a taxi.

At least taxis he had used a few times back in Italy. He waved a gloved hand and managed to flag one down. Its driver looked at him through slitted eyes, but unlocked the doors. “Get on in, then,” he said, and Sebastian slipped inside. At least he hadn’t needed to figure out a way for the driver to invite him inside!

“The Louvre,” the vampire instructed, his French poor, but passable. The driver nodded and pulled away from the station into the morning traffic. Sebastian sat back hard against his seat, rubbing his chest where his heart pounded. A dull ache there grew more powerful with every passing kilometer.