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Leah nodded, not making any vocal promises. She didn’t want Emily caught in the crossfire in case her escape went wrong.

They parted ways. Leah returned to her room with her bodyguard in tow, acting nervous and fidgety. “Can’t I go out there? Just five minutes?” she asked when they passed the front gate.

“No. You can smoke in your room.”

“But that’ll set off the fire alarm.”

“Open the bathroom window.”

The Hunter clearly didn’t care about Leah’s feelings. When they arrived, he keyed in the combination for her room, blocking her view, and shoved her inside before shutting the door.

Geez, what was his problem? Did he want to stand outside staring at the beige wall all night?

Leah went to the bathroom, opened the tiny window, and lit the cigarette to complete her pretense.

With nothing else to do until sunset, Leah sat cross-legged on the bed, took a deep breath, and reached out to Julian. Their connection was easier to locate this time, an invisible string binding them together, a familiar pathway, which ended in swirling shadows.

Calmer and more centered than earlier, Leah didn’t back away. She did the equivalent of reaching her hand into it and winced when it sliced at her skin.

Blood.The disembodied voice was a cold shock to her core.Feed. Blood. Need blood.

Gritting her teeth against the crushing, savage emotions, she stepped into the darkness.

Julian had to be here somewhere.

He was an Ancient, a being more powerful than she could ever imagine.

That power flooded through her. She gasped for breath from the force of it. It was impossible to describe. She could run miles without tiring. Smash through a building like the Hulk. Take a hundred bullets and stay standing.

There was no way he was gone.

Julian. Come back to me.

No response. An insatiable hunger stabbed into her psyche.

Damn you! Answer me!

Chapter Twenty-Four

Blood.

Want blood.

Hunger consumed him. His vampire began to lose its grip on sanity until it could be sated. His fangs ached with the need to bite something, to fill his mouth with the taste of the life-giving sustenance.

Julian.

A voice. Warm. Inviting. Bright.

Yes. Food.The vampire cheered.

Come back to me.

It was familiar with a lilt to it that he could listen to forever.

A scent.

Honeysuckle and cinnamon.