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“I’m…cold,” she whispered. “So cold.”

For the first time in a century Corbin felt his emotions catch inside his throat. “I know, darling. I know. It’ll end soon enough.” Corbin shut his eyes then, surprised to find himself crying. He hadn’t even known he was capable of it anymore.

“Turn her, Corbin,” Kharis said, from where he stood beside them. “If you love her, turn her. Then maybe this tragedy can become a celebration another day.”

Corbin was shaking, struggling to fight his own fear. “I love you, darling. Now and until we both shall meet again in the next life,” he whispered, his words almost feverish.

“It’s what she wants, what she demands of you,” Kharis continued. “It’s what Rosalind wanted, too, but what you were too young to see then is that it was as much her choice as it was yours. It’s the same for Dani. She made her choice, and she chose you.”

Kharis crouched down, holding Dani’s head so that her neck tilted toward Corbin. The last fluttering beats of her pulse almost at a close. “So, drink now, brother. You’re stronger than you were before. Drink now and drink deep.”

And with one final, striking bite Corbin took his fill, until he felt Dani slip away in his arms.

Epilogue

Twenty years later…

“You’re late,” Dani said, staring down the steps from where she stood outside their glittering mansion home, pointing to the watch she kept inside her purse pocket. “You promised you’d be on time.”

“I’d never purposefully be late to meet you, darling,” Corbin said, as she gave him a disbelieving look. “Well, not any longer, anyway,” he smirked, quickly trying to appease her with kisses. First on her ear, then her chin, then the soft skin of her neck where her pulse thumped away.

It was slower now. It’s beat inhuman, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Not anymore.

“How someone can be late to their own party, I’ll never know.” She turned, wrapping her arms around his neck as she sighed against him. “But somehow, you manage it every year.”

“These things are as much for you as they are for me, darling. It may be my speeches they come to hear, but it’s your work that gives the true advantage.”

Somehow, it’d only taken her a handful of years to convince him that his talents, which had made him so successful in the syndicate, would be better spent on nonprofits, helping the charities that were the most desperate for funds. This year, the organization had been of her choosing, one to benefit victims of sexual violence.

Becoming a vampire hadn’t stopped the nightmares which still sometimes plagued her, but it had lessened them over the years, as Dani slowly came into the full of her power.

She no longer needed him to save her.

In fact, he was certain it’d been her that’d truly been savinghimfor years.

Pulling him back from the darkest parts of himself whenever he risked going over the edge. Like when he’d allowed his fear to dictate his love for her.

The whole thing seemed foolish now, now that he no longer feared losing her.

What was there to fear when they had the whole of time ahead of them?

“What are you thinking?” Dani whispered, her fangs nipping and nicking against his ear.

He growled his approval. “I was thinking we could skip this whole thing, go straight to bed, and not leave there for years.”

“Mmm,” she hummed her approval. “Sounds tempting.” She trailed a hand down his arm, stepping back a little, her signature move, meant to tempt him, to make him remember on nights like this. “But first you owe me a dance.” She sauntered away from him then, swaying her hips a bit as she had on so many nights like this before.

It was a reminder of where they’d come from, where they’d once been.

And that, for better or worse, they still had an eternity in store, together.