Page 2

Meghan

“I thought you were dead!”

Amanda was alive this whole time. I couldn’t believe it. The last time I saw my friend was when the vampires began their takeover in Paris. We tried to escape, but we only ended as far as the airport. Neither of us made it onto the plane back home.

For the first time since I had lost my best friend and everyone I had ever known, all the emotions I had kept bottled inside burst out. Tears flooded down my cheeks as I flung my arms around her.

We clung to each other tightly and cried for all we had lost.

“Me too,” she breathed out in between sniffles. We hugged so tightly that I thought we were never going to let each other go.

I wiped at the wetness on my cheeks.

“I tried looking for you in Paris, but the vampires kept coming…”

“That’s all in the past now. We’re both alive and safe.” Amanda smiled, blinking to clear the tears in her eyes.

I glanced over at Leo, who towered over us like a gargoyle, albeit a very sexy one. Were we safe? That was debatable.

There was so much I wanted to say and ask her, but it wouldn’t be possible as long as we were being watched. It didn’t seem like Amanda was here under coercion. She looked amazingly healthy and happy. Her chestnut brown hair was now down to her waist, and her crystal blue eyes shimmered with contentment. She wore a choker around her neck made with expensive looking black gems. I glanced down at her pregnancy bump and said the only thing that popped into my mind.

“Damn, girl, you’ve been busy while I was gone.”

Amanda looked down at her stomach and placed a protective hand on her belly. She smiled and rubbed the gemstones on her necklace with her other hand. “Yeah, you have no idea. The baby was kind of a surprise for me, too.”

Leo shuffled his feet and awkwardly cleared his throat.

“Since you two seem to know each other, I’m going to go back to work.” He nodded to Amanda. “Call me if you need anything.”

Though it remained unsaid, the implication was that he would help if Amanda needed help with controlling me. Just what had happened to my friend in the months we had been separated?

I scrunched up my face, even though Leo could only see the back of my head.

Amanda let out a chuckle and grabbed my hand. “Thank you, Leo. We’ll be alright.”

Having dismissed my undead shadow, she pulled me into her room before closing the door behind us.

Decadent did not even begin to describe our surroundings. Amanda’s room wasn’t just a bedroom. At one end of the room, there was a dressing area with wraparound mirrors and an antique white and gold vanity covered in expensive looking perfume bottles and makeup. Attached to the dressing area was an open walk-in closet that had to be as big as a double garage. Next to the walk-in closet was an airy bathroom illuminated with day glow lights that made it look like daytime. Tropical plants surrounding the giant pool-like bathtub made the bathroom look like a jungle. In the center of the room stood a giant four-poster bed draped with gauzy silk curtains and piles of white silk pillows and sheets. The bed was so big, it looked like it could fit a party of eight. At the foot of the bed, by the fireplace, there was also a sitting area with a plush leather love seat and a fully stocked bar.

I walked around the room in a circle and let out a long whistle. “Geeze! Are you like the queen of this place, or something?”

I noticed a bowl of strawberries and flaky almond croissants on the coffee table. My mouth watered. I hadn’t had luxuries like fruit and pastries in ages.

Amanda noticed my gaze. “Help yourself. I was the same way when I first came to live with Alex.”

I bit into a juicy strawberry and relished the burst of flavor on my tongue before I grabbed another one.

“Or something,” said the blonde sitting on the bed. She snapped her gum and tossed her wavy long hair over her shoulder before she resumed tapping at a game on her tablet. Though she was tall and had long limbs like a model, her face was sweet and innocent, bare of makeup except for some light pink blush and lip gloss. By the sassy and annoyed way she spoke, I assumed she could only be Rose, the little sister Amanda always mentioned with fond annoyance when we were in Europe.

Amanda rolled her eyes. “Rose, that’s not true.”

I wondered how Amanda found her sister after all this time. Rose was in California at the time Amanda and I were split up in Paris.

“Of course, it is. You’re like, married to the big bad boss vampire of the place,” Rose shot back.

Suddenly, Amanda stood still and got a faraway look in her eyes. I waved a hand in front of her face and snapped my fingers, but she didn’t respond, not even to flinch. It was like she was in a trance.

“It’s no use trying to talk to her when she’s like this. She’s communicating with Alex through their mated bond,” Rose said disinterestedly.

“What’s that?” I asked Rose.

“We can talk to the vampires we are mated with telepathically. It happens after a vampire and a human have exchanged blood while, you know—” Rose waggled her eyebrows to indicate the unsaid.

“Oh, gross!” I winced. I did not need to think about my friend doing the nasty with the undead.

“Are you,” I struggled to get the word out, “mated to a vamp too?”

Rose nodded. “Dante’s the big surly lumberjack looking hottie. You’ll probably see him around some time. Anyway, Amanda’s mate is Alex, who’s the master vampire of this clan. He’s big and scary, but a total teddy bear when it comes to my sister, especially now since she’s expecting.”

“So, you guys are like mind readers?”

“Kind of, but not really. It’s not like we have open access to each other’s thoughts, but we do get a sense of our mate’s moods and emotions.”

Like a light had been switched on, Amanda blinked and came back to us like nothing had happened.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

Amanda nodded. “Alex was just wondering why I was so excited. He sensed my happiness through the bond.” She smiled serenely. “I told him that I’m just so happy that I have everything I ever wanted in life. I’ve found my long-lost sister and best friend, and I’m about to have my own family.”

A part of me was unsure how accurate Rose’s description of the master vampire was, but if he was good to Amanda, then that was all that mattered to me.

I put a croissant on a plate and went to sit down on the edge of the bed next to Rose. “I still can’t get over the fact that you’re pregnant and bonking an evil vampire.”

Amanda frowned. “Alex and the clan aren’t evil.”

I frowned. I didn’t understand what she was trying to say. “They’re vampires, Amanda. They feed on human blood, they killed off most of the world and brought about eternal darkness. How can they not be evil?”

“It’s not like they go out killing people. The Diamantis vamps only drink from bagged blood, usually.” Amanda’s hand rose up to touch her neck as she spoke.

Gross. I guess sex and feeding went together when you were fucking a vampire.

“Yeah, the vamps here are the good guys. They saved Amanda and me from the evil witch’s coven that tried to kill us, and they try to save as many humans as they can find from the other vampires,” Rose said.

I thought about the cold, dingy concrete cell where the girls and I lived. “They don’t seem like they’re good guys. You do realize they force us to give blood every week and keep us locked in a jail cell when we aren’t working.”

Amanda frowned. “Is it really that bad? I’m going to ask Alex to give you better rooms and let the girls have some free time.”

The door opened and a mousy looking woman with tea-colored hair peeked around the door before slipping in and closing the door behind her. She carried a tray of glass bottles with her.

“That’s Lizzy. She’s our resident witch who helps us locate and take down the big bad vampires.”

Lizzy blushed. “Rose is exaggerating. I only dabble.”

“You do more than dabble. You saved my life!”

Lizzy gave me a curious glance. “Aren’t you one of the girls we saved from the human settlement last time?

“Yeah. Meghan’s my best friend from the before times. I thought I was never going to see her again,” Amanda added.

“I take it you’re the witch who brews those gross tasting calming potions?” I didn’t know if the potions really tasted bad, they could taste like fruit punch for all I knew, since I never took them. Still, I couldn’t believe that a witch would collaborate with a bunch of vampires. In my understanding of the world, all the covens hated the vampires with a vengeance. Any witch I knew would rather kill themselves than work with a bloodsucker.

I bit into my croissant, the flaky crumbs and powdered sugar landing half on my chin and half on my plate. I brushed the bits stuck to my face as gracefully as I could manage.

Lizzy frowned. “You don’t like the flavor? I tried to make the potion taste like caramel. Maybe I need to make some tweaks.”

Amanda gave me an exasperated look. Busted. She knew I was lying even without being told. Even though we hadn’t known each other for a long time before we were split up, she knew me like she was my blood sister. “I’m sure the potions are fine, Lizzy. Meghan’s always had a sensitive palate.”

Lizzy didn’t seem convinced. “Are you sure? I can alter the formula to make it easier to take.”

“There’s no need. You’re busy enough as it is.” Amanda rushed to take the tray from her and set it on her coffee table. “Thank you for putting together the anti-nausea potions for me. It’s been a great help with the morning sickness.” She uncapped one of the vials and gulped it down like it was a shot of tequila. She grimaced and stuck her tongue out. “Blech. If you could only make this taste like caramel or cotton candy.”

Lizzy shrugged as she sat down on the love seat. “Sorry. The best I can do is add more peppermint to mask the flavor.”

Amanda sat down next to her. “Actually, we were talking about giving the girls some more freedom, maybe let them go to the rooftop garden or the library. We’re protected by our status as mates to high-ranking vampires, but the girls aren’t. While forbidden from biting any humans, the newly turned grunt vampires aren’t exactly known for their self-control around juicy walking sources of fresh blood. Is there an invisibility spell or something that could let them roam around without being seen by the vampire grunts?”

Lizzy scoffed. “Witchcraft isn’t like what you see in the movies. It’s not like there’s an invisibility cloak you can throw over yourselves and disappear.”

I slumped. “Well, that’s a letdown. I thought witches could just say hocus-pocus and we would go poof.”

“Not exactly. Let me think.” Lizzy paused. “There is a potion to cloak your scent and the sound of your heartbeat. The potion doesn’t last very long, and it won’t make you invisible, so you’ll still want to avoid the vamps if possible, but it can keep them from being able to tell that you’re alive.”

I sat up straight. “That’s perfect. We only need a way to get from our room to the garden or library without being detected.”

Amanda nodded. “It’s risky, but it might work. There are so many newcomers to the clan that the lower ranking vampires won’t know who’s alive and who’s undead.”

“I need to go look up the recipe and gather the ingredients. It shouldn’t take more than a day. From what I remember, it’s an easy potion with common ingredients.”

“Great. We’ll meet up tomorrow in the library, and you can try the potion on Meghan,” Amanda said with a grin at me.

“Why me?” I didn’t relish being a test guinea pig for some unknown witch. What if she turned me into a frog or gave me purple warts?

“Well, the vampires aren’t going to pay attention to me or Lizzy or Rose, so it has to be you.”

“Right.” That made sense. “Hurrah for me.” At least I had the promise of freedom to look forward to.