Chapter 25

“So, that’s what two hundred years of experience in bed is like,” Eliza chuckled as we lay next to each other, panting and covered in sweat and blood.

I laughed, nudging her shoulder. “Mind-blowing, I know.”

She rolled onto her side, resting her chin on her palm. The blue of her eyes dulled and she sighed. “What now?”

“Are you asking for another?” I teased and traced my fingers up her arm.

She shook her head. “Should I go?”

It was like being splashed with cold water. My brow furrowed. “Why would you leave?”

Eliza fell back onto her back and stared at the ceiling. “Let’s not pretend either of us expected me to stay.”

I shrugged. “Fair enough, but why would you leave now? You can rest awhile before-”

“Because I have no intention of staying in Paris,” she interrupted.

I swallowed thickly and clamped my mouth shut. I remained where I lay for a little while, focusing on keeping my breathing even so she didn’t notice how much my heart was breaking. This had to happen, I reminded myself. This was for the best.

That didn’t mean I was ready.

I let out a long breath. “How about a shower to wash off this blood first?”

Her features remained guarded, but she nodded in agreement and sat up. I stood out of bed and walked into my bathroom to start the shower. I heard Eliza walk in behind me, leaning on the bathroom door and watching while I waited for the water to warm up.

“Where will you go?” I asked, glancing over at her.

She shrugged. “I’ll keep going until I find somewhere that takes away the pain. I thought Paris was it, but apparently it’s not.”

I stared at the ground; a thousand words caught on my tongue. A few escaped. “You can’t outrun your pain. I know losing your family is hard, but the pain will always find you.”

“Don’t,” she said. “I don’t want to hear it.”

New cracks in my heart allowed a little more blood to ooze out than I was used to. I nodded breathlessly and stepped into the shower. Eliza stepped in after me, wrapping her arms around me from behind and resting her head on my shoulder. I stared through the steaming water, feeling my blood solidify inside me and turn to gold. Too heavy to carry. Too heavy to keep bleeding.

“I’m sorry I’m not who you want me to be,” she whispered, barely audible over the shower water.

I said nothing.

We got out of the shower, and I dressed in pajamas while Eliza put on her sundress from the night before. With a set jaw, I watched as she put two braids in her hair and used my lotion on her hands. Some sick, angry part of me hoped she would smell like me for the rest of the day—long after she left.

I hated her for a moment.

I hated that she kissed me at the bar last night. I hated that she made my body feel genuinely alive. I hated how much she made me want her.

I despised that I now knew what she tasted, sounded, and felt like—inside and out. I resented myself for letting this happen in the first place; I knew better.

I hated how she refused to believe her pain was fixable.

Damn her.

I followed her to the door, determined to say nothing while she slipped out. She didn’t deserve my goodbye, not if she was going to use me to feel something and then leave me behind. Except, the moment her hand touched the handle, I pressed my hand on the door above her and held it closed. She tried to tug it open, but I was much stronger and the door didn’t budge.

“No,” I said.

“Excuse me?” She looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

“No,” I repeated, harsher that time. “I’m not letting you go without a proper explanation. You owe me that.”

Eliza scoffed and shook her head. “I don’t owe you anything.”

“You came to me, Eliza,” I said darkly, feeling the dark veins beneath my eyes ripple with the anger building within me. “You asked to go to the Eiffel Tower. You asked me out for a drink. You came to my apartment in the rain. You approached me last night. You. Not me.”

“I know that,” she snarled in reply. “And every time, I thought-” She broke off and shook her head.

“Thought what?” I asked.

Eliza shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Answer me,” I snapped.

She tensed. “I want you, Sophie. I want the sunshine in your eyes and the youth in your blood. I want the music of your laugh and the companionship you offer me so genuinely—effortlessly. Now more than ever, I want to fall into your bed until I forget about every damn thing that’s gone wrong in my pathetic life.

“But I’m made of darkness, and you’re daylight. I knew from the first moment that if you got involved with me, I would destroy you. That’s what I do. I break things. I burn them. I let them bleed, and I leave them behind. Damn it, I’m trying to protect you.”

I scoffed. “You’re being a little overly dramatic, don’t you think? I’m capable of knowing what—and who—will break me.”

“And yet, you kissed me back.” Eliza’s voice broke.

I changed the subject. “The pain of leaving your family behind will not last forever.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” she replied.

I tossed my hands in the air. “As if I’ve never said goodbye to anyone. As if I didn’t watch both my parents die. As if I haven’t lost almost every single person who ever meant anything to me. As if I haven’t had my heart ripped out of my chest so many fucking times that it bleeds eternally. Time goes on, and I learned to heal. You’ll learn to heal.”

“Why won’t you listen? You can’t fix me! I don’t want to be fixed!” Eliza raged so suddenly I took a step back. “I’m not some broken toy for you to put back together. I’m a person, and my choices are my own.”

“I’m not trying to fix you.” I raised my voice. “I’m trying to make you understand that you have a choice.”

“Stop trying,” she snapped.

“Fine.” I crossed my arms. Neither of us moved for a long moment. “Why are you still here?” I snapped when she hadn’t tried to grab the door handle and move around me.

“Because you wanted an explanation for why I don’t want you.”

“You do. I know you do,” I whispered.

“I don’t.”

“Then what was last night?” I challenged.

“A good fuck.”

Cold fury iced over every one of my bones. I saw regret in Eliza’s eyes the moment she spoke, but it was too late. I stepped out of the way entirely and motioned for the door.

“Get the fuck out.”

The violent cold of my voice sent silence reigning throughout the living room. Eliza sucked in a breath and straightened, red tears staining her face and soaking into the collar of her sundress. I was sure I looked similar—wild and frantic, with a heart bleeding so intensely I worried it would never stop.

There were storms in Eliza’s eyes as she glared back at me, slowly shaking her head. A deep, dangerous growl rumbled in my throat. I didn’t want her here, and if she wouldn’t leave herself, I would force her out.

Something darkened in her eyes. The life in them went out, and the person behind them was not Eliza. It wasn’t a person at all, more like a monster. Half a second later, I heard what she did—an all-too-human laugh echoing through the stairwell, accompanied by the horrifyingly familiar scent of YSL perfume.

I eyed Eliza, unsure how she would react to being interrupted.

“Her timing is perfect,” Eliza said. The tone of her voice was entirely unfamiliar. Dark. Deadly. I didn’t recognize the look on her face.

The key turned in the door, and the door opened. “Hey, Sophie, I-”

That was all she had time to say.

I didn’t even have time to catch Eliza, and I could have. I was older, faster, and stronger than she would ever be. I could have stopped her if only I had realized what she was about to do.

Eliza appeared next to Addie the second she stepped through the doorway, her fangs bared and black veins decorating her face. I watched her raise her hands and grip the sides of Addie’s head.

The sickening crack echoed through the apartment.

Eliza let go.

Addie fell.

And everything changed.