Chapter 41

Istarted awake, heart slamming in my ears.

The bedroom door opened. "Bad dream?" asked Twilight.

I sat up, took a deep breath. "Yeah."

"Lights up. Daylight glow," At her command, the lights brightened. "That better?"

"Yeah. Just give me a minute. What time is it, anyway?"

"A little before four. You've been asleep for a couple of hours."

"It was like I was still in that cellar with Lemaire watching me. But I couldn't see him." I drew a jagged breath. "I tried but I just couldn't."

"That's normal," she said matter-of-factly. "You're processing what happened. There were vampires I saw in my dreams for years."

"Really?"

"I was trained to compartmentalize the bad stuff, but it still bothered me."

I fingered the duvet. "Does it get better?"

"Yeah. And if it doesn't, we'll find you a therapist to talk it over with."

"Thanks." I heaved a sigh. "It helps, knowing I'm not the only one."

"You're not, trust me. So don't feel bad, okay?"

I nodded and pushed the duvet down. "I'll be right back."

"You have to pee?"

"Yeah, but I can do it myself." I swung my legs to the floor.

"I'll just go along with you to make sure." She stayed close, rolling the IV stand across the room for me, then after making sure I was okay, left me alone in the washroom. When I was finished, she helped me back into bed again.

I sat up against the headboard. "Talon will be back soon, right?"

"I think so. I haven't heard from them."

"I think I'll stay up until then."

"Want some company?"

"Sure. But could you get my sewing box first? It's in the closet in the garden suite. And bring the blue shirt on top, okay? I just want to do something…normal, you know?"

She nodded and left, a short time later. She handed me the sewing box but kept the tiny blue tee, examining the white shark appliqué pinned to the front. "You made this for your baby?"

"Yep." I rooted through the sewing box for white thread, careful not to dislodge the switchblade from its hiding place, even if I was pretty sure Twilight wouldn't care if she saw it. "I cut it down from an old T-shirt of Talon's. He doesn't know, by the way—it's a surprise."

"I won't tell him," she promised. "But wow, this is really good. Are you selling these?"

"I'd like to." I hesitated, then added in a rush, "When the baby's older, I want to start an online business."

"You totally should." She passed me the little shirt. "Want some help? I can take photos and we can put them up on Instagram. My last cover as a slayer, I was an influencer with over a million followers."

"Are you kidding?"

"True story. I kinda miss it, actually."

"Well, then, I'd love your help."

"Good." She grinned. "We can use your little guy as a model. We won't show his face, of course—you don't want his likeness out there where anyone can see him—but we can show him from the chin down."

"Sounds good." I threaded a needle. "How about some music?"

Twilight pulled up some chill electronica on Talon's system, then perched on the leather chair, arms wrapped around her legs, watching as I sewed the shark applique to the shirt.

"I never figured I'd have a baby," she said.

My gaze snapped to her. "Are you—?"

"No." A self-conscious smile tilted the corners of her mouth. "But we might start trying."

"They could play together," I said before stopping to think, then bit my lower lip. I pulled out a pin, sticking it into the apple-shaped pin cushion I'd picked up in New York. "I mean, if that's okay with you and Brien."

"Of course, it is. Even if I didn't like you—which I do—Brien and Talon are best friends. Your baby is going to be so spoiled."

"You think?"

"Yes." Leaning forward, she gave my wrist a quick squeeze. "Give them time. Brien's already coming around, and Cain will, too. Those three are like brothers, you know? Your little guy is going to have two powerful uncles, not to mention a great father."

I smiled. "He will, won't he?"

I'd been feeling better ever since Talon promised that our son could choose his own path, but it was good to hear Twilight's perspective. And I already knew Talon would make a good father, even if he didn't think so. He was calm, controlled, protective, the type of father who'd set clear boundaries, but also explain the "why" behind his rules. Our baby was going to adore him.

I slid Twilight a look. "So why did you think you'd never have a baby? Don't slayers have kids?"

"Some do. Most of us don't live that long."

"Oh." I tried not to show my shock; she said it so easily, like dying young was no big deal. "Your halmoni did, though."

"True, but she's a badass."

I chuckled. "That's what Rio says."

Twilight grinned. "She likes him, too." She fell silent, watching me sew. After a while she said, "My mom was a slayer, too."

"Was?"

"She died when I was still a teenager. An op went sideways and…" She gave a sad shrug.

"I'm so sorry," I said, my heart hurting for her. "That must've been hard."

"It was a long time ago."

"So? If it was my mom, I'd still miss her."

"I do miss her, but it was my halmoni who raised me. Mom wasn't around much even before she died. She was a legend in SI. They still talk about her in training camp. Same with my halmoni." She played with the end of her long brown braid. "Kinda hard to live up to, you know?"

"I bet you lived up to them both okay."

"You think?" A pleased smile flashed over her face. "I tried, anyway. My last real job—not the thing with Brien, but before—was basically a suicide mission. When that went south, I got out—or tried to, anyway. So, yeah, I figured I was the last of my line. I guess I still am. It's not like my spawn will grow up to become a slayer."

"Does that bother you?" I tied the thread and snipped off the ends, then removed the rest of the pins, sticking them in the pincushion.

"Kind of, but SI has changed. I'm not sorry to be out of it. Plus, I could never have mated with Brien if I hadn't left."

"You're lucky," I said. "I've seen how Brien looks at you, like you're the best thing that ever happened to him."

"That's how Talon looks at you."

I shook my head. "It's not the same thing."

"Sure looks like it to me."

"We're not mated."

"Yet," she said.

I dug my teeth into my lower lip. I was still getting used to the fact that he loved me. I hadn't even said it back. "He won't mate with a human."

"Then ask him to turn you."

I just stared at her. I'd thought about it, of course. But hearing someone speak it aloud made it real, in a way that was scary and exciting at the same time.

Twilight made humming sound, clearly reading my emotions. "You want it, I can tell."

"I do and I don't," I admitted. "It's a big step, you know?"

"I always wanted it," she said with a far-off look. "But you don't have to become a vampire. You could become a dhampir, too."

Like the baby.

But more importantly, I could be with Talon for hundreds of years. He was young for a vampire. Stay a human, and I'd die centuries before him. If we weren't mates, he'd move on eventually. Find a true mate.

Something primal and possessive sprouted teeth and claws.

No fucking way. He's mine.

"Think about it," Twilight said.

"I will." I closed the sewing box and put it on the nightstand, the T-shirt on top of it.

We kept talking clothes, and I told her about how I repaired vintage clothing, too. It turned out that Twilight had been a stylist in one of her other lives.

"It was all part of my cover as an influencer," she told me. "I liked it, you know—putting outfits together for other people. Maybe you could even let me help. Or we can go thrifting together."

"You're officially my best friend," I said fervently, and we grinned at each other.

Her phone buzzed. "It's Smythe," she said, glancing at the screen. "He says Brien's been trying to reach me. He has a message. He wants to give it to me personally. I'll be right back."

She left the bedroom. I heard the apartment door open, and her voice as she stepped into the hall. Then everything went silent.

My nape tightened. Something seemed off.

The door.I hadn't heard it shut.

"Twilight?" I slid my hand into the sewing box, closing my fingers around the switchblade. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," she called back. "Go to sleep. I'll be right back."

Fear tripped up my spine. Why was she telling me to go back to sleep when I'd clearly told her I wanted to stay up? And wasn't she supposed to stay with me until Talon came back?

I couldn't go into the living room with a knife in my hand, though, so I stuck it into the back of my panties as the apartment door closed with a thud. I opened my mouth to say something, then shut it again, swinging my feet to the floor.

The damn IV tugged at me. I slid the needle from my forearm and pressed a tissue to the small wound before creeping forward to peek around the door frame.

In the living room, a man I'd never seen held a wicked-looking silver blade to Twilight's throat. Blood seeped from a small hole in her shirt where he must've stabbed her first.

I froze. Both their gazes swung to me.

"Get back in the bedroom," Twilight said tightly. "And shut the door."

My chest seized. I swallowed and lifted my forearm in a lame attempt to pretend nothing was wrong. "I pulled out my IV."

The man looked like Loki in an I'm-going-to-fuck-you-up mood—chin-length dark hair, deep-set eyes, a sharp chin. spoke in a scarily calm voice. "You shouldn't have come out here," he told me calmly. "Now I can't let you live."

"No, you can, really," I said—ridiculously polite, but it was the first thing that came to my head. "Pretend I'm not here."

I threw an agonized look at Twilight and inched backward. I didn't want to abandon her, but I had the baby to think about.

The Loki-lookalike flashed a pair of sharp fangs. "Get the fuck over here."

"Run, Eden!" Twilight slammed an elbow into his side.

He grunted and hung on, dragging the knife across her throat. She gasped but kept struggling as I stared, horrified at the thin red line the knife had left on her creamy skin.

"Don't move," he told her, digging the knife point into the base of her throat for emphasis. To me, he said, "Come here—now—or I'll stab this into her jugular. You know what silver does to a young vampire? She's already weak."

He pressed the point deeper into the base of Twilight's throat. She arched in pain, her hands clawing at the air.

"I bet your veins are burning, aren't they?" he said. "Traitor. I know what you did."

"What I did?" she rasped.

"I'm Stygian," he said.

"Fuck." Twilight's eyes widened.

"That's right," he told her and jerked his chin at me. "You—get over here. Now."

"Don't listen to him," Twilight mouthed, her eyes pleading.

I moistened my lips, torn between helping her and saving myself and the baby.

"I'll get you either way," Stygian said.

He was probably right. Talon's inner doors weren't reinforced with silver, except for his sleeping vault, which I hadn't been cleared to enter, and the intruder was obviously either a dhampir or a vampire. Even if I locked the door, he'd just kick it down.

But that wasn't the only reason I obeyed him.

If there was a chance to save Twilight, then I'd take it. I couldn't live with myself otherwise. Twilight was going to have her baby, that baby who would grow up to be best friends with my little guy.

And on a purely personal level, I was sick and tired getting pushed around by vampires, dhampirs or whatever the hell this man was.

Playing the helpless pregnant woman, I shuffled forward, a hand under my sleepshirt, pretending to massage my lower back. My fingers closed around the switchblade's handle.

Stygian narrowed his eyes. "Put your hands where I can see them."

Damn. "Okay, okay."

Releasing the handle, I brought my hands up and kept going.

Feverish color splotched Twilight's cheeks. Her eyes darted around the room, like she wasn't sure where she was. "So hot." She focused on my throat and electric-blue rimmed her irises. "I need…"

My heart thudded against my ribcage, but I kept going. "Snap out of it, Twilight. It's me, Eden."

"Eden…" She drew my name out, then blinked and focused on me. "Run. I'll stop him."

"The fuck you will." Stygian gave Twilight a vicious shake. "The bitch stays."

For a few seconds, his attention was on Twilight. It was the chance I'd been waiting for. Palming the switchblade, I stumbled forward, pressing the catch. The switchblade snicked out. I kept going.

Twilight tried to catch me. Stygian swore and dragged her backward.

I kept going. His gaze flicked to the switchblade, and he shifted Twilight to his other side, leaving his attention torn between us for a crucial second.

I lunged forward, aiming for his stomach, but he managed to twist so that the blade sank into his upper thigh instead. His breath hissed in. He shoved me away, and I let go of the switchblade, leaving it in his thigh.

This time I stumbled for real, arms flailing, and smashed into the coffee table. I started going over but managed to wrench my body around so that I sat down—hard—on the wood-and-copper tabletop.

Twilight erupted, snatching Stygian's weapon, flipping him over her shoulder to the hard wooden floor and staking him with his own blade. He slid to the floor, the hole she'd made in his chest already smoking with an unearthly fire.

She took a couple of steps toward me. Then her hands went to her head, her face contorted in pain. "Hurts…everywhere."

I started to go to her, then groaned and doubled over as pain shot up my side.

She stumbled forward one more step, then collapsed to the floor in slow motion—knees, hands, body, head—and went limp.

A broken doll of a person.

"Twilight? You okay?" My body started to shake. Pressing a hand to my side, I lifted my head, willing her to answer me. "Please tell me you're okay."

When she didn't move or speak, I gritted my teeth and tried again to stand.

That's when the apartment door slammed open. Talon burst into the living room, Brien and Cain on his heels.