The good news?

It didn’t take me long, once I’d gone down to the subbasement, to find Logan.

The bad?

I barely recognized him when I did.

He was lying on the floor of a prison cell. His once tall, proud body looking crumpled and broken. Hearing my approach, he lifted his head, turning it in my direction. His face, which had always been “vampire pale” was now stark white. His skin, almost translucent. His beautiful blue eyes were bloodshot, rimmed with red. And his whole body was shaking, as if it was an effort for him to move at all.

“Oh Logan,” I breathed, stopping in my tracks, trying not to recoil in horror.

At first, he just stared at me. Blankly. As if he couldn’t focus his eyes on me to recognize my face. His bewildered expression tore at my heart and it was all I could do not to throw up on the spot as I looked at him, agony tearing through me. I thought back to my tall, proud vampire. The way he moved, the way he commanded a room. Now reduced to a shell of his former self.

I dropped to my knees, forcing the sobs back down my throat. Trying desperately to be brave. To be strong. So he wouldn’t have to be. The last thing he needed was to see me fall apart now. I needed to give him hope. A light at the end of the long, dark tunnel he’d evidently been crawling through ever since we parted ways.

“Logan, it’s me,” I whispered. “It’s Hannah.”

“Hannah,” he rasped. I could see his hard swallow. Caught the flicker of recognition in his eyes. Thank God. “What are you doing here? Did they get you, too?”

I shook my head. “I’m here to rescue you.”

He squeezed his eyes shut, as if my words had physically caused him pain. Then he sighed deeply. “You shouldn’t have come,” he said, so softly I could barely hear him. “You need to leave. Now.”

“No way. Not without you.”

As I said the words, I realized I meant them. Screw this whole texting a photo and letting vampires save the day plan—though I would do that as well, as backup. But I was not leaving here. Not exiting this room. Not without Logan by my side.

But he didn’t seem to appreciate that sentiment. “I’m not leaving,” he said in a blank voice. “I made a deal. I came here of my own free will. And I will live up to my word.”

“But you’ll die down here.”

“Then I’ll die.”

“Please.” I scoffed, anger coursing through me now, rejuvenating my resolve. “That’s something Jonathan would try to pull. Playing the martyr. The hero. Always trying to sacrifice himself to save the day.” I screwed up my face. “Which is all fine and good in my vampire romances. But,” I added, meeting his gaze with my own, “Like you said yourself, I don’t write real vampires. And you, Logan Valcourt, are a real vampire. Which means you don’t get to make grand sacrifices. You get to survive.”

As I punched out the words, I thought I caught a small quivering in Logan’s jaw. As if he wanted to laugh, but found it too painful. I pursed my lips, waiting for whatever he would say next. Whatever excuse he would give—I was ready.

“Oh little writer,” he said at last. “If only we could have our happily ever after. But this isn’t a book. And it isn’t going to end well for me. But you…” He turned to look at me again, his beautiful, bloodshot eyes filled with pleading. “You still have a chance. Please, take it. It’s the only thing that’s keeping me going right now. To know that you will walk away from this. That I haven’t taken you down with me.”

I drew in a shaky breath. It was the grandest and most beautiful thing anyone had ever said to me. It would have been a great line in a book. One of those lines that gets notated a billion times in people’s e-readers.

But again, this was real life, not a story. And it wasn’t grand or beautiful or notable. It was messy and complicated. But real.

“Sorry, dude,” I shot back, keeping my voice strong. “But it doesn’t work like that. I’m a part of this, whether you like it or not. And besides, it’s not like they’re just going to let me go because they have you.” I briefly ran through what happened at the book signing the night before.

“Whatever they promised you, it was a lie,” I said when I was finished. “They will kill you and then come after me anyway.” I drew in a breath, steeling my nerves. “So wouldn’t it be better to stay alive to help protect me from them?”

He groaned, slamming a hand against the cement floor. His knuckles were dry and cracked and started bleeding on contact. I reached in between the bars, taking his hand in mine. Stroking it with gentle fingers. As if I could take the pain away somehow, just by touching him.

Logan sighed deeply. “Don’t get me wrong,” he said “I would love to protect you. In fact, there’s nothing I would want more than to stay by your side forever, keeping you safe. But you don’t understand. It’s too late. They’ve taken my blood. I’m too weak. I can’t even stand, never mind break out of this place.”

My heart fell at the look on his face. He wasn’t lying this time. Making any grand gestures. He legitimately couldn’t stand up. And there was no way I’d ever be able to carry him, even if I could somehow open his cell.

It was then that I remembered the plan. “Don’t worry,” I said. “We’ve got it all worked out. I’m going to take a photo of you and text it to Rayne. She’ll send it to Jareth and he’ll show it to the Consortium once night falls and everyone wakes up. They’ll break you out of here in no time.”

Logan gave a weak smile. “That does sound like something out of a book,” he admitted. “The Calvary on its way.” He squeezed his eyes shut. “But it’s not going to work.”

“What? Why not?”

“Sweetheart, I don’t have time to wait for a rescue. I’m dying. They took too much blood from me. I doubt I have an hour, never mind till nightfall.”

Oh God. Oh no.

I bowed my head and closed my eyes, anguish tearing through me now. Everything had seemed as if it was going to work out. To give us that happily ever after, despite the odds. But now… If he was really this close to death… Had so little blood left…

Suddenly, my eyes snapped open. I reached into the cage again, this time turning my hand so the underside of my wrist was exposed. I watched as Logan peered down at the pulsing vein just under my skin. He jerked away, but I shook my arm at him.

“Logan,” I commanded. “You have to. You have no choice.”

“No.” He shook his head. “I would never do that to you.”

“You have no choice,” I repeated. “If you don’t drink from me, you’ll die. You said so yourself. And then they’ll come after me.” I bit my lower lip, my mind racing. “Trust me, this isn’t some charity act. I’m doing it to save my own skin.”

“Hannah, you don’t know what you’re asking,” he groaned. “What if I hurt you? I’m so weak. What if I’m not able to stop?”

“Please. You saw me bleeding in the bathroom and you didn’t do anything. You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for. You can control yourself. I know you can. Just take what you need. Revive your strength. And then we can break out of here. Walk away. We can have that happily ever after in real life that we both want.”

He squeezed his eyes shut and I waited for his answer, barely able to breathe in anticipation of what he would say. Please, I begged silently. Please don’t be stubborn.

Finally, he turned to me. Blood tears dripped down his cheeks, splashing onto my hand. For a moment, he just looked at me. An agonized look that nearly broke my heart. Then, he leaned down, taking my wrist in his hand and bringing it to his mouth. For a moment he just hovered there and I held my breath, anticipation buzzing through me. I was terrified. But I was also a little excited. This was it. The moment I had written about a thousand times, now about to happen to me.

And then his mouth closed over my wrist. His fangs sinking into my flesh. I gritted my teeth, waiting for the pain, like when the vampire in the alleyway bit me. But it never came. Instead, there was a flash of unexpected pleasure flooding my insides until I almost cried out with joy.

Suddenly it was as if we had become one person, the floodgates opening and emotions and memories flooding through me. I could feel Logan as I could feel myself—all his anguish, his fury rushing through me like a raging river, euphoric at finally being freed.

But at the same time I felt something else, too. Something beyond anger and fury. Something…sweeter. Something that seemed a little bit scared. Afraid to let go and trust what was happening here.

He’d been hurt, I realized suddenly. Badly. The face of a woman swirled through my mind. Perhaps his maker? The one who turned him into the creature he was today? I had always assumed he liked being a vampire—he was so arrogant about the whole thing. But now…

Now I wasn’t so sure.

My thoughts and emotions began to blur into one another then and it became suddenly difficult to keep them straight. Colors flashed before my eyes. Warmth floated through my body.

I wanted to sleep. To sleep forever would be—

Logan broke away, startling me back to the present. It was as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice cold water over my head and I barely managed not to scream in protest. The warmth fled. The colors faded. And I was left with an aching wrist and a terrible headache. And a weakness that was so overpowering that now it was I who could barely stand.

“I’m sorry,” I could hear Logan whisper. “I tried to stop. I tried--”

I held up my hand to stop him. “I’m fine,” I assured him, even though I didn’t know if that was true. I pulled my knees to my chest, wondering for a moment where we were. My head was pounding and it was still hard to pull thoughts together. To think at all.

I could feel Logan’s eyes on me. Burning with self-loathing. “I need to get out of here,” he said. “Let me work on the lock.”

I nodded absently, thinking about what I had learned about him during our blood bond. The secret I now knew. The hatred he felt for his own kind. The hatred he felt for himself and what he’d become. No wonder he was so angry about my books. The glamorization of being a vampire. Creatures living beautiful, immortal lives with riches beyond belief and true loves to keep them warm. Logan didn’t have a true love. And the emptiness I felt inside of him had been cavernous.

God, I was tired. I lay down on the floor, figuring I could just rest my eyes for one minute…

“Hang in there, sweetheart,” I heard him say. “I’ve almost got it…”

“I don’t think so.”

I jerked my head at the unfamiliar voice, suddenly wide awake. A tall, broad-shouldered man stood in the doorway, silhouetted by the light behind him.

No, my mind corrected. Not a man.

A vampire.