My mother calls as I’m driving back to my beach cottage. The emotion from my encounter with Patrick is fresh in my voice, and she insists on joining me for dinner at my place. I’ve always found it impossible to tell her no, especially after my dad died.

Hours later, we’re holding large crystal goblets, finishing up glasses of red wine and chatting about the pending holiday season. It’s difficult keeping her ignorant of all that happened in New Orleans. Still, I can’t possibly share those events with her.

“Speaking of Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners…” Her dark eyes search my face. “You’re saying there’s absolutely no chance you’ll bring a plus one?”

“Mom,” I laugh, fake disapproval in my tone. “Are you implying I’m not good enough for you on my own?”

“Never in a million years would I imply such a thing.” She winks, taking a sip of Burgundy. “I only fear I’ll never have a grandchild. There’s not a single interesting male in all these cities you visit?”

Biting my lip, I look down, trying to decide how to frame this.

“I did meet someone I… care about.” Her excited face almost makes me roll my eyes. “He’s dealing with some personal problems at the moment, though.”

“Oh, no.” She frowns dramatically. “He’s married?”

I almost choke on my sip of wine. “Lord, no—Mom! I’m not that stupid.”

“Then what in the world do you mean by personal problems?”

Good question. “He’s got some… health issues.” This is not getting better.

“He has cancer?”

“No.”

“HIV? Oh, Melissa.”

“MOM. It’s nothing like that.” I take a deep inhale to clear my head. “I don’t know why I framed it that way. It’s not health issues. He just has some work-related business that has him… detained elsewhere.”

Mom leans back on the couch arms crossed. “I don’t know why you’re being so cagey with me. You could just tell me what’s going on. I’m not that hard to talk to, am I?”

Oh, good grief, now she’s pissed. “Of course not!” I backtrack. “It’s more that I’m not sure how much he wants to keep private. And truthfully, I only know a little about his work.”

Her mouth twitches as she turns over this information in her mind. “Well, I hope you know what you’re doing. It all sounds suspicious to me. I’d hate for him to turn up with a whole separate identity somewhere.”

She has no idea. “I’m sure he won’t. And once you meet him, I’m pretty sure you’ll like him as much as I do.”

I can only dream of the day when Derek meets my mother. That seems to satisfy her, and we return to holiday planning, gossiping about which family member will cause the biggest scandal this year, and remembering when Dad was with us.

Eventually, she decides it’s time to head home, and as much as I try to persuade her to stay with me, she insists. “I have to work tomorrow. It’s easier if I’m in my own house.”

I walk her through the kitchen, out my back door, watching as she makes her way to her car and waving as she heads off into the night.

For a little while, I lean against the doorjamb allowing the salty night air to wash over me. It’s a cool night, moving into November. If it weren’t so dark, I’d grab my flashlight and walk down to the water’s edge. As it is, I’ll lock up and get some rest. Funny how not so long ago, I’d stopped sleeping through the night.

My brief tenure as an undead creature is on my mind as I switch off the kitchen light, pass through the living room, and make my way to my master suite.

I’m just taking off my jewelry when I hear a strange banging sound from the kitchen, like either a picture has fallen off the wall or a bird flew into a window. Hurrying back to investigate, I mentally note that birds don’t fly at night.

I’m halfway through the living room when I freeze. I’m not alone. Something is in the room with me.

My blood runs cold, and I take a small step backwards. It’s in the shadow of lamplight on the opposite side of the living room. A woman.

I stare at her, and she stares right back at me. Her skin is deadly pale, but she has sparkling emerald-green eyes. Long red hair hangs over her shoulders in ripples, and she’s wearing a fitted green dress.

She would be beautiful if it weren’t for the cruel lines of her face. As she continues gazing at me, her expression melts into something like hatred.

“Who are you?” I say, cringing at how small and nervous I sound.

She’s not much bigger than me. If it came to a fight, I could probably hold my own. The problem is, I’m pretty sure this intruder isn’t human. In fact, I’m pretty positive she’s not.

“My name is of no importance.” Her voice is like the eerie tinkling of wind chimes on a stormy night, and I involuntarily shudder.

“What do you want?”

“My motives will have little value to you.”

For whatever reason, her answers make me angry. Squaring my feet, I put my hands on my hips. “You’re in my house, so either you’re going to state your business or get the hell out!”

My display of authority amuses her greatly. She tosses that auburn head back and laughs. It sounds like silverware being dumped onto a tile floor. I cover my ears with my hands to block out the awful noise.

She starts to move, sidestepping, circling. I do the same, only in the opposite direction. I intend to keep as many objects between us as possible.

“You really are a beautiful thing,” she says with a mocking smile. “No wonder they both loved you.”

I have a feeling I know what she’s referencing, but I don’t like her use of the past tense. “What have you done to Derek?”

“Don’t worry, little thing. I haven’t done anything to him yet.” She’s still moving, but so am I, climbing over the ottoman, stepping behind my small couch. “What I’m about to do to you, however, will hurt him like hell.”

“Derek isn’t here. How will you hurt him—” Understanding washes over me, and at the sight of my realization, she lets out another sickening laugh.

Her eyes flame hotter, and panic grips me by the throat. I’ve got to stall for time. I have a wooden bat in my closet. If I can get to it, would that count as a stake?

“So you’re here to kill me?”

“Yesss,” she hisses, moving closer.

I move back. “By killing me you hurt Derek?”

“At least you’re smart. God, how I detest stupid women.” She rolls her evil eyes, and my brain scrambles.

I have to find some way to get out of this room or to get her out of this room. What would stall a vampire? Think, Melissa. Not too long ago, I was one of these creatures. They’re very proud.

“Is this something that can wait?”

My casual tone throws her off. She’s momentarily distracted, but just as fast her expression morphs into irritation.

I hurry on. “I mean, can I just get a glass of wine from the kitchen?”

The random silliness of my question in view of her plan seems to catch her off-guard. She does a little shrug.

“One last drink.” A creepy smile. “It’s been ages since I’ve tasted a good wine.”

In my blood. I’m well aware how that goes.

“Thanks.” Moving fast through the narrow door into my small kitchen. I’m opening and closing cabinets, pretending to get down wine glasses, bottles, when in reality, I’m looking for anything silver, anything that could be a wooden stake.

“I don’t know if I have anything good,” I stall.

“Not surprising.”

Letting that pass. I round the back corner, staring hard into the night. How far could I possibly get if I ran? Idiotic idea. Vampires have super-human speed and night vision. I’d be dead in less than a minute.

I’m backing away from the door when the floor disappears. I’m swept off my feet by something huge and very strong. My stomach plunges as a scream rises in my throat, but a large hand covers my mouth and nose, silencing me.

For a moment, all I can hear is my pulse thundering in my ears. Then I realize I’m being restrained against what feels like a wall of granite by the very arms I’ve dreamt about for weeks.

The torrent of emotions is almost overwhelming, from my irrational fear of the creature in my living room to the ecstatic joy at being back in the arms of the man I love.

I’m not ashamed to say it anymore. I love him. I want to melt into him, but I’m on my feet again.

Derek turns me sharply, his hands gripping my shoulders. Tears of happiness blur my eyes when they meet his for the first time in so long. It doesn’t help that I see my emotions reflected back at me. He hasn’t changed. He hasn’t grown cruel or sinister. If anything, he’s more beautiful.

Holding a finger to his lips, he doesn’t speak. He points to his ear then motions to the living room. He’s listening to her? He motions for me to go back to where that creature is waiting. Nothing in me wants to do what he’s asking. I want to stay right here. Let her come find me. My hunter will finish her.

His brow lowers in a pleading manner. He needs me to go back in there. Why? What is he trying to learn? My next response proves I truly must love this man. I nod. I put my life in his hands. I agree to go back into that living room and try to stall my death, hoping she’ll say whatever Derek needs to hear. I don’t even know where to begin.

He gives me a warm grin, and it’s like a shot of drugs. I smile through my fear and start to move. Maybe whatever he’s hoping she’ll say is the key to us being together. He’s here in my house, after all. That’s a huge step forward. Derek’s a vampire now. If she tries to hurt me, I have to believe he’s fast enough to stop her.

On jelly legs I walk back into the living room, my trust in him my only strength.

When she sees me, her monster-face twists. “I thought you were getting wine.”

“Ahh…” Looking down, I wring my fingers. “No corkscrew.”

She doesn’t believe me. “You were in there a long time to come back empty handed.”

Faster than I can see, she’s across the room, gripping my upper arms and jerking my body to hers. A little yelp of pain escapes me at her sudden attack. Her grip is like the Jaws of Life, and I know with cold certainty she could snap my neck before the scream left my lips.

“That’s right, princess.” Her nose almost touches mine. “Fear me.”

I’m breathing fast, fumbling for anything to help Derek. “What do you want?”

“We already discussed this.” She throws me onto the sofa so hard it scratches across the floor.

She can hear my heart beating wildly, I know. Derek can hear it as well. I only pray she doesn’t do something he can’t anticipate.

Trying again, I ask. “But why do you want to hurt Derek?”

Climbing onto the sofa, she grabs my hands. “Let me tell you a little story.” Stretching my arms out, she studies the network of blue veins on my wrists. For a moment every muscle in my body tenses, anticipating her bite.

“The scene is seven years ago, Princeton.” She releases me, and I start to breathe again. “You were likely graduating college. I was lamenting turning three hundred.”

Blinking fast, I ponder her statement. Three hundred… she’s very strong. Princeton… I’ve never been there, but it’s where Derek lives. Derek is in my kitchen.

“It was vanity, but alas, I’m a vampire. We’re vain creatures. Remember?”

Her green eyes fix on mine, and with a little gleam my heart stops. She knows I was a hybrid. Her visit isn’t only about Derek. It’s also about Sloan.

Eye-contact broken, she rises from the couch and promenades across my living room in her green dress with her red hair swaying down her back as if she’s on stage.

“I’d never fallen in love.” She pauses at my end table lifting a picture of my mother and me on the beach. “I was alone for eternity. I was about to give up and fade away…”

The clock ticks softly as I wait. Finally, “And?”

“I met him.”

“S-Sloan Reynolds?” My voice is small. I’ve met Sloan’s maker.

Her head jerks around to me. “No. That came later.”

“I don’t understand.” I’m shaking my head. “If not Sloan…”

“Andre was beautiful. Elegant. French.” Her eyes close as if she’s remembering. “He was a DJ, and his music entranced me. I wanted to dance all night to it.”

Vampires are easily distracted, I think. All emotions.

“What happened to him?”

She looks at me as if I’m stupid. “I turned him, of course. We had only just begun our legacy of love… running through the woods, killing at random, pouring their blood on us as we writhed in ecstasy. Did you have sex as a vampire?”

The question catches me off-guard. “Yes,” I say softly.

“Then you know.” Again she circles my living room. “We were in heaven for six glorious months. Six unbelievable months…” She stops, and her voice fills with sadness. “In the span of three hundred years, it was like a whisper on the wind.”

She’s quiet for so long, I begin to wonder if she’s forgotten why she’s here. “What happened?”

In a flash, she’s sitting on me. I scream as she straddles my lap, her hands on my neck, her eyes flashing fire straight into mine. “They MURDERED him! Your fucking great white hunter gunned him down like a dog in the night.”

Struggling for air, I twist beneath her weight. She has me pinned, but she relaxes her stranglehold on my throat. Lowering to my face, she smiles. “Don’t feel sorry for me. I killed his first love. Now I’ll kill his second.”

Her eyes widen hideously, and her mouth opens allowing her fangs to stretch long and pointed. A scream from the depths of my will to live rips through my throat, and in that instant I become light as a feather. I seem to rise off the sofa, and it takes me a second to realize she’s gone. Her teeth never made contact, and her weight is off my stomach.

Opening my eyes, I see her in the air. Derek has her by the neck, holding her high, staring with a ferocity I’ve never seen in his eyes. Her green stilettoes kick so fast they’re a blur, and she’s scratching at his large hands, emitting the most blood-curdling screeches. I want to cover my ears and scream to drown out the terrible sounds.

“This ends tonight, demon.” With those words, a crunching sound of bones breaking fills the room. I pull a pillow to my eyes, afraid to watch as he grinds every bone in her neck to powder with his bare hand.

The dull thud of his boots makes me lower the pillow. He’s stalking out of the house. One hand is fisted in her hair, and he drags her limp body behind him like a rag doll. He’s out the door, and I jump off the couch to see what happens next.

I stop on my side porch, peeking around the doorjamb at my love. Two swift moves, and her head is separated from her body. A flash of orange, and he drops the lighter on her corpse. The heap of dead vampire bursts into flames.

He stands over the burning pile, his shoulders rising and falling rapidly with his breath, and I want to go to him. At the same time, I know he needs this moment. He needs to feel this satisfaction. Finally, he has the justice he sought for so long.