Her eyes shut, and she lets a few tears drip down her face. No doubt her sensitive nature is struggling with the bloodshed she so recently faced. Even after being around Emit’s true monster, she’s here.

The sweet girl loves the dark monsters.

“You’ll do fine for as long as your mortal life allows,” I add, my smile only growing as I turn away, heading back into the shadows.

I pause when I hear her speaking, and I quickly turn back around, wondering who in the hell she’s speaking to.

“You’re missing a lot,” she says quietly…to absolutely no one.

I get closer, peering inside, finding the kitchen utterly empty.

“Don’t worry, Anna,” she goes on, only farther confounding me, since she’s talking to a dead ghost, who certainly no longer exists. “I’m going to make this right somehow.”

Poor gypsy is still in denial about her best friend’s latest death. No wonder she’s not a basket of tears over the dreadful ghost.

Grief is a mysterious and powerful thing indeed. Luckily for Emit, it also makes a woman vulnerable. I suppose that’s how Damien lucked his way into her body.

Matters not how we get the girl, so long as we all get her and she becomes ours.

Maybe Idun will finally regret her crimes against us when we select such a precious replacement and prove to her we don’t need her to be a unit.

It’s not like we can keep the bitch away forever. All the darkest secrets rise eventually.

No matter how well or deeply they’re buried.

That problem isn’t one we’ll have to deal with any time soon. For now, the only thing I’m focused on is Violet Portocale and the new era she represents.

So far, she’s proving to be more than worth the effort.

Despite the heavy snowfall, there’s a little pep in my step as I head to the address Shera gave me for a nest of unregistered vampires I get to eat.

This has been one hell of a good week.

END OF BOOK 2