an early flight. If I need anything else, Iâll send for it.â
âDo I mean anything to you?â
He looked at her then, full in the face. âYouâre my legacy,â he said, and walked out the door.
She wept, of course, stood there alone with spring wafting in on the pretty breeze.
She cancelled her date, spent her birthday alone in the house. A few days later, she sat, alone again, in the cemetery, preparing to destroy what the boy sheâd cared for had become.
For the rest of her life she would wonder if sheâd kept that date, would he have lived?
Now she stood in the bedroom of her Boston apartment, facing the man in whom sheâd poured all her love, and her hopes. âJeremy, please, letâs sit down. We need to talk about this.â
âTalk?â There was still dull shock in his eyes as he shoved clothing into a duffle. âI canât talk about this. I donât want to know about this. Nobody should know about this.â
âI did it wrong.â She reached out, had him shrug her away in a gesture so sharp and dismissive she felt it cut her to the bone. âI shouldnât have taken you out, shown you. But you wouldnât believe me when I tried to tell you.â
âThat you kill vampires? What was I thinking, not believing you?â
âI had to show you. We couldnât get married if you didnât know everything. It wasnât fair to you.â
âFair?â He whirled toward her, and she saw it clearly on his face. Not just the fear, not just the rage. Disgust. âThis is fair? You lying and deceiving me all this time?â
âI didnât lie. I omitted, and Iâm sorry. God, Iâm so sorry, but it wasnât something I could tell you when we firstâ¦and then I didnât know how to tell you what I was, what I do.â
âWhat you are is a freak.â
She jerked her head back as if heâd slapped her. âIâm not a freak. I know youâre upset, butââ
âUpset? I donât know who you are, what you are. Christ, what Iâve been sleeping with all these months. But I know this. I want you to stay away from me, away from my family, my friends.â
âYou need time. I get that, butââ
âIâve given you all the time youâre going to get. It makes me sick to look at you.â
âThatâs enough.â
âItâs past enough. Do you think I could be with you, that I could touch you again after this?â
âWhatâs wrong with you?â she demanded. âWhat I did saved lives. It would have killed people, Jeremy. It would have hunted and killed innocent people. I stopped it.â
âIt doesnât exist.â He dragged the duffle off the bed theyâd shared for nearly six months. âWhen I walk out of here, it doesnât exist, and neither do you.â
âI thought you loved me.â
âLooks like we were both wrong.â
âSo you walk out,â she said quietly, âand I cease to be.â
âThatâs right.â
Not the first time, she thought, no, not the first. The only other man sheâd loved had done the same. Slowly, she drew the diamond from her finger. âYouâd better have this back.â
âI donât want it. I donât want anything thatâs touched you.â He strode to the door, glanced back once. âHow do you live with yourself?â
âIâm all Iâve got,â she said to the empty room. Then she set the ring on the dresser, lowered to the floor and wept.
Men are vile creatures, really. Using women up, casting them aside. Leaving them alone and broken. Better to leave them first, isnât it? Better yet to pay them back, and leave them bleeding.
Sick and tired of being the one left behind, arenât you? And all the fighting, all the death. I can help you with that. Iâd so like to help you.
Why donât we talk