CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE || ELI
“How did you meet?” I asked Jeremy a few minutes later. I fished a bottle of water out of Nicolas’s fridge—he must have started stocking it for me at some point, and I had barely even noticed—and then handed it to Jeremy.
“It was a spell,” Jeremy explained. He handed the bottle back to me. “Also, you ought to drink that. I don’t need it.”
“Oh, right. Huh. I guess you’re probably a… vampire… too.” I hesitated around the word. Vampires and magic spells—my life had gotten immensely strange, much faster than I might have imagined possible.
“Well, I was a werewolf before I became a vampire,” Jeremy said casually, as though he were telling me the time of day. “Now I’m both.”
“Ah.” Vampire–werewolf hybrid. Sure, why the hell not?
“Yeah, it was a whole thing.”
“Right.”
The dark-haired vampire who had attacked Nicolas—Godric—had stepped outside without a word when the brothers were embracing. Now Jeremy and I both stood awkwardly in the kitchen, trying to give them some space.
But Jeremy’s eyes were still wet, the corners of his mouth seemed ready to tug upward into a smile, and his gaze kept drifting toward the living room. I understood the sentiment exactly. After so long alone, Nicolas had his brother back. And, I supposed, so did Thierry.
I had sensed the tidal wave of emotion that had crashed over my vampire at seeing his brother—the realization that they were going to be brothers again, that he wanted to try, at least. There was no sense pretending I hadn’t felt all of that from him.
Somehow, I was picking up on Nicolas’s emotions. It didn’t make rational sense, but the rules of reality as I had always known them had flown out the window the day I met him. And though it was confusing and unsettling, I wouldn’t have traded it for anything.
“I’m guessing Nicolas is your first experience with the supernatural?”
“Mostly,” I said. “But I guess I’ve had memories my entire life of being someone else. I thought they were just weird dreams…”
Jeremy’s gaze snapped to mine, and his brows rose. “Wait. You’re an old soul?”
“Jury’s out on that,” I said with a shrug. “That’s what Nicolas thinks.”
“How was he when you guys first met?” Jeremy asked, frowning. “How did you get past all the killing?”
“I didn’t know about it at first. I just found out recently.”
“How long have you two been together?”
“About two months, I guess.”
“That tracks,” Jeremy said thoughtfully. “That’s about when Thierry and I first met.”
“Oh,” I said lamely. “It seemed like it had been longer.”
But wait—how were those things connected? Why should it track that Nicolas and I had met around the same time Thierry and Jeremy had?
“We’re blood-bonded,” Jeremy replied, before I could ask the question I really wanted to know. “So basically, we’re in each other’s heads all the time.” His lips split into a grin. “It speeds up the getting-to-know-you process.”
His strange words drove my questions out of my mind. Instead, I asked, “What’s a blood bond?”
Jeremy’s smile faltered and then vanished. “Wait—what, exactly, has Nicolas told you?”
I frowned toward the living room. “Not enough, apparently.”
“Have you shared blood with him?”
I thought back to Eric’s attack. Nicolas had given me his blood to save my life.
“He’s given me his blood,” I said. “I was dying.”
“I know the feeling,” Jeremy replied with a nod. “Vampire attack?”
“Ex-boyfriend.”
“Must have been one hell of a breakup. And now you’re sensing Nicolas’s thoughts and emotions?”
I stared at him, surprise tearing through me. “How could you know that? I haven’t said anything yet. I thought I was going crazy. Or maybe I was imagining it.”
“The same thing happened to me after the first time Thierry saved my life. I was picking up on his thoughts and feelings loud and clear, even when I wasn’t trying to. Of course, that got way stronger when we sealed the bond.”
“The bond,” I repeated, staring at him.
“Yeah,” Jeremy said, abruptly uncomfortable. “You know what? I’ve got a big mouth. I ought to let Nicolas explain it to you. It’s probably not my place.”
I considered pushing him to say more, but he was right—I wanted to hear this from Nicolas, not Jeremy.
“It’s weird he hasn’t explained the rules to you,” Jeremy said, frowning. “Maybe his humanity isn’t fully back yet or something.”
I gripped the bottle of water tight enough to make the plastic crackle. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.” His implication—that Nicolas was somehow broken—sent a flash of anger through me.
Jeremy’s eyebrows shot up.
“He didn’t want to frighten me,” I explained tightly. “He’s been trying to make this whole thing easier on me.”
And the moment I spoke the words, I knew they were true.
“You love him,” Jeremy said, watching me steadily. “It’s not just magic or fate. It’s him.”
“Why would that be surprising?”
“He’s a killer, for starters.”
“He’s probably saved more lives than he’s taken,” I shot back, hating the note of judgment in Jeremy’s tone.
Though, I’d had the same reaction myself, hadn’t I?
And it wasn’t as though I condoned Nicolas killing anyone, regardless of who they were or what they had done.
But there was a big difference between him and most serial killers: he didn’t take innocent lives—instead, he stopped the dangerous ones who hurt innocent people.
Though he might not have had noble intentions, that didn’t undo the side effects of his actions.
In his own roundabout way, he had spent centuries sparing the lives of people he’d never even meet. And his intent didn’t change that.
Jeremy frowned at me, his eyebrows drawing together in confusion, as though he were preparing to grill me on what, precisely, I had meant. Then he paused, cocking his head to the side. “They’re done.”
I stared at him, surprise overriding my temper. “How could you possibly know that?”
Jeremy’s expression became bemused, the corners of his mouth tugging up in a faint smile. “You’ll understand sooner or later. Probably sooner, is my guess.”
Then, without another word, he led the way out of the kitchen. Feeling off-kilter, I followed behind him.
* * *
By the time we walked into the living room, the difference between Thierry and my vampire was night and day.
They sat side by side on the couch. Nicolas’s arm was slung over Thierry’s shoulder, and there were broad smiles on both their faces.
Their eyes were still glassy, and Thierry’s were red-rimmed, but their matching expressions were filled with unselfconscious joy.
My heart practically stopped in my chest at the shining light in both their faces. Had I ever seen Nicolas quite so happy? It made my heart ache to see it—in a way that told me just how far gone I was for him.
Memories, sudden and strong, rose in my mind: Nicolas and Thierry in sunlight, walking down a packed-earth street, narrow stone buildings with thatched roofs on either side, both brothers deep in conversation. My heart had gone pitter-pat then as well, just the same as it did now.
Yes, I was in love with Nicolas.
And when my vampire met my gaze, his smile became a grin, his eyes dancing. And I didn’t need to be told again that he felt precisely the same way.
And that simple truth blotted everything else out. Whatever else happened, we could manage anything that came our way—so long as we were together.