Chapter 35
Chapter
Thirty-Five
Vampires never aged. He looked the same as when he was in that basement. Blond-haired and blue-eyed, skin as pale and smooth as marble, and long, dark eyelashes.
Looking at him now, as an adult, it registered in the back of my brain that he was beautiful.
He took a step forward.
“No.” I pushed my palm out. “No closer.”
“Who is this?” Evie whispered.
“What are you doing here?”
Liaza looked at Evie, his brows flicking up as if he recognized her. Maybe he did. She hadn’t been exactly incognito over the last couple of years.
“I come here yearly,” Liaza said, his voice hoarse. “Hoping I might one day see you again.”
I stared. “Why in the world would you want to do that?”
He held his hands out. “Because you are my greatest regret, Moira.”
Liaza bowed his head. “I have no excuse for what I did. I was a desperate man driven to do a terrible deed, and there has not been a day in my life since then when I have not regretted what I’d done.”
His words might have meant something back then, but now they were pebbles tossed at a brick wall. “You turned a child.”
He nodded. “I’m not sure how you are no longer a child, but I would be interested in hearing your story. If you wish to tell me.”
“I don’t.”
Liaza nodded and briefly squeezed his eyes shut. “Why have you come?”
“I’m looking for anything my mother might have left behind.”
Liaza tilted his head and studied me, his eyes beginning to glow. I tensed and was about to scream at Evie to get the hell out of there, when he sighed. “You are not well.”
I blinked in surprise. “Excuse me?”
“You need blood, Moira. Something has happened to you. I can sense your weakness.”
“How?” I snapped.
A faint smile touched his lips. “As much as I wish it were not so, you are my child. I would recognize you anywhere, and as such, I would know if you were suffering.” He paused. “And you are.”
I took a step back. Evie moved closer.
Liaza sighed. “I wish you would not look at me so. I mean you no harm.”
I cracked a laugh. “Just like you meant me no harm all those years ago?”
“Moira—” Evie reached for my hand.
Liaza clicked his tongue. “None of that.” He lifted a hand. A gust of wind sent Evie hurtling away, her screech of rage ripping through the air.
In a burst of startling speed, Liaza was suddenly in my face. “Come,” he whispered.
His hand wrapped around my arm in a bruising grip. “Someone awaits you, and we must attend her.”
I tried to tear myself away, but Liaza was far older and stronger than me. He smiled and ripped me through the woods, carrying me as if I weighed no more than a rag doll.
With dawning realization, I knew exactly who we were going to see.
And I knew who’d sent me that dream.