Page 101 of Midnight Kiss

“I mean, she’s worried sick about you. We both have been.”

Emily gnawed on the corner of her lip. “Yeah. Well, I’m fine now. Kind of. It’s complicated.”

“You’re not seriously going to leave, are you?” Michael cast a glance back at me.

I shut the front door because the alternative was everyone in the hallway hearing our conversation.

“I don’t have a choice, Mike. There are very powerful vampires coming after me, and Alex is the only one who can protect me,” she said.

“That’s not true, Em. There are the hunters, remember? They’re coming to protect the apartment building. They’re going to attack those assholes who took you and make them pay.”

“And they will die trying,” I said.

“I took down one of those vamps.” Michael attempted to dismiss my words with a wave. “They’re not that tough. And I’m not even that high up in my organization, so yeah, we’ll wipe the floor with them. You don’t have to leave, Em.”

“I do,” she said, her gaze flitting toward mine.

“Why?”

“Because things have changed, Mike. The world has changed. I—It’s not like I can go back to the library and continue working. It’s not like I can live here with you and Morgan and pretend nothing has happened,” I said. “I’ve got to leave. Besides, the longer I stay here, the more it endangers everyone who lives in this building. I’m not going to do that.”

“That’s noble of you, Em, but I’m more concerned about protecting you. And you’re safest here.”

“I’m safest with Alex,” she said. “He understands everything that’s going on.”

A muscle twitched in Michael’s jaw. “But, Em, I love you.”

“That’s enough,” I said. “Enough of this.”

“It’s okay, Alex,” Emily said. “It’s okay. Look, Mike, I know that you have feelings for me, but nothing has changed between us. I’m sorry, but I don’t see you as more than a friend. I love Alex. That’s all there is to it.”

“You love him? You barely know him.”

“I know what kind of person he is,” I said. “The kind who would put everything he believes at risk to save me.”

I walked over to her to lend my support.

“I’m sorry, Mike. You need to leave. Thank you for your help,” she said.

Michael lingered a second then turned and started for the door.

I stepped in front of Emily and took her hands in mine, raising one to my lips and then the other. “You are?—”

Pain spiked in the center of my chest, and I frowned, looking down at the tip of the wooden stake that had penetrated through my back. Emily’s scream rang in my ears as I fell to the floor.

EPILOGUE

CASSIA

“Idon’t usually convene with Sanguine dogs,” I said, crossing my ankles and tapping my fingers atop the cream tablecloth. “But it’s time I make an exception to my rules.”

The restaurant was restricted to vampires only. Perched atop a skyscraper that overlooked Central Park, the glass room rotated slowly, so that the view was ever-shifting. Sanguine Nox owned the entire building—ironic, given that it wasn’t far from the U.C.’s headquarters in the city.

The leader of Sanguine Nox sat across from me, filling the chair with his gangly legs, his hunched spine. He was one of the originals. An ancient creature who had helped spawn generations of vampires.

I should’ve been afraid, but I was past that point. Ancients were terrifying and powerful, but they were weak just like any other being.

Everyone had a pain point, and I was all about exploiting them.

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