Page 122 of Cursed Lifeline

Look at me, baby - my heart pleads.

Baby.

It seems fitting that I call her that in her third life, seeing as she’s the only thing I’ve ever longed to care for and protect.

Dimitri and Talon flank my side as I sit in my chair and we watch Esme move through the club like a viper slithering close to its unsuspecting prey and waiting for the perfect time to strike.

“She’s not trouble,” I whisper as I deny my heart what it wants most.

To run to her. To hold her in my arms. To calm my heart's frantic beating with her welcoming embrace so I can put the nightmares I’ve been suffering from behind me.

But the truth is, nightmares bring clarity. Force focus. Require you to look at what you’re most frightened of.

Protecting Esme has always been my number one priority.

In the past, I did so by keeping her close.

Scared to lose her, I failed to realize the closer we became, the more my priority for her safety was clouded by the desire to give into our craving for one another.

Unlike the dream I just had, I don’t fear her running a stake through my heart. If that’s how our time together ends this lifetime, so be it. What I fear most is getting too close and not seeing the hidden dangers lurking around every corner.

“No,” Dimitri sighs, “She’s not trouble. But they are.”

Pointing towards a dark shadow making its way towards her, the eyes of her apparent attacker slowly lift. I take in his hungry expression, his ravenous intent and instantly rise and start to make my way towards the door.

“The Revenant coven,” I hiss.

“You’ll want to see this,” Dimitri shouts after me.

Glancing back over my shoulder, several other cloaked figures emerge through the entrance of the club and follow the first through the crowd.

With capes covering their heads and mysterious dark fabric veiling their eyes, it’s hard for mortals to make out who they are as they disguise their form and keep to the shadows.

“Should I call security?” Dimitri asks.

Watching the scene unfold, I’m oddly reminded of shadows cast by flickering sconces that quickly performed a dreary scene.

A foreboding dance.

A girl. A boy. A chase.

Forbidden love. Sudden death.

“I’m the only security she needs,” I growl.

Talon chuckles. “Same shit, different life.”

Before I can tell him to watch his mouth, the phone rings, and Dimitri picks it up as Esme drifts out of sight.

“They’re headed for the card tables at the back of the club,” he says a moment later as he hangs up the receiver.

“Should we follow them?” Talon asks. When I don’t respond, he says, “Do you think Esme baited them here?”

“She doesn’t know whose club this is,” I say, baffled by the realization.

“Wrong,” Dimitri scoffs. “She’s called to you just as much as you’re destined to find her. The question is, does she come in peace, or is a war that’s been building for almost the last three centuries about to unleash?”

Forty Two

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