“I don’t like that sound of defeat in your voice.”
“I don’t either, but sometimes we have to face the truth, no matter how much it hurts.”
“Why do I think this has as much to do with Campbell as the diner?”
Olivia shrugged. “Maybe it’s just time for a change, a big one.”
Mindy glanced beyond Olivia. “Hold that thought.” She grabbed the remote control for the TV and turned it up. “Look.”
Olivia turned and was stunned to see Campbell on TV, Colin at his side.
“With us outside the studio tonight is Campbell Raines, the head of the team of vampires who rescued the eight human abductees from that vampire nightclub two nights ago. Mr. Raines is a former NYPD officer. With him is Colin O’Shea, a former firefighter with the FDNY.”
Olivia stood motionless as she listened to the reporter ask Campbell and Colin question after question, and they answered, sharing with the viewing public all the information Campbell had shared with her. The differences between Souled and Soulless vampires, the Imperium, vampire law.
“But none of this changes the precautions humans should take,” Campbell said. “The night is still deadly, and humans should stay indoors after sundown. It’s the only way to ensure their safety.”
“I can’t believe they’re doing this,” Mindy said.
“Me neither.” Everyone they used to know would see them and know that they’d not perished during the pandemic or at the hands of vampires, that they had in fact become vampires.
“I understand you have something else you want to share with our viewing audience tonight,” the reporter said.
“Yes.” Campbell looked directly into the camera that must have been mounted outside the TV station and handled remotely from inside. “A private party has purchased an apartment building here in Manhattan and will be donating it for housing for the homeless, a safe place for them to live.”
“Is this private party a vampire, and if so, how does that make the homeless any safer than they’d be on the streets?”
“Because the title to the property will be transferred to a human before anyone moves in.”
“Which human?”
“Her name is Olivia DaCosta, and she already works with the homeless, taking them meals when no one else will. She’s put her own life at risk to help those society has continued to forget in the wake of the Bokor virus and the emergence of vampires.”
Olivia lifted her hand to cover a gasp. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“This is the Olivia DaCosta who prevented a kidnapping recently, then was a victim of one earlier this week?”
“Yes. Olivia is a remarkable person, strong, determined,” Campbell said. “Not only does she help the less fortunate, but she’s been able to see something in me that I couldn’t even see myself.”
“And what would that be?”
“My humanity, that I’m not a monster just because I was attacked. That with obvious differences, I’m still the man I was before I was turned. But it’s cost her. People who can’t see the same things have abandoned her diner, leaving her without the means to support herself or her employee. She’s done nothing wrong, and yet she’s paying the price.”
“It sounds as if you care for Miss DaCosta.”
“I do. I love her.”
“Oh, Olivia,” Mindy said, and grabbed her hand.
Olivia was too stunned by Campbell’s public declaration of love to respond. She just kept staring at the TV screen, even after the video feed cut away from Campbell and Colin. The two TV anchors looked stunned.
“I don’t know what to make of the past few days, Frank,” the woman said to her co-anchor.
“I’m right there with you, Candice. Only time will tell what new revelations will come from the vampire community. But remember what Mr. Raines said, ladies and gentlemen. This makes no difference in just how dangerous the world continues to be at night.”
When the news shifted to the weather, Mindy lifted the remote and turned off the TV.
Olivia continued to stare at the black television screen. “Did that just happen?”
“Unless you and I are having the same dream, yes, it did.”
Olivia felt Campbell’s presence before she saw him. Slowly, she turned in her seat to see him standing outside.
“I suddenly feel the need to be anywhere but here,” Mindy said.
Olivia paid her no attention as she crossed to the front door and opened it. “I saw the news,” she said. She had no idea how to voice everything she was feeling. All she knew was that she wanted to grab him and never let go.
“Mindy,” Campbell said.
“Yeah?” she said.
“Colin will take you home.”
Suddenly, Colin stood in the doorway, too, his forearm propped against the outside since he couldn’t cross the invisible barrier.
“No, I’ll stay here tonight.” Even though Mindy had thawed a little toward Campbell and his team, Olivia doubted her deep fear of vamps would ever go away.
Colin gave Mindy a crooked grin that Olivia knew was meant to help alleviate her fear. “You’re safe from me. I couldn’t drink from you even if I wanted to. I do and I die, for good this time. So you have a choice. You either allow me to take you home or you can stay here and listen to these two make wild monkey love all night. I’d vote for going with me. I’m really kind of fun to be around.”
Campbell made a sound of frustration, and Olivia’s face flamed with embarrassment. Mindy stood slowly and pulled a wooden stake from where she’d hidden it in her waistband below her shirt.
Colin placed his hand over his heart. “Now you’re just hurting my feelings.”
“He won’t hurt you,” Olivia said. “He’s the one who carried you out of the club.”
Mindy averted her gaze, but not before Olivia saw that Mindy remembered what Colin had done without being reminded. She sensed a struggle going on in her friend—the beliefs she’d held for so long against the fact that she was standing across from the vampires who had saved her life.
“I’m leaving in thirty seconds. Your call—monkey sex sounds or my sterling taxi service.” He retreated to the truck to wait.
Mindy rolled her eyes and muttered something about big egos but approached the door nonetheless. She paused and looked up at Campbell. “How you ended up with that for a best friend has got to be one of life’s great mysteries.”
“He has his good qualities.”
“If you say so.”
Her hand firmly around the stake, Mindy glanced up and down the street and headed for the armored truck. Colin sped off the moment she got her door closed.
“Alone at last,” Campbell said.
“Whatever will we do with ourselves?”
He gave her a wicked grin. “I have a few ideas.”
She tugged him inside, and he locked the door behind him. In a blink, he lifted her in his arms and made quick work of the stairs up to her apartment. When he placed her on her feet, she lifted to her toes, took his face in her hands and kissed him. With an animal sound that had nothing to do with him being a vampire, he pulled her close against him and deepened the kiss until her head spun.
When their lips parted, she said, “I’ve missed you so much. I was afraid you were never coming back.”
“I considered staying away. I thought it would be easier for you.”
She leaned back so she could meet his eyes. “How could living without you make my life easier? I’ve already lost one man I love. I don’t want to go through that again.”
“It could happen. Every day that I go out and do my job, it could happen. That’s one of the reasons I wanted to shield you.”
She bit her lip at the thought of him dying the final death. “I choose not to think of that. But if it’s a choice between living with that knowledge but having you in my life and not having you at all, I know which one I’ll choose. Every time.”