A look of regret flashed over Pablo’s face.
Ana shook her head. “Bobbie, too? Did you—did you—?”
“No, m’ija. He was doing a job for me. Talking to a few men who were in the bar before Ty killed Louis. I wanted to be sure what Ty meant to you, and Bobbie was helping me with that. Unfortunately, Louis’s friends were stronger than Bobbie thought. They killed him. But I took care of them. For you, but also for him. Bobbie was loyal to me. I owed him that. I should have protected him, but I’m happy I didn’t fail you, Ana. I want only for you to be at peace at last. Happy.”
Had he protected her? She supposed he had in some way. But he hadn’t been in time to save her. Nor had Ty. Not to save her from Gloria. She’d had to do it herself.
“Ty … I heard him.” “In my head, just like before …”
Pablo smiled and nodded. “It’s a rare talent, even for vampires, the ability to connect minds with someone, even from a distance. I can do it. Obviously so can Ty.”
Yes, she thought. A very powerful thing. She looked down at Miguel, then her sister, but strangely, she felt no grief.
How could she not feel grief for the boy she’d once loved? For her sister, who’d meant everything to her. It was as if her heart had frozen over. Even hearing Pablo refer to the vampire she loved—Ty—felt strange. Distant. As if that love was still there, but encased by layers and layers of ice.
She shivered and shook with cold, and thought of how cold Ty had been when she’d first met him. Was that what was happening to her? Was her body temperature dropping as she lost her humanity?
She turned to Ty. “Miguel was going to kill me,” she said slowly. “I—told him to change me instead. He bit me. Am I—?”
“Pablo stopped him,” Ty said in a low voice. “But not quite in time. The process has already started. He says he can still stop it, though, Ana. He just needs you to tell him to do it.”
He said it with relief but no hint of envy. As if he were glad she could regain her humanity. But what had being human given her? Nothing. It had left her a victim to the whims of fate. Why shouldn’t she want to be something stronger? Something more powerful?
Her thoughts shamed her. Reminded her that Miguel and Gloria had coveted that power, too. But even through her shame, she couldn’t deny she wanted something more than her humanity could give her. “Do you hate what I am now?” she asked him.
Ty looked shocked by her words. “No. No, I could never hate you. I’m only thankful that you’ll live.”
“How can you suddenly lie? You hate yourself.” Her gaze went to the knife she’d used to kill her sister. Could Ty still use it? Would he?
He gripped her chin and brought her gaze back to his. “I’m not going to kill myself, Ana. I haven’t wanted that for a long time. You’ve changed so many things for me. You showed me my life is still worth living. That I—that I can still love. And if I can still love you as I am, then I’m not the monster I thought.”
“You really love me?” she whispered.
“I can’t lie, remember? But ask Pablo. He’s been in my head. Isn’t that right, Pablo?” He glared at the other vampire, who merely nodded.
“He loves you more than himself, Ana. More than his next breath.”
“That’s right,” Ty said. “But you don’t need to hear him say it to believe it. You heard my thoughts before. You know I love you. That I don’t want to live without you.”
The ice surrounding her heart seemed to melt slightly. “I did hear you. I just wasn’t sure if I’d been imagining things.”
He took her hand. “You weren’t. You heard me and you did the right thing. The only thing you could do. You saved yourself. And in doing so, you saved me, Ana. Because as long as the world has you in it, it’s a place I never want to leave.”
She couldn’t quite feel joy, not with the carnage that surrounded them. But she knew what she wanted to do. She turned to Pablo. “I love him, too. I don’t want you to stop the turning process.”
“Ana, no!” Ty said, but she saw what he couldn’t hide. She saw his hope.
“I want to live forever if I can. With Ty.”
Ty grasped her hand tighter, then lifted it to kiss it. “Are you sure, Ana? The turning process is … I mean, it won’t be easy.”
“Will you stay with me? Help me with it?”
“Of course.”
“And afterward? Will you want me for an eternity?”
“Forever will never be long enough.”
“Then I’m sure,” she said. “I’ve never been surer of anything in my whole life.”
Ty’s face lit up. She’d been wrong. It was possible to feel grief and profound joy at the same time. She was feeling it now.
Because she had a chance at a future with Ty.
She kissed him then. They kissed for a long, long time.
When they finally pulled apart, Pablo was gone. And so were the bodies of Miguel and Gloria. He’d taken them with him, once again protecting her, this time from the pain of disposing of their bodies.
“Do you think we’ll see him again?” Ana asked.
“I don’t know. He came when you needed him, but odds are he’s been working with Gloria and Miguel. He could have been giving the orders.” If that was true, then Pablo was a Rogue, and it would be their duty to take him down.
“Now what? Because Miguel said this was a trap, Ty. They knew we were coming here and why. They were supposed to kill us.”
“I read Carly’s mind, Ana. Whoever is playing us played her, too. We just need to figure out who that is.”
“And the people here? The children?”
“We’ll call Carly and the rest of the team. They’ll help us talk to everyone, and we’ll make sure we bring them someplace safe. Then we need to call in the Strange Phenom brass from the FBI.”
“Even though you don’t know who to trust?”
He nodded. “We have to pretend we’re still operating in the dark. Belladonna must continue its work. That’s the only way we’re going to find out the truth behind why we were sent here and why we were set up. It’s the only way we’re going to be safe. Because even though vampires are immortal—”
“They can still die,” she said, automatically thinking of Miguel and Gloria again. Someday she would be able to grieve for them.
But for now … for now she was going to focus her energy on what mattered.
Surviving.
Only this time, she didn’t have only herself to rely on. She had Ty.
CHAPTER
FORTY
An Undisclosed Location
Ty’s eyes flew open and he jerked to a sitting position. It took a moment to orient himself. To realize that he’d been having a nightmare again. Not about being turned or tortured. No, his nightmares were about Ana’s pain now. And how helpless he felt because he couldn’t spare her from it.
Right now, however, Ana’s naked body was curled slightly away from him, her expression soft and relaxed. Her breathing was steady, her body enjoying a much-needed respite from the difficulty of her transition. The tightness in his chest unraveled and he gently reached over, smoothing her hair back from her face, smiling when she instinctively burrowed closer. He stared at her for several more minutes before pulling the sheet over her and then standing.
He was acutely aware of the stiffness of his muscles and the ache in his joints as he dressed. His mind was equally sluggish, insisting on returning again and again to the memory of Ana lying on the ground, bite marks at her throat, choosing to give up her last chance for humanity in order to spend an eternity with Ty—even if that meant spending it as a vampire. And even though he didn’t think of himself as a monster anymore …