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Perry hustled, having sensed an unknown vampire on the floor above him, but things weren’t going according to the greater plan. If Eoghan didn’t intervene, his controlled outcomes would quickly become a tangled web. His newest destination lay not far away, in South Carolina.
Within seconds, he found himself centered in a large white room. At a mirror on the far wall stood Maysun, her finger hooked under her upper lip as she studied her teeth. She released her lip as she turned away from the mirror and frowned.
Closing her eyes, she stood only feet from him. He considered speaking, and then sensed the inner exploration Maysun engaged in was more important.
Once again, disappointment covered her beautiful face, then her expression brightened. Without opening her eyes, her body tilted backward at a severe angle, and then she was upright once more. The Source swept through the room, bringing strength and joy to her. The entire white room glowed with a marvelous light. Even Eoghan felt its potency. As he watched his ex-lover enveloped in the divine energy, his heart lifted. Then, as the Source released its hold, the faint emotion faded as well.
Maysun opened her eyes, unsettled. She pivoted, bracing herself for a dash across the room, saw him, and hesitated.
“Eoghan?” she breathed, as if she hadn’t seen him in years instead of mere days.
“Yes?”
She took a half step forward, her eyes semi-squinted as she took in his form. “You look—so young,” she said.
He’d forgotten that he hadn’t bothered to revert to his ageless body. “Would you rather I—?”
She shook her head and waved a hand. “No. No, it’s fine. You—you don’t have to...” The words died, and she dropped her head.
“What’s wrong, May?” It was a dumb question, but he had to ask.
“Everything! Our daughter... I didn’t know how to find her, so I killed myself. Brilliant solution, I know, but it was all I could come up with—I panicked. I spoke with God, one of them, and He said He’d help me find her, but at a price. He sent me back to Earth as a vampire. Now she’s downstairs, but I don’t know how to approach her, because I’m a vampire, and a group of vampires tried to drive her out of her mind, tried to sire her, but failed. She’s got to be terrified of vampires and—” she stopped. “I’m babbling, aren’t I? And all this is pointless because you knew it all to begin with.”
He held out his arms, but she shook her head.
“It wouldn’t be the same. You wouldn’t mean it.”
He tried to look consoling. “But you would.”
She fled to his arms, burying her head into his chest, and breathed him in. The familiar scent of him was like a balm to her frazzled spirits. He wrapped his long arms around her, dug his hands into her hair the way he always did. Maysun clung forcefully, sobbed twice, then pulled in a long, shaking breath, preparing to speak.
“You feel different,” she said, relaxing her grip. “You’re not you anymore.”
“Neither are you.”
She pulled away, still sobbing in shaky gulps, but more composed. She brushed unshed tears from the corners of her eyes and then put her hands on her hips.
“Why are you here? I’m guessing you’re going to intervene in my life. Are you going to stop me from talking to Amara? Because let me tell you, it’s going to be—”
“I’m here to help you.”
Her arms fell to her sides as her tough posture dropped. “You are?”
Eoghan nodded. “She’s left the house and locked you inside.”
“I can open doors, Eoghan. I don’t need a key. I’m the equivalent of a sixteen-hundred-year-old vampire. More or less.”
“Yes. But can you find her?”
“What do you mean?”
“Try to find her.”
Closing her eyes, Eoghan sensed her tapping into the Source, reaching outward for Amara, then the vampire with her. She frowned. Her brow creased. Her mouth pursed slightly as she tried harder to find them, but her search ended with a frustrated shake of her head.
“I can’t do it. How is she able to block me?”
“She’s not a vampire, for one. She’s a new sort of creature, one the world’s never seen. And Perry, despite his good intentions, has his roots in the Maleficence, which you’ve discovered you can’t use anymore.”
“She’s with a member of the Shévet ha Dam?”
“Perry is a soul verging on becoming one of the good guys. He wants to do what’s right, but he fears death too much to commit.”
“Amara isn’t in danger?”
“Not immediately, no. But Charles will be after her. He’ll believe she can help him uncover the secret to vampirism and may also help him to tip the world to the Maleficence.”
“Do you think it’ll work?”
Her question surprised him. “No, I don’t.”
Maysun looked down, her eyes darting back and forth as she thought.
“You’re not alone,” she said.
“What’d you say?”
“You’re not alone.” She eyed the door, clearly ached to dash through it, and then faced him once more. “There are several of you—those who control the Balance, and there are several souls like Charles and Vivian, affecting the balance of right and wrong. Charles might sway one of the others. He might be right.”
Eoghan’s mind reeled. Other Balances? He hadn’t sensed them. Why hadn’t he sensed them?
“I’d like to go now,” Maysun said. Eoghan blinked.
“Yes, of course.” He extended his hand. She accepted it, and before he pulled away and vanished, he placed her at the moment where she had no choice but to be noticed: in the street of a suburban neighborhood staring down the headlights of an oncoming blue SUV.
