*
The ache in Vincent’s chest grew. He wasn’t going to point out Felix would have a fit if he just dropped in on his living girlfriend on a whim, because he figured she was probably right. Now that he knew how much she loved him, he wasn’t sure he had it in him to be noble and leave her the hell alone so she could find some semblance of a real life again.
He turned her around and propelled her up the steps. “I’m right behind you. Get your ass up those stairs before I make you.”
“And what, exactly are you going to do?” She moved up the two steps he’d made her move and then rounded on him again. Her hands planted on her hips. She seemed fully prepared to see how much Vincent might have changed since he’d been dead.
He leaned over so his face was right in hers. “I’ll toss you over my shoulder and haul your ass up there. There is a faction of humans in this time with awesome demon fighting ability. We’re going to see them.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “I kind of like Caleb. I’ll be pissed off if your stubbornness gets him sent to Oblivion.”
*
“You’re a jerk,” she declared. It wasn’t fair of him to bring other people into their problems.
“Didn’t say I was anything different.” He didn’t bother to tell her again. He moved up the steps, putting his shoulder down and scooping her up onto it. He clamped his arm around her legs to keep her from falling—and from kicking him. “Now you can continue to upbraid me without slowing down progress.”
She knotted her fists. While she seriously considered pounding on his back, this staircase didn’t feel at all stable and knocking him off balance would be stupid. Then she scowled at his back as she bounced off him with each step he made. Since when did she care if a move was stupid enough to possibly cause her death?
“Damn idiot,” she muttered. It was all Vincent’s fault. How dare he come back for a week to try to save her life and actually make her do things she’d never have done before all because he said he wanted her to live. The nerve of him.
“Was that me or you?” he asked as they crested the landing.
“Both,” she snarled at him. “You’re an idiot for not trusting me, and I’m an idiot for letting what a dead guy thinks matter.”
He snorted at her as he headed down a dank, filthy hallway. “I’ll agree with the first one.”
Aww, how cute, he was trying to get himself out of trouble. “Put me down, you big brute!”
“Not yet,” he said smoothly. “I kind of like your ass where I can look at it easily.”
She huffed. That was so Vincent. How could a man be so different and yet so the same? “What are we doing here anyway? Are we worried the vampires are going to get me?”
“Supposedly, Draven is already dead here, so he won’t be able to kill you. I am hoping for some time to think before we go back.”
“What is there to think about?” she demanded incredulously.
“How you think death is the answer to everything,” he said as he set her down on her feet in front of a broken plywood board that could be called a door, maybe, in another lifetime.
She crossed her arms over her chest and took a step back into him. “This place is gross.”
“Sorry for that, but I needed some place where vampires weren’t running around causing trouble.” His hand rested on her shoulder as he leaned over to knock on the door.
That was sounding just as suspicious as Caleb’s need for cookies. “Then what does run around here causing trouble.”
“Demons,” he said as if he’d just said daisies.
“And this doesn’t bother you?” Vampires were demons in a human meat suit. The human soul trapped in the body with the demon made it harder for them to go around causing death and destruction, but it allowed them to move around freely in a human world without being noticed. It was why Draven and his minions were so dangerous, but why he wasn’t nearly as dangerous as the demon wanting to drag her into Oblivion.
“A vampire killed you.”
They weren’t getting anywhere fast, and she was irritated and afraid. “So demons are better. Great.”
He turned her around and crouched down in front of her. “A pulse is designed to kill demons. You’re safer here than you are in your time. I won’t lie and say you might not end up dead anyway, but you have a better shot here. At least here you can fight the bad guys easier.”
“But it’s easier for a demon to send you into Oblivion than it is for a vampire, isn’t it?” She asked the question without knowing the answer, but the look on Vincent’s face said her supposition was right.
His jaw worked and he stood up. “Don’t worry about it. Going to Oblivion means your death. I’m not about to let that happen.”
“I love you, too,” she snapped at him. He said it because he loved her. Still loved her, even after he believed the worst of her. He wanted her to live because it was the natural thing to want for the person you loved, even if it went against saving the world.
The rickety door thing opened. Vincent shook his head before Bryna was able to see the person who answered it. “Just a minute.” He pulled Bryna to the other side of the hall and instead of crouching down he hitched her up so they were face-to-face. “I love you, damn it.” He rested his forehead against hers. “I can’t even say I wished I was living again to fix this, because I wouldn’t be able to do what I do if I wasn’t. If my death gives you life, I can’t see that as bad.”
Her face crumpled, and she finally wrapped herself around him. When he put it like that she couldn’t be angry. She closed her eyes to stop the flow of yet more tears. She was beginning to feel selfish for wanting to be with him. She didn’t care if it was in life or in death, she just wanted him. No. She needed him. As much as she could see what dying would do by the stark world around her, it didn’t erase the feeling. Maybe it was because having him back was too new and still a shock.
She forced her eyes to meet his. “I need you. I’m sorry to make this so difficult, I just—I need you.”
Vincent closed his eyes and held her tighter. “I know, my sweet Bryna. You’re strong, and you will get through this. We just have to keep you alive first.”
They did have themselves in a fine mess. She knew she needed to die or Vincent would fail his mission to save the world. He knew she had to live or he failed to save her from herself. She went up on her toes and kissed his cheek. He’d been right, they did need some kind of closure. She hated to say the words, but they needed to be said, no matter how much she needed him. “I’m not the girl you loved. There is no reason for you to hurt yourself over this.”
“Bryna—” he started in a soft timbre.
“No,” she said in a trembling voice. “I need you. I do. But let’s face it. We are not the same people we once were. Whatever love we think we have, it’s just a memory from the past.”
He wrapped his arms around her and rested the side of his face on top of her head. “Wrong. The second I saw you at the cemetery, I knew you still had me. Even when I fought to hate you, I couldn’t. It’s why Felix didn’t send me sooner.”
She closed her eyes and wrapped herself around him. He was right. Knowing he was the Wraith didn’t change how she felt about him. They belonged together. Since he couldn’t come back to life, she had no choice but to follow him into death. Wasn’t love supposed to conquer all?
* * * *
Bryna hid herself behind Vincent. It was cowardly, and she was pretty sure she was going to sprout feathers because she was going to turn into a chicken. These people were freaking her out. The leader appeared to be the worst. The guy sitting on a dingy milk crate next to where Caleb stood didn’t appear right in the head. It wasn’t so much his physical appearance, because he was almost attractive in his post-apocalyptic warrior get-up, but it was his eyes. They said he was a man who treaded somewhere between crazy and dangerous. But what made it all worse was she felt like she should know this man, but it was impossible. Even if he was the spitting image of her friend Andy back in her normal time, this couldn’t be him. He was probably a son, or, more like a grandson, but it was still freaking her out.
Vincent turned to look at her. His brow quirked up. “You okay?”
She managed a smile for him even as she moved in so that she was pressed into his back and peeking around him like the shy fifteen-year-old she once been. “Sure, as long as you really think a guy more screwed up than me is safe.”
The man rumbled in a quiet laugh. “I’m not sure that’s possible.”
Bryna snorted at him. “I accidently killed—”
“This is Zerek, another time walker,” Vincent introduced over what she was going to say. “He’ll help keep an eye on you while I figure this out.”
Both Bryna and Zerek gave Vincent a quizzical look. Zerek shrugged. “You do realize my track record with women isn’t the best.”
Vincent nodded once. “Yes,” he said in a deadly quiet that had all the fine hairs on the back of Bryna’s neck standing on end. He took a step closer to the other man. “But if you touch her in any way that isn’t expressly to keep her life from fading, you’ll wish you were dealing with the mercy of a demon.”