Forget Ever After (4 page)

Silence fell again on the small room as her
words died. She was beginning to wonder whether she ought to leave
when Liam moved, fast enough to pull a surprised gasp from her, and
threw a possessive arm over her.

“I owe you an apology,” he said. “I’ve believed
since we met that I was the strongest one out of the two of us. I
was wrong.”

She tried moving into his embrace, tried to say
something, but he tightened his arm for a second and shushed
her.

“Sleep, love. There’ll be time to talk
tomorrow.”

Lena knew him too well not to hear the barely
concealed lie in his words. There would be no talk, of course not.
They had said everything there was to say. Lena would not sacrifice
a long dreamed of future, and Liam could not return to his past.
She tried to remain awake and figure out a way to share each
other’s present, but, mentally exhausted, she drifted off into
sleep without finding an answer.

Liam’s embrace had never felt so warm.

* * * *

The quiet rustling sounds of Lena getting
dressed woke Liam, but he managed to keep his eyes closed and
remain still. They had had a lovely night, full of memories, of the
love they had once shared—and still shared, he now knew.

He didn’t want to spoil the experience with
awkward goodbyes, half-voiced apologies and promises they could
only break. He didn’t want his last memory of Lena to be of her
leaving him. She had given him his answer, and he knew he couldn’t
change her mind. Deep down, he wasn’t sure he even wanted to. As
she had said, the risk was there that she might not love him upon
being changed. He would rather let her live her life and know he
was still in her heart than force her to join him in the night, and
maybe lose her completely.

He had not chosen or even wanted to be a
vampire, but there had been nothing left for him to do when he had
awakened, craving blood, save for accepting what he had become. He
had learned how to survive, following his Sire’s directions because
it felt like the right thing to do, missing Lena more than he
missed the sun. And now that he had found her and lost her again,
for the first time since awakening a vampire, he felt angry at what
had happened to him, at the limitations and hunger that were now
his. For the first time, he felt lonely, having lost his Sire, his
clan, and now his last threads of hope that Lena might join him.
For the first time, he regretted being what he was.

She was dressed now, or so he thought, and
judging by the sound of her heartbeat she was standing on the other
side of the bed. He wondered what she was doing, and almost opened
an eye to know. Was she watching him, maybe, etching in her mind
the lines of his face, as he had done before letting sleep claim
him hours before? Part of him hoped that she was, a very selfish
little voice that wanted her to miss him every bit as much as he
would miss her.

The sounds of her steps were muted, then the
door opened softly, and she was gone.

Opening his eyes, Liam blinked several times,
and denied even to himself that it was tears he was blinking away.
He had seen the woman he loved after months of missing her, had
held her, made love to her and heard her give a precious
declaration of love and acceptance. He was a lucky man, and an even
luckier vampire.

Still, that didn’t make the pain of losing her
any less.

With a groan, he rolled onto his stomach,
flinging an arm toward the pillow she had used and pulling it to
him. He buried his face in it, and breathed in her scent. One more
thing he would miss about her.

His hand brushed against something as he shifted
his hold on the pillow, and he raised his head to discover a small
piece of paper lying on the bed, where it might have fallen off the
pillow when he had moved it. A rush of pure hope and excitement
coursed through him. He picked up the paper and in the feeble light
of the early morning filtering around the blinds, smiled at the
words scribbled in a handwriting he knew as well as his own, a few
words that gave him all of Lena’s love.

If you can forget happily ever after, I’m
willing to give day by day a try.

The End

About the Author:

Kallysten’s most exciting accomplishment to date
was to cross a few thousand miles and an ocean to pursue (and
catch!) the love of her life. She has been writing for fifteen
years, and always enjoyed sharing her stories and listening to the
readers' reactions. After playing with science fiction, short
stories and poetry, she is now trying her hand, heart and words at
paranormal romance novels.

To see her other stories, including
free short stories and sample chapters, visit
http://original.kallysten.net

Also available from
Kallysten:

On The Edge

Brett Andrews thought he had it all.

His new club, On The Edge, catering to vampires
and humans, is a smashing success, and the beautiful vampire Lisa
is everything he could have dreamed of.

When an old lover of hers, Leo, shows up at the
club, Brett's immediate fear is that he will lose Lisa. But if he
just stops thinking long enough to follow Lisa's lead, he might
gain a lover instead of losing one.

Carte
Blanche

When a lobbyist opposed to vampires’ rights is
found drained of her blood, Special Enforcer Grace Alkins
investigates the woman’s connection to a local BDSM club and its
vampire customers. It has been a long time since Grace played on
this particular scene, but old habits return easily when she puts
on the attire of Mistress Red.

On her first undercover visit at the club,
however, she finds herself tricked into playing a scene with Ray, a
submissive whose Master left town abruptly. The Dominant in her
enjoys the opportunity – while the Special Enforcer is shocked to
realize Ray is a vampire, and possibly a suspect for the murder she
investigates.

Will Grace manage to keep a cool head and find
the killer when every new meeting with Ray cranks up the heat a
little more?

Her Last
Words

Two centuries have passed since the Master
Vampire Gabrielle made the biggest mistake of her life. Two
centuries since her plan backfired, resulting not in the
destruction of demons as she had hoped, but instead in the
slaughtering of countless humans and vampires that had been
fighting against them. Two centuries also, since she pushed away
her favorite Childe, without ever telling him why. Two centuries of
fighting alone to protect the humans she has sworn to defend from
demons. Two centuries of missing Erik.

When he finally reappears in her life, she
thinks she has been offered a second chance. But she soon realizes
that she will need to face her mistakes to reach him, and
understand that silence can be more painful than words.