Seline couldn’t look away from him. There was so much darkness around him. Tonight, she felt that darkness more than ever before. “Do you ever want to go back?” Probably not what she should have said, but the question just slipped out. “Do you want to trade what you’ve become and just go—”

“I’ve delivered death my entire life. Moorecroft was just another in a chain for me.”

But that just sounded sad and wrong. “Don’t you want more than death?” Didn’t everyone? She sure did.

His fingers slid down the curve of her shoulder. “We can’t always have what we want.”

“Sometimes we can.”

His hand tightened on her. “I tried for the mortal bit, tried love, once upon a time.”

Now why was she feeling that hard spike of jealousy? Because I want him. “What happened?”

“When she found out what I truly was, she tried to kill me.”

“I’m sorry.” The words just seemed trite. And she sure seemed to be saying them a lot. Her lips pressed together.

“When she couldn’t kill me, Helena brought in the rest of the town. They spent hours stabbing, slicing, and burning me. ”

Yeah, she could see where he might be turned off the whole love thing.

“She’d loved me one day, and the next, she wanted to send me to hell.” No expression flickered on his face.

“What did you do when you got free?”

A faint line appeared between his brows. “Do you mean, did I kill her?”

She waited.

“What do you think?” His head came close to hers. “You think I killed the woman I thought of loving? She sure tried hard enough to kill me.”

Seline shook her head. “You didn’t.”

“What makes you so sure?”

She raised her hand, and her fingertips traced over his lips. “Because there is more to you than death.”

His lips parted and her finger slipped into his mouth. He sucked her fingertip, and his tongue rasped over her skin.

Seline felt the dark desire begin to rise within her again. With him, it was so easy to want.

One more lick, and he pulled away from her. “Don’t be so sure of me. I’m very good at the business of death.” His gaze had heated with a fury she hadn’t seen before. “Aren’t you even going to ask . . . why did I fall?”

“No.” She didn’t want to know.

Maybe she was afraid to find out.

Because she’d already started to care for Sam. Despite the darkness that cloaked him and the danger that he wore like a shroud, he’d slipped under her guard. When they were together, she was more open with him than she ever had been with anyone else.

He offered her freedom. He offered her hope.

He made her want more.

Love. Life. Wasn’t that what normal people had?

“Scared, Seline?”

Her lashes lowered. “How long ago did you fall?”

“Centuries.”

Exactly what she’d thought. “And are you the same man now?”

Silence. She glanced up and read the surprise on his face. “Are you?” she pressed.

“ No. ”

Seline nodded. “I didn’t think so. We’ve all done things we regret. The past can’t change. Only the present matters.” And you can’t think about the future. Don’t think about it—and keep that witch away from me!

It was hard enough to keep going some days without knowing that a fiery future waited.

She pulled Sam down beside her. Seline took his arm and wrapped it around her body. He fit her well. Better than any other man ever had. Within his arms, she felt safe. Finally.

Her breath eased in and out slowly, and the minutes ticked by. Sleep tugged at her, and she began to slip into dreams.

Then she heard his whisper in her ear.

“I don’t regret why I fell. If I had to do it again, I’d still kill them all.”

Her eyes squeezed shut even harder. “Did they—were they innocents?”

“No, but the women and children they slaughtered were. Trust me, those bastards deserved exactly what they got.”

And, wrapped in his embrace, she wondered just what she deserved.

Tomas locked the door of his motel room. Sweat trickled down his back. He was being hunted.

He peeked out of the sagging blinds. The early rays of sunlight streaked across the sky, making the heavens look blood-red.

Heaven wasn’t supposed to bleed. Bad things are coming. He understood the omen.

He grabbed the phone off the bedside table. He knew when he was in over his head.