“Nor I you, my love. Nor I you. I love you, Lizzy-mine.” He kissed her softly, sweetly.

“Come back to me, my Lukas.”

He nodded, but made no promises.

Finally, pulling her against his side, he led her to where Micah waited. Micah held out his hand to her, and Lukas let her go. Elizabeth shuddered with the need to cling to him. Instead, she slid free of his hold, turning to meet his gaze one last time.

“I love you,” she whispered.

“I love you,” he whispered back, a gleam of moisture in his eyes.

Turning away, she placed her hand in Micah’s. The vampire led her forward three steps, four, five. Her skin felt queer, trembly. And suddenly noise and light exploded all around her.

“Hey!” someone growled, and Micah pulled her out of the way of a couple of youths they’d nearly run into.

She looked around, the sounds of the normal world a shock. Welcome, and yet . . .

“Elizabeth.” Micah tugged on her hand, and she followed him to a black sedan parked nearby. He handed her into the passenger side before sliding into the driver’s seat.

“Do you think the sorceress will be found?” she asked, as he pulled into traffic.

“She’ll be found. I’m certain of it.”

“Good. I hope you’re right.”

He glanced at her, his expression rueful. “Unfortunately, the sorceress has very little magic. Her name is Quinn Lennox, she’s about your age, and she didn’t know she was a sorceress until a couple of weeks ago. Whether or not she’ll actually be able to save Vamp City is very much up in the air.” He glanced at her. “I’m sorry, Elizabeth. But I think it’s best that you know the truth. I have friends who are doing all they can to save V.C., but the only thing most of us can do is hope.”

With her heart so heavy, it was minutes before Elizabeth realized that Micah was heading straight for her apartment building. And he’d never asked her how to get there.

“How do you know where I live?”

He glanced at her with a small smile. “Lukas may not have been free to come to you, but that doesn’t mean he forgot about you these past two years.”

She looked at him askance. “He told you to watch me?”

His smile softened. “He asked me to keep an eye on you—to watch over you and let him know how you were doing.”

“You’re not trapped by the failing magic.”

“No. I wasn’t in Vamp City the night the magic began to fail. I can still come and go as I always could. Like Lukas and the other vamps used to be able to.” He gave her a wry look. “I wanted to run off your dates, but Lukas wouldn’t let me. He didn’t want you to be alone, especially if he could never return to you.” His expression tightened. “If there’d been a bad one, you wouldn’t have seen him again. But you have good taste in men, Elizabeth. They were all good guys. Just not the right ones for you.”

“You met them?”

“A few. Most I just kept an eye on.”

She sank back against the seat, raking a hand through her hair. “My very own vampire guardian angel.”

He grinned at her. “You could do worse.”

Shaking her head, she returned his smile, feeling a bit dazed. “Maybe instead of spying on me, you could come by for dinner sometime. Food dinner. Human-food dinner.”

He grinned. “I’d like that.”

And so would she. He could bring her news of Lukas and of the hunt for the sorceress.

A short while later, Micah double-parked in front of her apartment building, escorted her upstairs to satisfy himself that her apartment was secure, and to show her on a map precisely where the Boundary Circle lay. Then he said good-bye.

Alone, Elizabeth took a long shower, then pulled on her pajamas, marveling that she’d been gone less than twenty-four hours. Steph . . . Poor Steph. She was sure to think Elizabeth had joined the ranks of the missing. Her friend wouldn’t be sleeping tonight, she knew that.

Steph answered her call on the first ring. “Hello?”

“It’s me. I’m home.”

“Oh my God, Elizabeth. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. It’s been a long day.”

“You disappeared! You were there, then you disappeared. What in the hell happened?”

“It’s a long story, and I’ll tell you everything tomorrow. I saw Lukas,” she added softly. “He loves me, Steph.”

“Oh, sweetie.” She sighed deeply. “I’m just so glad you’re safe. You’re home? Are you going back to class tomorrow?”

“Yes, I’m at my apartment. No, I’m not going back to school for a little while. I can’t. Long story, like I said. Come over as soon as class is over tomorrow.”

“Like hell. I’m coming over now. I’ll be there in ten. You don’t have to tell me a thing tonight if you don’t feel like it, but I have to see you. I have to see for myself that you’re okay.”

Her heart full, yet heavy, Elizabeth set down her phone and reached into her nightstand drawer to pull out the picture of her and Lukas. The love that shone in his eyes as he smiled at her wrapped around her all over again, filling her with warmth and longing and warm certainty.

With her fingertip, she traced his beloved likeness.

“Come back to me, my warrior. My vampire.” The tears slipped down her cheeks. “My love.”

She gazed at Lukas’s face until the doorbell rang, then she slipped the picture back into the drawer and prayed that someday soon he found his way back to her arms.

First Dates Are Hell

A Those Who Wander Story

Amanda Arista

Chapter One

VALIANCE WALKED UP behind the Prima as she lounged at her favorite table. Six. There were six ways he could attack her while her back was to the main entrance of the coffee shop.

He looked around. The space hummed, pulsed with life. Even under the coffee’s aroma and the espresso-soaked floors, he could smell the life of this place, the life of every person in here. His stomach growled.

This was a test of some sort. Prima Violet was famous for them, pushing everyone the extra step to make them better. Scheduling his monthly meeting here instead of in his own place of business was a test. Her directive to be unarmed was a test. And judging by the uncomfortable nakedness between his shoulder blades and the pressure of the others’ energy, he wasn’t going to pass this one.

But he could at least teach her something. Make her better.

Finding the ebb and flow of the life around him, he moved toward her, in sync with the others in the café. Their heavy steps along the wooden floor covered the sound of his boots as he slid up behind her. He wasn’t going to ignore the irony of stalking a were-panther.

Valiance knelt slowly and whispered in her ear. “You could be dead.”

The tall woman jumped in her seat and turned around almost as fast as he could blink. Then she laughed as she smiled down at him. “You really shouldn’t stalk people like that, Val.”

“You really shouldn’t sit with your back to the door.”

Prima Violet pointed to the amulet above the door. “Most powerful charm in existence. Nothing bad is getting through these doors, Val. You’re safe here.”

He exhaled. Her faith was going to be her downfall, but he would fall with her for the faith she had put in him. “You still shouldn’t make a habit of it.”

“Lesson learned, Solider boy. Sit.”

Valiance slid into the seat across from her, folding his hands on the table between them. From this vantage point, he could see everything. At least one of them should be on the offensive, no matter how protected the Prima thought she was. Better a thousand times safe than once dead.

The Prima finished a text message and put the phone on the table. She swept her dark hair over her shoulder and settled her content moss green eyes on him. “So how is my favorite vampire this evening?”

His gaze darted to the surrounding tables to see if anyone heard her. The café had become the primary haunt of the Wandering community, the magical taking refuge in the haven the Prima had created, but he still wasn’t used to the openness. He’d spent a hundred and sixty-seven years trying to hide what he was from everyone, other Wanderers included. Violet was the only one in the pack who had reached out to him, who took a moment to realize that he wasn’t the monster from the movies.

“I am fine, Prima.”

She rolled her eyes. “You rolled around in ghoul guts with me. You can call me Violet.”

He nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

She leaned forward on the table. “And you’re not fine. You’re pale, gaunt even. Have you been feeding?”

He nodded again, keeping his eyes to the table between them. He bounced his leg to relieve some of the pressure down his unprotected back.

“Valiance, look at me.”

For a moment, her burnt magnolia scent, laced with pure concern, swirled around him like a warm, spring breeze. He drew his gaze up to clear eyes practically glowing with power and licked his suddenly dry lips.

“What’s wrong? And remember my policy on honesty. Are you eating?”

Valiance nodded. “Once a month. Just like we talked about. They don’t remember anything.”

“Then what is it? You look like a ghost.”

Valiance adjusted in the seat, knowing it wasn’t the seat that was uncomfortable. “Nothing. Life is very . . . quiet,” he finally said.

His Prima smirked. “I don’t understand that word. Quiet. What is this quiet that you speak of?”

The smile crawled slowly across his mouth until he was smiling with her. The Prima’s infectious humor. Some days it was more powerful than the panther that lived within her.

Prima Jordan was rarely alone, constantly bombarded by her pack mates. If it wasn’t the minutiae of their everyday lives, it was the demon last August that had to be beheaded or the invasion of imps that swarmed Dallas until they were netted and sent back through the Veil. She always called him in for the fight, but after all the action, she went home to a full house, and he went back to an empty apartment.

Violet reached across the table and rested her hand over his knotted fingers.

The action startled him, and his entire body tensed. In the connection, he could feel her power and the slow rhythm of her heart. It was strong, steady, and echoed in the vastness of the energy undulating around them.

Violet only tightened her grip with his flinch of protest. “I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it was for you after your Clade up and left you. But now, you’ve got to be brave again.”

Valiance looked up. “Another demon?” For a moment, his heart raced with the thought of battle. A purpose for him and his blade. Something to draw him away from the stillness of his life.

Violet laughed. “No, but good one. You’ve got to start living. Get out of the shop, get an assistant. Take up quilting. Hell, take a vacation and come back to tell me what it’s like.”

And here it was. This entire evening was a test. He knew it. A test to see if he was capable of rejoining the human race or, at least, walking beside them again.

She leaned back in her chair, her hand and her power retreating. “Do anything new lately that didn’t involve sneaking up on people?”

The monotony of his life flashed through his mind in a matter of moments. “Bought some sheets?”

She raised her dark eyebrow sharply. “That was your big adventure? You’re killing me, Val. I expected romance, intrigue, danger.” She leaned forward again and lowered her voice. “You’re a vampire. That’s got to get you into some trouble. Hell, being so blasted good-looking should get you into trouble.”

“I thought you wanted us to stay out of trouble.”

“No, I want you to stay out of danger. Living life comes with trouble.”

Life was uncomfortable, like a wool sweater he hadn’t gotten used to wearing. But there was one softer moment he could remember, where it didn’t feel like life was trying to suffocate him. “There was this girl.”

Violet’s energy sizzled around them, and she smiled. “Girls are always trouble.”

Valiance shook his head. “It was nothing.”

“If you mentioned it to me, she was something. Let me guess. Tall and exotic? No, wait. I bet she’s a redhead with legs for days.” She leaned forward, her chin in her hands. “Tell me a story.”

Valiance couldn’t believe he was about to tell this to his leader, the one he followed into battle. But frankly, he didn’t have anyone else to talk to about the girl. Maybe if he talked about her, she wouldn’t keep circling around in his head. “Complete opposite. The girl who sold me the sheets. Dark hair. Brown eyes.”

“Name?”

“Esme.” Saying her name out loud only coalesced all the thoughts of her into something bigger and brighter.

“List three reasons you didn’t ask her out right then.”

The first one screamed through his brain every time he thought about the petite brunette: she was human, fragile and human. Valiance leaned back in his chair, letting his hands drop to his lap. He pinched the flesh on his ring finger and watched the near-bloodless skin slowly smooth out. “This is ridiculous. You’re my Prima, for Christ’s sake. You shouldn’t be worried about my personal problems.”

Violet sat up straight in her chair. “Valiance No-Last-Name, my entire job is to make sure you choose your own problems, and they don’t come after you. You don’t need me like the others do. I still can’t figure why you don’t have a Clade of your own. So if you need me to be an ear so you can talk about a girl, I’m right here. And if you need Chaz to hunt her down, I can lend him to you for an evening.”