Donna woke up feeling disoriented. It seemed like morning, but her bedroom was dark as midnight. She quickly figured out why. The curtain was drawn tight and the extra blanket from her closet had been draped over the window. Donna yawned, stretched, rolled over and smacked right against Hunter. She smiled.

  “You stayed.”

  Hunter grinned. “Of course I stayed.”

  Donna hugged him and he kissed the end of her nose. She rolled on top of him and electricity shot between them. Donna knew what the day's plans should be. Hunter, her, and endless hours of lounging around in bed with nothing on but the sheets, and nothing to do but...

  “Oh crap,” she moaned.

  “What?” Hunter frowned.

  “It's Monday. And I really shouldn’t miss class.”

  “I don't care what day it is. You're not going anywhere.” Hunter rolled his arms around Donna and held on tight.

  “With logic like that, it's hard to disagree.” And with a body like that...

  He snickered.

  Stop reading my mind, she thought. Then she chuckled and kissed him.

  They made love, and after that Donna dozed peacefully in Hunter's arms. No nightmare men, no minions, no separated parents. But she was startled back to consciousness when the front door slammed shut and the ticking of Mom's high heels crossed the foyer's tile floor. Her voice wound up the stairs. And there was a man's lower voice, too, probably Dad's. But when they passed Donna's closed bedroom door, the man's voice didn't sound familiar. Plus, Mom called him Brad, not Mike. Donna's parents’ bedroom door opened, Mom giggled and Brad said, “Just you wait until I get you in bed.” Then the door clicked shut.

  The “circumstance” my parents didn’t want to discuss has a name.

  “How could she?” Donna glared at Hunter, like he would know. “How could she cheat on Dad?” Hunter's expression was concern, and it occurred to Donna that he might be worrying what would happen if one half of a shared soul lost its mind.

  “Shhhh,” he warned. “It's probably best not to complicate things by letting her know you know.”

  “I suppose you're right.” Even though all I want to do is burst in on them and call Mom on her bullshit. Donna glanced at Hunter. “You suck blood from mortals, don't you?”

  Hunter raised an eyebrow. “We call it feeding and I don't have to do it often.”

  “When was the last time you fed?”

  “I had a bowl of cereal yesterday with Samee. Or maybe it was spaghetti. I don't remember. Either way,” Hunter ran his hands through his hair, “I don't need to feed right now, and even if I did, I wouldn't go drain your mother's new boyfriend out of spite on your behalf.” He shrugged. “Sorry.”

  “But aren't Eternal Partners supposed to do things for each other?”

  Hunter's chest rose when he inhaled. “I won't hurt other people for my Eternal Partner.”

  “Except guys in blue Camrys.”

  His brow lowered. “That's different. And this topic is over.”

  “Fine, then.” Donna raised an eyebrow. “Here's a different one. Do you feed from females?”

  “Sometimes.”

  “Well, stop it.”

  Hunter chuckled. “It doesn't work that way.”

  “Then how does it work?”

  He scoffed. “Not like how they show in the movies.”

  “You mean the gorgeous vampire making his sexually depraved moves on the innocent female?” Donna smirked.

  Hunter stuck out his tongue then lay back with his arms folded behind his head, which made his bicep muscles even more distinct.

  “Common mortal thinking is that crosses repel vampires,” he explained. “What they don't tell you is that crosses will only repel those vampires who were repelled by the sight of a cross before the Turn. In fact, I know a vampire who is also a Catholic priest.”

  “That's funny,” Donna giggled quietly. “Does he live around here?”

  Hunter grinned lopsidedly. “Vampires are everywhere, and often where you would least expect us.”

  “Yeah, like in my bedroom.” Donna's grin turned devilish. “So, if Hollywood exaggerates,” she said hopefully, “does that mean sunlight doesn't really kill vampires?”

  “No, it kills us pretty quick.”

  “Oh,” she tried to hide her disappointment.

  “It's just like how it is with mortals. Some vampires are more sun-sensitive than others. If they burned easily before the Turn, they will fizzle to dust quickly as a vampire.”

  Hunter's skin was quite pale. Donna swallowed hard. “How long is it for you?”

  “I’ve never tested it to its extreme, of course. I did once get trapped in direct sunlight for a full five seconds, though.” He grinned hopefully. “You know, there is a way around the sunlight sensitivity factor.” Donna's eyes lit up. “But it's not foolproof and it's not easy to acquire. Only one man has access to the best recipe for it. So he sells it at a high price, as you might imagine.”

  “I imagine anybody like that must be a real asshole.”

  Hunter laughed. “That he is, my dear. But he's also just making a living.”

  Mo would certainly have something to say about a person making a living by denying people something that could improve their life - like hoarding the cure for cancer. Donna crossed her legs and held Hunter's hand. “Tell me about this sunscreen.”

  “It comes in pill form,” Hunter explained. “But even when a vampire takes one, going out in the sunlight provides certain dangers that staying in the shadows doesn't.”

  “Such as?”

  “Probably the most important example is that a vampire's intuitive powers diminish quickly. We can even lose track of time, which is especially dangerous in sunlight. We also weaken quickly. Sunlight saps our energy.” He grinned lopsidedly, and if Donna could read his expressions like he could read her mind, she’d say his grin was also apologetic.

  “Do you have any of those sunscreen pills on you now?”

  “I do.” Hunter reached for his pants and pulled a small plastic pill bottle from the pocket and handed it to her. She popped open the bottle’s lid and saw three, tiny green capsules inside. “I use them only for emergencies. As I just said, these pills are hard to come by and they’re expensive.”

  “How long does a pill work for?” she asked hopefully.

  “About five minutes.” Hunter detected Donna's disappointment and looked at the floor. “I'm sorry, sweetheart. It's just part of who I am.”

  “I know...”

  Emotions drifted across Hunter's face like icebergs in a tumultuous ocean. “It's okay. We've been through this before.” They may have been through it before, but that didn't make Donna feel any less ashamed of herself now. Still, she needed to know more.

  “Do people just let you latch onto their necks?”

  Hunter laughed despite his dour mood. “I hate to disappoint you sweetheart, but most of us don't extract blood from helpless people, though some vampires will resort to hypnosis if they're in extreme hunger. Most times, we can slip up to a person while they're sleeping.”

  “At night? You visit women then?”

  “When I need the energy of a specific female with a specific blood type, then yes, I visit her at night.” Hunter winked. “It's not a romantic overture, Donna. It's dinner. And in case you're wondering, I hurt none of them. I hypnotize them to stay asleep and then the next day, they just wake up feeling exhausted.”

  “After a night with you? I can certainly understand that.” She pinched his nipple and he squirmed away. “But,” Donna added, “I thought being bit by a vampire causes a mortal to be Turned.”

  “It does, sometimes.” Hunter rubbed his nipple. “In most cases though, the vampire and mortal agree on it, which is where the hypnosis comes in handy. Sometimes a person needs...incentive to agree.”

  “I thought vampires Turned people against their will.”

  “Some vampires do.” Hunter's face darkened. “But it's just like in everything else.
It's the most disturbed aspect of a group that gets the most notoriety. For every dozen vampires, only one goes bad. And for every dozen who go bad, only one was born bad.”

  Donna shook her head. “What does that mean?”

  “It means that most vampires who Turn mortals without consent are not inherently bad. They've simply suffered too much after the Turn and lost their way.”

  “Can you tell the difference between the bad ones and the not-bad ones?”

  “Most mortals can't. But you're not most mortals, so soon, you'll be able to.” The way Hunter said that made a chill cross Donna's spine. “Their eyes hide no pain. The good news is they're not common.”

  “And the bad news?”

  “The bad news is, when they strike, these vampires never seek permission. Fortunately, most never venture out of the shadows, and they repel from mortal contact until their hunger becomes so strong they can no longer avoid it.” Hunter kissed her cheek. “And now that you've been awakened to the world of the shadows, more creatures will appear to you. Like when eyes become accustomed to the dark. Your senses will sharpen. As you become more aware of them, they will become more aware of you.” A shaft of stubborn sunlight pierced through a small opening in the window cover. Donna hurried to close it. “Thanks,” Hunter whispered.

  Donna smiled. “You said some vampires suffer. What causes their suffering?”

  “Solitude. Starvation. Confusion. Being lost.” Hunter's eyes clouded over. “It's lonely over Here. Sometimes, I think the only thing keeping me from Turning bad during the years you and I can’t be together is my activity in the Organization.”

  “What Organization?”

  Hunter relaxed against the headboard and explained. “The Organization's a group of Underworld creatures whose goal is to create balance between the dead, the undead, and the living. A million vampires belong to it. It's a peace-keeping group, organized around the world.”

  “There are a million vampires?”

  “At least. And one thing the Organization does is seek out new Turns.”

  “To keep them from getting lonely?”

  “Yes,” Hunter nodded. “To help protect the Turn from going bad, which protects the living from being Turned which, in turn, helps maintain balance.”

  Donna grimaced. “It doesn’t sound like vampires like themselves all that much.”

  Hunter shrugged. “What's to like?”

  “What I mean is you guys go to a lot of trouble to make sure new vampires are rare.”

  “That's part of the Organization's job. Too much Underworld makes for Chaos in the Mundane World.” He brushed his hands through his hair, which made his arm muscles flex. “The Organization tries to ensure Order. Order keeps Chaos at bay.”

  “I studied Chaos in high school,” Donna said. “It's the confusing force from which all darkness emits, right?”

  Hunter looked deeply in her eyes. “My world is a hostile place.”

  The bedroom door down the hall creaked open and voices drifted toward Donna's room.

  “That certainly was quick,” she sneered.

  Hunter put his hand to her lips. Caroline McCormick and Brad shuffled down the stairs and out the front door in less than a minute. Hunter rubbed Donna's back until the car pulled from the driveway then she looked at him and sighed.

  “Instead of making me go through lifetime after lifetime with God knows how many stupid, parental pairings, why don’t you just Turn me?”

  His expression grew heavy with foreboding. “I'd never do that to you.”

  “Why not?”

  “There are things you just don't understand.” Hunter's tone was as heavy as his look.

  “You keep saying that. So explain them to me.”

  His jaw tightened. “Sometimes, the other person won't survive the Turn. And even if they do, they aren't usually pleased to learn what they've become.”

  Donna thought about it for a moment. “How did I die in my last life?”

  Hunter looked at her regretfully and answered slowly. “The same way you died in all of them.”

  “The kidnapper killed me, didn't he? He's a vampire, isn't he?”

  “He's not just any vampire, Donna. He's a vampire who wants to torment us both by killing you over and over.”

  “Over and over?” Donna picked at her fingernails. “Who is this guy?”

  He looked at the floor. “My brother.”

  “The one who Turned you?” Donna looked for a different answer in Hunter's eyes, but all she saw was desperation.

  “My brother is shifty,” he said. “Like sand that gets in your eyes. By the time you blink, he's back to hiding in the shadows.”

  “What's his name?”

  Hunter spoke the name as if it was acid. “Stephen. That's enough about my brother. I've told you too much already.”

  “You barely told me anything.”

  “I told you his name,” Hunter's brow lowered. “And I shouldn't have, because now that you know it, you're one step closer to knowing him.” A storm raged across Hunter's face. “If there's anybody you don't want to know, Donna, it's the man who was put on earth to kill you.”

  “But -”

  “But, nothing. This discussion is over.” Hunter turned away, lay on the bed and refused to say another word.

  chapter twelve