Bones's hair had turned white from how close he'd come to dying, but now it was back to its usual, rich brown color. I lay back down, a shiver going through me at the mention of his near miss with death. As for quiet, out here on this water, it's as quiet as I've experienced without being half-shriveled in the process.' I said it's like background music, so it's rather soothing. He settled himself back onto the pillows. Getting shot in the head might take care of my ills the permanent way, but it would just give Bones a nasty headache. Only silver through the heart or decapitation was lethal to a vampire. I'd be shooting myself in the head if I were you.' 'You can hear my dreams? God, you must never get any quiet. Even though I was half-human, half-vampire, there was enough humanity in me that Bones could hear my thoughts unless I worked to block him. One of his gifts was the ability to read human minds. 'Normally your dreams are like background music to me.'īones was a Master vampire, more powerful than most vampires I'd ever met. 'Odd that I couldn't catch any of your dream,' Bones went on. That made no sense, however, since he was just a figment of my imagination. There was something about the vampire in it that nagged me. 'You didn't wake up, and you were thrashing on the bed. No matter how vivid it felt, it had just been a dream.īones dropped his hands and let out a noise of relief. A while back, I'd almost been killed by one.

But with the right power and magic, sometimes nightmares could be turned into weapons. Right before he disappeared, I heard his voice.Ī hard shake evaporated the last of the dream, and I woke to find Bones, my vampire lover, hovering over me.Īn odd question, you would think, since it had only been a nightmare. I jerked my head toward the vampire in the distance, but his features blurred into nothingness, and the fog covered him.

The shout didn't come from the vampire ahead of me it came from the monster wrestling me to the ground. 'Leave me alone,' I screamed, as I was seized from behind in a merciless grip. He urged me on, snarling warnings at the monster, which wouldn't stop chasing me. With renewed effort, I sprinted toward the vampire. Panicked, I lunged forward, narrowly avoiding the grasp of bony hands that would pull me down to the grave. I screamed his name as the monster's footsteps got even closer. Yet I was still so far away.įog crept up the hill to surround the vampire, making him appear almost ghostly. The forest thinned ahead of me to reveal a blond vampire on a hill in the distance. The monster was picking up speed while I was getting tired. The monster snarled as it chased me, the sound closer than before. I ran as fast as I could, darting around trees, tangled roots, and rocks in the forest.

Destined for an early grave