In Blood We Trust (39 page)

BOOK: In Blood We Trust

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The oldster told me about your cravings for me during the full moon,
he said.
But we have a long time until you need to worry about that again.

“But,” I said, words nearly impossible through the scraped alley of my throat, “I might eat you.”

The words, ridiculous as they sounded, just hoveredâhauntings that were never going to go away.

I'll just leave before each full moon,
Chaplin said matter-of-factly.

The dog thought he knew everything.

I swallowed and swallowed, fighting the hardest fight I'd ever taken part in.

FunnyâChaplin wanted to be with me during the times Gabriel emotionally couldn't be. And when Chaplin couldn't be round me during the full moon . . .

Well, Gabriel could've been there.

But he wouldn't be.

My mutt must've known that it wasn't in me to turn him away, because he scuttled down to me in a tumble of dirt and rock, hardly breaking speed as he jumped at me.

I opened my arms to him, taking him against me and thudding to the ground with him, crying, never letting go. As I hugged him, my eyes fixed to another spot high up, where it was dark and murky.

I thought I witnessed another silhouette.

A man . . . ?

But as I sat up to see better, I realized that my eyes were only playing tricks on me.

Embracing Chaplin again, I buried my face in his fur.

“It's just you and me,” I said.

He barked softly, but he wasn't really saying anything. It was just Chaplin's way of sounding content.

After that, me and my dog walked the gully together while the moon spied on us. But I kept looking up, expecting to see that other silhouette again.

Even though I didn't, I took solace in imagining that I'd seen a vampire.

A man in a long coat and battered clothing, even now watching over me, showing me that even though we were far apart, there was still a part of him where I belonged.

Gabriel

W
hether or not they were meant to be separated, he would always be somewhere near, watching over her, and maybe, during the next full moon, he would get even closer.

Three nights out of a month when they could connect.

The thought was a drug that sang through a vampire's veins just as surely as blood while he used the rock as cover. Though Mariah wasn't a part of him right now, he craved the next moment when she would be. It had been enough to make him decide to leave Mags with Taraline as she settled in with 562 and the guardians. It had been enough to bring him here.

A breeze blew past him, ruffling his long coat, his short hair, bringing her scent downwind to him. He could hear her body, too: a frenzied orchestra of heartbeats and blood.

As she and the dog disappeared into the loom trees at the far end of the gully, Gabriel stayed on higher ground, following at a distance.

Following because, more than she knew, she would always be what he needed, even if it was only for a moment in time.

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