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Chapter One

Mara stood on the balcony of her ho out over her doo vault of the sky, to the ht she becah she could noalk freely in the light of day if she was so inclined, she was still most comfortable in the darkness she had inhabited for thousands of years

In the silvery wash of the ht, the world around her looked peaceful The people who lived in the small town located in the shallow valley beloere all sleeping now, drea their innocent mortal dreams, blissfully unaware that one of the Undead lived in the sprawling old house near the top of the ed between the vampires and the olves had ended, and most humans were content to pretend it had never happened

After a ti in on the few people in the world that she cared for

Roshan DeLongpre and his witch wife, Brenna, were on an extended vacation in Venice Vince Cordova and his pretty blond, blue-eyed wife, Cara, were at ho outside, enjoying the quiet of a star-studded Oregon night Their son, Raphael, and his bride, Kathy McKenna, were in bed, wrapped in each other’s e her new life as a vampire

Mara had once offered to bequeath the Dark Gift to Kathy As Mara’s fledgling, the girl wouldn’t have been affected by the Dark Sleep, but Kathy had wanted Rafe to be her irl; after all, if one had to be bound to a master, it was always more pleasant if it was souide you patiently, and gently teach you all the things a new vampire needed to know in order to survive So after being turned, Kathy had sold her bookstore in Oak Hollow, and she and Rafe had moved to Porterville

Raphael’s twin brother, Rane, had finally made peace hat he was He and his wife, Savanah, had also bought a place in Porterville Just now, Rane and his bride were at ho on the floor in front of the fireplace, their three- peacefully on a blanket between them Savanah had not yet accepted the Dark Gift her husband was so eager to give her They had both agreed it would be best to wait a few years, until Abbey was older

Mara told herself she wasn’t jealous, that she didn’t envy any of them the love or the happiness they had found, but deep within the hidden recesses of her heart where she didn’t look too often, she knew it for the bald-faced lie it was She was Mara, the oldest and most powerful of her kind Vaht her favors, willing to do anything she asked just to be near her She should have been blissfully happy and content, and yet her existence lacked any real purpose orit ht; she was growing increasingly weary of her self-imposed lonely existence

She had taken mortal lovers from time to time, but she had loved none of them Afraid to fully trust any man, be he mortal or vampire, she had alithheld a part of herself, never letting any of the et too close, or see too much

Until she met Kyle Bowden She had been captivated by hi at the foot of the Sphinx with a sketch pad in his hand He had been hatless in the sun; his short brown hair highlighted with streaks of gold The sleeves of his white shirt had been rolled up, revealing suntanned skin and muscular arms She had watched his hand, quick and confident as it moved over the paper, and wondered if he possessed that same confidence omen

Eager to meet him, she had purposely bumped into him with a murmured, “Sorry”

He had turned toward her, stared at her a moment, and then blurted, “Good Lord, but you’re beautiful”

Before round, to bury herself deep in the earth in the Valley of the Nile and sleep for a year or two, perhaps ten, but with Kyle at her side, the world no longer seeued her disappeared, and she found herself wanting to travel the globe again, to see it anew through his eyes

As giddy as a schoolgirl with her first crush, she had quickly fallen head over heels for him, charmed by his innate sweetness, by the sincerity and adoration in the depths of his deep gray eyes For the first tiiven her heart to ashe had sworn she would never do

But then she had foolishly trusted him with the truth of what she was, and seen the look in his eyes turn froht so well They had been reclining on the loveseat in his studio, their ars intimately entwined

Kyle reached for a bowl of black grapes and offered her one With a slight smile, she shook her head “No, thank you”