Page 68 of Bite Marks

I sighed. “Good morning, Dana.”

“Much better,” she praised, but, never one for social calls, she broached the real reason she’d phoned with all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop. “How is she?”

“Asleep,” I replied, choosing my words carefully. “She seems okay, but he scared her.”

Dana sighed, and I could almost picture her running a hand over her tight curls. “Okay, good. What are your plans for the day?”

“I’ll probably head out soon, go to the club, get some work done. Hey, Dana…” I started slowly, trying to piece together my disjointed thoughts. Part of me thought I was crazy for even considering it. Another part of me thought I’d go crazy if I didn’t at least try to talk to someone else about my… dream?

It felt so real.

“Yeah?”

“Have you ever had a déjà vu before?”

“Like, recently?” she asked, the sound of bedsheets rustling coming through the speaker.

“Yeah. Recently.”

“I mean, sure. A couple times.”

“Was it about Vi?”

Dana’s silence was telling. “Once. Why?”

“You’re going to think I’m crazy,” I hissed into the receiver, pushing my hair away from my face.

I certainlyfeltcrazy.

“I won’t think you’re crazy,” Dana promised. “Scouts honour.”

“You’ve never been a scout,” I muttered.

“Sentiment still stands. What's up, Junebug?”

“I-I…” Even as I prepared to say it, I knew how it sounded. “I had this… dream? Vision? Where we were…” It was too embarrassing to say out loud. “And I don’t know—I think maybe we knew each other before?”

Dana laughed on the other end of the line. “What? You think you’re past-life soulmates or something? June, thatiscrazy.”

“Dana, you promised!” I snapped, running a hand through my hair in frustration.

“You’re right,” Dana choked, trying to cover another laugh with a cough, before taking a deep inhale to compose herself, clearing her throat. “Never took you for the romantic superstitious type, but it just doesn’t make sense. You, what? Found each other again through time and space?”

I nudged the door ajar with my outstretched fingers, watching Vi’s prone figure as she slept, her face illuminated by a patch of streetlight creeping through the window.

She was right, of course. It was crazy. It wasn’t like past lives were more than a bunch of romantic wistfulness. And Vi wasn’t the type of person you just forgot.

Maybe I’d been compelled?

But who would have the desire or ability to compel a vampire to forget a human woman?

No one.

I really was losing it, trying to draw lines between unrelated things for the sake of crafting my own romantic scenario. Limerence at work.

Maybe the only thing between Vi and me was an obsessive crush spurred on by my own competitiveness as I watched my partners pour time and energy into this girl, making me want to take her from them.

But that didn’t feel right either.

---