Page 21 of Shadows of Eternity

“Of course not. I wouldn’t be dating you if I was. What’s going on?”

She blew out a sigh. “I don’t know. You acted so strange last night. And then Janae … never mind.”

“What about Janae?”

“She’s psychic, or thinks she is, and she’s sure you’re hiding something from me.”

“Oh?”Shit!Her best friend was psychic.Just what he needed.

“Are you? Hiding something?”

Damn. How was he supposed to answer that?Nothing serious. I’m just a vampire.

“Are you?”

“Yes. But it isn’t something we can talk about over the phone.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Can I come over?” No answer. “Leia?”

“I guess so.”

“I’ll be there in five.”

After ending the call, she sat there, staring at the floor. What could be so bad that he couldn’t tell her over the phone?

Rohan stood outside Leia’s front door, wondering what the hell to say. Maybe he should just go home and forget it. There was no easy way to say, “Hey, I’m a vampire.”

Either she wouldn’t believe him, or she’d freak out. He could always tell her, and then wipe the memory from her mind …Dammit!He’d never told anyone what he was, and he wouldn’t be telling Leia if he didn’t care about her so damn much. But he did, and she had a right to know the truth.

He was a powerful creature, yet he stood there like some tongue-tied teenager on his first date, not knowing what to say or how to say it. In over three hundred years, he had never revealed the truth of what he was to another living soul.

Muttering an oath, he rang the bell, listened to her footsteps as she walked toward the door, the click of the lock as she opened it. They stared at each other for several seconds before she stepped back and invited him in. Hearing the pounding of her heart, smelling the faint scent of fear dancing over her skin, he said, “Do you want me to leave?”

“N … no. Please, sit down. Can I get you something to drink?”

His gaze moved to her throat as he settled on the sofa. “No, thank you.”

She took the chair across from him, her hands tightly folded in her lap. “What did you want to tell me?”

“I don’twantto tell you,” he said, “but you have a right to know before things go any further between us.”

Oh, Lord,she thought.He is married.

“Leia, I’m not married.”

She stared at him. How had he known what she was thinking? But then, why wouldn’t he? Hadn’t she already asked him that?

“There’s no easy way to say this. Just promise me you won’t freak out.”

It must be worse than she thought. “I can’t promise that when I don’t know what it is.”

Tired of living a lie, he took a deep breath and let it out in a heavy sigh. “Years ago I got into a fight with a man who killed my best friend. It was a battle to the death. I stabbed the murderer with a knife … ” He paused at the look of revulsion on her face, wondering if she could handle the rest.

Leia pressed a hand to her heart. He’d been in a knife fight. He could have been killed. Obviously, he hadn’t been. The other man, what had happened to him? Taking a deep breath, she said, “Don’t stop now.”

“The man should have died,” Rohan said, his voice devoid of emotion. “Instead, he laughed at me. And then he grabbed my arm and sank his fangs into my neck.”

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