Page 85 of Forever Midnight

Bowie nods. “Yeah. All that rage I kept inside of me found an outlet. It’s a lot better now that I don’t have to fight against it.”

“So it’s kind of like a weird form of therapy?” Tru asks and Eros snorts.

“I like the way you think, Tru,” Eros says.

“It’s why Yves made this for us,” Raphael says, softly and with a serious tone. “Who knows what we would have become without our work. The modern world changed so many things for us.”

“Right?” Eros says. “Back in the day, hunting mortals was a breeze. But now there are smartphones and surveillance cameras and drones. It’s difficult to remain unseen.”

Tru nods, clearly thinking over the conversation. “But you’re able to do what you do without being caught.”

“It took a long time,” Yves says. “To figure it all out. To learn the technology and find Vivienne. Her skills help a lot.”

“Like tonight,” Tru says. “No one could see the burning building.”

“Yes,” I say. “By morning it’ll be nothing but ashes and everyone will wonder how they slept through it.”

“So magic is real,” Tru whispers. “Vampires exist. What else?”

“All myths come from truth,” Yves says. “Many years ago, humans were aware of the veil blocking the supernatural world from the mortal one. They knew of the gods and goddesses and creatures. They knew of fairies and witches and vampires and demons.” He chuckles darkly. “Then with more education, more industrialization, their belief in the otherworld dissipated. It shifted to the religious world that still reigns today. Yet here we are, right under their noses.”

“And you don’t like them finding out, right?” Tru directs his question to Yves.

“It hardly ever goes well. Imagine your reaction if you had not developed feelings for Midnight first.”

“Right.” Tru chews on that sweet bottom lip again.

“Is there someone you want to tell?” I ask, sensing the nature of his question.

Tru shrugs. “Bowie told me you have to leave your family eventually.”

“Yes,” I say.

He blows out a breath. “I guess it won’t matter for a long time, right? I’ll still be young for a while.”

I squeeze his hand. “I don’t know from personal experience, but it can be difficult.”

“We used to move around a lot,” Yves says, gazing up at the clear night sky. “We have a whole system we use to get new identities, but we have found a home in New Onyx. We believe it to be big enough to avoid detection. We just didn’t realize some of us would find our mates here. Perhaps that’s why I felt such a draw towards this chaotic city.”

Syn squeezes Yves’s shoulder but stays silent.

Tru studies Yves for a moment before shifting his gaze to me and smiling. “A bridge to cross when we get there. If they can handle me being gay, maybe they can handle finding out vampires are real.”

Yves frowns, sending a thought directly to me.Tread lightly. We know what could happen.

Nodding, I send a thought back.He hasn’t even turned yet. It’s all new for him. Give him ten or twenty years to work it out.

Yves nods, seemingly satisfied with my answer. We arrive at our home, and once inside, we all scatter to spend our evening the way we want to. I lead Tru to our unit, pausing at my own change in ownership.

Our unit. Our home. Our life.

Tru plops down on the sofa, blowing out a long breath. “It’s weird,” he says. “Kind of anti-climactic. We just killed a shit ton of people, I got all the crap they had on Lucia, Malice is done, and I don’t feel that different.”

Smiling, I sit beside him. “Killing can have different outcomes. It’s never personal for me like it was tonight, but I would guess you had it so built up in your mind that it feels weird that it’s over.”

He nods. “Yeah. I guess that’s it. Does this mean I can actually relax and just be a regular guy again?”

“It does. Is that what you want? To be a regular guy?”

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