“What are you gonna do, Ridley?” Savannah asked quietly.
I shrugged. I didn’t want to think about it. I was stil too emotional y raw to consider it.
“I’l figure something out.”
After a short, thoughtful pause, Savannah spoke again.
“Ridley, there’s something you should know.”
Her tone made me instantly wary.
“What is it?”
“Um, since Devon fed me his blood, I can sort of see shapes.”
I came to a dead stop and my mouth dropped open.
“No, you cannot!”
She grinned.
“Yes, I can.”
“Ohmigod, Savannah, that’s amazing!” I squealed, rushing to hug her even though she was in Devon’s arms. “I’m so happy for you.”
“Thanks. I don’t know how long it wil last or whatever, but I wanted you to know.”
Her expression held more guilt than pleasure and I knew why.
“I’m glad that you told me. We could al use some good news,” I said, trying to assuage her guilt over having something positive to share.
“Seriously? You’re not…”
“I’m thril ed! I couldn’t be happier for you. Real y.”
Savannah nodded, but I didn’t think she was completely convinced.
I kissed her on the cheek and we resumed our walk home. We fel into a pensive silence after that, each of us lost in thought. When we arrived at Sebastian’s, I opened the door and held it for Devon and Savannah. Without another word, Devon carried her to the room that Savannah had claimed.
I listened until I heard the door shut and then I turned my attention to the house. It was eerily quiet and completely devoid of the smel s that I associated with Cade.
Softly, I padded around, going from room to room and finding no one. I went to Cade’s bedroom. The door was open, but the room was empty. And not just of Cade. His bag was gone and there was no evidence that he’d ever been there.
I was turning to leave when I saw the note. It was a single piece of white paper lying on the corner of the dresser. I reached for it and read the five short sentences.
It’s over. I don’t need to be here anymore. The vision you saw of your future will come to pass. Also, there will be a child, a boy. Cade is a good, strong name.
I had to laugh at the last sentence, but then the implications hit me and I reread the note. Twice.
My cheeks burned with embarrassment over the intimate moment Cade must’ve seen. Once I felt my cheeks cool, my mind wandered over the part about a child. Bo and I would have a child? A boy?
I perched on the edge of the bed for several minutes, letting that knowledge settle in. It brought to sparkling life a future that had seemed dead, one that had been fil ed with nothing more than thoughts of an eternity without Bo. But if there was a child, what would it be? Would it have eternal life, like me? Or would it be mortal, like Bo?
In a daze, I shuffled down the steps to the bedroom that I had claimed and I stretched out across the velvet duvet. I closed my eyes and let visions of a bright future fil my mind.
I pictured a smal replica of Bo laughing in delight at his father’s antics on the playground. I pictured myself wrapped in Bo’s arms as we sat in front of a Christmas tree while our child opened presents. I pictured bits and pieces of a happy and fulfil ing life that I suddenly looked forward to.
I was in the company of those thoughts when Bo returned.
I was so distracted, I didn’t hear him come in until he closed the bedroom door behind him.
I pushed myself up on my elbows and watched him approach the bed. As he walked, he kicked off his shoes.
He was already shirtless.
As my eyes hungrily roved his muscular body, I couldn’t help but notice that his gleaming, golden skin was now the pale not-quite-human skin that I was so accustomed to.
When he climbed onto the bed and crawled toward me, my eyes were drawn to his face. He was smiling, a devilish and wicked smile that made me immediately suspicious.
“What?” I asked.
“Are you thirsty?”
I shrugged, not looking forward to feeding from a bag when I had been quite content to eat from Bo, had looked forward to it even. In my mind and to my body, the act of feeding and sexual intimacy were inextricably entwined.
“I guess.”
“Before you feed, I have something to ask you,” Bo said, stretching out beside me and pushing me flat onto my back.
“Wil you go to col ege with me?”
“What?” Of al the things I might’ve thought he’d ask, that was nowhere on my list at all.
“Wil you go to col ege with me?”
For some reason, his question irritated me. It seemed so trite and sil y in the face of everything else. It was such a normal thing to do, I was almost insulted, as if he was ready to go on with a human existence regardless of my far-from-human life.
“Um, col ege isn’t real y a priority for me anymore, ya know?”
“So you won’t go to col ege with me?”
He looked wounded, even though he was trying to hide it, and I felt instantly guilty.
I smiled to soften my previous aggravation.
“If that’s what you want to do, of course I’l go to col ege with you, but what about—”
“Lucius knows a guy that can get me some papers and I can have a legitimate identity, one that’s not associated with a disappearance.”
“That’s great news,” I said, striving for enthusiasm.
“I know how much you wanted to go to Stanford.”
I wanted to point out al the obstacles and pitfal s to his plan, but I resisted. I wouldn’t take this moment from him.
“So you’l go to col ege with me?”
“Yes.”
“After that, wil you help me pick out a house somewhere along the coast, near the water?”
“Sure,” I said, deciding it was just better to go along with his fantasy and not shoot holes in it.
“And after that, wil you help me decorate it?”
“Yep.”
“And after that wil you marry me?”
My mouth went bone dry at his question. I could think of nothing I’d like more than to marry Bo. Images of making love with him flitted through my mind and desire flooded my body like molten lava.
“Yes, I’l marry you,” I answered breathlessly.
“And after that, wil you have a baby with me?”
Thoughts of the dark-haired boy I’d imagined rol ed through my mind in a wave that eclipsed the other thoughts.
“Yes.”
“And after that, wil you spend eternity with me?”