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fall as they would until he succumbed to a deep sleep. Before dressing, she made sure the blinds and curtains were shut tight against the rising sun. Her heart broke at the thought of goodbye, but he was right. As much as she hated it, she needed time to process and make a rational decision. She kissed him one more time, disheartened by the lack of response, and left.
    The drive home passed in a daze of replaying the previous night, remembering everything he’d said, the way he’d touched her, how he felt inside her and next to her, how safe she’d been with him, mind, body, and soul. No one could come close to him. A vampire.
    Nothing could be simple.
    As she parked in her designated space, she noticed the backlit gauzy curtains of their living room. Tandy’s awake .
    She considered getting back in the car and driving without a destination. Just to clear her thoughts. Not running away again. But Tee would help her make sense of everything like always, ever since that first time Moira ran away from the Dufresnes a lifetime ago.
    Inside, some weird-ass dubstep song blared while the artiste danced and seemed to add strokes to the canvas at random. Plastic sheeting covered the hardwood floors, and a few haphazard paint droplets decorated it in a Surrat-style amalgamation that could probably sell for a few hundred.
    She peeked around the canvas and waved to get her best friend’s attention. Tee started, spilling dark blue paint on her apron. Small splotches of white and blue and green covered her dark skin.
    She narrowed her brows, concern on her lips, and turned down the music to what the neighbors would consider a tolerable level. “You’re home early.”
    “Yeah.” With anyone else, Moira would have hidden the tears threatening her, but Tandy would call her out on her bullshit. So, for the umpteenth time in a day, tears flowed.
    “Oh, sweetie. What happened? Did he hit ‘n’ quit?”
    “No,” she sobbed. “Worse.”
    “Oh, God,” Tandy said, alarm widening her dark brown eyes. “What?”
    Moira swallowed. “I fell in love.”
     
    ***
     
    “What do I do, Tee?”
    She took a sip of wine—eight-thirty in the morning didn’t mean it was too early for wine.
    Discarded tissues littered the couch. Tandy had been quiet while she recounted the entire night to her. Some parts she failed to put into words, settling for the hope that Tandy understood, that she could convey what the night meant to her, what it meant for the rest of her life. “I love him. That’s all I know to say. I’m in love with Kiernan.”
    “All this after one night?”
    “Yeah.”
    Shaking her head, Tandy smirked. “His cock must be huge.”
    Moira choked and started to laugh, the first joy she’d felt in the last few hours. Her hurt and pain dissipated, but the choice remained. “In a year, we’ll meet again.”
    “A year. That doesn’t seem like enough time.”
    “My decision’s already made. I want to do it. I need to be with Kiernan. It’s right. I know it’s right.”
    “Sugarplum, I think he’s right. You better take some time and think about all this.”
    “Yeah.” She sighed, disappointed. “I should get some sleep.”
     
    ***
     
    Kiernan looked around the empty suite. After sunset, he’d lain in bed, enveloped in the lavender and cinnamon scent she left behind, replaying the night in his mind. The woman was more amazing than he’d ever dreamed. His night seemed darker without her.
    After dressing, he moved to the window and opened the curtains. A light snow dusted the window ledge and trapped downtown Albany in a snow globe. He could relate. He’d been shaken and watched the delicate pieces of his life scatter and fall. Since the night he’d killed Willem, he’d wandered through his existence without a course, thinking of the girl with the red curls all the time. He’d placed roses on her mother’s grave every year, kept the area clean of weeds and vines. Protecting her had given him purpose, but no