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PROLOGUE

The trees were blurring right in front ofsiht, the ones that were flying by in my peripheral vision

I blinked to clear ht, but it was no use It wasn’t tears that cloudedto the continued strain of looking into the darkness around ment my vision, I couldn’t see any better than any other huht I’d care thatit now

I kneouldn’t be able to last er, but I was desperate—

absolutely desperate—to get away They weren’t far behind me The forest was a treacherous place, a lonely wooden trap for a solitary huirl They were a trap for me

I dashed over the uneven terrain, but I knewby so fast was quickly becoue invading s felt like they were about to explode

I stumbled over a clump of dirt and then nearly fell when I stepped on a branch My feet didn’t want to cooperate They either weren’t getting the urgentit Either way, I wasn’t going to be able to run much further And then they’d catch me

Up ahead, I could see an area where the trees were less dense, a clearing maybe With eyes wide open, I said a quick and silent prayer that it was the clearing that I was familiar with, the one that lay just inside the forest, near where I parked It was hard to tell, especially froht as illu, the same as probably thousands of them looked in the dark

But if it wasn’t just any clearing, if it was the clearing, I was als the burst of adrenaline that they needed to carry , for what I hoped lay beyond it—safety and freedom

I exploded through the trees, intending to dart across the clearing and back into the trees on the other side, when the ground suddenly disappeared from beneath my feet

Oneat the dappled stand of pines in front ofto my scream bounce of the dirt walls of an earthen tube as I fell

I landed with a bone-crunching thud, pain shooting up ers I tried to move, to shift ony, but when I did, excruciating waves radiated throughout my lower half

Anguish first stoleon to the dark world around ht be looking for me would never knohere I was If I passed out, I could die down here

This can’t be how round, in the dark, in the woods, with va Bo one last time Not without Bo…

Reality was slipping fro led in ether in a knot of faces and scenery

With a resolute shake ofthat would keep ht that I lost Bo

Though weeks had passed, the wound was still so raw that it felt like only ht Bo, the love of my life and a vampire, drank blood so powerful and so toxic that it killed him Only it didn’t