Page 94 of Eternal Craving

Seasons came and went, unfolding irrevocably before me.

My sophisticated style revealed itself. During the days that followed, my true nature arose. No longer hindered by my former life, I felt free to be calculating, though now with an intuitive streak that gave me the ability to predict a victim’s weakness, a striking intensity that for the most part I was unaware of. This gift – I know no other way to describe it – had provided me with the ability to seduce anyone with a supernatural capacity to entrance. It refined my abilities, enabling me to possess anything that I coveted, and control anyone.

But I craved normality, too, and found it at the Ocean View Manor. Evenings were uneventful. Here I could feel like my old self – until Miranda would search me out and remind me that I was living a lie.

With Alicia and the boys asleep upstairs, Miranda had cornered me yet again.

“What more is there for me to know?” Miranda stood before me with her arms folded. “Don’t ignore me.”

I peered up from my novel, Chaucer’sThe Canterbury Tales, pressing a finger against the page so as not to lose my place. Miranda had brought the book back from London, and I’d found it in the lounge.

For years, I’d always managed to placate Miranda, but not today. Her expression conveyed she wasn’t going to let me change the subject this time.

I stared back down at my book and heard her sigh.

“I’ve thought about it for so long. Changed my mind and changed it back again.”

“Doubt is your heart telling youno.”

“But you never age.”

I gestured my exasperation. “I don’t want this life for you.”

“Who are you to decide what is right for me?”

“I’m your friend.”

“You can’t hide it from Alicia anymore.” She sat in the chair next to mine. “In a week, I turn forty.”

“We’ll throw a party.”

“You can give me a special gift.”

I glanced away. “That is never going to happen.”

Her hand rested on my knee. “But you promised?—”

“I hoped to talk you out of it.” I watched her hand moving up my thigh.

“I’ve done everything you have ever asked.”

I pushed her hand away. “For that, I’m grateful, but you have no idea what it is that you’re asking.”

She let out a sigh. “Why won’t you tell us what happened to Felipe? He escaped from prison and yet you were unaffected by the news.”

“Just know this…you are safe.”

“Did you kill him?”

I gazed down at my book.

“Take me with you when you go out tonight,” she said.

“No.”

I will tell your sister.Miranda’s thoughts carried.

“Another night, perhaps.”