The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance

by my father, Lucifer thought it his property and took it for his own, leaving me—”
    “A body without a soul,” Katrina said with him.
    “Yes,” Kyle affirmed. “In his words, ‘forced to live off the blood of those I betrayed him for’. Worse, I betrayed him for love of a mortal — something he cannot abide. He took back what he’d given me, though he had no right to it. Looking back, I should have entrusted it to my Catrine. I should have given her my soul as well as my heart.”
    Kyle bent down to look Katrina firmly in the eye.
    “Remember that, Katrina,” he said gently. “When you’re at your wits’ end with Nikolai, and the Council and the Destrati, and immortals and souls. When you grow weary of the War Between the Sides, remember that it all comes down to one thing and that is love. It was love that began it, and someday, it will be love that ends it. Remember.”
    Katrina nodded and sniffed, wiping her eyes with the flat of her hand. She smiled, showing him she was all right.
    Kyle reached for her hand and brought it to his lips. “My thanks for being my confessor,” he said as he let her hand fall gently back to her side. “And I do offer my apologies that I cannot wait for Nikolai’s return, but there are things I must see to.”
    He bowed to her and disappeared, and Katrina returned to her seat to wait for her husband.
    She sat and thought deeply about all Kyle had said, and though she wouldn’t share Kyle’s confession with anyone else -confessors kept their confidences, no matter how horrible or terrifying — she could at least bring up the questions in her mind to Nikolai.
    She had a lot of them.
    Kyle smiled to feel the familiar presence arrive at his home.
    “If I thought you were going to abuse the privilege of unrestricted entry into my home,” he said as he turned to greet Katrina, “I would have rescinded it. How thoughtless of me.”
    “Then why haven’t you corrected it by now?” Katrina asked innocently.
    “Because I mistakenly had faith that Nikolai would have the very good sense to respect my preferences to be left in peace and not send you here whenever you grew bored of your role,” Kyle replied as he took a sip from his glass. “You always seem to show up at my dinner hour as well. I do not think it coincidence that you disrupt my solitude and my sustenance.”
    Katrina could hear the pleasure and teasing he was trying to keep from his tone and smiled at him.
    “We expected you for Hallowe’en,” she chided gently. “I mean, ‘All Hallows’ Eve’, as Nik calls it. Should I have personally delivered an engraved invitation? With bows and ribbons on thick vellum with four envelopes?”
    “Are you implying that I’m pretentious?” Kyle answered with a question of his own. “Or that I’m rude for not attending?”
    Katrina let the silence and her innocent expression answer for her.
    Kyle hid a smile. “Silly mortal holiday,” he murmured. “Taken from origins long forgotten by nearly everyone. And I was not about to play ‘vampire’ to frighten children - if indeed they would be frightened of my ‘real fangs’ in this day and age -for your amusement.”
    “It was a party for charity, Kyle,” Katrina reasoned.
    “A charity to which I made a donation in your honour,” Kyle replied, duplicating her tone. “I don’t believe my presence is required for anything else.”
    “Well, I do,” Katrina said flatly, but then paused. She bit her lip. “The church you told me about: Catrine’s church. Is it still around?”
    “Yes,” Kyle confirmed. “Why?”
    “Can we go? I mean, will you take me there?” Katrina asked.
    “You wouldn’t like it. It’s nothing but an old churchyard now.”
    “Just take me, OK? I want to see it.”
    “No. I’m not Nikolai,” he reminded her. “You can’t just barge in here uninvited and order me about and expect to get your way. Nor can you ply me with your affections like you can him.”
    Katrina’s scowl deepened.
    Kyle returned her look with a bored, blank expression. Then sighed. “Humans. You have to see to believe, don’t you? Very well then.”
    Before Katrina could answer him, they were there. It was dark and cold, and the wind, though gentle, blew through her. Immortal didn’t mean that she didn’t feel the cold, and it was bitter. She chided herself inwardly. What did she expect in November?
    A light dusting of snow made the churchyard look like something Tim Burton would film.
    “I