Epilogue:

The long narrow street spread out before him. The lone vampire had walked it before. His ice blue eyes peered into the pitch darkness that was as translucent to him as if it had been day. He wasn’t really on the hunt. He just walked to take his mind off her. He’d done it every night since the battle. Sometimes he took a few victims along the way. Took them violently into his suffering, punishing them for his loss. But it hadn’t brought her back. He didn’t know what he’d do without Leah. He felt lost. Disconnected from the world. That is, until he’d laid eyes upon Sarah. She was so much like his mate, and no matter how often he’d told himself that he had no right to her, it didn’t matter. He couldn’t help himself. He’d been truthful when he apologized to her and Nick. He hadn’t meant to hurt either of them. And if he had stolen away Nick’s right to bring her across, he’d never have forgiven himself.

What he couldn’t make himself believe even more was the image he saw while he was in her mind that morning. He would have never guessed it of their fearless leader. After all, Alex and Angela had been enemies as far back as he could remember and at his age, that was a very long time. And yet once…just once…they had weakened to one another. It was a strange irony and he grinned slightly in spite of himself. It was perfect. Exactly the chink in Alex’s flawless armor that he needed to bring his plan to fruition. By this time next year, he would be taking the master’s place. He was already building forces against him. It was just a matter of time now before he would have the vampire’s power, his house, his money and perhaps even Sarah, if Nick was no longer in the picture. No doubt, it would be a hostile takeover. Alex would not back down and he would be destroyed along with any of his loyal subjects who dared fight alongside him. It would be bloody to the bitter end, yet Brian had no doubt in his mind about who the new successor would be. It was most definitely time for a change.