TWO MONTHS AFTER THAT

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Cordelia asks as she walks with me through a quiet suburban neighborhood. The brownstone homes are cookie-cutter with tiny variations to set them apart—a flag, colorful garden, or children's toys littering the lawn. It's quiet here and humanly normal.

"According to the intel I got, this is it," I say, looping her arm through mine.

I try my best to make it look as if we fit in. We are just a normal human couple going for a late-fall walk. Of course, my gorgeous wife doesn't help matters. She looks like she is fit to walk a New York runway instead of middle of nowhere suburbia.

"It seems strange that this is where he would choose to be. Even high on a mountain he was living in the lap of luxury. The house you bought for him was nice, right?"

My head whips in her direction. "I put him up in a skyrise condo in the city. The place was practically a palace with a doorman and all."

My wife lifts her hand in surrender while patting my arm with the other. "Don't get offended. I was just asking."

I blow out a puff of air that rattles my lips. It's not her line of questioning that has me on edge. We've spent months looking for my brother. There were nights when I imagined the worst scenarios for him. It wouldn't have shocked me if my guards came back saying they found his lifeless body. Thankfully, that isn't the case.

"I know. I apologize, belle rêveur. I'm just nervous about seeing Cane, I suppose. I don't know what to expect."

It's been close to a year since we turned Cane back into a human and sent him into the human realm with enough to survive better than most people in Upper Class America. He was so angry when we left that room, and the last thing he said to me was basically how much he hated me.

"It's okay, Elias. I know. I'm nervous too," she says, leaning against me and tucking herself under my arm.

We reach a house that is smaller than the others. A white sedan sits in the driveway and a wreath commemorating the upcoming human holiday decorates the front door. I glance down at the paper with an address scribbled on it and compare it to the numbers on the house.

"This is it," I say, my words thick with emotion.

She squeezes my elbow and turns to face me, cupping my cheek in her palm. "Do you want me to knock?"

I shake my head and clear my throat. "No. No, I got this. I can handle it." I brush down the lapels of my jacket and straighten my collar.

She smiles up at me and says, "Yes. You do. I'll be right here if you need me, okay?"

I nod and place my hand on the back of her head, bringing her in close to plant a kiss on her temple. "I know, and I love you for that."

"I love you. Now let's go put this matter behind us, yeah?"

I take her hand and we walk up the sidewalk and to the door and before I can hesitate, I press my fingertip to the doorbell, listening as its ring echoes through the house.

Part of me was hoping it wouldn't work and maybe he wouldn't hear a knock and we could just go.

But the other part, the bigger part, can't wait to see him. To see if he's okay. To make sure I didn't completely destroy any semblance of a connection I had with my twin brother.

The door swings open, and when I see him on the other side, it's like looking in the mirror, exactly as it was before. The human realm hasn't changed him much in eight months, even though I can tell that in a year's time or so, he'll have a few wrinkles that I'll be decades away from seeing.

"Cane."

"Elias?" Cane's brown eyes grow wide, and he looks back over his shoulder. He steps onto the porch and gently closes the door behind him. "What are you doing here?"

I search his features for any sign of what is racing through his head. The fact that he left the home I gave to him without a word tells me that he didn't want to be found. Maybe this was all a mistake, and I should have left well enough alone.

"I—I was worried about you." It sounds so pathetic, and it is a vast understatement. I spent entire nights searching for him, scouring cities and looking through news articles. I even put Lorelia to work helping me until she left for this year's Wicked Encounter event—she refuses to give up looking for her perfect match.

Cordelia squeezes my hand and just knowing she's right there next to me gives me some semblance of comfort.

To my surprise, Cane doesn't scoff or give me the cold shoulder. Instead, he just sighs and leans against the doorway, crossing one leg over the other and his arms over his chest. "I was wondering when you'd find me."

"You knew I was looking for you?"

"Not for sure, but knowing you...I figured."

"Why did you—"

"I left because what was I going to tell people? My brother is the king of vampires and I'm free loading off him because of his guilty conscience?" He leans in close and lowers his voice like he is about to share the biggest secret. "People around here would consider me telling them I was once human, then a vampire, and now human again a committable offense. I like my freedom."

"So you like it better here because it's more out of the way?"

He nods. "Kind of like my mountain home."

"Makes sense." I clear my throat. "Do you—are you alone, or do you have roommates or...?"

He looks back at the door, and Cordelia must catch something I don't because she says, "It's a woman."

"It's still new and I'm not sure how she would feel about my past yet. So..."

"You don't want to scare her away with us," she says.

He gives a curt nod.

I slide my hands into my pockets and stifle down the hurt that he must hide me from those in his new life. Pushing the pain of it deeper, I remind myself that at least he has a new life to live.

"Maybe one day that will change," I say, fishing for a kernel of hope to hang onto.

"Maybe. I'm still working through some things, but I'm getting better every day."

That's all I need. The hope that one day, I'll be able to sit and talk with my brother again without fighting, that we'll be able to co-exist, if not in the same realm, at least in the same universe.

Cordelia smiles at Cane and I swear she has tears in her eyes. "I'm really happy for you, Cane. I hope it works out exactly as you want it to."

He pauses for a moment and stares at my wife with such intense adoration. If it were anyone else, it would throw me into a jealous rage. There is still a spark that connects their souls. It doesn't burn as bright as what I share with her, but it is there all the same.

"I think it will. I just need time to let it grow naturally."

She smiles. "That's a good idea. Forcing it never works out quite right."

"No, it doesn't."

She reaches out and squeezes his shoulder. "Take care, Cane."

"You too, Cordelia." He turns to me with a hint of a smile. "Check on me in another six months. Maybe I'll be up to taking you to my favorite coffee shop."

I nod and say, "Will do, brother."

As Cordelia and I walk away hand in hand, I'm at peace with where things stand between my brother and me—no more selfish lies, no more playing wicked games. We are what we are. It is far from perfect, but it's a good starting point. Perhaps it will all work out for us in the end. Perhaps it won't. Either way, I have all I need right beside me.