He shook his head and gently pushed my few tears away with his thumb. "Thoughts of leaving this life have recently vanished completely from my mind. I now find myself newly inspired to wake up each morning. You have nothing to fear."
"Nothing to fear but fear itself."
He tilted his head to one side and a small smile appeared on his lips. "Oh, there is plenty to be afraid of, Sarah. I don't think you need me to make a list for you. But my suicide is no longer on that list."
"I'm very glad to hear it." I blinked and pressed my hand against the side of his face. "I really want to kiss you right now."
"That would be a mistake." He didn't move away from me.
"I know. But I still want to."
He traced his fingers over my lips and then took my hand in his. He brought it to his mouth to kiss it.
"That's a nice start," I breathed.
"Okay, break it up!" George shouted from behind Thierry. He clapped his hands. "Up and at 'em, Sarah. Chop chop."
Thierry didn't take his attention away from me. "I asked George to watch over you in case of emergency."
"You two are too close for comfort!" George continued. "I want to see some space. Back up, boss. Give our little nightwalker some air!"
"It's okay, George. Really. I'm feeling…" I blinked. How was I feeling?
A little cold and clammy, actually.
I pressed my hands against my face. Felt normal enough. But there was something off. I couldn't pinpoint it exactly.
I sucked in a breath of air. That felt okay, too.
Then I gasped. "It's my heart."
"What about it?"
I grabbed his hand and pressed it against my chest.
"Hey, what did I say about getting too close?" George protested. "Am I going to have to separate the two of you naughty little monkeys?"
Thierry frowned deeply and looked into my eyes but said nothing.
"I don't have a heartbeat," I said. "What is the hell is going on here?"
Thierry nodded slowly. "A lack of a pulse is another trait of the nightwalker."
"A lack of a pulse? But that means that… that night-walkers are… are…"
"Undead."
"And regular vampires are the opposite."
"Yes."
I jumped to my feet and walked out of the office, brushing past George, who was looking at me with very wide eyes. Dammit.
I froze in place as I felt my heart begin to beat.
Once.
And then nothing.
"Oh, my God," I said aloud, and the panic started to let loose again.
Nobody was in Haven at the moment except for the three of us. The chairs were all up on top of the tables. The lights were off. I stood there, in the middle of the ceramic-tiled floor that resembled a whirlpool of blues and mauves, and felt as if it was sucking me down into the pit of despair. And no, I didn't think I was over-exaggerating at all. This was bad.
Really bad. I didn't have a heartbeat. My heart was not beating. There was nothing good about that. The metaphorical pessimistic glass of water wasn't even half empty anymore. It was bone dry.
"Okay," I said, and noticed that George and Thierry had followed me into the main area of the club. "Okay. I'm not going to freak out. There's still time left to fix this."
"What do you mean there's still time?" Thierry said. "Of course there's time."
I shook my head. "Stacy said that if the curse wasn't removed within three days from when she did it in the first place that it was sticking. Forever. But, it's morning now. We've got the better part of two days to take care of this, so I just need to think. I need to think about what to do next, especially since I can't go outside. It's not a cloudy day out there by any chance, is it? Of course it isn't. It's probably the brightest day of the year, with my luck."
George and Thierry exchanged a glance.
"I wish that you had told me about this timeline last night," Thierry said quietly.
"Why?" I looked at the clock above the bar. "It's 7:00 a.m. We've got all day to figure out where that skank is hiding out."
He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Sarah, but it isn't morning. You slept through the night and also through the daylight hours. Nightwalkers," he said it carefully, "often sleep through the day. They… thrive in darkness."
I swallowed hard. "You're kidding."
"I wish I was." His expression tightened. "But there is still time."
"Why didn't you wake me up?"
"I didn't want to disturb you. I didn't realize that time was an issue."
I felt as if I was in shock. The heart that let out one beat every other minute was also a bit distracting, to say the least. Like the gong that signified that my life was currently taking a long walk off a short pier into an ocean of crap.
I sniffed and ran my hand under my nose. "I think I'm actually room temperature right now." I blinked a couple of times and looked at Thierry. "You really still think everything's going to be all right?"
He nodded. "I have no doubt that it will be."
"You haven't figured out where Stacy lives yet, have you?"
"No. My sources have met with brick walls wherever they try. I believe she must be using some of her magic to help conceal her location. She obviously prefers to have the power solely in her hands."