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Elise looked around at her home under the defunct train station in the District. In a lot of ways, she would miss this place. But a promise was a promise.

She hefted her books into a double-plied leaf and lawn bag, thinking she'd leave the bed and chair for another lost soul to make use of. Maybe her former home would provide the same kind of refuge to someone else that she'd needed these last few decades. The thought pleased her.Advertisement

An arm slid around her waist, the muscled flesh the same temperature as her own. "Ready to go?" Elise smiled and turned into Blake's embrace. He was faintly flushed from a recent breakfast of plasma, but the new silky luminescence to his skin looked very different than when he'd been human.

"I'm ready now."

Elise was ready for a lot of things, the first of which was living with the man she loved. And maybe next was learning how to drive. Or how to play chess.

Now that she had Blake, the possibilities were suddenly endless - and wonderful. pqdm.com