Evensen appeared before me before I even took a step. His dark eyes frantic, he scoured me from head to foot. A few times to make sure I was there, alive. His jaw was tight, mouth drawn in a line.

Why did he act like that? Like he actually cared if I was dead. Like he was only here because I was. Because he had to.

And then, just like before, he blinked and turned away, harshly saying, "If you're not dying, please refrain from summoning me in the middle of the day. I'm late for a meeting."

"The HSA went to see me today."

He went still, turned to face me. "Don't worry about them."

"They're going to question Katz. If we both don't give the same story, we'll be in trouble."

He looked unperturbed. What he was, on the other hand, was irritated. "Katz will do just fine."

"Did you hear what I just said? I told the HSA a different story. They're going to question—"

"And Katz will deal with them," he snapped. "That's what I pay him to do."

I scowled. One moment, he was concerned, the next he was eager to get away like I was some kind of nuisance he would rather not deal with. "You're bristling."

His mouth formed a firm line. "Is that all?" he asked instead. "Because I really need to wake up. I left my body in the middle of my bath."

"If you hate being here that much, Evensen, just give me the answers now so I could do this on my own. Forget about the plan you claim I had with you. I don't remember it and it is obviously an inconvenience to you."

A kind of anger that went beyond hatred toward a nemesis flashed in his eyes. I wanted to understand so badly why he was helping me. Why he was here in the first place. Why him? Why the concern and the anger?

He sighed, shaking his head. "I'm sorry. I've been..." He paused, let out another breath. "I've been busy." When I simply stared, he tried to smile. Sardonic, of course. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"I need answers."

He nodded. "We usually meet at six in the evening—"

"Now," I firmly interjected, walking past him to the window, to the fire below. "First, I want to know why I'm sharing this dream with you."

"Apparently, you have this habit of finding me when you're on the brink of death."

I made a sharp turn to face him again with a scowl. "When did I start coming into your dreams?"

"You mean haunting me," he corrected, scarred mouth curled into a familiar provocation. "After the fire."

"Why would I do that?"

He shrugged. "We never really found out why."

"We?"

Nodding, he approached me again, this time with easy steps. "You and I." His eyes held mine, his smile no longer tight. Gentle, in fact.

Almost longing.

He forced out another sigh. "I guess we're doing this now. Are you in a safe place?"

"I can stay here for hours."

The corner of his lips quirked. "I guess I can spare a while." He motioned to the fireplace across the room. As I settled in the winged chair, he dragged one from the dresser. I crossed my arms. He crossed his legs. My eyes bore into his, while his dark gaze glimmered with amusement and something weird. Almost like a secret I almost didn't want to know. He broke the silence. "We never found out why or how you did it. But we had theories."

"Such as?"

"I was the last person you were with before you..." He motioned with his hand. "Fell asleep."

The image of him looming over me, telling me to breathe, flashed at the back of my head.

"We were in this room where I found you. Somehow, a part of us anchored to this moment."

"You rescued me from the fire?"

"Not really," he said. "I just found you. You rescued yourself."

I let the silence linger. "Why were you there that night?"

"First," he said, raising a finger, "we didn't start the fire. I learned about it from Brenna and Raph."

I stiffened. "She came back for us."

"Yes." His gaze settled on me as he spoke, stayed there as the silence lingered.

"Did you turn me?"

His brows twitched, the corner of his mouth lifting in a tiny smile. "I'm impressed. You look calmer than we expected."

"We. You and I."

He slowly nodded, smile growing, crinkling his eyes. I wasn't sure if he was deliberately trying to irk me or I was just naturally designed to hate him.

"We were so certain you would try to kill me, but here you are asking me the question with the grace of a lady."

"Did you turn me?" I bit out.

He didn't answer immediately, his amusement dying. He let the unspoken answer simmer, allowed me to taste every bitter crumb. "I swear I vehemently said no."

"You bastard," I gritted out, gripping the arm of the chair.

"Come now, Aster," he droned. "You know what entails a turning."

"And I also know that consent isn't always freely given in a turning. You took advantage when I was at my weakest, you bloody—"

"Call me a bastard one more time and I'll walk out," he said, pointing at the white door. Holding my gaze, he straightened in his seat, leaned forward like a dark cloud inching closer. "You were dying. You were desperate to live." My lips tightened, my nails dug into my palm. "Your reasons to live were stronger than your hatred toward my kind."

"And what reasons were they?"

Again, he took an eternity to answer. "Too many, and they changed in the last two-hundred years."

"Tell me," I said through my teeth.

"Did you read your sister's diary?"

I blinked away. "The blood pact is currently ineffective."

"What do you mean?"

"Just as I said it," I snapped. "The pact is broken."

"You never told me about it possibly being broken."

"Well, I don't remember why I couldn't tell you, do I?" I sarcastically shot back. "I didn't get anything from it."

He pinched the bridge of his nose, eyes closed. "Sisters."

"What does the diary say?"

"I don't know," he retorted, echoing my sardonic tone earlier. "Maybe just everything?"

"You mean the plan."

His fingers raked his hair. "I could throttle you both if I can. What broke the bloody pact? No, don't tell me—" he said, lifting a hand. "Of course, it's you."

"What do you mean me? I didn't do anything. I was angry. I couldn't trust her anymore—" I stopped and went cold. "What did you say, Evensen? You said you could throttle us both. How could you do that if..." I couldn't say the words. I was afraid to.

Evensen just stared at me for a while as I caught my breath. "Brenna gave her consent to Raph ten years after you fell asleep." My breath shook. The hairs on my arms pulled at the skin. "Brenna is alive, Aster."

A tear fell from my eye. I remained quiet because suddenly I was bombarded by different emotions. Just months ago, I woke up thinking I just had a fight with my sister only to find out that everyone I loved had passed away while I slept. Last night, I learned I was a vampire, and now, the same man who turned me was telling me that my sister was alive.

The only family I had left.

"If you're jesting, Evensen, I'll make sure you never leave this dream alive."

Evensen stood and walked closer. He looked down at me, dark eyes perfectly humorless. "When you asked me to turn you, the only thing you wanted was to avenge your family's murder, but there were complications. For one, our dream had a black door."

My jaw tightened. As if with a flick of a finger, things became much clearer.

"It was your greatest frustration."

"I could have just woken up and—"

"You were still too weak."

"But surely not for two bloody centuries!"

"Unexpected things happened, Aster." He paced in front of me as he spoke. "A mere few days after the fire, the Saint Society gained solid ground and continued to grow in number while you recovered from your injuries. Yes, you could have woken up, but the Saint Society got to you. You couldn't risk waking up with no memory of anything, body half-burnt, vampire blood running in your veins. Brenna had to let them take you. She had to let them revel in the mystery of your survival. And while all of that was happening, we were being hunted. We went into hiding, you and Brenna separated from us."

"She stayed with me."

"As long as she could," Evensen replied.

I looked up at him, searched his face. "And while away, you were with me in my dream."

He scoffed. "Every bloody night." He waved his arm around. "This dream was an anomaly. We couldn't get rid of it."

My eyes flew to the window. "The Saints. They did it, didn't they?"

"Brenna gathered proof before she had to fake her own death, but by then, it didn't matter anymore. Everyone involved in the fire was dead. A new generation took over. Archaics were invited into the society, others were tagged as ferals. Everyone got halos. The borders were erected."

"We were trapped."

He nodded. "Brenna eventually had to make the tough decision to leave years after she was turned. She couldn't take you out of the facility."

I closed my eyes, mentally drained, trying to fathom every little piece I was given. I felt an image forming, but there were distorted parts. And missing ones.

I frowned, curious about something stupid. "Is that why you became an Archaic? Because Brenna had to eventually go and I'd be left alone here?" At my question, he stiffened, the answer in his eyes clear as day. I let out a huff of disbelief. "Why would you bloody do that for me?"

"I made your sister a promise." He looked away, making me think he was not being perfectly honest. "I told you I owe her. She saved us when we were in hiding." Another long pause followed his statement. Footsteps, and he was standing before me again. "You have to listen carefully." He bent down, wrapping his hands around my wrist on the arm of the chair, trapping me. "You gave up on revenge many years ago. You outlived everyone who connived to kill off the most powerful witches in England. We waited long enough to plan our next moves and when you were finally ready, you walked out the black door with just one goal in mind."

My nostrils flared, and I swallowed. "And what is that?"

"Escape the Saint Society before they find out what you are."

"Escape?" And there I was again, repeating words as questions.

He smiled, his dark eyes searching mine. "I know you're too stubborn to understand the concept, but we both agreed that joining your sister and my brother in Old London is the only option left."

I shook my head. "How do I know you're not lying?"

"I'm a pretty good liar. You wouldn't know." He straightened, his warmth leaving my skin. "We have much to talk about, but we can't discuss two centuries in one sitting. Let's continue this tonight. But remember that we can't risk meeting outside this realm. Don't approach me again like you did the last time."

I jumped to my feet at the sight of him leaving. "Wait!" I swallowed, looked around my old room. Honestly, I didn't know what to say next. I just didn't want to go back yet.

But somehow, he seemed to know what I was thinking. "Wake up, witch, and get over the minor detail that you're now a vampire." A faint smile warmed his face. "It's not that bad once you get the hang of it."

When he moved again, I blurted out, "I remember something."

And for the second time, I saw him stiffen. Utterly so that I was almost afraid he had woken up and I was just staring at my dream version of him. "What do you remember?" he asked, almost in a whisper.

I walked in front of him, searched his face. His knitted brows hooded his eyes. Like he was trying hard to keep something out. "I remember you telling me to breathe."

When he blinked, I saw the disappointment flash in his eyes before he nodded it away. "That's when I found you." Then, a slight hesitation. "Are there more memories?"

"Like what?" I asked testily. "Like from our dream?"

His lips tightened, the scar almost disappearing. "You would remember nothing with a black door." His voice sounded bitter, the anger returning. I was missing something here. The voice in the back of my head was telling me there was more to this. "Tell me what happened between us in the two centuries we spent in a dream, Evensen."

His gaze seemed desperate to tell me everything, but all he said was, "Not much. We tried to murder each other many times, as per usual."

"I can sense you're lying."

"But not certain," he said with a smile. "Behave for now. If you need more blood, you know when to find me. I sleep at six. Be on time. That's the number one rule of the plan."

"Who made the rules? You and I?"

I had to admit, his gaze made me a little uncomfortable. "Yes."

"Are there other rules?"

He slowly nodded. "One more."

"And what is that?"

"Stay close."