When Henrietta and I had practiced shutting Luc out of my mind, Henrietta had taught me to visualise a door that represented a gateway between my mind and Luc’s. However when I thought of the door I imagined two doors. Henrietta had explained what the first door was, but she had never explained what exactly the second door was about. Henrietta said that I have a connection to the ‘Other Side’, a place where the souls of the dead went to after their mortal bodies had perished.

I think visited the Other Side on the night Luc killed me. In the back of my mind was a hazy memory from the night I had been converted into a vampire. After Luc had drained my blood I had felt myself drift apart from my physical body and into a place that lacked any notion of space or time. It hadn’t been the heaven I had imagined as child with white clouds and heavenly angels, but it wasn’t a bad place. It was just peaceful and still.

It was from that place that I had head Luc calling to me, begging me to come back to him. I remember drifting towards him but I also remembered a small part of me staying behind. When I had woken up in Luc’s bed I thought it was a strange dream but now I was not too sure.

Mark the dormitory hall supervisor left my bedroom to talk to the other hall supervisors. Luc had told Mark that he had been visiting me in my dorm bedroom, but had assured Mark that we were married and the appropriate people knew … although I had no idea if this was true or not.

“What am I going to do?” I said fighting back the tears.

Luc gently folded his arms around me and replied, “Nothing. Nico and I will take care of this. By tomorrow evening all of this will be over.”

I leaned against chest and rubbed my cheek against the warm cotton material of the gray hoodie Luc was wearing. I had never seen him dress so casually before. Luc was normally a shirt and tie kind of guy. I closed my eyes and breathed in the warm familiar smell of sandal wood and grumbled, “I am still mad at you about telling Jacques and Nico about us.”

“I know you are mad at me and I am sorry,” Luc replied.

“Why did you do it?” I asked.

“I panicked,” Luc explained, “I came home and found you gone so I tried to reach out to you but found the connection blocked. I panicked, I thought you might have run away or tried to do something stupid. I told Nico and Jacques because I thought that you had woken up regretted what happened between us last night, and that you didn’t want to be with me anymore…”

Luc’s voice trailed off and suddenly he seemed so insecure. He pressed against my body a little tighter and I responded by lifting my arms around his neck. It seemed odd to me that someone as handsome, dark and brooding as Luc could have confidence issues.

I raised my up to look at him and ask, “So you’re telling me that this had nothing to do with impressing the boys.”

Luc glanced down at me with genuine shock and said, “Are you kidding me, I was going out of my fucking mind with worry.”

A slight smile fell over my face and I said, “Good answer.”

Luc lowered his head and covered his mouth over mine delivering a soft tender kiss that made my knees tremble. Thank God he was holding me up because without his strong arms around my waist I think I might have crumpled to the ground.

I moved my lips against his savouring the sweet flood of sensations that happened every time we touched. My hand lifted from his neck and I tunnelled my fingers through his dark glossy hair, holding his head to mine.

I loved the way my body seemed to fit so perfectly against his, it was like we really were meant for each other.

An unwanted knock at the door interrupted our kiss and the bedroom door opened.

Luc at first ignored the interruption but when a uniformed police officer stepped through the door I tried to pull away. The police officer stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. Luc turned and smiled at the police man and asked-

“Is it done?”

The police man nodded his head and then suddenly began to change shape and form. I watched in surreal curiosity as the police officer changed into Nico.

Nico glanced around the room and said, “All ends have been tied up we are free to go?”

“And the girl?” Luc asked referring to Laura.

“She is at the hospital being treated,” Nico replied but then furrowed his eyebrows, “I don’t know what the kid had taken but she was psychotic, babbling about a demon in Mia’s bathroom.”

A demon?

My stomach lurched forward and a terrible uneasiness settled over me. Demons were worse than ghosts- much worse. I clung to Luc harder and he felt my fingertips biting into his arm.

“Mia?” He murmured my name suddenly looking down at me.

I swallowed hard and asked, “Can we get out of here- I am starting to feel unwell.”

Luc nodded with his eyes full of concern and replied, “Sure we can.”

His hand slipped around my waist and he led me gently out of my dormitory hall where outside a black SUV was waiting for us. Luc opened the door for me and I slid into the plush leather interior. Jacques was in the driver seat drumming his hand impatiently against the steering wheel.

“Finally,” He dramatically sighed, “I have been waiting for hours- what the hell happened in there.”

I thought Luc was going to answer for me, but to my surprise both Luc and Jacques were looking at me for an explanation. Mentally I stumbled, my mind replaying over and over what Henrietta had told me- I couldn’t tell anyone about what I could see or hear, if I did then I might end up dead myself.

So I gazed down to the floor and replied, “I don’t know…”