by Cynthia Eden
“You’ll want to look close for this part,” Jamison advised him.
Ben forced himself to move near the grave. He felt as if the wood had sunk into his own heart. This can’t happen. Not to her.
Jamison pushed him toward the grave. “I know…the flesh is all gone so it’s probably hard to recognize yourself…”
Fuck. Ben craned his head and looked into that grave. He saw…bones. A skull. His skull?
The humans threw Simone’s body in the grave. Her body and her head.
His eyes squeezed shut.
Why don’t you have a Christmas tree? Her voice whispered through his mind. She’d loved those damn trees so much.
And…she loved me.
She’d been so giving. So open. I want to help you.
She’d looked him in the eyes. I love you.
She had. An angel, loving the monster he’d become.
Ben opened his eyes and saw that the men had started shoveling dirt onto her body.
“See?” Jamison asked as he slapped a hand on Ben’s shoulder. “You’re together forever.”
Ben’s heart stopped beating. “I’m really the skeleton in that grave?”
“Um, yes, you are. Simone didn’t wind up saving you, but you…you sure introduced her to the darkness.”
Welcome to the darkness.
“Simone couldn’t handle the darker urges of her vampire side. Not once her wings were gone.”
The men kept shoveling dirt onto Simone.
“Christmas Day,” Jamison said. “She lost the last of her wings then. They were her gift to you, because she knew…” Jamison walked around the grave. “She knew that you’d wind up here. See, after you killed Miles—”
“I didn’t kill him!” William had stopped him before he’d taken the human’s life.
Jamison smiled. “Are you sure about that?”
Ben sucked in a sharp breath.
“After you killed Miles, you lost your hold on sanity. When it came to your prey, you didn’t care about guilt or innocence. You gave in to the darkness. You drank from anyone, everyone, leaving shells behind. You became the true monster that everyone fears, and you had to be put down.”
Simone’s blonde hair was covered by dirt.
“And without you…” Jamison’s voice roughened. “I think she was ready to die, too.”
She’d smiled at him, in that last moment. Or had she smiled because it was her last moment?
Jamison pushed a hand through his hair. “Some people aren’t made for the darkness.”
Ben glared at Jamison. “This isn’t happening to Simone.”
The shifter’s face hardened. “Then you’d better change your future, vamp. Because if you go dark, so does she.”
Ben leapt toward the shifter. He grabbed Jamison’s shoulders. “Take me to her! Not this twisted future. I want the real Simone, now!”
The wind began to howl.
The humans vanished. The cemetery vanished.
“It doesn’t work like that.” Jamison’s voice was quiet, almost sympathetic.
Ben didn’t want his sympathy. He wanted Simone. “Screw how it works. You know where she is. Take me to her.”
“Earn…her…” Jamison broke from Ben’s hold and dropped to the ground. The shifter’s bones began to snap. “Save her…earn her…” Fur spread along his arms and legs.
“Do not turn panther on me!” Ben reached out for him, but the panther’s claws sliced along his arm. “I need Simone!”
The panther opened his mouth and roared.
The snow fell again. No, not snow—feathers. Feathers from an angel’s wings. She was losing more wings for him even then. Trying to teach him some kind of lesson? Trying to save his life?
But she was losing her own life in the process.
Ben tilted back his head and stared up at the sky. “I want her! Give her back to me, and I’ll do anything!”
The howling of the wind grew louder.
“I can—I can change!” Ben yelled as loudly as he could. “Just…don’t let her die! Don’t let her wind up like—” Me. “Please, save her,” he whispered. “Please.”
And everything went dark.
Welcome to the darkness.
Chapter Nine
The alley reeked of garbage and death.
“Pl-please, buddy,” Miles Gavin begged. “Just let me go, just let me—”
Ben’s fangs flashed.
Then he stopped as understanding hit him—hard. What the fuck? I’m back here?
Ben shook his head as Miles trembled in his grasp. This was…this was the moment when the demon had appeared. Ben glanced toward the mouth of the alley, expecting to see William Marley’s form.
But the demon wasn’t there.
“I-I’ve got a son.” Miles spoke quickly, feverishly, as he said, “He’s only seven, and I’m all he’s got. His mother’s dead. Please, mister, please!”
Ben freed the man. “Go to the police. Tell them that your brother has been killing women.”
“Wh-what?”
Sirens screamed in the distance. At least the cops were right on time. Where’s William? “Screw that plan. You don’t have to find the cops because they’re coming to you. Stay here and wait for them. Tell them you didn’t kill the women. Your brother did.”
“A-Alex?”
“Your brother is a fucking psycho, so don’t let him near your boy ever, got it?”
Miles pressed back against the dirty wall. Fear twisted his face as he stared at Ben.
The wail of the sirens was even louder.
“Forget you saw me,” Ben ordered.
Miles lifted a trembling hand to this throat. Blood dripped down his collar. “What are you?”
“A monster.” But he would be something different. For her.
Ben spun away from the human and raced into the night.
***
Ben burst into his cabin, dragging the Christmas tree with him. It had been the last tree on the lot, and Ben knew it looked like a piece of shit, but it was better than nothing.
Be here, be here. “Simone!” He’d spared Miles. Did that mean she would come to him?
His gaze flew around the cabin.
The place was dark. Cold. Empty.
She could come, though. I just…I have to get everything ready for her. He hauled the tree inside. Set it up. Ben set it up three times because the damn thing kept falling over. He lit the fire. And realized…
I don’t have any ornaments. Not even a string of lights. And he also didn’t have a present for Simone.
Wait…yes, I do! His gaze shot to the small chest in the corner. He hurried toward the chest. Opened it. Saw the little black box nestled inside.
He did have a present. One that he’d held onto for years. Ben shoved the box into his pocket. “Simone! I’m going to be different! I’m going to be what you need!” His bellow just seemed to drift back to him.
He paced toward the tree. “William? Jamison?”
No answer.
It wasn’t midnight yet. A quick check of the nearby clock confirmed that. It wasn’t Christmas. He still had time. Jamison had said…Simone didn’t completely lose her wings until Christmas.
There was still time.
Ben hurried back to the door. He yanked it open and stared outside. It was so cold out there. His footprints had already been covered by the newly falling snow. It was a terrible night for Christmas. A horrible night to lose an angel and—
A deadly night for a human to be out.
He stepped out into the snow.
Help. Goosebumps rose on Ben’s flesh, but they weren’t from the cold. “Simone?” He could have sworn that he’d heard her voice just then, whispering in his ear.
His breath seemed to ice before him. It was colder than hell out there.
Help.
Ben found himself walking forward. Then running. His feet seemed to fly over the thick snow.
He hadn’t hurt Miles in that alley, but Miles hadn’t be
en the only one there that night.
I forgot the kid.
Ben ran as fast as he could. He left the cabin behind, left the door open, and moments later, he found himself on a snow-covered road. Twisting trees lined both sides of that old path.
A familiar path. Simone had been here with him. She’d looked down the snow-filled road and pointed. This way will take you out of Desolate.
He’d known desolation for ten years. She was the only hope he had. Ben took that path because he was ready for the desolation to end.
He’d only gone a few feet when he heard… “Help…” A weak cry.
Ben lunged forward.
The desperate cry was greeted with grating laughter. “There’s no help for you, human. You’re too weak to turn, but plenty good enough to kill.”
Ben rushed across the snow and saw the boy—Cale. He was on the ground, and a hunched figure was above him. The hunched figure appeared to be a male with blond hair. The male turned a bit, and Ben caught sight of his gleaming fangs.
Fuck, it’s the future I saw. The vamp is going to kill the boy!
Ben’s jaw locked. Not on my watch. Ben raced forward, grabbed the blond, and tossed the vamp into the air.
The boy screamed, “You!” when he saw Ben, and then the kid tried to back away, moving crab-like on the snow.
“Yes, me. It’s your lucky night, kid.” Ben took up a protective position in front of the human. “Because I’m your guardian angel.”
Help.
The blond vamp rose. He dusted snow off his shoulders. Took his time. After a few, tense moments, his head tilted back. His eyes—a gleaming gold—met Ben’s.
I know him.
The blond vampire grinned and asked, “How do you like the darkness?”
Ben’s teeth were fully extended in his mouth. “You took away my life!” This was the bastard who’d attacked him in New York.
The vampire’s face twisted with fury. “You ungrateful bastard, I gave you life! I sensed your potential, and I gifted you with my blood. I made you—”
“Into a killer.” Ben could see it now. His own reflection, in the eyes of that vampire.
The blond waved his hand carelessly. “If you want to dine on the boy, go ahead. I’m sure I’ll find more prey in this Podunk town.”
The kid was crying behind Ben.
“No,” Ben said softly. “You won’t.” He advanced toward the other vampire.
The blond shook his head. “You think you’re going to fight me?” His teeth snapped together with a click. “I’m over three hundred years old, I’m—”
Ben drove his fist into the vampire’s jaw. That shut up the jerk. “I don’t attack innocents, and you…you’re as far from innocent as anyone can get. So I’m ready to give you a serious ass-kicking.”
The punch had sent the vamp spinning away from Ben. The blond leaned near a tree. “As if you’re innocent,” the other vampire called out. “Your hands are as blood-stained as my own.” The vamp spun around. Ben saw that the vamp clutched an old, gray tree limb. The guy must’ve ripped it off the tree.
The vampire smiled at Ben. “Let’s see how you fare in this battle, shall we?” The hint of what could’ve been an English accent sharpened his words as the vamp lunged for Ben with the broken tree limb.
But Ben twisted out of his way. He grabbed the vamp’s wrist. Snapped it and shoved that broken limb right back at the bastard.
Back toward his heart.
“No!” The blond vampire thrust Ben away. Ben slipped in the snow, but he was able to stay upright.
“I created you!” The vampire screamed at Ben. “You don’t kill me! You don’t—”
Ben ran straight for him. He went in low, football-style, and grabbed the vamp’s waist. Ben’s momentum sent the vampire stumbling back, back—
And right into the twisting branches of the tree that waited behind the blond vamp. The branches drove into the blond’s back, and then they burst through his chest.
That got your heart, you sonofabitch.
Ben left the vampire hanging on that tree. The blond’s blood dripped down his chest. “Hey, bastard…” Ben growled. “Welcome to the darkness.”
A whimper sounded from just a few feet away. Hell. Ben turned, slowly, and found the kid staring at him with wide, desperate eyes.
Ben lifted his hands. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
The boy trembled.
“I know I look like the bad guy.” Okay, he was bad but… “I’m here to help you.”
The boy gave a jerky nod. “Th-that’s what the pretty lady said…”
Ben’s hands fell. “What lady?”
“Th-the blonde lady, with w-wings.” He shuddered. “When he bit me, I saw her. She was—was beside him. She said someone would come to help me.” His gaze trekked to the vamp who was still impaled on the tree. “Is h-he…dead?”
“Mostly. He’ll be gone for good when I cut off his head.” Was the boy another one of Simone’s charges? She’d guarded Ben, Jamison, and now this lost human.
The boy gulped.
“Do you still see the blonde woman?” Ben asked, barely breathing.
The boy glanced around. “No.”
Dammit. But she had been there. Hope rose within him. If she’d been there before, Simone could appear again.
The boy whispered, “What happens now?”
“The vamp loses his head.”
The kid blanched.
I have to stop scaring the boy. “What’s your name?” Ben demanded. Simone had called him Cale, but that was—
“C-Cale. Cale Parker.”
Ben smiled at him and hoped too much fang wasn’t showing. “Cale, it’s time for you to get a new life.”
Because that boy wouldn’t be dying alone on that snow-filled road. Not that night. Not any fucking night.
***
He’d done it.
Simone turned away from the scene on that snow-covered lane. Her wings lifted her up, taking her away from Ben and Cale. Ben had changed. In the course of one night, he’d proven that he was worthy of redemption. That he was more than just a monster.
She flew back to the little town of Desolate. Headed into the town’s only bar. William and Jamison were already inside, waiting for her.
William glanced up at her approach. His lips quirked. “A demon, a shifter, and an angel walk into a bar…”
“And all hell breaks loose,” Jamison finished with a laugh.
She shook her head. “I’m not an angel. Not anymore.” Her wings were so light now. Because they were barely there at all. In a few more minutes, they would just be a memory.
The laughter faded from Jamison’s eyes. He seemed to tense as he glanced around the bar. He swallowed, and his Adam’s apple clicked. “The vamp…Ben didn’t turn feral on us, did he?”
“No.” It was her turn to smile. “He saved the boy, and now Ben’s going to be all right.” Ben would have his life back. It wouldn’t just be about darkness for him. Not anymore.
He’d be happy, and that happiness was worth every sacrifice she’d made.
“What’s it like?” William wanted to know. His tattoos swirled.
Simone lifted her brows.
“To love someone that much. That you’d give up everything.”
She looked down at the old, scarred table top.
“Will you miss your wings?” Jamison asked when the silence stretched too long.
Simone glanced at him. “Some days, I’m sure I will.” Her gaze slid to William. “And loving Ben has been the best part of my life.” Her after-life as an angel and her human life. “He made me happy. He made me…hope for things that could be.”
William’s eyes hardened. “But you’ve lost everything now. You’ll be a vampire.”
And, once again, Simone could have sworn that Jamison tensed. She frowned at him. “Why are you so nervous?”
His gaze cut to the bar. “You’re not thinking of eating the bartender, are you?”
Simone laughed at that, and the sound surprised her. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed. “No, I’m good, but thanks for asking.”
His shoulders sagged. “It’s all changing…”
She stepped back from their table. There were only a few minutes left until midnight. “Ben proved he could be different.” Simone glanced up at the bar’s ceiling, but she saw so far beyond it. “So that means we stick to our deal.”
Because she’d had to fight for this night. This bit of magic.
Her wings…for a chance at Ben’s redemption. If he proved that the man he’d been still lived inside the monster, then she could be with him.
But not as an angel.
Simone hoped that Ben liked her just as much without her wings.
She turned away from William and Jamison.
“What if…” Jamison’s gravel-rough words stopped her.
Simone glanced over her shoulder.
“What if you go dark?”
There was worry in his eyes. The shifter cared. There was so much more to him than just a growling beast. “I won’t.”
He shook his head. “You don’t know what I’ve seen.”
Simone inclined her head toward him. “Of course, I do. It was my magic, after all. From the beginning, I knew what could happen to Ben…and to me. Why do you think I fought so hard for him?”
Because she’d either survive with him.
Or fall with her vamp.
***
Jamison watched Simone walk away. When the door closed behind her, he reached for the whiskey bottle. His hands were shaking. “Sonofabitch,” he muttered, stunned. “She knew all along that she’d be losing her head.”
“No.” William’s gaze was on the door. A faint grin tilted his lips. “Simone knew that she could. She just loved her vamp so much it didn’t matter.” His fingers drummed on the table. “Fucking insanity.” He grabbed his glass. The demon was drinking spiked eggnog. He tapped the eggnog against Jamison’s whiskey bottle. “You know what they say…angels are the craziest ones in the bunch.”
“Uh…” Jamison hadn’t known that anyone said that.
“They’re also the ones who fall the hardest.” William drained his glass. “That vamp had better be worth her fall, or else he’ll be getting another visit from us next year.”