by S. Coop
“Move it, Pony!” Morgan ordered.
“Please,” Maria whispered.
To Morgan’s surprise, Pony stepped out of the way, letting them run through the gate.
“What the hell are you doing, Pony?” Marcus bellowed as he gained on them. “Stop them, damn it!”
Wearing a smirk on her face, a smirk Morgan had seen before, Pony grasped her sword handle with both hands and waited for Marcus to get closer. “Go on, sis,” Pony said. “I got your back.”
“But why?” Morgan asked.
“He reminds me too much of my daddy,” Pony said. “And I hated the living fuck out of him.”
As Morgan, Katya, and Lasandro backed away and Marcus charged nearer, Pony hovered into the air.
Giggling.
“After them!” Marcus cried as he thundered toward the gate.
“Nah,” Pony said, and with one quick slash sent Marcus’s head soaring through the air until it landed with a splash in the magnificent fountain. “Whoa! I couldn’t do that again if I lived for a thousand years.” She giggled. “And I might just live that long, too.”
Morgan, Lasandro, and Katya returned to the gate while Pony descended, whipping the sword in the air to remove Marcus’s blood from the blade.
“Do you know what you’ve just done?” Morgan asked, leaning heavily on Lasandro.
“Yeah, I’m in the shit, aren’t I?” Pony shrugged. “And I suppose the penalty is death for killing your Maker. Oh no, not death. I’m so scared.” Pony giggled. “Don’t worry about me, sis. I can always find a new daddy.”
Guards Katya hadn’t killed came rushing toward them, but seeing that Marcus’s head and body didn’t have much in common anymore, they stopped and looked confused.
“Go now, sis,” Pony said, unsheathing her sword. “I’m gonna have some fun!”
As Pony ripped and sliced through the guards one by one, her adopted family moved away in a steady trot, Lasandro looked at Morgan and smiled. It was over. Marcus was dead and was no longer a threat to anyone.
Maria coughed and sent a splash of blood onto Lasandro’s cheek. “My son,” she wheezed.
Lasandro stopped and laid his mother down at the base of a massive oak tree. “Mom, please don’t leave me again.”
“Vinny?” Maria reached up with one hand and held Lasandro’s face. “My boy.” She smiled weakly. “Be good, Vinny. Mommy loves you.” Her hand slipped down and fell to her side as she slowly drifted away.
Once again, Lasandro was kneeling over his mother’s dead body. He had her in his life again only to lose her again in less than an hour.
“We have to go!” Katya yelled from a distance. “Don’t you hear the sirens and see the lights? Let’s go!”
Morgan hugged Lasandro from behind. “I’m staying.”
Katya shook her head and disappeared into the darkness.
Lasandro leaned over, covered his mother’s body with his, and wept.
Epilogue
“Think fast!”
Lasandro crept up on Morgan while she grabbed a jug of animal blood from the fridge. Morgan turned around and attempted to punch Lasandro in the chest, but he grabbed her arm and spun her around, bringing her close to him.
“So violent,” he said while placing kisses on her neck. “Mmm, I like that. Rawrrr!”
Morgan laughed.
“Come on, I’ve got to show you something.”
Morgan followed Lasandro to the art room where a gray cloth covered his next masterpiece. “Ready?” Lasandro held a corner of the cloth.
Morgan nodded.
Lasandro pulled off the cloth to reveal a detailed cartoon illustration of Pony beheading Marcus. The piece mimicked what someone might see in a comic book with descriptive words like “SLUNK!” or “SWOOSH!”
Morgan shook her head and laughed. She thought how ironic it was that the person Marcus trusted the most was responsible for his ultimate demise.
“You like it?” Lasandro asked.
“It’s amazing,” Morgan replied.
“I’m glad, but that’s not really what I wanted to show you.”
“It’s not?”
Lasandro slid the illustration to the side to reveal her portrait.
Morgan gasped when she looked at it. It was beautiful. It was so intricate, detailed, and full of emotion. Morgan stared at the painting while her own eyes stared back at her. Am I really that beautiful?
“You are, and then some,” he said. “You captured me for eternity by turning me into a vampire, and now I have captured you for eternity on canvas.”
“Does that make us even?” Morgan asked.
Lasandro squinted. “Well, no, not quite. I will have to paint many more portraits.” He raised his eyebrows. “I think I would like to begin my ‘nude phase’ very soon.”
“You would, huh?”
“Yes.”
“You’ll have to catch me first.” She shot off toward the beach.
Lasandro easily outraced her, scooped her up, and flew her out over the ocean.
“You caught me,” she said.
“Well, you do have me on a high-carb, low fat diet, you know,” Lasandro said. “And you let me catch you.”
“Hmm, yeah. I did.”
“I love you, Morgan,” he said with every bit of sincerity.
“I love you, too, Lasandro.”
She took his hand and floated beside him high above the waves crashing below as the sun disappeared over the horizon and darkness enveloped them.
It was the perfect night for lovers to look at the stars.