Pain shot up my arm, and a throbbing sensation threatened to rob me of my weapon, but I had to fight. This was my one chance. This was my last chance.
“I’ll give you something,” I said, arcing the sword at him again. Missing again.
But the sword felt less foreign in my hands now, like it was speaking to me, telling me where to point it. Maybe the magic in my blood had something to do with it or maybe I was just a fast learner. Either way, I was open to any advantage I could get.
“Don’t make this hard on yourself, Char,” he said, circling me like predator. “I can make it quick. Drawing things out will only make it worse for you.”
“You’re just scared I can still kick your ass,” I said, jabbing the blade forward. It nicked his side, but he spun too quickly for the blow to do any real damage. “You always were a sore loser.”
“Don’t be an idiot,” he said, almost foaming at the mouth. “You don’t have a chance here, and even if you did, you couldn’t kill anybody. It’s not who you are.”
“You have no idea who I am,” I cut out, narrowing my gaze at him.
I swung again. He grabbed the blade with his bare hand, and I yanked it hard, freeing it from him and slicing his palm on the way out. He yelped again and pulled back.
I may not have actually killed anyone before, but after this, after everything that had happened, I couldn’t tell you what sort of person I was anymore.
“Fine. Have it your way,” he said.
He jumped again, and this time his feet came at me. He kicked me hard in the shoulders, knocking me backward. I tripped over Abram and tumbled to the ground. My head hit hard against the ground, and my vision dimmed. Then, I was being lifted upward.
Dalton’s claws dug into my back as he raised me over his head. I clutched the sword’s hilt tighter and made another swipe at him, but the angle made my attempt futile. Instead of doing any damage, it flailed back and forth ridiculously.
“I tried to warn you, Char. Really, I did.” He threw me, and as I passed through the air, I saw everything: Dalton standing there wickedly, Abram lying on the ground beside him, the full moon hanging in the sky and marking some horrible countdown to Abram’s curse.
And then there was the tree.
I slammed hard into its trunk. Something in my chest cracked as I slid to the ground. I tried to calm myself, to breathe, to ignore the pain. But it was no use. The entire world was spinning. Pain flashed through me, intense and damaging. I had been hurt. Badly. And it wasn’t over yet. I could see my own blood covering me, yet doing nothing to heal my own wounds. I still had no idea how any of this worked. All I knew was that if I lost this fight, Abram and I were both dead. And who knew how many more after us.
Through bleary eyes, I watched Dalton come toward me. I grappled for the sword, but it was nowhere to be found. It must have dropped it at some point between Dalton’s arms and sliding to the ground.
I tried moving, but a stabbing pain ran up my chest. Yep, I had definitely broken a rib or two.
“I really wanted to do this the easy way, Char,” he said, lumbering over me. “But you just wouldn’t let me, would you? Everything with you has to be a challenge. Always been that way. You know, not everyone wants a girl who plays hard to get.” His teeth shone sharply in the moonlight. His claws twitched by his sides, itching to rip into me. “I was gonna make it quick for you,” he said, licking his lips, “but at this point I’m about ready to hurt you, and I’m not going to feel bad about it.”
I searched his beastly body looking for a weak spot. Certainly there had to be something to exploit. Certainly there was an area that I could attack that, even in his current condition, might still be vulnerable.
I grinned a little as the answer came to me.
“Funny,” I muttered. “I was just about to tell you the same thing.”
And then I kicked him right between the legs.
Pain threatened to rip me right in half, but I still didn’t hurt half as much as Dalton did. The big lug keeled over, affording me just enough room to snake past him.
I stumbled away, holding my injured midsection. He would be back on his feet in a minute. These beasts never stayed hurt for long. I thought about running, but reconsidered. Abram was here. I needed to do my best to keep him safe. Love me or not, he would’ve done the same for me. And that was what mattered.
Through my pain-filled gaze, I caught sight of the sword. It hurt like hell as I bent over to scoop it up, but something about its weight in my hands felt right.
An almost howl was the only warning I got before Dalton collided with me. He knocked me to the ground mere inches from Abram and flipped me over. The sword flew from my hands again, landing just out of reach.
He sat on my chest, all the bravado gone from him.
“I’m gonna make you wish you were never born, you fat bitch,” he snarled.
Thrusting his arm forward, he dug into my chest. Blood splattered everywhere as I felt an intense rush of heat and pain. Suddenly, my broken ribs didn’t seem so bad.
He dug again and again. The pain intensified and morphed into a strong and primal sickness. Bile rose in my throat, and my body began to wretch.
“This is where you die,” he kept repeating. “This is where you die.”
My blood was all over him now, and he shimmered gold in its presence. I turned my head, half to check the distance to the sword and half so that I wouldn’t have to actually watch Dalton murder me.
I stretched my hand out, but the damn thing was too far. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway. I was too weak, and this hurt too much. My vision blurred, the world paled.
Satina’s words rang through my head again.
Outlast it.
But that was ridiculous. Dalton ran a claw deep into me now. I could literally feel his fingers inside of me, claiming my blood as his own. There was no way I could do this. Let him take the blood. Let him take it all. Nothing was worth this pain.
But then I saw Abram lying there. He was still alive, even if just barely. If he made it through this, he would make the next century unlivable for himself, thinking about all the ways he had failed.
No. I would live for him. He was worth it.
And with that realization, the pain sort of went away.
It seemed I had outlasted it.
I stretched my arm as far as it would go, threatening to pull it out of its socket, but pain or not, the sword was still just out of reach. My fingernail grasped helplessly at the dirt, trying to pull myself just a little closer. Dalton’s weight on me made that nearly impossible, but I couldn’t die. I just couldn’t.
I mustered up all the will I could for another pull, and now the sword was just a fingertip away. I didn’t stop until my fingers grazed the hilt, until I could pluck the sword closer.
Dalton didn’t seem to notice. Instead, he kept drilling into me, covering himself in my blood.
“This is where you die,” he said again. “This is where you die.”
My fingers wrapped around the hilt. “Funny,” I said, gathering up the last bit of strength I had, maybe the last bit of strength I might ever have. “I…was…about to-to tell you the same thing.”
And I throttled the sword straight at him.
It flew true, slicing its way through the air and hitting Dalton right in the neck. He didn’t have time to yelp this time. He didn’t react at all. His eyes went wide and then they lost their light. His body fell limp and lifeless against me, and I pushed it off. All but his head.
I had taken that clean off.
Chapter 33
The minutes stretched as I struggled to catch my breath. Killing Dalton… I squeezed my eyes shut. God, I had killed somebody. It was the hardest thing I had ever had to do. Pushing him off me was only slightly easier.
He was heavy and slick with blood. Bile rose in my stomach, not only because I was touching a still warm corpse, but because of who the corpse used to be. This was Lulu’s brother. Lord, Lulu was going to be hear
tbroken. And how was I going to explain this? How would I explain any of it?
His headless body thudded onto the ground next to me, and I rolled as far away from it as I could. The night air mingled with my bangs as I settled close to Abram. I felt his breath, steadier now. That was a good thing—perhaps the only good thing—to happen this entire damn night.
Heaviness drifted over me as I lay there. The weight of all that had happened, of all I had done, of everything all of us had been through, was too much. And it was begging me to sleep.
I fought the urge as long as I could. I needed to be here when Abram woke, to make sure he was okay, and to explain everything he had missed. But it was no use. My body was too exhausted. And before long, my eyes refused to cooperate.
I woke in familiar arms. My entire body ached, my mouth was dry, and my head spun. But as my eyes opened, heavy and nearly unwilling, the sight they took in made it all worth it.
Abram sat over me, cradling me in his arms. He was a man again, bare-chested and sweating. But he wasn’t hurt. And he sure as hell wasn’t dead.
“You’re not…” I muttered. My voice was cracked, low, and weak.
“Not on your life.” He smiled at me. It was beautiful. He was beautiful.
Sitting there, dark eyes gleaming in the quickly brightening sky, he was everything I had ever wanted. Even if he could never match the way I felt for him, it was okay. I didn’t care, so long as he was alive.
He had given me this gift. He had shown me that love, real live honest-to-God love, existed. It was pure and beautiful. It would change you in the most unexpected and glorious ways. And it hurt. It hurt in ways you never knew were possible and in volumes you hoped would never stop.
He had shown me love, even if he could never return it. And right now, in the glow of the early morning, that was enough.
“Don’t try to talk,” he said over me. “You saved my life, you know.”
“Now we’re even,” I answered, against his protests.
Bracing myself on his shoulder, I pulled myself up. The entire world was shaky, and I was somehow even less stable than that.
He took hold of my hand in his. “Do you need water?”
“No. Just you. I just need to sit here with you for a minute.” The tears that welled up behind my eyes surprised me. “I thought you were dead.”
“I was…” He shook his head. “Or at least, that’s what she told me while she was healing you. Apparently you brought me back from even death, which I would venture to say makes us not so even after all.”
“I’m sure you’ll find some way to make it up to me.”
“I can think of more than a few alternatives,” he said with a grin, that smoldering look in his eyes making my knees go even weaker than they already were…but this time, for a completely different reason.
And just like that, the dread and worry that had laid so heavily on my shoulders melted away. Against all odds, we had won. There were no more best friends’ little brothers hoping to bleed me dry. It was just Abram, me, and eternity.
And a third beast we still hadn’t found…
“What about the other beast?” I asked warily. “I spilled a lot of blood…”
“You spilled enough blood for Satina’s spell to block that beast for a month,” Abram said with a low chuckle. “But I’ll get him…or if that fails, I’ll just toss you a sword next time he’s around.”
His simplicity in that moment solidified everything I felt about him. “I love you,” I whispered, letting him fold me into his embrace. “You don’t have to say it back,” I said against his chest. “I know it’s too soon for you. Just know that it’s true. Just know that I feel it.”
He tensed up and, when my mind slowed down enough to register the quickly greying sky, I remembered why.
“The curse,” I whispered. “It’s permanent now.”
“Not yet.” He caressed his hand down my back. “When the sun comes up.”
I held him a little tighter. “There has to be something we can do,” I said, dreading my sentiment wasn’t true. “We’ve come this far.”
“We have,” he said, his hand tracing small circles at the bottom of my back. “Don’t worry about the curse. It doesn’t matter. This is who I am now. I’ve made peace with that.”
I tilted my head against his shoulder and listened to the beating of his heart. It was so strong now, so alive.
“Don’t you miss it?” I asked. “Being human?”
“I try not to,” he said, but his voice was quiet and strained. “But there are…things that I would love to experience again.”
“Like what?” I asked, lifting my head and meeting his gaze.
“Dreams,” he said ruefully. “I can’t—my kind doesn’t dream.” His eyes glazed over. “And that would be all right if not for my sister.” He bit his lip. “She died when I was twelve. Paintings were expensive then, and my family didn’t have any money. But I dreamt of her almost every night. It kept her face fresh in my mind.” He pulled my body back against his again, maybe so I wouldn’t see the pain etched into his expression. “I’m not sure I even remember what she looks like now.”
I kissed his chest and twirled my fingers through his. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be,” said a voice from behind me. “He does it to himself.”
Satina.
I turned. She stood just a few feet away, although, floating might have been a better word for it. Every inch of her skin shone with light, and despite her few acts of kindness, I still found it odd that she wasn’t cloaked in shadows instead.
“Satina, don’t,” Abram growled.
“What is she talking about?” I asked, unease creating a pit in my stomach.
“Nothing,” Abram said. “Just ignore—”
“The curse is his to break, Supplicant. All the pieces are in play.”
“What does that even—”
But before I could even finish my sentence, it all fell into place. Like a runway show, the idea coming to life as finally the make-up is applied, the hair styled, the wardrobe divvied up. Where I could not see the designer’s vision before, it was all very clear to me now.
“Oh, God,” I murmured, my gaze rolling back to Abram. “You do love me.”
His eyes went wide, but the rest of his face steeled over. Still, I knew the truth. I had wormed my way into his heart, and he wouldn’t admit it.
“He has to say it, doesn’t he?” I asked, turning to Satina.
“Before the sun comes up,” she answered, looking at the almost bright sky. “He has two minutes.”
“Abram!” I said, spinning around to him.
He shook his head, tears gleaming in his eyes.
“I should have known,” I said. “I knew you couldn’t have kissed me like that, couldn’t have touched me like that, if you didn’t love me. I knew it was true.”
He cupped my face in his hands. “Charisse,” he said, his voice firm, “you need to let this go.”
“No way!” I said, pushing his hands away from my face. “You have a chance to be human. We have a shot at a real life. We can have a future. Abram, I know you feel it, all you have to do is say it.”
“Absolutely not,” he muttered.
“Don’t be so hard headed! What is your issue? You waited over a century for this. Please, I’m begging you. Just—”
“Is that what you think, Charisse? That we can just go skipping off into the sunset?” He waved his hand. “Dalton wasn’t the only one after you, remember? You’re a commodity. There’s always going to be someone out to steal what makes you special. Besides, Satina told me about the future. Your trials aren’t over, and that means neither are mine. You are always going to be in danger, Charisse. And I’m sure as hell going to make certain I’m able to save you.”
“I just saved you!” I shot back, incredulous. Ugh. I didn’t have time to deal with his sexist views right now, and I was kicking myself for not making more of an effort to get him over them sooner. “
I can take care of myself. Surely you have noticed this by now!”
He scowled. “And if you do, then what good am I?”
“I love you, you moron. That’s what good you are. Now for the love of God, you’re running out of time! Stop being so goddamn self-sacrificing.”
His eyes narrowed. “I’m not a martyr, Charisse. If I’m human, if I can’t save you, then you’re gone. And what am I supposed to do then? Would you just expect me to go on without you? Because I have lived over a hundred years, and I have made it through things that would tear mortal men apart, but I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt, I would never make it through that. Not for a day. So no. I’m not doing this for you. I’m doing this for me. For me and for us.”
He leaned in and pressed his lips square against mine, and something in me shifted as we kissed. Gold light shimmered across him. The sun was up, the moon on the window was full. The curse was permanent.
He pulled away and took one of my hands gently in his own.
“Now I love you,” he said, and with his free hand, he swiped a tear off my cheek with his thumb. “And I always will. Now and forever.”
Epilogue
Two weeks later, they laid Dalton to rest. It took all I could do to sit there without squirming out of my own skin. He was a monster. He wanted me dead. If he’d had his way, I would be the one they were lowering into the ground right now, nothing more than a bloodless husk.
But the townsfolk didn’t know that. To them, sitting all teary eyed and justified, he had been a victim of Abram’s. Even if they still couldn’t quite put into words what Abram had turned into (and, as a result, were beginning to make stupid and mundane excuses about it) the narrative still stated the obvious. Abram was a murderer, a villain they had needed to bring to justice.
Even if he hadn’t been seen by anyone in town since that night.
Anyone but me, anyway.
Some believed he died and that wild animals had dragged off his carcass, but others thought he was still alive, out there, on the prowl, ready to strike again at any moment.
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