by A. Giacomi
Lessard speaks next, “Eve, is it true? Are you infected?”
“Yes, which means I need to go,” I say winking at Lessard who knew my plans.
Beni hides her face in her hands, but I couldn’t leave things this way. “Beni, please don’t blame yourself. This might all very well be destiny. Sometimes things happen for a very good reason. I wasn’t supposed to be here this long anyway, you gave me the gift of knowing you and I will always thank you for that.”
As I try to embrace her, Beni slaps my arms away “No! You don’t get to leave me! No, I refuse to lose you again,” she says through puffy eyes.
“Please don’t think of it as leaving, Beni. Think of it as ‘bye for now’, if you have learned anything from all of this it’s that nothing is permanent, you might just see me again,” I say winking at her with as much of a smile as I can muster. “Now go…” I say softly.
When she clings to me tightly I tell her I love her one last time and then beg Lessard to take her away. Once they are out of the room I lock the door once more. It was time to slumber; I owed the devil a little visit.
***
My, my, my…the voice hisses in the darkness, you’re ahead of schedule…already said all your goodbyes?
“Indeed I have,” I say with a trace of melancholy, he was right about one thing, humans always wanted more time than they got. I just wanted more time with Beni, but I would have to be satisfied with gifting Beni more time.
“So let’s do this,” I say clapping my hands together impatiently.
Why so eager? the voice taunts curiously.
“I just want to ensure my daughter’s safety. You promised to leave her alone.”
That I did…
“A deal is a deal right?”
Indeed…
I was getting real sick of the small talk, it felt as though he was stalling. I feel my body growing hot, if we didn’t make the deal soon he would know I was infected and the deal would be off.
Kneeling before him, I say, “I’m ready to accept my fate.”
I can feel his grin; the pure satisfaction of making me suffer was making him salivate.
Forcing me to rise and watch as he cleans a rather large blade with intricate markings on it. Does this look familiar, Eve?
I don’t answer, but I knew the knife, it was the same one that took Cam’s heart from him. The devil was all about ritual after all.
Let’s make it official then, shall we? he says almost excitedly…do you, Eve, agree to give your heart freely to me in exchange for your daughter’s heart?
“I do,” I say as I fight back tears. “I would do anything for her.”
Towering over me, the cloaked devil raises his knife and jabs it into my heart. I can feel the warmth of the blade as it enters my body. Screams exit my mouth, the pain was unbearable, but it would all be over soon, my final thought before the lights go off is that this whole crazy plan works.
“Please,” I say in a final whisper, and I suppose the devil thinks I’m begging for my life, which he appears to enjoy, but in reality I was just praying I wasn’t wrong about all this.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
BENI
It has been two years since the last zombie invasion and there is no one to thank but my mother. She saved us all again, she saved me.
Some days I am still very bitter about the lies Lessard and she had to tell me in order to make the plan work. I would like to think I could have helped, but perhaps I am in denial about my true self. I am as stubborn as my mother and always follow my heart, a dangerous combination to say the least.
Theo finds me and runs up to me, embracing me and kissing my forehead leaving me feeling warm and safe.
“I thought I would find you here,” he says as he points to my mother’s grave.
I couldn’t help that I was here every day; I guess I just wasn’t good at goodbye.
“Theo, do you think he’ll come back someday?” I say pointing to my glowing heart. “You know, do you really think he’ll ever rest until he has this?”
Theo strokes my hair gently. “Let’s not think about these things unless they actually happen. I don’t like playing the ‘what if’ game. Let’s just focus on now.”
With that Theo gets down on one knee, revealing a ring in one hand. “Beni, I’ve loved you from the moment we met. Will you be my wife?” he says both nervously and excitedly.
My heart flutters with joy and I’m shaking. It takes me a moment to realize that it’s not actually me that’s shaking, but instead the earth below us rumbling. Pulling Theo to his feet, I embrace him and whisper, “Yes.” For something told me our time for peace would be short lived and that I should enjoy the life my mother had given me while it lasted.
Someday the beast would awaken…someday the dead would walk the Earth once more…
THE END.
A Note of Gratitude from the Author
The final book at long last has arrived, Eve’s story has come to a close, but it’s really just the beginning for me. It’s bittersweet to say goodbye to a character that’s been in my life for nearly two decades. I feel so lucky to have shared her with you all and would like to thank CHBB and Sarah Davis Brandon to the moon and back for taking the Zombie Girl Saga and turning it into a thing of beauty. I would like to thank the entire team at CHBB for all their hard work and support, I feel very blessed to have such an amazing team behind me.
I would like to thank Rebecca Poole of Dreams 2 Media for creating this stunning final cover and the one before it. I really needed a new feel to the covers because there is such a huge shift in the tale, it grew a bit darker, a bit sadder, but still had much mystery and light. I don’t know how you managed to take those randomly assorted feelings and made them into a perfect cover, but you did, so I think you might perhaps be, magical.
Thank you to my editor Elizabeth Anne Lance, she gets me, and that’s so important! She not only made my work better, she made sure to leave comments of encouragement as well as comments of frustration when the story took turns for the worst (sorry for stressing you out, but at least I’m no George R.R. Martin) If I could clone Elizabeth I WOULD! That way all writers could be as fortunate as I have been to have her on this journey.
Thank you to all of my family and friends for supporting the series (even if you don’t particularly like zombies). It has meant the world to me that you would read it let alone spread the word proudly. This was my first rodeo, and you all made me feel like a winner, even on the days where the writing wouldn’t flow. So as the Golden Girls theme says “Thank you for being a friend.”
To the readers, how can I even begin to thank you? It still astonishes me that anyone would bother messaging me and asking, “Hey! When’s the next book out?” Your support is everything! Thank you for the reviews, the kind comments, the caring shares, the likes, and as always…thank you for reading!
Although The Zombie Girl Saga is now complete, I have many more adventures to write, so I hope you’ll stay tuned and join me on future journeys, I assure you, they’ll be spellbinding!
With Great Love & Gratitude,
A.Giacomi
A.Giacomi is the author of The Zombie Girl Saga.
She is an educator, writer, and artist from Toronto, Canada. She is a zombie enthusiast, a wife, and mother to one small human child.
For more on A.Giacomi visit her on
Twitter @thepoeticzombie
Facebook A.Giacomi
or her official Blog www.poeticzombie.com
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