Until Death

by Kari Anne Kilgore

  "That's one way to look at it," Brian said, adding cream to his second cup. "Well, all of it's destroyed now, so no more worries about that. Does it bother you? Letting that part of her go?"

  Leo sighed, looking out the window at the second-hand clothing shop across the street. The only thing that bothered him was knowing his wife had tried to go behind his back in such a way.

  "It makes me sad, sure," Leo said. "But I can't imagine trying to raise a kid on my own. I've been thinking about getting the snip, actually. May as well."

  "I know you aren't quite ready to think about this." Brian ran one hand across his chin, then looked into Leo's eyes. "I hope I don't sound like an asshole for bringing it up. You may meet someone, Leo. If I can get engaged to a woman miles out of my league despite everyone's low expectations, you may not want to write that off entirely."

  Leo snorted, trying not to let laughter surge up and run away with him. His real reasons for considering a vasectomy would have to stay inside his own slowly breaking mind. Even if those reasons were driving wedges to push the fractures deeper.

  "I'm getting too old for that nonsense," he said. "Even if I decide to date again someday, that's not the best kind of surprise for your late forties."

  "Oh yeah, you're positively ancient," Brian said, laughing. "You do remember our grandfather was famously into his fifties by the time Mom was born, right? You might not be ready to pack it in and throw away the key just yet. You never know, brother. You never know."

  Epilogue

  Maria walked slowly down the cobblestone street of Magda’s last earthly home, losing herself in the perfectly curated and arranged fantasy. Almost everyone nodded or smiled at her as she passed by.

  She tried to push the similarities to Prague out of her mind. Much as she treasured her memories of walking those narrow, winding streets with Leo years ago, she resented the fact that they could never be there together now. Even so far from all their family and friends, being seen in the city with her own husband created far too much risk of being recognized. The only person who truly knew her here in Austria no longer remembered anything she'd once known.

  She'd stopped by the coffee shop for one of their wonderful espressos as she always did. Magda hadn't met her there for a long time. Magda didn't meet anyone any more. Her mind had retreated permanently more than a year ago. Maria hoped it was into a happy past rather than into empty oblivion. Or fear.

  She was heading toward two neat shops with dark wooden fittings and painted signs on the windows—accurate and charming pre-World War examples of a doctor's office and a pharmacy. Erick the barista told her the residents often self-diagnosed their problems before the doctors had a chance to, taking themselves to trusted experts. Many of them also remembered they could go there to visit friends who were too ill to remain in their apartments. Both buildings connected to the wings for the most severe dementia patients.

  Maria could have easily gone through a different entrance on the other side of the complex, straight into the nursing facility rather than through the assisted living area. Her first visit that way, nearly a year ago after Magda's final transfer, had been too damned depressing. At least this way she had the fantasy before the brutal reality.

  She hated to imagine Leo having to visit her in that awful hospice ward, walking alone through the unflinching truth of her first death.

  Maria visited less frequently since Magda's steep decline, waiting for the right time to act. The flashes of clarity had been brief for the first few months. As long as they happened at all, she waited. The last time Maria visited, everyone told her it had been weeks since Magda knew anyone. Or anything. She hadn't been out of her room in a few months.

  Today would be their last visit.

  And she'd continue on to Budapest for her first visit with Paul. Her suspicions about his lack of shock, or even surprise, when she contacted him had proven delightfully true.

  The charming brass bell tinkled over her head when she opened the doctor's office door. Several people sitting in the waiting room glanced at her and smiled before going back to their books or newspapers. No blaring televisions disrupted the strangely peaceful space. A middle-aged woman behind the desk nodded. Apparently the youthful appearance desired for the shops and cafes was not deemed appropriate here.

  "Good to see you, Mrs. Leiber," Maria said in German. She hadn't spoken Romanian here or anywhere else for years. Today might prove to be the last time for even longer, assuming Magda remembered any language at all.

  "Mrs. Mullins," the older woman said. "Always such a pleasure."

  She stood and kissed each of Maria's cheeks, then squeezed her hands before sitting behind the desk again. No one ever noticed the slight coolness of her flesh any more, not even when she was so close to feeding.

  "How's Magda doing today?"

  Mrs. Leiber smiled sadly and closed her eyes for a second.

  "I'm afraid she's continuing to decline. She hasn't truly been conscious for a few weeks now. I know your visits help her, though." Mrs. Leiber's pale blue eyes and mouth drew down in a scowl. "No one in her family has bothered for years now."

  "She's been so dear to me for so long," Maria said. "I'm happy to bring her even a small bit of comfort."

  "That you do." Mrs. Leiber touched a button hidden under the desk, and the pale wooden door to her right clicked open. "The code hasn't changed since you last visited."

  Mrs. Leiber turned back toward her computer monitor, then grabbed a small purple envelope leaning against the keyboard. Unfamiliar handwriting addressed it to Mrs. Maria Mullins.

  "I almost forgot," she said. "This is for you. A courier brought it a few minutes before you arrived."

  Maria tried to hide her surprise and pleasure, most inappropriate with the reason for her visit. No one but Paul could have sent this in advance of their long-planned reunion in the City of Light. No one besides him knew Maria Mullins had once been Maria Sabov, or that either had ever traveled to this idyllic valley in Austria.

  "Thank you, Mrs. Leiber. From another dear friend."

  She decided to wait until she left Magda's room to read Paul's note. How often and how easily Maria had killed wouldn't make any difference today. This would not be an easy visit.

  She slipped the envelope into her purse and walked through the antiseptic pale blue hallway, far more like the one in the hospice ward where she herself had died than she realized.

  Maria wouldn't have recognized the woman in the narrow hospital bed without the room number to guide her. Magda's wispy, white hair floated on the pillow, her puffy face and wasted body nearly impossible to reconcile with the strong woman Maria walked through the retirement community with so many times. An IV Maria knew Magda would have refused if she'd been able ran into the thin flesh of her wrist. Evidence of her family's interference despite their refusal to visit.

  In the end, Magda passed away more gently than falling into sleep. Maria touched her temple and her heart. The remaining life force lifted away, light as dandelions puffed by a warm spring breeze. Her wasted chest fell and did not rise again.

  That warmth moved through Maria just as easily, heightening her senses and sensations. Low conversations in the hallway, the faint scent of Magda's emptying bladder, the cold metal bedrail against her hip. Even such long-used and faint energy would sustain Maria for weeks.

  "Thank you for saving my life, Magda," Maria whispered in Romanian. She gently closed the staring brown eyes. Tears stood in her own. "Calm and peaceful journey into the next one."

  Maria sat in a reclining chair beside the bed, not wanting to leave the room so quickly after she'd arrived. She'd always stayed fifteen minutes once Magda moved to this intensive care section, even if the older woman was sleeping. No need to interrupt her routine on this day. The European efficiency of the staff assured her of at least twenty-five more minutes before anyone entered the room.

  And even if someone came in sooner, no one would ever suspect her of such gentle assistanc
e with no sign of a struggle or any sort of trauma. Maria was quite certain whoever discovered Magda had passed on would be as relieved as she herself was.

  She had no illusions of ever being able to repay Magda for so many gifts of information, of courage, of survival. Her one small act of compassion, so unlike killing for revenge or even sustenance, would have to suffice.

  Not wanting to sink into sadness over Magda's death or melancholy over Leo's first trip back to the US without her, Maria turned her thoughts to her reunion with Paul the next morning. She opened the purple envelope, hoping he hadn't been delayed in his travels.

  Maria's newly invigorated blood ran cold and sluggish before she read to the end of the sprawling Romanian script.

  My dear Maria,

  I trust you've stopped in Austria to bring poor Magda's life to a graceful end. She deserves that much, no matter how badly she betrayed me and everyone else who has fallen victim to you and your unnatural appetites. And to mine.

  Do not fear for your friend Paul, or for your lovely vacation in Budapest. And do not worry for Leo and his time at his brother’s wedding in the United States. You and I must meet, but we have no need to involve others.

  I will contact you after you return to your village and Leo returns to his work in Prague.

  This will be settled between the two of us alone.

  Yours in this new life,

  Igor

  About Kari

  Kari Kilgore lives and works in her native mountains of Virginia. From that solid home base, she and her husband Jason Adams find adventures all over the world to bring to life in fiction. Exploring local legends and mythologies in particular delights and inspires them.

  Kari writes science fiction, fantasy, and horror, and she’s happiest when she scares herself. She lives at the end of a long dirt road in the middle of the woods with Jason, two dogs, two cats, and wildlife they’re better off not knowing more about.

  You can keep up with upcoming fiction from both Kari and Jason, their travel adventures, and whatever else strikes their fancy at www.karikilgore.com and www.spiralpublishing.net.

  @spiralwriter

  kari.kilgore.1

  Also by Kari Anne Kilgore

  I hope you enjoyed reading Until Death as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you’re ready for more while I’m working hard on the sequel, check out my steampunk/dark fantasy novel The Dream Thief and my ghostly dark fantasy novella Songs in the Mountain.

  Visit www.karikilgore.com for more stories, and sign up for news about new fiction, past and future travels, and whatever else strikes my fancy. Hope to see you there!

  The Dream Thief

  An Engine World Novel

  In the glittering, steam-driven high society of Waldron’s Gate, no one needs to dream.

  Karl Gilmore spends his days caring for people with broken minds. The Dream Thief fulfills twisted fantasies.

  The seductive lure of irresistible power threatens to destroy all they both hold dear.

  A wildly imaginative tale of the seedy underbelly of the perfect Engine World city and beyond.

  Songs in the Mountain

  A gripping tale of sorrow and redemption.

  Hartstown, Virginia, holds stunning natural beauty and a close-knit mountain community. Deep in the heart of Appalachian coal country, Hartstown also suffers more than its fair share of tragedy.

  Beth Azen discovers a strange ability that leads her deep into the ancient mysteries of the mountains around her. Mark Hersch finds more than he ever imagined on his lifelong quest to heal the damage left by decades of mining.

  Together, they discover the deadly nature of true loneliness.

  Copyright © 2016 by Kari Anne Kilgore

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  All rights reserved

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  Published 2016 by Spiral Publishing, Ltd.

  www.spiralpublishing.net

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  Book and cover design copyright © 2016 by Spiral Publishing, Ltd.

  Cover art copyright © 2016 by Fabio Formaggio/Dreamstime

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  Print ISBN-13: 978-0-9908875-1-5

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2016915453

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  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblances to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.