by Tara Brown
But it was over. Finally. I was with him and we were free of the curse. We were free to be together.
I kissed his neck, feeling the fangs spring instantly and smiled. He pulled me back. “We don’t bite.”
I laughed. “How did you resist biting me?”
“I knew my bite would kill you.”
I winced. “It’s going to be harder for me. My bite won’t affect you.”
“It might annoy me. That will affect you.”
I laughed harder.
He kissed me again, gripping to me and kneading my skin. I had never imagined my favorite shower in the world could become even more special. But it did. The walls and windows steamed, and in the mist we got lost in each other and the pleasure we both needed to feel.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Briton
He held her in his arms, kissing her forehead and smelling her. His sense of smell was stronger, which he had thought was already quite good. Thankfully, she still smelled delicious to him.
She was everything.
The image of her lying on the grass, cold and still, lingered in his mind. It haunted him.
He closed his eyes and forced his brain to think about the shower instead. The feel of her body against his had brought back everything else. The life they had had before was closely tied to the one they were living now.
Something strange happened for him just then.
His eyes relaxed and his mind wandered gently.
He saw things he hadn’t seen in a long time, and he felt things he couldn’t recall ever feeling.
His sleep became a journey, a tour through the ages.
Something pinned him down, force-feeding him feelings of both pain and love.
He sat up, gasping for air. It was light and she was smiling at him.
He looked around the room, confused and lost. “I had something terrible happen to me. I was sleeping, but it was a struggle and I couldn’t get out of it.”
She lay back on the pillow and yawned. “You had a bad dream.”
The words rang throughout his head. He had never dreamt before. Well, he had but not since he was a boy. He gave her a look. “Let me guess, you passed right out and woke right up? No dreams?”
She snuggled into the pillow. “No. I had a dream. We were on the beach and it was sunny and we were holding hands. We had a dog. It was a good dream.”
He flopped back onto the pillow. “Whatever your dad did to you, I need him to do to me.”
She winced.
“Sorry.” He offered a weak smile. “I just meant . . .”
“I know. I just sort of forgot about him. I guess we will have to find him today. Jamie is dead. His wolves are dead. My dad is a wolf. It’s a mess.”
He brushed her hair from her face. “Well, you have school so you go to school and I’ll take care of the rest.”
Her bright-blue eyes perked up. “Oh my God. I do have school. It’s like the world ended but it didn’t, you know?”
He chuckled.
She crawled up onto his chest, resting her head. “It’s so weird, you have a heartbeat now.”
He wrapped himself around her. “I know. It hurts sometimes. I think I’m going to have to go out in the field and change before it forces itself upon me.”
She lifted her head, grimacing at him. “Oh dude. It hurts so much. I actually thought I was dying at least twice. So bad.”
“Your heart stopping must have hurt more?”
She shook her head. “No. That was so sudden. The wolf thing is agonizing and brutal and never ending.”
He scowled. “Thanks for sugarcoating it for me.”
She laughed and lay her head back on his chest. “Do you think we will just always love each other?”
“Haven’t we always?”
He knew he had never loved anyone like he did her. Never. But she didn’t answer. He pinched her arm. She squealed. “I’m thinking. I was just checking. I have a lot of lives to comb through.”
He rolled her on her back, pinning her to the bed. “If you ever loved anyone, I will . . .“
She rolled her eyes. “Relax, crazy pants. I never loved anyone. I actually never really lived past like twenty-five. Such an odd thing for a seventeen-year-old girl to say.”
He laughed. “I don’t think there is anything normal about either of us.”
“I don’t want to be normal anyway. I just want to be here with you.”
He looked around. “Can we start sleeping at my place though? I feel weird that this house is your dad and Judith’s.”
“Yeah—no. I’m not sleeping at your house with your parents, sorry.”
He sighed. “Can we just get our own house then?”
She frowned. “I’m seventeen. I can’t live with you. We’ve been dating for two weeks.”
“You’re eighteen in ten days, and we’ve been married before and we both remember it.”
She wrinkled her lips, making that weird goose-faced look the girls all took pictures of themselves doing. She shook her head. “No. I want to date. I think we need to go back to the start, start over and date. This is the start of our story, remember?”
He laughed, looking down at their naked bodies. “We just had sex, twice.”
Her cheeks blushed, not as bright as they used to though. “I know. I think we should cut that back and just get to know each other for who we are now. We have eternity. I don’t want to rush it.”
“You say that now? After we’ve made love for eleven days straight, apart from the day where we were fighting for the right to be together?”
She bit her lip and nodded.
He sighed. “Fine. We can take it slowly and date. Whatever. I don’t care how we are together. I just want to be with you forever.”
She kissed his cheek and closed her eyes again. “I wish we didn’t have to get up though. I don’t want to go to school.”
He wanted to get out of the bed, he just didn’t want to tell her why. He kissed her, savoring the feel of her lips against his. “Is this permitted, milady?”
She rolled her eyes. “You are such a dork—milady? Please.” She climbed from the bed and started getting ready for school. He didn't like the fact she would be at school, vulnerable and in the open. But he had to trust she could wield her newfound strengths if she had to. He had a much larger fish to fry.
He watched, noticing he was suddenly obsessed by odd things. The smells, the sounds, colors. Everything was different. Wolves literally lived a different life than vampires.
He walked to her balcony door and turned to see her pulling on shoes, heels. He shook his head. “See you after school. I’ll pick you up?”
She ran to him, hobbling with the one heel, and threw her arms around his neck. Her strength difference was noticeable. Wolves needed more anger for strength whereas vampires were always strong. She still wasn't any match for him. He scooped her up, nestling himself in her neck. The smell almost drove him to walk back to the bed and do the very things they had just discussed not doing. He pondered if that was her game. Telling him he wasn't allowed to do it made him want it more. Obstinacy must have been a wolf trait. He had already been a stubborn and persistent man as a vampire, he felt it worsen as a wolf.
She kissed him and pushed on his chest. “You have to go!”
He nodded once. “I do. I have to go and let all the bones in my body break before the full moon so when I am forced to become a wolf on that eventful day, it isn’t as harsh.”
She winced. “Nothing takes the harshness away. I think it actually gets worse as you go.”
He laughed, pressing his lips on hers once more. She stepped back, blowing him a kiss. He pretended to catch it and winked at her. “And you call me a dork. I dare say, blowing kisses is equally dorky.”
She gasped. “You caught it.”
He jumped off of the balcony, shouting up at her. “That I did. I will check on your mother before I go.”
She leaned over the railing, no longer smilin
g and joking. She realized she hadn’t given much thought to the reality of the world they now faced. “Thank you. I don't even know what to say to her. I just hope she and Judith can play nice.”
“Will you tell Judith?”
She pointed behind her. “I’m going to do it now.”
“Then good luck with that and the whole explanation. I’ll see you after school.” He walked backwards, staring at her as long as he could.
Chapter Thirty
Liv
I watched him walk across the grass and past the tree that I had relabeled stalker tree, after him and his creepy red eyes. He made me smile, even then when I had to go and do the worst thing possible.
I grimaced and walked into the room and out into the hallway. My fingers gripped to the railings in protest. They didn't want to do what they had to.
When I got downstairs and entered the kitchen, she was sitting at the table. Her eyes were puffy, red rimmed and still glassy. She held a mug in her hand, tapping her ring against it and staring out the window.
She didn't look like Barbie. She didn’t look badass or perfect. She looked broken. She looked like she knew everything.
I walked in silently, but she still looked up at me. Her lower lip trembled. She started to cry, shaking her head and muttering something I didn't understand. She covered her face, hiding from me. I walked over, feeling the mascara already running down my cheeks.
“I didn't know,” she sobbed. “I didn't know. He used me.”
I looked past her to the back door, jumping slightly when I saw a wolf standing there. He dragged a paw, scratching to come in.
“Is that…?”
“Yup.” She sniffed and looked over at him. “GO AWAY, FRANK!” she shouted and pointed.
The huge grey wolf pawed again and whined, as if he were a lost dog begging to come in.
“How do you know everything?”
She looked back at the table, placing the mug down and speaking as though she were reliving the moment she learned it. “Josh. He came this morning. He was worried about you. Said you had lost your memory.”
My brow knit together as I relived my own memory. “I just had to change it up in my head a little. I was given the choice when the curse broke to stay a wolf or to be like Briton. I chose to be like him, just as he chose to be like me. My memories needed a minute. It’s been a rough two weeks.”
She smiled. “He is a wolf and you are now a vampire?”
“And the curse is broken. The bite no longer kills.”
The smile on her face got larger. “So he is a wolf? He’s been a vampire for two thousand years and now he’s a wolf?”
“With five vampire brothers.”
She burst out laughing, clutching her side. I frowned. I saw the humor but missed the hilarity. She was busting a gut, my dad/wolf/traitor was still pawing at the door, and I was lost. She thumped on the table with her fist, tears streaming from her eyes. The laughter turned to crying again. She slumped on the table and cried harder. I glanced at the clock. I was already late for first period. Shit. I didn’t know why I thought I was even going to school. The first two weeks in Wolfville had been insane.
It didn't look like it was improving.
I looked at my dad and slumped with Judith. “What are we doing with him?”
She looked over at him, crying harder.
A knock at the front door interrupted the worst moment of my life. I got up and answered it, hoping it was a small amount of good news.
It wasn't.
It was a man with a dark beard and dark hair to match. He had steely-blue eyes and a stern face. “Is he here?”
I swallowed hard.
“The law is the law.”
I forced myself to see the cruelty of my mother’s fake funeral and the state she was in after years of torture. “He’s in the back, still in wolf form. I don't know if he knows how to change back.” I felt sick saying it, betraying him even after everything he had done to me, and even worse, what he had done to others.
The man nodded but it looked like a bow. I cocked an eyebrow as he turned and walked around the side of the house. My empty chest ached. I hated how sad I was for such a bad person. I ran back to the kitchen and watched as my father turned, snarling. Several men came into the backyard, pointing rifles at him. He bared his teeth, growling and shaking his face in a snarl.
Judith jumped up. I grabbed her and held her to me. A brief thought of defending him fluttered through my head. But Judith’s cries told me to be strong. I needed to hang on to her as they got closer to him.
He stopped snarling after a moment and looked back at us. He lowered his head, not running or fighting for his life. He was resigned to die.
The first shot made me jump.
The second made me cry.
The third dropped him to his stomach.
He lay there, trembling but not changing. He stayed in wolf form, dying slowly. He was bitten, he could be killed. They would burn him to ensure it.
Judith dropped to her knees, dragging me with her. She hugged me and sobbed into my hair. I gripped as hard to her as she did to me. When his chest stopped rising and falling, two of the men came and lifted him, carrying him away. They didn't look at us. They didn't speak to us. The law was the law.
He had taken human life, wolf life, vampire life, and tortured all the above.
He was a criminal and a sadist. He was evil.
But no matter how hard I tried to make that bigger in my head, he was my father in my heart.
I assumed Judith felt the same. She was heaving and gagging, she cried so hard. I lifted her up and carried her to her room. When I laid her down on her bed, she turned away from me and curled into the fetal position.
I didn't take her hint at wanting to be alone. I curled up on the bed behind her and closed my eyes. The image of him being shot and pawing at the door and whining filled my head. I didn't push the thoughts away. I embraced them.
I knew in my heartless chest, I would never forgive him. I would never forget the horrid things he had done or the thing he took away.
But I could let myself have the memories of him that made me happy. He had been my father. He had loved me in his bizarre way.
I didn't even realize I had fallen asleep until I woke to the sound of Judith crying again. I opened my eyes but didn't see her. I got up and went to the kitchen where I found something I didn't expect. My mom and Judith were sitting at the table crying together.
I stopped in the entrance, watching them. My mom turned, giving me a smile. It was a weird smile. It made me uncomfortable. She got up from the table. “Liv, how are you today?”
I shook my head. “Fine, I guess.” It was awkward, as ass.
Judith gave a sideways stare but didn't say anything.
My mom walked to me, reaching for my hands with her still-scabbed fingers. “I wanted to tell you that I’m leaving for a while. I came here to see if you were okay with that.”
I wanted to say no. I wanted to say that I needed her. But I didn't. I nodded. “Of course.” I didn't know the journey that she had been on, but I could imagine the baggage she had to unpack was severe.
Her fingers quaked in my hands. Her lips trembled. “I just feel like I need some separation from everything. Try to find myself again. It’s been so long since I was honest with myself about who I am. I don't even know anymore. I need help getting past the last four years.”
“Where are you going?”
Her lips pressed into a fine line for a moment before she said, “Where I was born, I have family there still. In Germany, actually. But I was thinking we could write and get to know each other again, the real us.”
It made me cry when she said that. I was a stranger to my mom and she to me. We had never been who we were in front of each other. From the start, I had lied about myself. I squeezed her hands back. “I hope you can let it all go, I guess.” I didn't know what to say.
Her eyes narrowed a little. “I think the justice that
has been served has helped a little. I will email you as soon as I arrive in Germany.”
I swallowed it all down. My father died. I became a monster for the second time. And now my dead mother, who wasn't really dead, was leaving me on her own terms.