The vampires who’d been controlling the bloods’ chips were dead, and in the chaos, the bloods had taken control of the buildings that housed the computers that controlled their chips. No one was calling the shots but them now.
Meridian Vine was dead.
After doing the spell, she’d just shriveled up. Sinead had watched it happen. She said the woman literally turned into dust and blew away in the breeze.
“Sounds like we missed all the good stuff,” Landon said.
But I didn’t think so. Landon was the most important thing in my world. Saving him was paramount. I’d do that rather than fight vampires any day of the week.
Sinead said a group of representatives was already being formed. Pack alphas, elected human officials, and bloodhounds as well. They were going to reach out to the vampires and give them a voice also. They would be reforming the way the government worked, so that it would be more like the democracy that I had learned about in textbooks.
So, maybe our plan was going to work. Maybe the world was going to be a better place after all.
Later, my phone rang.
It was Desta.
“You left me with him?” she said by way of greeting.
“Oh, hell,” I said. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” she said. “No thanks to you. After he lifted the compulsion, I spent the next several hours trying to kill him.”
“You killed Viggo?”
“Well… not yet,” she said. “I have him locked in a room in here, and I’m about to burn this shelter to the ground. You think it’s a good idea to kill Viggo, right?”
“I…” I licked my lips. “You know how I feel about Viggo. But if you kill him, are you going to regret it?”
“He compelled me,” she said. “He violated my mind.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I know. But he was trying to save your life. He thought you were going to go into the city and try to save vampires, and he knew that wasn’t safe.”
“Are you defending Viggo? Is the sky raining blood?”
“I’m not defending him,” I said. “I’m just saying, we don’t live in a moral world. He did something wrong, but he did it for a good reason. He cares about you.”
“That doesn’t make it better,” she said. “Incidentally, tell Landon again that I’m really sorry. I understand about compulsion now.”
“You want to kill Viggo, that’s your choice,” I said.
“Oh, you’re no help,” she said. “By the way, about Landon? Did you save him?”
“Yes, thanks for asking,” I said.
“I’m sorry, I’ve been a bit preoccupied,” she said. “You wouldn’t have let me go on like this if he was dead, though.”
“I guess not,” I said.
“So, he’s okay.”
“He’s great,” I said.
“Good,” she said. “Can you come pick me up? If I burn this place down, I’ll need a ride, and even if I don’t, I can’t stand the sight of Viggo.”
“Well, I would, but we wrecked our car,” I said. “I can ask Sinead to swing by there and get you on her way to pick us up, though.”
* * *
When Sinead arrived, she had Desta in the front seat.
“So?” said Landon, climbing into the back seat with me. “Inquiring minds want to know. Did you kill the vampire king?”
“No,” said Desta. “I decided there had been too much killing. But I left him locked in there, and he can’t get out. He’ll probably dessicate from lack of blood. He’ll be in a lot of pain.”
“Excellent,” said Landon.
“Works for me,” I said.
We didn’t take Desta back to the pack village. She wanted to go back to the city and do what she could to help the surviving vampires. So, we dropped her off there, and she promised to keep in touch.
And then we went home.
Days passed.
I asked Judah about the anklet from the witch. He said it had been lost in the melee when the vampires in the city had been destroyed. I was glad it was gone. Good riddance. But I was worried about it being found by someone else. It would have made me feel better if we had known it was destroyed.
Judah and I had to go to meetings with all the other representatives of the different species as we tried to form this new government and figure out what the rules would be. We wanted everything equal, and we wanted the people to elect the representatives. In the meantime, interim representatives were appointed until elections could be conducted. Thankfully, I wasn’t one of them. I had no desire to rule a country. All I wanted was my village and my pack and Landon.
And that was what I had.
Landon and I didn’t trust it. We waited for the other shoe to drop for months. It didn’t seem possible that we could have everything that we’d ever wanted, and that there was no pressing danger, that nothing was going wrong. But, eventually, warily, we settled in and we stopped looking over our shoulders. Everything was okay. It was actually okay.
The fences came down.
When the humans understood that the werewolves weren’t a danger, and that the vampires had used the threat to control them, they were willing. And the city wasn’t just for vampires anymore. There were all sorts of species living there, and the vampires were intermingled amongst us.
Aston’s synth blood was being manufactured and given to the vampires, and there were now consequences for feeding on a human.
Aston himself had very little to do with the production once it all got up and running. He was awarded membership in the Northeast pack, and he seemed happy enough to stay with us and continue to work on trying to cure the bloodhounds. He was obsessed with finding a cure that would actually work, and he worked day and night on it. He said that once he figured it out, he’d work on another project, anything I wanted. He was content as long as he had his lab and a little problem to puzzle out.
His synth blood had really turned things around. Now, all species were protected, and none were allowed to hurt the others. None were elevated above the others. We were all together now, working towards a better future, just as I had hoped.
Had the outcome been worth the sacrifices made to get there? I didn’t know. I would leave others to judge all that. I couldn’t say. All I could say was that we had done the best that we could.
So, the world was healed and all species lived in harmony. But through all of this, I didn’t call my parents. I had never made contact with them, not since I’d come into the woods in the first place. It was because I’d never truly felt that I belonged with them, and I didn’t think that they’d thought I belonged either.
But when Viggo had brought them to the city to see us, I had seen how deeply they loved me. I knew that they missed me. And what was more, Desta was in touch with them frequently, telling them what she was up to with the vampire relief. She was one of the vampire representatives in the government, and running in the new elections. I talked to Desta, but I didn’t call my parents, and I told Desta not to give them my phone number.
I didn’t question why this was.
I didn’t want to think about it.
This was my new life. They were my old life.
One day, I was in the living room, talking on the phone with Desta about it. I told her to tell Mom and Dad that I was fine, but that I didn’t have a phone, which was my typical way of dealing with it. She pressed, asking me why I was resisting, and I told her it wasn’t a big deal, just to let it go. This was how I wanted it.
Shortly afterward, we hung up.
Landon appeared in the doorway to the living room, lounging there. “Was that about your parents again?”
I looked up at him. “Um, yeah. Why?”
“You never talk about them,” he said. “You know, back when I was a blood slave and they’d come to visit Desta, they always seemed like decent people. Is there something you’re not telling me?”
“No, of course not,” I said. “They’re good people.”
“But you don’t want to se
e them.”
I felt flustered. “This isn’t your business.”
“Okay.” He shrugged. “I’ll drop it, but I only want to say one thing. You know, if I could see my parents again, I would. But I can’t. Because they’re gone. And your parents, they’re not going to be around forever. So… that’s all.” He ducked out of the room.
I wanted to yell at him, but I didn’t know why.
I thought about it, off and on, for days. And finally, it began to dawn on me. I blamed my parents for never seeming to see me, for always seeming to prefer Desta. But I had always tried not to blame them. I’d tried to convince myself that I didn’t, in fact, and that I blamed myself.
Thing was, I did blame them.
And once I realized that, I realized that it was okay to blame them. They had hurt me. And I was justified in blame.
But I could forgive them. I could move past it.
And so, later on that night, I dialed the number on my phone for my childhood home and listened while it rang.
“Hello?” said my mother’s voice.
“Hi, Mom,” I whispered. “It’s Camber.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
My mother was fussing around in the kitchen. “Well, I don’t even know what bloodhounds eat, dear,” she said. “I asked you if I should do anything special—”
“And I told you, it’s fine,” I said. “Landon doesn’t have a special diet.”
It was Christmas, and I was at my mother’s house. We all were—Landon, Desta, and me. It was the first time my parents had had both of their daughters home for the holidays in years. I knew they were both ecstatic. This was a dream come true for them.
“You’re really certain about that.”
“He lives with me, Mom. I’m sure.”
“Oh, I know. It’s just… it seems a bit odd, doesn’t it?” said my mother. “I can’t believe Desta isn’t desperately hurt by this. Really, Camber, your sister’s ex-boyfriend? How did this even happen?”
I cleared my throat. “Mom, Desta’s fine. I know you’re always worried about Desta—”
“Well, in this situation, I think I should be.”
I patted her arm. I didn’t even feel indignant. This was the way my mother was. It wasn’t fair, but it wasn’t going to change. I still loved her, and she loved me. She was the only mother I was ever going to have. “You have to trust me that we worked through this, the three of us. There’s a lot of history for everyone, but we’re all friends now.”
My mother sighed.
There was a knock at the door.
My mother furrowed her brow. “Who could that be? Camber, do you mind running out and answering that?”
“Nope,” I said. “Maybe it’s a package or something.”
“On Christmas?” said my mother.
I went to the front door and opened it.
It was Viggo.
“You,” I said.
He was wearing a black silk hat and a three-piece suit. He looked like something out of Charles Dickens. He tipped his hat at me. “Happy Christmas, Camber.”
“I thought you were locked in and dessicated,” I said.
“Yes, well, it’s not that easy to get rid of me,” he said. “Is Desta at home?”
I shook my head at him. “You really think she wants to see you?”
“I think that if I am still enamored with your sister after what she’s done to me, that there is nothing that can keep us apart. And I can wait. I have time, after all.”
I laughed softly. “Desta,” I called over my shoulder. “It’s for you.”
In seconds, she appeared. When she saw Viggo, her mouth dropped open. “How did you get out?”
“Oh, that’s quite a story,” said Viggo. “I’d be happy to tell you about it. Perhaps over Christmas dinner, if you cared to invite me in?”
She put her hands on her hips. “After everything, you think I’ll just let you in?”
He winked at her. “Yes?”
“You’re unbelievable,” said Desta. She looked at me. “I should have killed him.”
“Shoulda, woulda, coulda,” I said.
Her shoulders slumped. “Oh, fine. Come in. But be nice.” She pointed at him.
He grasped her hand and planted a kiss on the back of her hand. “Always nice for you, love.”
* * *
Desta and Viggo got back together.
And then broke up.
And then got back together.
They seemed to enjoy the drama of it all. I didn’t get it, but to each their own, I supposed. What I did get was that Viggo deeply affected Desta. He made her happy in a way that no one else did. He filled some part of her, and I wouldn’t take that from her. She apparently wouldn’t take it from herself.
Sinead had her baby, a little girl who she named Mila. I fell in love from the moment I saw her. Sinead was exhausted after giving birth, and she was happy enough to let me hold the tiny little girl all day. I had to surrender her every once in a while to her father or to her grandparents or to her mother for feeding, but then I got her back. I stared at her beautiful eyes and her tiny toes and her tiny fingers and she was amazing.
I had never loved anyone like I loved her, and she wasn’t even mine.
I couldn’t imagine what it would be like if I had my own baby. I wanted one.
Maybe sooner than the distant future.
Tempest came to see little Mila as well, and we agreed about the first thing we’d ever agreed about, which was that she was amazing. The most darling and wonderful little girl in the entire universe. I won’t say that it was the beginning of a long and lasting friendship between myself and Tempest, but I would say that we might have called a truce. She was significantly less bitchy to me from then on.
But, you know, she was still a little bitchy.
There were problems now and again. Some of the vampires joined together and planned an insurrection, and they attacked in the woods, killing werewolves. We had to band together as a pack and with some of the bloodhounds in order to put them down.
Aston was still working on some kind of cure for the bloodhounds, because they still went into rage mode and they were pretty destructive when that happened. But unfortunately, all he had to show for it was a bunch of dead rats.
I had actually sent bloodhounds out to find the pool out west, but every single one I’d sent had been found unworthy by the Guardian.
So, there were things that still needed fixing. And there was still danger.
But by and large, we were happy. By and large, the world was a good place and there was very little to fear.
And when the moon was heavy and round and gleaming, I would run with my pack under its bright light. And Landon would run with us too. We would canter and gambol under the midnight moon. I would feel at one with the sky and the grass and the stars and with all the other wolves I was connected to. And my connection with Landon would be so strong and so luminous in those moments that it would almost hurt with goodness.
In those moments, I would howl out my song to the moon in the sky, and I couldn’t imagine a better life.
* * *
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Canticle to the Midnight Moon Page 21