At Night's End

by Katherine Matzen

  Dani caught the note of righteous indignation in the healer’s melodic voice.

  “We’re still in your little mountain house for now,” Mellora said. Then she paused and looked away, a tinge of red flushing her cheeks. “We found out the Falgarans have begun to exhibit some psychic powers. Apparently this one tied his mind to yours and siphoned off some of your energy. That’s why we couldn’t get you healed. Never expected to run into something like that. War’s about to get really interesting.”

  She shook her head and stared directly at Dani. “Regardless, you are not to worry about anything and you will not fight me about healing or returning to Beryl for as long as I need you to. When I do finally release you, it will be because you have followed all of my orders without argument and are completely healed. Do you understand?”

  Dani nodded meekly. This beautiful healer was far more intimidating than the monster who had thrown her across the room and tried to choke her to death.

  “You shouldn’t scare her, Mellora,” Rissa said, laughter bubbling in her tone. “She’ll do what needs to be done. Otherwise she’ll have to answer to Anna and Amman and Lateef and…”

  Mellora shook her head. “Get her up to speed and I’ll let Amman know she’s ready for some broth or something. That should get the fanatical cook off my back.” The delicate woman shuddered.

  “Finally met someone more pigheaded than you?” Rissa batted her eyelashes in surprise.

  “Try not to wake up Lateef.” Mellora’s tone was sharp. “I had enough trouble getting him to sleep in the first place. Dani has a pain-block on, but if she does much more than breathe, I’ll take the block off.” The healer stared directly at Dani. “That’s a warning to you. Don’t overdo things. I don’t want to have to redo a bunch of healing because you get too eager to play hero again. Give someone else a chance.”

  Mellora left and Rissa gently settled onto the bed and took one of Dani’s hands. “I get to play Lateef.” She smiled. “This is what he usually does for me. It’s kind of nice to be on this side of the bed for a change.” She shot her sleeping brother a warm glance and continued.

  “He’s fine now you’re breathing on your own. The drug the Falgarans gave you works on the psychic centers and since he has a lot of power, the drug hit him pretty hard. You didn’t get it so much because… well, we still don’t know. That’s part of why of Mellora is so cranky. That and finding out the bastard was tied into your mind and we didn’t know about it. Doesn’t really matter, though.”

  She shook her head to recover her train of thought but did not allow Dani the opportunity to ask any questions even if she had been able to.

  “Lateef was recovering about the time we got here, but he’s spent so much energy fretting, he wore himself out. Mellora caught him by surprise and knocked him out before he could object.”

  Dani slowly turned her head, relieved when she finally caught sight of long, black hair framing a pale face. His eyelids were bruised with exhaustion. She watched until she was certain he was breathing, but the warm touch of his hand on her arm was all she needed to know he was okay.

  “He should wake up in a couple of hours. Probably about the time you crash again. This healing stuff is exhausting.”

  Dani’s agreement was mental more than physical. She felt about as energetic as a wet noodle and her mouth was dry as dust.

  The arrival of Amman and Taltos with glasses of a murky liquid interrupted her attempt at a question. Dani was very happy to see them alive and well. No one else should have to pay for her sins. Taltos had one arm in a sling, but it didn’t seem to slow him down at all. Rissa gracefully rose from the bed with a sigh as Amman handed her a glass before pushing past her to help Dani raise her head enough to sip through a straw.

  Dani hesitated, remembering the last drink she had been given. Things still seemed a bit confused, but this drink was cool and refreshing. She managed to swallow half the contents of the glass. She released the straw and relaxed, smiling at the Hatti matriarch.

  “Thank you.” Her voice was hoarse and weak. “How are you?”

  “I am unharmed,” Amman said. “I felt no need to display my courage by baiting the bull, unlike some people.” Her angry eyes shot over to Taltos who merely regarded her calmly. “This one had to show his bravery by taunting the rebels until they could be subdued. Such foolishness to think they could take over the ship. Many generations will pass before such behavior will be contemplated again. And I will not even begin to comment on your own completely irrational behavior. At least you allowed the healers to work on you.”

  Taltos shrugged his uninjured shoulder. “My injuries are mild and a good reminder to always remain alert.”

  “I didn’t know you were coming.” Dani interrupted the argument. She was stronger by the minute, but still not up to running a marathon. Or holding a long conversation, for that matter.

  “We became aware of a problem, so we came.” She saw a much longer story in his haunted eyes.

  “Tales of the futile rebellion will wait until you have rested.” Amman appraised her condition with a critical eye. “It appears the Beryllian healer was speaking the truth.” She shot Rissa a quick look at the girl’s strangled laughter.

  Rissa swiftly buried her nose in her glass, but Dani felt her continued amusement.

  “Amman has been making sure everyone is well fed,” Rissa said, with a strange emphasis on everyone. “I’ve never seen anyone boss Mellora around like this before. It’s been a real treat.”

  “Amman is an excellent Chef,” Taltos agreed warmly, causing a blush to appear on the stern woman’s face. She glared, but he merely beamed at her and Dani had the feeling she would be seeing much more of Taltos in the future, if Amman decided to remain here on Earth.

  “Finish your drink,” the Hatti woman told Dani, helping her drain the rest of her glass. “Then you must rest until you finish healing. You are to worry about nothing. I am in control.” She patted the human’s hand gently, and Dani felt the warm affection buried beneath the gruff, alien exterior. “You will recover and give up the ridiculous belief you are responsible for all bad things that happen.”

  The pair left, and Dani’s muscles relaxed. Everyone was safe and the danger gone. She could rest. “Can’t believe I want to sleep again.”

  “Not so surprising,” Rissa said. “Healing is hard work. Some more sleep won’t hurt you.”

  “But I wanted to see Lateef.”

  “My brother’s not going anywhere.” Rissa reassured her. “And everyone else is fine. That little dog of yours herded the kids out of trouble before anyone else realized what was coming. Most guests were out of sight when the Falgarans crashed the party. The sheriff managed to get hit with a ricochet, but he’s back on the job. Anna had a black eye and a slight concussion, but that was the worst thing to happen.”

  Dani drifted, reassured by the summary. Then Lateef stirred and pulled her into a tight hug.

  “I’m glad you’re awake,” he murmured in her ear. “You’ve got to stop scaring me.”

  “You scared me first. You didn’t move when that monster hit you.”

  “Didn’t feel it,” he replied. He leaned up on his arm to look down at her with a goofy expression.

  “I’m out of here,” Rissa said. “You guys are going to get mushy and I don’t want to see it. Don’t piss off Mellora, okay, little brother? She’ll blame me.”

  They ignored her, gazing into each other’s eyes until they heard the door click shut.

  “I nearly went crazy when I couldn’t find you.” He searched her face as he sent healing energy through her body.

  “I heard you calling.” She could hear the irritation in her tone and tried to cover it. He could never know how much she hadn’t wanted to come back.

  “I’m glad you did.” He kissed her gently and she responded, though a numbness grew in her heart.


  “What’s wrong?” He pulled back and searched her face anxiously.

  “Nothing,” she tried to deny. “I’m glad you’re okay.” She tried to pull him closer to distract him with more kisses, but he resisted.

  “There’s something wrong.”

  He tried to slip through her mental shields, but she strengthened them, surprised it worked.

  “You feel guilty, Dani. Why?”

  She turned her head away from him, unable to respond.

  “Dani, there’s no reason for you to feel guilty about being alive.” He gently tugged her head to face him. “You have done nothing wrong.”

  She stared over his shoulder, the numbness spreading through her chest. Her emotions were frozen. The time had come to finally admit her evil nature. Amman was almost right. She was the cause of so many bad things. Lateef deserved to know the truth, though he would leave her. The Hatti and all of the other people who had found a home with her, too. Even Anna and Charlie would know she didn’t deserve their love. But she had to come clean. She couldn’t bear to keep the secret anymore. Everything would have been so much easier if she could have ignored Lateef’s plea.

  “Dani?” Lateef’s gentle touch and quiet question broke the dam.

  “I killed Caitlin and Carl. I was supposed to be alone in my car.” The words tumbled in an avalanche from her mouth before she could stop them. “It’s my fault they died. It should have been me.”

  “The accident was not your fault.” Lateef stroked her hair, pulling his legs up to sit beside her.

  “We were arguing when the crash happened. The last thing my baby heard from me was angry words at her father, not how much I loved her.” Fat tears slowly slipped down her cheeks. She closed her eyes, unable to face the condemnation she knew was on his face.

  “They know you loved them,” he said firmly. She blocked his efforts to share his emotions with her.

  “I don’t deserve love,” she denied. “I tried to take it anyway, but I was wrong. I don’t deserve any of this. Otherwise these horrible things wouldn’t keep happening to people I care about. You should’ve let me go, Lateef. Everyone I love dies.”

  A noise at the door caused Dani to try to swallow her tears. Once again, she tried to stuff all the hurt and guilt down deep inside, ready to present a blank façade to the world as she waited for it all to end. She felt bad about the pain she knew she was causing Lateef, but that was so much better than being responsible for his death. She surreptitiously swiped the tears away.

  Anna sat down on the edge of the bed. Her expression was stern, but her brown eyes gleamed with compassion.

  “We won’t let you do this again, Dani.” She rested a hand on the younger woman’s shoulder and captured her gaze. “I know you’re up here trying to make yourself believe you brought those evil creatures here and that it was your fault Charlie and Lateef were hurt.” A slight smile tugged at her mouth as Dani gaped.

  “But you’re wrong. Those Falgaran things have hated everyone not them for far longer than you’ve been alive, and they’ll still be molesting people long after you’re not even a memory to your great-great grandchildren. Charlie is the man he is because he’s willing to stand up for what he believes is right, even when that means putting his life in danger. He wouldn’t thank you for trying to take credit for his actions.”

  “But I…”

  “That is what you are trying to do,” Anna spoke over her feeble protests. “We all have free will and you cannot take responsibility for what someone else does. I thought you finally understood after you faced down Weatherly. It is well past time for you to give up your ridiculous attempt to blame yourself for Carl’s death.”

  “That was my fault!” Dani cried, stung out of her numbness.

  Anna shook her head. “I worked with Carl when you were getting this place started,” she said. “I know what he was like and there’s no way you could force that man to be anywhere he didn’t choose to be.”

  Dani shook her head slowly, resisting the love coming from her. “I made him go to the trade show with me.”

  “That man only went because he didn’t trust you to be out from under his control. That trip was the first time you stood up to him and you yanked his chain good and hard.” Anna said. “Don’t get me wrong. He loved you as much as he could. But if he was driving in a blizzard it was because he wanted to. You tried to talk him into stopping before the weather got too bad, didn’t you?”

  Anna’s kind expression pinned Dani to the bed and she stammered, trying to deny the truth she was hearing.

  “I saw your nightmares, Danielle,” Lateef said softly. “They called to me and that’s why I found you.” His hand ran gently up and down her arm. “I know you did try to wait for the storm to end before driving home. I knew you felt responsible for the accident, but I never realized how much guilt you had repressed.”

  “Easy for you to say.” She tried to pull away. To escape their concern. “You weren’t there, you weren’t covered in…”

  Lateef gathered her into his arms and cradled her head against his shoulder. Then he forced his way through her defenses to pull her into a memory of the horrible event. ‘The Falgaran was feeding off your pain, Dani. He manipulated your memory and grew strong on your emotions.’ Lateef cushioned her mind as the scene replayed in the way events had truly happened.

  Dani thought he’d just go home once he read her note. It hadn’t been easy to sneak away while he was loading the SUV, but they’d walked to a nearby hotel. She and Caitlyn could fly home once the weather cleared. But barely an hour after she settled into a hotel room, he’d banged on her door, practically dragging them into the car. She wanted to avoid Raton Pass during a winter storm, but Carl was determined to get home.

  And then he’d ignored her until their child slept.

  “This needs to stop, Danielle. I’ve been patient, but it’s time for you to stop trying to sabotage my career.”

  She blinked, stunned at the absurdity of his accusation. “How could I mess up your career?”

  His fingers tightened on the steering wheel and his breath hissed out. “You’re always undermining me. None of the other wives work outside the home. They support their husbands.”

  Dani’s stomach clenched as if hit in the gut. She had been clear before accepting his marriage proposal that she would not rely on Carl’s salary. She’d seen too many friends suddenly thrown back into the workforce by divorce, disease or accident to be comfortable relying on only one income. Her business allowed her the freedom to raise their child, be available for Carl’s work events and to ensure that they’d survive if something happened to Carl. They’d agreed on everything. Until Carl’s father had interfered.

  “I do support you. You kept telling me we couldn’t afford for me to stop working when Caitlyn was born.”

  Carl shook his head and shot her a glare. “That was before my last promotion. Now I need you available to run our social life, not drag us off to trade shows for your hobby.”

  Dani resisted the urge to scream. It was her business, not a hobby. She drew in a deep breath to calm her anger. She wouldn’t win a fight with him in this mood. Snow swirled across the windshield, obscuring the world outside the warm car. The tires screamed as Carl took a sharp turn too fast. They were near the mountain pass between New Mexico and Colorado and the weather was deteriorating.

  “You didn’t have to come with me.” She kept her voice steady. “I thought you had a business meeting this weekend, so I planned the trip without you. The same way I do most weekends.”

  Carl snarled. She didn’t recognize the face of the man she’d married. This creature was a stranger, and he hated her.

  “That’s the thing, Danielle. We’re supposed to be partners, not a couple who does their own separate thing. It’s time for you to hold up your part of our marriage. I tolerated your little catering business
because it made you happy. But now that my career is steady, it’s time for you to grow up. I’ll take over my father’s seat when he moves to the Senate, and I need you behind me.”

  Dani’s breath caught in her chest. He had been one of the biggest supporters of her catering business. She’d overheard him bragging about her to his friends on more than one occasion. And now he was certain about winning two elections that hadn’t even happened yet? That didn’t sound good.

  “I’ve always supported you, Carl. You know that.”

  He glared at her as he flipped the wipers and headlights to high at the same time. The highway curved sharply. The car went dark as the electrical system failed.

  Dani screamed as Carl tried to make the turn, but it was like trying to move a mountain with a rope. The car flew off the side of the mountain then hit and rolled down the steep slope. Air bags exploded and the sound of metal scraping and crumpling followed her into the darkness.

  “That can’t be right,” Dani protested as she slowly came back to the present. “Carl wasn’t…”

  “I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what happened,” Charlie said. His eyes were glazed and the look he sent Anna carried a trace of panic, but his voice was confident. “The accident was due to a short in the wiring that killed the engine at the worst possible time. I checked with some friends of mine in the New Mexico Patrol and there was a report filed of a man forcing a woman and child into a car. The case was dropped when they found out about the accident, so I never mentioned it to you. If I’d known you were letting yourself die by inches because you thought you were responsible…” He clenched his jaw, fighting his own internal struggle against guilt.

  Anna quickly moved to her husband, pulling him into a hug. “It isn’t your fault, either, Charlie White Bear. This foolishness needs to stop. Neither of you are responsible for every bad thing that happens in the world.”