“We’re done here,” Julian said. “The biggest enemy all of us ever had is no longer a threat to us. With your help, Hunters, Guardians, and vampires all can look forward to a future of relative peace while we all work together.
“If you want to meet again, we will do so in Oregon in three months. If you’d prefer not to meet there, you don’t have to. No matter what you choose, if you help to spread the word about what we’re doing and what is going on, it will benefit us all. Remember, we know who you are now, follow the new laws and you’ll remain protected and alive; kill an innocent and you’ll be hunted to the ends of the earth.”
Their gazes went to Quinn before they all nodded. Quinn watched as most of them turned away, eager to get to their vehicles and away from here before the sun rose, or humans arrived to put out the fires. Vern, Prue, Carla, and Hadie remained behind to speak with them.
“Do you need a ride?” Julian asked them.
“We lost over a dozen vamps back there when those mines went off,” Hadie said and turned to point at a yellow Camaro parked by three other vehicles. “That’s the only one I can find the keys for so we can use that.”
“For now,” Vern muttered as he stared at the vehicle in disgust.
Quinn had no idea how he was going to fit into the sports car. She had a feeling he might have to rip out the front seat in order to do so.
“After tonight, I don’t think any vampires who were here are going to risk crossing the line by killing someone. They’ll also spread the word about what they witnessed. They truly believe you are our savior,” Vern said to her.
Quinn repressed a shudder at those words, but if it worked to finally give her and Julian a life of peace, she wouldn’t try to change their minds.
“Things will be different now, with all of us working together,” Prue said.
She stepped forward and took hold of Quinn’s hand. Quinn managed to stop herself from jumping at the contact with a woman who had mostly retained her distance. Julian stepped closer, but he made no move to push Prue away from her.
“Even if you don’t see yourself as the savior, even if you don’t want it for yourself, you are helping to make things better for all of us,” Prue continued. “It is a good thing.”
“Thank you,” Quinn said and squeezed her hand.
“We’ll see you soon,” Hadie said. She gave a brisk wave before turning and heading toward the Camaro.
“See you soon, Boss,” Vern said to Julian. “Little one,” he said with a nod to her.
“Thank you,” Carla said to Julian before turning and hurrying after them.
“I don’t think you’re going to fit,” Prue told Vern while they walked toward the car.
“Neither do I,” he agreed.
Vern opened the driver’s door and poked his head in. He muttered something before leaning in and tearing out the front seat. Quinn chuckled when he tossed it carelessly aside and climbed in to sit in the back. He leaned forward to close the door. Prue climbed into the back with him while Carla and Hadie managed to cram themselves into the front.
“That’s what I thought he’d have to do,” she said as Vern started the Camaro and pulled onto the road.
“Apparently he’s seen Police Academy,” Julian said.
“You watch way too many old movies,” Chris told him.
“Police Academy is not old.”
“I suppose not, to someone of your vast years,” Chris replied. “But the rest of us weren’t even alive when it came out.”
“Speak for yourself,” Luther said.
“Okay, Luther was alive,” Chris said.
“I think that instead of standing around debating old movies, we’d be better off getting out of here before the fire department arrives,” Melissa said.
“It’s not old,” Julian insisted.
“No, it’s not old, but she’s right,” Luther said and turned to walked toward the RV. “Let’s get out of here.”
“I’ve had more than enough of this place and these people,” Lou said.
“And now we never have to worry about them again,” Dani said as she walked beside Lou to the RV.
“Where to now?” Chris asked Julian.
“Quinn would like to visit Cassie and Devon for a bit,” Julian replied. “Meet the kids.”
“I like that plan,” Chris said. “I miss those kids.”
“Me too,” Melissa said.
Melissa turned to walk back to the RV before suddenly spinning back around. Chris took a startled step back when Melissa clasped his cheeks and rose on her toes to kiss him soundly on the lips. Chris froze, his palms facing out at his sides while his eyes bugged from his head. He looked as awkward as if he were naked in front of a roomful of people.
Releasing him, Melissa stared at him for a minute. He gazed back at her like he didn’t know who she was before finally blinking again. Color crept into Melissa’s cheeks before she turned on her heel and hurried back to the RV. Her body language said she was fighting against running as fast as she could all the way back to the vehicle.
Chris remained where he was, gawking after Melissa as she vanished into the RV. “What was that about?” he muttered.
“You can’t be that obtuse,” Julian said, and Chris’s dazed eyes swung toward him. “She literally just kissed you.”
Chris’s mouth closed. It dropped again before he closed it once more. Then he thrust back his shoulders and grinned at Julian. “Yeah, she did.”
Quinn struggled not to laugh when he turned and walked to the RV with what could only be called a swagger.
“Just so you know!” Chris called as he climbed the steps of the RV. “I’m not giving up meat!”
Unable to stop herself any longer, Quinn burst into laughter. “I guess she smacked him over the head with it.”
“That she did, and he still couldn’t figure it out.” Julian’s chest rumbled against her as he tried to hold back his laughter, but he eventually lost the battle too. “I think it’s best if we get to Canada and out of the RV as soon as possible.” Julian swept her into his arms again and carried her toward the RV.
“It’s cold in Canada,” she reminded him.
“Good thing I have you to keep me warm then,” he said and kissed her nose.
“Yes, you do,” she whispered and rested her head against his chest.
***
The RV swayed beneath Quinn’s feet as they drove toward the Canadian border. Her knuckles gripping the sink were white as she tried to calm herself. Lifting her head, her eyes fell on her startling reflection in the mirror once more. She didn’t recognize the woman staring back at her—a woman with smooth skin almost entirely all over. Her palms were the only two places where her skin was not smooth and bare.
It wasn’t so much the no hair, no eyebrows, no eyelashes look bothering her. She didn’t like it, but they would all grow back. What bothered her was this alien image was a stark reminder of what it had been like to be trapped within those flames.
When she’d first emerged from the fire, there had been too much else for her to focus on. Julian and surviving were her priorities. She’d had no time to ponder what had happened to her, the trauma of it, the agony of the fire, and the cold hand of death that kept trying to pull her into its endless depths.
She’d been right about things going badly, but the outcome had been good, for the most part. They’d lost vampires today. She hadn’t known them, but there could be others out there grieving those losses right now. She’d also lost herself within those flames. If she’d been any other vampire, she would be dead. She had died, or at least it had felt like she’d died a thousand deaths within that fire. It was a feeling she’d never forget.
She lowered her gaze from the mirror. It would be months before her hair grew back, months before she could look at herself and not remember—
“Quinn?” Julian knocked on the door closing off the bathroom from the rest of the vehicle. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” she murmured a
nd turned the water on to splash her face with it.
Turning, she tried not to look in the mirror again, but her eyes were drawn toward it once more. She almost drove her fist into the glass to destroy the image and the reminder it represented, but the glass was only showing her the truth, and she couldn’t smash every mirror she came across until her hair grew back. Even after her hair returned, the memories would continue to haunt her.
Pulling the door open, she stepped into the small hall. Julian stood beside the door, his back to the others. He waved toward the open door of the bedroom, and she entered it, grateful to have some time alone.
She slumped onto the bed, her shoulders drawing forward as she lifted her hand to rub it over her scalp.
“It will grow back,” Julian said, pulling her hand away to kiss the back of it.
“I know it will,” she whispered. She lifted her gaze to his. “It’s not the lack of hair; it’s the reminder of why it’s not there.”
“We’ll get you a wig.”
“That won’t take away the memories.” She rubbed the smooth skin of her chin. “My scars, they’re gone too. The fire burned them away.”
He stiffened as his eyes ran over her. “It did,” he said through his teeth. “If you plan on trying to return those scars to your body, I can’t let you hurt yourself like that again.”
“No, I have no intention of putting them back on me again,” she whispered. “These are enough.”
She turned her hands over to reveal the two remaining scars on her palms. The matching lines that had been on the back side of her hands were gone. She’d had her hands clenched while she was within the fire. It had been the only part of her body she’d been able to protect from the ravenous flames.
“They’re a reminder of my past, just for me now.”
He took hold of her hands, smoothing out her fingers so he could trace the straight lines there. “For us,” he murmured. “A clear symbol of your strength.”
“I don’t feel so strong right now. The fire…”
He gently clasped hold of her chin, drawing her eyes to his when she couldn’t get any more words out. “Tell me.”
“The fire was everywhere, all around me. I felt it burning away my skin, searing down to my muscle and bone, stripping it all away from me even… even as it all reformed,” she choked out around the growing lump in her throat. “Without drawing air, the smoke was in my lungs and within my body. The woman I’d latched onto was a Hunter, her life force kept rebuilding me while the fire kept devouring me.”
Julian remained unmoving before her. Red shimmered around the pale blue band encircling his pupil.
“There was so much pain that I couldn’t think about trying to escape from the fire in the beginning. It felt like I was in there for years before coherent thought returned, but it may have only been seconds,” she said.
She didn’t realize she was crying until a tear dripped off her chin to fall onto her clasped hands. Her eyes fell on the bead of water on her hand. “Then, when I felt as if I’d already died and entered Hell, I heard you yelling for me. The sound of your voice made it so I could get it together enough to know that I had to escape the flames. For you.”
He settled beside her on the bed. Draping his arm around her shoulders, he pulled her against his side. He didn’t speak, didn’t tell her it would all be better with time. They both knew time made someone better capable of dealing with sorrow and pain, but it never made either emotion go away entirely. With the pad of his thumb, he wiped away the tears spilling down her face and lifted her into his lap.
He pressed her head against his chest, cradling her there as he rocked her back and forth until her sobs slowly subsided and her tears dried.
“I would take it all from you if I could,” he said as he kissed her forehead and then her cheek.
“I know.”
“I have something for you.”
He adjusted his hold on her to dig into his pocket. Tugging something free, he lifted it before her. She squealed when she saw her golden heart locket dangling before her. It had some soot on it and a dent on the backside, but it was one of the most beautiful things she’d ever seen.
She closed her hand around it as fresh tears slid down her face. “I thought it was lost forever.”
“It was lying by what remained of the woman.”
He took it from her and slid it around her neck to clasp it into place. Her fingers brushed over the gold as she lifted her eyes to his. “Thank you.”
The sexy smile that she could never resist curved his mouth before he bent to kiss the tip of her nose. “I’d buy you every piece of jewelry in the world if it made you look at me like that every time.”
“Nope, just this one,” she said.
“No wedding ring?” he asked.
She gazed down at her hands. “Do you think we need one? Aren’t we already bound for eternity?”
“I want the humans to also know you’re taken.”
She lifted her head to gaze at him and smiled. “No ceremony?”
“Do you want one?”
She bit her bottom lip as she pondered this. “No,” she finally said. “I wouldn’t even have anyone to give me away.”
“I’m sure Clint would do it.”
“Maybe not, if it’s to you,” she teased.
“You’re probably right,” Julian agreed.
“Even when I was mostly human, I never really considered having a wedding. I had no illusions of finding a man who would understand what I was and what our children would be. For all I knew, I may have been enough of a vampire that I could never have children, so I never dreamed of them either. We’re bound deeper than any vows could ever make us, but I would wear your rings. Remember it goes both ways though. You’d have to wear my ring to keep all those human women away from you too.”
He grinned at her as he embraced her tighter. “I’ll proudly wear your brand.”
“Damn right you will.”
She rested her head against his chest and lifted her face to kiss his jaw. Turning her mouth into his throat, she pressed her lips against the vein running through there. His fingers stroked her cheek as her lips skimmed back and she sank her fangs into his flesh.
The powerful wash of his blood flooded her system, causing her fingers to curl into his shoulders. He held her closer as he bent his head to kiss her shoulder. She felt his fangs a second before he pierced her skin.
He growled against her flesh while he fed from her. Quinn bit deeper, needing him in a desperate, almost savage way that she’d never experienced before. Her fingers tore at him, pulling him closer as he shifted her in his lap so she straddled him.
His fingers tugged at the button of his jeans before he somehow managed to shift her and kick them off. Still only in Chris’s shirt, she felt him against her before he entered her. The shirt fell away from her as he tore it down the backside and threw it away.
Instead of setting her on fire like it normally did, his touch was like ice flowing through her veins as it doused the heat of the flames that had consumed her. She craved and welcomed the way it eased the pain of her memories. She forgot all about the searing fire, forgot all about the death and rebirth she’d experienced within its flames, as she became consumed by him.
The bond between them swirled around her as she felt what he’d experienced within those tunnels. She lived his terror while he watched her fall into those flames and then his intense relief when she emerged from them.
His anguish over not being able to help her engulfed her. Then she felt his relief over the end of The Commission. She got a brief glimpse of what he’d seen from that last woman before his overwhelming desire for her dragged her deeper into the depths of ecstasy.
Later, she lay against his side, her fingers tracing over the carved ridges of his abdomen. “You have a way of making me forget,” she murmured.
“You have a way of making me remember.”
She lifted her head and propped her chin on his chest so
she could gaze into his eyes. “Remember what?”
His fingers slid over where the scar on her temple had been. “My humanity. I’d long believed it destroyed.”
“You found your humanity again before me,” she reminded him.
“I stopped killing before I found you. I was trying to do better, but until you entered my life, I never fully understood why I just didn’t give into my nature again. I care deeply for the others, but giving in would have been so much easier than struggling every day. Now, I know I was waiting for you, and you are worth every uncertain second of that wait and more.”
Tears burned her eyes again and slid free. She tried to blink them back. “You have no idea how weird it feels to cry when you don’t have eyelashes,” she said.
He grinned at her before drawing her toward him until their lips brushed while he spoke. “I’ll be happy to make you forget all about that again.”
CHAPTER 28
Three months later
“You’ve waited all these years to get married, are you sure you want to do it in Vegas?” Quinn asked as she handed Hawtie her bouquet of white roses.
“It’s Sin City, honey, and one thing I am is sinful,” Hawtie replied with a swish of her rounded hips.
“Yeah you are, Red,” Julian drawled from where he sat in the booth behind them. His arms were stretched casually over the back of the booth while he watched them.
“Hush, you,” Quinn said. “You shouldn’t even be in here.”
“It’s only bad luck for the groom to see the bride, and if you put me out there with her groom, there may not be a wedding,” he replied.
Quinn frowned at him, but Hawtie chuckled and stepped forward to peer at herself in the full-length mirror hanging on the wall of the small dressing room. She turned back and forth, carefully examining herself. The deep red dress she wore hung to mid-thigh and was cut low in the front to emphasize her ample cleavage.
At six foot, Hawtie was taller than many men, including her groom, but even with her height, she was entirely womanly with her lethal curves. In her fifties, Hawtie could still turn anyone’s head when she strutted by with her hips swaying. There was a reason she’d been called Hawtie the Body since she was a teen, and the clinging dress she wore showed off that reason.
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