by L. Danvers
Xander. He’d done it. He’d taken away Nick’s choice. But I didn’t have a choice, either. Because I wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
Xander hadn’t even had time to turn around to face Reed before he clutched his chest. He curled forward, letting out a guttural groan that made the hairs on my arms stand on end.
I didn’t have to guess what Reed was doing to him. I knew.
He was tearing out Xander’s heart from the inside.
Now busy torturing Xander, Reed’s hold on me released. I gasped, and a rush of cool air filled my lungs. I panted, gathering all of the oxygen I could. My throat was throbbing, but I had to push aside the pain. I had to act.
An entranced Nick offered me his hand. And that was all I needed.
Thanks to the spell taught to me by the Book Slayers, I slipped my hand in his and squeezed. Using him as a conduit to amplify my power, I stood.
Linking with any other witch would have created a surge in power.
But Nick and I were a rare breed of witches: Carlisle twins.
And together, even Reed was no match for us.
I held out a hand, and so did Nick. I recited a spell, repeating it over and over. Nick chimed in, and when he did, the lights in the hotel room flickered.
“Nick, stop it!” Reed shouted, keeping his hold on Xander who was screaming now at the top of his lungs. “Nick, I’m your father. You can’t do this.”
Choking on his blood, Xander coughed on him, splattering Reed in a spray of red. “He’s been compelled,” Xander reminded him, grinning like a psychopath.
But all at once, his hold on the Blood Heir released. Xander collapsed onto the floor, moaning.
Flesh crawling, Reed began screaming. Fire burst from his veins, melting his skin. He clawed and screamed and pleaded for help. Pleaded for his son to stop. Pleaded for mercy.
In his last breath, he muttered something. A spell, I think. Some futile last attempt to stop us.
Then, strangely, he smiled.
But it was already done.
Reed was dead.
And I feared his prophecy had come true. I’d forced his son to help me kill him.
Perhaps, one of us was indeed evil.
Me.
Grace
“That’s not what the prophecy said,” Xander pointed out when we were on our flight to Lisbon. “Remember? It said one of you would kill the other one. And both you and Nick are still here.”
“He’ll never forgive me,” I said, staring out the window.
“Grace, he let you go, didn’t he? He could have ratted you out to the others, but he didn’t. And anyway, he saw what his dad was doing to you.”
“And he made his choice,” I snapped. “He chose Reed. Not me. He only helped me because you made him.”
Xander was quiet for some time. Part of me wished he would say something to give me an excuse to snap at him. To get some of this anger out.
I replayed the evening’s events over and over again in my mind, torturing myself. I leaned my head against the window, staring out into the starry abyss. Saying goodbye to Danielle was going to be hard enough. Now I had guilt layered on top of it. And the memories of what I’d done.
I swallowed down a lump in my throat, then cleared it, trying to keep from crying.
I didn’t have the right to cry.
I knew what I was doing when I took Nick’s hand—taking advantage of the fact that he had no choice but to help me. Making him unknowingly help me kill our father. And I did it anyway.
“Hey,” Xander said, breaking the silence, “did I ever tell you about what happened to my parents?”
I’d heard bits and pieces of the story. But honestly, I was afraid if I tried to talk, my voice would shake. And I didn’t want to break down in front of him.
Not waiting for an answer, Xander continued, “They cursed us. They didn’t mean to, but they did. They had adopted Julian, but they wanted children of their own so badly that they made a deal with a witch. My mother conceived us soon after, not realizing what she’d truly done until years later when we finally turned.”
I tore my eyes away from the window and looked at him, wondering where he was going with this.
“Julian was so upset, felt so betrayed, that he killed them in cold blood. We were furious. Heartbroken. We didn’t know what to do with him, so we locked him in a dungeon for, oh, I forget how many years...”
“And this is supposed to make me feel better because...?”
He looked at me with pity in his eyes. “Eventually, we forgave him.”
“Yeah, well,” I said, careful that my tone didn’t sound too harsh, “Nick and I don’t have eternity to work things out. And I don’t expect him to forgive me. I wouldn’t if I were in his shoes.”
He took my hand. “Things are going to suck for a really long time. But you’d be surprised by how powerful love can be.”
“Xander, I—”
“I’m talking about your brother, Grace. He loves you. Even I could see how torn he was about what to do, whose side to take. He’s upset, but I’m the one who compelled him. Eventually, he’ll realize that. You only did what you had to do to save yourself.”
“And you,” I said meekly.
“Thanks for that, by the way.”
“I guess I owe you a ‘thank you,’ too,” I said, mindlessly rubbing my throat. Had Xander not jumped in when he did, I’d be dead. And, truthfully, I never could have defeated Reed without him.
“Eh,” he said, waving his hand. “We’ll call it even. I always said we made a great team, didn’t I?”
I nodded, then released his hand and leaned back against my seat.
“You’re going to be okay, you know. You’re a survivor, Grace. Never forget that.”
Danielle
Upon seeing Julian again, I raced toward him. It’d been a week since I’d left him to help convince his and his siblings’ friends to join us in the realm Aurora was creating for us. I was surprised by how many people were so willing to drop everything and leave. But things had gotten so out of control that war was imminent.
Many of the vampires who chose to come with us said they’d seen too much fighting in their lifetime and wanted to live in peace. A witch was coming, too. She was the girlfriend of one of Charlotte’s oldest friends, and she was more than happy to come so that she could supply the vampires with artificial blood. Which was really convenient considering I hadn’t even thought about how the vampires were going to feed.
Meanwhile, Keo had been successful in convincing plenty of werewolves to come, too. Perhaps the latest raid had convinced them of how dangerous it was to stay.
Julian wrapped me in a bear hug and lifted me, kissing me with such passion my heart skipped a beat. “I missed you,” I said to him when I was back on the ground. “I was so worried about you.”
“We only had one near-incident, but Aurora handled it,” he said, not offering any further explanation. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear the details anyway.
He looked past me, seeing now the hundreds of supernaturals lining up to portal over to the new world.
“We’re doing the right thing,” I told him, seeing the concern in his wrinkled brow. “We’ll all be safe now. And, when the world is ready to accept us, we’ll return.”
“Return? Aurora’s sealing the portal, remember?”
I gave a knowing smile. “I know. But Grace will find a way.”
His eyes fell into half-moons. “That’s a lovely thought, but do you have any idea how much magic that would take? You’ve seen how powerful faeries are. If you think Grace can bring us back one day, then you’re underestimating Aurora.”
“No,” I said firmly. “You’re underestimating Grace.”
“And what if you’re wrong? Look, we can still change our minds. I don’t want you to give up your entire life on the hope that one day things are going to be normal again.”
I shrugged. “If I’m wrong, then I get to spend a thousand lifetimes saf
e with you. And I give you full permission to tell me ‘I told you so’ every day.”
He chuckled.
“But I won’t be wrong,” I added before he got too cocky.
If all this new world ever offered me was an eternity with Julian, I could be happy with that. But I knew that when Grace put her mind to something, there was no stopping her. It might take her eighty years, but somehow, she’d find a way. And we’d all be together again.
The compact in my pocket surged with power, and I eagerly reached for it. “Grace,” I said, beyond happy to see her face again, albeit through a mirror. “We were just talking about you.”
“Xander and I are here. Where are you guys?”
I told her where to find us. Julian, Keo and Aurora had put great thought into where to place the portal. They didn’t want it anywhere near the garden—even though it would be sealed, there was no reason to tick off the royal guard. And they didn’t want it near the castle—they didn’t want someone stumbling across it. It would only lead to questions.
Eventually, they settled on a stretch of land near a stream. Aurora’s powers made it look like it was tucked behind a waterfall—completely hidden to the naked eye. And even if someone was to randomly stumble upon it, they wouldn’t dare try to go through it.
Everyone knew about the magical water in the Kingdom of the Silver Seas. No one would be stupid enough to go exploring behind it.
“So, I guess she took care of Reed,” Julian said.
“I didn’t ask her.” I figured we’d talk about it in person.
“She wouldn’t be here if she didn’t,” he pointed out.
I hoped things had gone okay.
Julian and I weaved through the crowd. He waved to a few people he recognized along the way. It turned out that when you lived for a thousand years, you got to know a lot of people.
It was hard to wrap my head around the magnitude of what we were doing. Someone would have to be in charge, and it only made sense for it to be Aurora since she was creating the realm—except that she’d vowed to stay far away from us.
Which left the next logical choice to be Julian.
The irony wasn’t lost on me.
The Choosing Ceremony was brought about as a result of a crazy power-play he’d concocted—one that backfired. Now, he finally had the power he’d hungered for.
But he was a different person now. And I knew he’d be a good ruler.
And as for me, I’d fought so hard to get out of Crescent Cape, wanting to escape out from under the rule of supernaturals. Now, Julian was set to rule over them—with me by his side.
No one ever accused the universe of not having a sense of humor.
We finally caught up with Aurora, who was waving her hand across the newly created portal.
“Is everything ready?” Julian asked her.
She nodded. “We can start sending people through whenever you’d like. I’ll go through last so that I can seal it behind me.” We forced smiles. As much as we knew we had to do this, leaving was also hard. Picking up on our unease, she added, “You’re going to like it there. I promise.”
And I believed her.
With that, Julian climbed on top of a boulder and cupped his hands around his mouth. He announced that the portal was ready and that whoever was ready to step through could now do so.
He did remind them, though, that once they crossed, there was no going back.
I suppressed a knowing grin.
While I was busy watching a group of the vampires I’d recruited cross through, Ben came up behind me and placed a hand on my shoulder. “You take care of yourself, okay?”
“I will,” I promised him. “And—”
He held up a hand, already knowing what I was about to ask of him. “I’ll be there for Grace every step of the way. You two are practically family now.”
“Thank you.” I flung my arms around him, bringing him in for a hug.
Charlotte was beside him now, waiting for her turn to talk to me. Ben gave me a pat on the back and stepped aside, and I turned my attention to Charlotte. “Have you made a decision yet?”
She nodded sheepishly.
“And?”
She lifted her head and looked me in the eye, her green eyes filled with tears. “Julian’s been my best friend for as long as I can remember.” She wiped her cheek. “I don’t want to be part of a world that doesn’t have him in it.”
I grabbed her forearms, bouncing on my toes. “You’re coming with us?”
Laughing in disbelief, she nodded again. “Yes.”
“Have you told Julian yet?”
“Mhmm. And I called Aiden, earlier. Now, I just have to find the strength to tell Xander.”
With everything going on, I’d almost forgotten about Aiden. “How are Aiden and Victoria?”
Charlotte chuckled. “Blissfully happy.” She jokingly rolled her eyes. “It’s obnoxious.”
“I’m happy for them,” I said.
“Me, too.” She cocked her head to the side, looking over my shoulder. “Oh, there’s Xander. I should go talk to him.”
When I turned around, Grace was walking toward me. She looked like she’d been through hell and back. I hurried over to her. “What happened?”
“Reed’s dead.” She said it plainly, but there was a heaviness in her voice.
“Are you okay?”
She shrugged, unable to look directly at me.
“I don’t know what to say.”
She pursed her lips. “I don’t know what to feel.”
I knew she did what she felt she had to do. But I worried about what carrying that around with her for the rest of her life would do to her. I wondered if I should offer to compel the memories away... But I knew she’d say no. Grace hated being compelled. She’d told me so a thousand times. She liked having the freedom to make her own choices, to feel her own feelings. She wouldn’t want her memories altered—even the bad ones.
My shoulders relaxed, and I took her hands in mine. “You did what you felt was right. You’re one of the good ones, Grace.”
Lifting her eyes to look at me, she said, “Don’t you go all goodbye-speechy on me. This isn’t goodbye forever, you know.”
“I know.”
She pulled the golden compact out of her pocket and held it in the air. “We should still be able to communicate using these. So, whenever you get homesick, pop it open, okay? I’ll always have it on me. I promise.”
“You’d better,” I teased, and I hugged her hard.
Julian came up behind us, and he wrapped his arm around Grace’s shoulder. “Believe it or not, I’m going to miss you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said. “I’m sure.”
“You saved me you know.” He looked around, surveying the line of supernaturals walking through the portal. “You saved them all.”
“I don’t know about that,” she said. “But I’m glad you two are safe.”
I placed a hand on her bicep. “Are you going to be okay?”
Tears pooled in her eyes, making the blue in them shimmer. She blinked a few times as if willing them to go away. “I will.”
“I spoke with Ben earlier. Whatever you need, he’ll be there for you. And I’m sure Xander will be, too.”
Julian spoke up. “He cares about you, you know. He talks a big game, and I know it can be easy to be dismissive of him because of that. But you should know that when he falls, he falls hard.”
Grace folded her arms around herself. “Thanks.”
Julian turned his attention to me. “The line’s dwindling. Are you ready?”
I looked back at Grace, and she gave me a nod as if to say it was okay to go. We hugged each other one last time, and as devastated as I was at the thought of saying goodbye, I knew this wasn’t goodbye forever.
KEO WENT THROUGH THE portal first, and Charlotte followed after.
“So,” I said to Julian as we drew nearer. “Is this the part where we get our fairytale ending?”
“I to
ld you once before that I don’t think supernaturals were meant to live happily ever after. I mean, ever after? Sure. But happily? Can anyone be happy forever?”
“We could try.”
He chuckled. “I’d like that.”
He slipped his fingers between mine kissed the back of my hand. I couldn’t help but notice the glimmer in his eye. “What?” I asked, heat rushing to my cheeks.
“You know, all these years, I thought immortality was a curse.”
“And now?”
“I think I’m the luckiest man in the world to get to spend it with you. Whatever we find on the other side of that portal, we’ll face together. And when it’s safe, when Grace finds a way to bring us back, we’ll return.”
“Of course,” I said, smiling. “And you know, you’re right. This isn’t the end for us anyway. This is only the beginning.”
“Perks of immortality,” he said with a wink.
Together, we reached our hands through the portal, a world of possibilities at our fingertips.
Epilogue:
Grace
Four years had passed since Danielle and Julian stepped through that portal. So much had happened. So much had changed.
A war between supernaturals and humans raged on for some time. It was terrifying living every day in fear of giving myself away.
Eventually, though, the fighting diminished. Many vampires and werewolves were killed—and many others disappeared. And as for the witches, once Reed was gone, the agreement between them and the humans was meaningless.
No one was safe.
There was so much senseless death.
Now, those of us that had survived those years were trying to start over. Blend in. Be normal.
I was nearing my last semester in college in Quarter Square. It seemed silly to me to go to school at first considering everything else going on, but Danielle convinced me it would be worth it. And I felt like I owed it to her to take her advice.
We spoke often—sometimes daily. I still missed her terribly.
She and Julian had settled nicely into their roles as rulers of Oasis, as they called it. She wanted to return to the human world, but she understood that figuring out how was proving to be a challenge for me.
