Gallagher genuflected, then sat down on the last row. Here, he felt his Rosalie. Devout, she had never missed a Holy Day of Obligation or Feast Day. He had dutifully gone with her even though he'd hemmed and hawed about it. Ever patient, she would sit by his side, patting his arm and smiling to herself over the fact that she had gotten him to do the impossible.
"I miss you, Rose," he breathed, his chest tight with the pain of her loss.
He wanted to stay here where he felt her, but he couldn't. No Dark-Hunter could remain in any old church for very long before the ghosts of the past came out to possess them.
And he was too weak at this moment to fight them.
Getting up, he made his way silently out back to the font, then out to the street.
It was cool out, but nowhere near the coldness he felt inside himself. Gallagher headed down Chartres Street. He didn't know where to go. He didn't feel like going back to Sanctuary and there was no real need to hunt on Christmas Eve. Since most humans were at home with their families, the Daimons tended to stay in as well.
"Hel-lo!"
He paused at the familiar sing-song voice. Turning around, he found "Simi" behind him.
"Hi," he said, half-expecting to see Ash with her.
But apparently she was out alone. Simi bounced up to him. "What'cha doing out here all alone?" she asked. "Did you forget how to find Sanctuary?"
"No. I want to be alone for a bit."
She cocked her head and frowned. "Why? Were the bears mean to you? Mama can get a bit cranky whenever I play with the cubs. She thinks I'm going to eat one, but bleh! They're way too hairy. Now if she'd let me skin one, I might be interested."
He laughed in spite of himself. "Are you joking?"
"Oh no. I never joke about hairy food. It's disgusting." She looked up at him. "If they weren't mean to you, then why did you leave?"
"I don't know. I guess I didn't feel right being there."
"Why?"
He shrugged. "What are you doing out here?"
"Not much. Akri is off with that red-headed demon so he said I could go play just so long as I don't eat nothing not cooked by a human. But all my favorite places are closed so I thought I'd go find the bears myself and see if Jose, since he's human, would make me up something good that wouldn't make akri mad if I ate it."
"Akri is Ash?"
"Yes."
"And the red-headed demon?"
"Artemis the bitch goddess. You know her. She's the one who stole your soul."
"She didn't steal it."
Simi blew him a raspberry. "Of course she did. She steals everything." She stood up on her tiptoes and stared into his eyes. "Hey," she said, taking his chin in her hand so that she could move his head back and forth while she examined him. "You're hurting in there. That would make akri very sad. He doesn't like for his Dark-Hunters to hurt and the Simi don't like it when akri is sad. Why are you hurt?"
"I miss my family."
Releasing him, she nodded sympathetically. "I miss mine, too. My mama was good people. 'Simi,' she would say, 'I love you.' Akri loves me, too."
She tilted her head down so that he could see her horns which were now covered by what appeared to be very small knitted hats. "See, akri even gave me hornay warmers so my horns wouldn't get cold. You want some hornay warmers, too?"
This had to be the oddest conversation of his life. He didn't know why he stayed here talking to her. Maybe it was her childlike manner. There was something very charming about her.
"I don't have horns."
"You want some?" she asked hopefully. "I could give you some real colorful ones. Akri has some black ones, but he doesn't let other people see them."
"Ash has horns?"
"Oh my, yes. They are quite lovely. Not as lovely as mine, but they are still very nice. The Simi would say she hopes you see them, but if you ever did, you'd be dead and I think the Simi would miss you. You seem very nice, too."
Gallagher frowned as she rummaged around in her giant oversized, beaded purse. After a few seconds, she pulled out an oven mitt that looked like a fish. She handed it to him.
"That is quality. From QVC. My favorite place. Do you watch QVC?"
"No."
"Well, you should. Akri says I watch it too much, but he never complains when I shop there. They like me, too. Put me on television and call me Miss Simi. I like that."
He handed her the fish back.
"Oh no, that's for you. Presents make people happy. The Simi wants you to be happy."
Oh yeah, this was without a doubt the strangest moment of his life. Both mortal and immortal. "Thank you, Simi."
She waved his words aside with her hand. "No need to thank me. See, that's what families do. They take care of each other."
His stomach tightened at her words. "I no longer have a family. I had to give them up."
She looked at him curiously. "Of course you have a family. Everyone has family. I'm your family. Akri your family. Even that smelly old goddess is your family. She's that creepy old aunt who comes around but nobody likes her so they make fun of her when she's gone."
He laughed again. "Does she know you say that about her?"
"Of course. I say it to her face all the time. That's why akri told me to come play while he's with her. He don't like it when we fight."
She took his hand into hers. "Listen and I'll tell you what akri once told me. We have three kinds of family. Those we are born to, those who are born to us, and those we let into our hearts. I have let you into my heart so the Simi is your family and she won't give you up. If you are sad right now, then I'm thinking your family is still in your heart, too, and they are taking up so much room that you have no room for anyone else."
"I can't give them up."
"And you shouldn't. Ever. No one should ever forget those they love. But it's like with QVC - whenever I fill up my room with too much stuff, akri builds me another room. Somehow there's always space for more. Your heart can always expand to take in as many people as you need it to. The people who live there, they don't go away. You just make room for one more person and then another and another and another."
With her arm in his, Simi walked him down the street. "Don't you want Simi to be your family?"
He thought about her words and strange analogy.
She leaned forward and whispered. "This is the part where you say, 'Yes, Simi, I would like to be your family.' 'Cause if you don't, then I'll have to take my mitt back and barbecue you. Akri is still upset about the last Dark-Hunter I barbecued and that was... oh, a thousand or so years ago. He part elephant when it comes to remembering things. So tell me, do you want Simi to be your family?"
He smiled in spite of himself. "Yes, Simi, I would like to be your family."
She beamed. "Good. You're such a smart Dark-Hunter."
Before Gallagher realized it, Simi had led him back to Sanctuary. She opened the door and stood back, waiting for him to enter. The earlier loudness was nothing like what was happening now. There were four hawks lined up on one curtain rod, dancing in time to the rocking Christmas carols. The Howlers (all in human form) were singing while Dev Peltier played the piano. A white tiger was lying on its back on the sofa while Marvin the monkey jumped up and down on its belly.
A large black bear he assumed was Aimee Peltier was feeding two baby cubs peanut butter sandwiches. A red-headed human woman with a scar on her face came up to them and grabbed Simi into a hug. "Hey little demon, where's boss man?"
Simi shrugged. "He off attending to Lord Queen Pain-In-My-Butt. How are you, Tabitha? Is your sister and Kyrian coming?"
"No, they'll be here tomorrow. Morning sickness hit Amanda as they were leaving, but Talon said he'd be here just as soon as he could." The two of them drifted off into the crowd.
Gallagher stood back, watching the revelry. There were Arcadians here, Katagaria, Dark-Hunters, demons, humans, and who knew what else. By all rights none of them should get along and yet they were together tonight.
Colt came up to him. An Arcadian Sentinel, his job was technically to hunt and slay the Katagaria. But years ago the Peltiers had rescued and protected Colt's mother and then raised him after her death. He was as loyal to the bear clan as any of their natural sons.
Smiling, he pulled a pineapple mitt out of his back pocket. "Man, Gallagher, you must really rate. You got one of the good fish. All I got was a lousy pineapple."
"What, does everyone she meet get one?"
"Nope. Only family."
Gallagher looked around at that and saw something he hadn't noticed earlier.
Everyone there had a mitt.
UNTIL DEATH WE DO PART
Prologue
Romania, 1476
He was coming for her. She knew it. Esperetta of the house of Dracul could hear him out in the cold darkness. Unseen. Fearsome. Threatening.
And he was getting closer.
Closer.
So close, she could feel his breath on her skin. See his evil eyes as he relentlessly stalked her through the night while she ran from him, hoping to find some way to escape.
He wanted her dead.
"Esperetta..."
There was magic in that deep, sultry voice. It'd always had a way of making her weak. Of lulling her into a stupor. But she couldn't afford that now. Not after she knew him for the monster he really was.
She stumbled through the darkness as the fog seemed to wrap itself around her, slowing her down, pulling her back toward where he waited to devour her. The cry of wolves echoed on the wind that sliced through her dirt-stained gown and cloak as if she were naked in the woods.
Her breathing labored and painful, she tripped and fell against a wall of solid black steel. No, not steel.
It was him.
Her hand was splayed over the frightening gold emblem on his armor of a coiled serpent that mocked her with its venom. Terrified, she looked up with a gasp into those deep, dark eyes that seemed to penetrate her. But that wasn't what scared her. It was the fact that she was in her white burial gown. The fact that she'd clawed her way out of her own grave under the weight of the full moon to find herself alone in the church cemetery. She'd stared down at the tombstone that had held her name and death date for almost an hour before she'd found the courage to leave that place.
No longer in Moldavia as she'd been when she went to sleep, she was in a small village outside of Bucharest. In the churchyard by her father's castle, where she'd been born. Needing to understand what had happened to her, she'd made her way toward her father's home, only to find an even worse horror than waking in her own grave.
She'd seen her husband kill her father before her very eyes. Seen him gleefully hand her father's head off to his Turkish enemies. Screaming, she'd run from them, out into the night.
And had run without stopping until now. Now she was in the arms of a man whose black armor was covered in her father's blood. A man she'd sworn to love for all eternity.
But it wasn't this man she'd loved. This was a coldhearted monster. A liar. He might bear the same imposing height. The same long black wavy hair and sharp, aristocratic features, but it wasn't Velkan Danesti who held her now.
It was the devil incarnate.
"Let me go!" she snarled, wrenching herself away from him.
"Esperetta, listen to me!"
"No!" she shouted, moving away as he tried to touch her again. "You killed me. You killed my father!"
He scowled at her and if she hadn't seen his darker side for herself, she might even believe the sincerity he feigned. "It's not what you think."
"I. Saw. You. Kill. Him."
"Because he killed you."
She shook her head. "You lie! You're the one who gave me the poison. You! Not my father. He loved me. He would never have hurt me."
"Your father stabbed you through the heart when he saw you dead to make sure you weren't feigning."
Still, she didn't believe him. He was lying and she knew it. Her father would never have done such a thing. When Velkan had given her the sleeping balm he'd told her that it would make her sleep so soundly that no one would know she was alive. He'd promised that no one would bury her, since that had always been her fear. Side by side, they were supposed to awaken from their sleep so that they would be free to stay together forever.
But she hadn't awakened in her bed. She'd awakened in her grave.
Now, she knew what he'd planned all along. To kill her and her father so that he could avenge his own father and take their lands for his family. Velkan didn't love her. He'd used her and like a fool, she'd played into his hands and cost her father his life.
She ran for the woods again only to have Velkan overtake her.
She tried to pull away, but he held her arm in a fierce grip.
"Listen to me, Esperetta. You and I are both dead."
She frowned at him. "Are you insane? I'm not dead. I only slept as you said I would. What madness are you trying to convince me of?"
"No madness," he said, his eyes burning into her. "When we wed, I bound our souls together with my mother's sorcery. I told you that night that I didn't want to exist without you and I meant it. When your father killed you, I swore vengeance against him, and after he killed me, a goddess came and offered me a bargain. I sold my soul to her so that I could avenge you by killing him. For you. I didn't understand when I made the bargain with Artemis that it would involve you, too. Because I live, you live. We are joined together. Forever." Then he did the most unbelievable thing of all. He opened his mouth to show her a set of long, sharp fangs.
He was an upyri!
Her heart pounded in terror. It couldn't be! This wasn't her beloved husband, he was an unholy demon. "You're in league with Lucifer. My father was right. All of the Danestis are an evil who must be purged from this earth."
"Not evil, Esperetta. My love for you is pure and good. I swear it."
She curled her lip at him as she pried his grip from her arm. "And my love for you is as dead as my father," she spat before she ran through the fog once more.
Velkan forced himself to stand still and not follow her again. His bride was young and she'd been through a shock tonight.
She would return to him. He was certain of it. In all the violence and horror of his life, she'd been the only thing he'd ever had that was good and gentle. She alone had touched his long dead heart and caused it to live again. Surely, she wouldn't stay angry at him. Not when all he'd done was protect her.
She would see the truth and she would return to him.
"Come back to me soon, my Esperetta." And then he uttered the one word that had never left his lips before. "Please."
1
Chicago, 2006
"Just out of curiosity, can an immortal choke to death on a baby?"
Retta Danesti cut a vicious glare to her best friend as she tried to swallow the bite that was lodged painfully in her throat. As a shape-shifter who'd befriended her over five hundred years ago, Francesca was well aware of the fact that Retta's husband had sold their souls to the goddess Artemis and by default made Retta immortal.
And Francesca's latest news had stunned her so badly, she'd sucked a piece of bagel down her windpipe, where it burned like fire.
Francesca pounded her gently between the shoulder blades. "C'mon, babe, I knew it would piss you off, but I didn't mean for it to kill you."
Retta reached for her bottled water and finally cleared her throat even though her eyes were tearing up unmercifully. "Now what did you just tell me?"
Francesca put her hands in her lap and gave her a level stare. "Your husband is opening the Dracula Theme Park in Transylvania next summer and the key attraction is the mummified remains of Vlad Tepes - Dracula himself. Apparently Velkan's going to release the body to scientists so that they can verify the remains through tests and prove that it really is The Impaler of medieval legend."
Every part of Retta seethed. "That rank bastard!" She cringed as she realized several heads in the deli turned toward her.
Francesca lowered her voice and spoke behind her hand. "He doesn't really have your father's remains, does he?"
Retta recapped her water as she wished a thousand vile things on Velkan's head. Including pestilence and plagues that would cause a certain part of his anatomy to shrivel up and rot off. "It's possible. After all, Velkan killed him and was probably the one who buried him. Although I doubt he has the head since he gave that to my father's enemies."
She clenched her bottle even tighter. "Damn him! First he gives Stoker that ridiculous book, then he starts the tours, then the Dracula restaurant and hotel, and now this. I swear, God as my witness, I'm going to get an axe and kill him once and for all."
Francesca's light blue eyes were warm with concern. Even though she was a wolf in animal form, those eyes were very catlike when she was human. The only thing the human Francesca shared with her wolf counterpart was her thick, dark chestnut hair. And speedy reflexes. "Calm down, Retta. You know he's only doing this to get under your skin."
"And it's working."
"C'mon, he wouldn't really do this."
"To get back at me? Yes, he would." She ground her teeth in frustration as she continued to call down the wrath of hell on his head. For centuries, Velkan had done nothing but strike at her and her family. "I hate that man with every fiber of my being."
"Why did you marry him then?"
That was something she didn't want to think about. Even five hundred years later, she could still see the night they'd met clearly in her mind. She'd been on her way home from the convent, for a visit with her father when her party had been attacked by Turks. They'd killed everyone but her and were well on their way to raping her when all of a sudden her assailants had been beheaded.
Too scared to scream, she'd lain on the ground, covered in their blood, waiting for her own death as she looked up at the men in armor who were routing the few attackers who'd managed to run.
Dressed in his dull black armor that held a gold serpent emblem, the knight who'd killed her would-be rapists had quickly wrapped her in his fur-lined cloak and picked her up from the ground. Without a word to her, Velkan had carried her on the back of his destrier to his home, where he'd made sure she was well tended and fed.
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