“Aww!” Zane groaned, “But the scary stories are the most fun! Come on!”
“Yea, Mommy,” Gregory pouted, “De scawy stories are fun!”
“Oh my—fine! Geez you two are a damned handful!”
“Ha!” Zane pointed at her, “Another dollar for the swear jar.”
Zane smiled, following the two to Greg’s bedroom and he watched as Serena helped Gregory with his pajamas, before stepping over and lifting their son up to tell him a story of two brave-yet-stubborn warriors who met on a scarlet night and came to be king and queen of a great kingdom after freeing them from the terror of the lizard-wizard. Finishing his story halfway through when he noticed his son’s eyes had already shut and the gentle snores had begun, he smiled, placing him in his bed before leaning down and kissing his forehead.
“Goodnight, my little badass prince,” he smiled. “And happy birthday.”
Finally joining Serena in the living room, he plopped down beside her on the couch, letting out a heavy, relaxed sigh.
“Did you have a chance to talk to Zoey and Isaac?” Serena frowned, looking over. “Do they really have to leave tonight? I mean, Greg’s birthday is tomorrow?”
“I tried to talk them into another day, and believe me when I say I could tell they wanted to,” Zane sighed, shaking his head. “But The Council is pressing pretty hard. It’s pretty serious, I guess. They’re already steaming that they weren’t on the plane yesterday.”
“What could be so bad that it would have to be so urgent?” Serena sighed, “And why them?.”
Zane shrugged, “Who knows? ‘Cause she’s an ass-kicking genius auric and he’s what James Bond would be if he could transform into a towering wolf-beast and had a dick the size of baseball bat,” he paused to let Serena’s laughter subside. “Either way, they’ve got a job to do and—you know what?—so do we. Whatever it is, they’ve got it handled, and we have Greg’s birthday party to orchestrate.”
“Yea, I guess you’re right.” She groaned and leaned back, “I heard that Nikki’s got some weird plan in mind; something that her tribe used to do it on her birthdays,” Serena smirked. “It better not be some voodoo, skull-and-crossbones kind of thing.”
“Oh stop!” Zane laughed, “Besides, you know Greg would LOVE that!”
“I guess so,” she chuckled.
They made their way to the garage, in time to see Zoey and Isaac packing up the car. Serena grinned, giving Zoey’s shoulder-length purple hair a tug hair before taking her into a tight embrace.
“Does the carpet still match the drapes?” she giggled.
“Oh no…” Zane frowned.
Isaac coughed out a laugh before Zoey sent him a glare and he straightened up, quickly taking a deep breath.
“You’ll just have to wonder, I suppose,” Zoey smirked. “I’m glad you came by.”
Serena nodded and smiled, “I’m glad we caught you. We had to chase a naked, soaking-wet parrot-child around the living room.”
“Sounds like something I had to do with you when you got into your dad’s stash of elixers,” Zoey laughed.
“Oh! Thanks!” Serena nudged her.
“So, you’re off then?” Zane stepped forward, “You know that Greg is going to miss you tomorrow.”
“Are you sure you have to leave so soon?” Serena bit her lip.
“Unfortunately, The Council is pretty insistent. Seems like this World War Two experiment is causing quite the commotion.”
“Well, considering his past, it doesn’t surprise me,” Zane sighed, “they vivisected him and experiment with his organs! I mean, I’ve seen some shit, but—YEESH!”
“Vivisection…” Serena shivered. “Please, Zoe, be careful. If you hit any trouble don’t hesitate to call us, okay?”
“Sure thin, hun,” Zoey smiled and hugged Serena tightly. “I’ll miss you!”
“Come back soon!” she smiled, hugging her back.
“Take care,” Zane nodded to the two and stepped back with Serena.
The two stepped out of the garage and towards a waiting car. A short moment later, they were off, heading into the night under the full blood moon. Watching their friends’ ride disappear into the distance, Serena leaned her head against Zane’s chest.
While the road ahead was uncertain, she felt more confident than ever before with Zane by her side.
Taking a deep breath and smiling up at her lover, Serena Murdoch, under the glow of the scarlet night, kissed the vampire she’d fought so hard to call her own.
Megan J. Parker lives in upstate New York and is normally found lounging in the writing office with her fiancée and fellow author, Nathan Squiers.
Since the debut of her first novel, Scarlet Night, Megan J. Parker has gained international recognition and has been a bestseller in paranormal romance and dark fantasy. Her first novel, Scarlet Night, also was a runner up for 2013’s Best New Series Award on the blog, Paranormal Craving.
Nathan Squiers (AKA The Literary Dark Emperor) resides in Upstate NY with his fiancé and fellow author, Megan J. Parker. Nathan is usually found in his writing lair where he is either typing away at his latest work or staring out the window as he plots a new idea in the subspace of his mind. His first series, Crimson Shadow, is a bestseller on Amazon in both Dark Fantasy and Horror categories. Along with that, his Death Metal novel two awards in 2013 for best paranormal thriller and best occult. Nathan Squiers was awarded 2012’s best indie author of the year and has since then been rampaging the literary world with his take on vampires and the paranormal world.
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