An explosion echoed behind me but I didn’t dare turn my head.
He fled down a set of spiral steps and I was right on his heels.
A part of me wanted to reach out and grab the dark haired vampire, but I was scared he’d drop Makenna.
“She’s my sister!” He spat in response to my previous statement.
“You’re wrong!” I yelled, wanting to smash his stubborn skull against the wall.
Steps sounded behind me and I prayed that they were ‘friendly’. I didn’t have time to look over my shoulder and see who it was.
I caught up to the Original vampire, while he was fast, his vampire senses had been weakened by age. I circled in front of him and he was forced to stop, the hall to narrow for him to pass, unless he shoved me.
From the look of fear on his face, I figured he was as scared to act as I was. Neither of us wanted to hurt the baby. I could use that to my advantage…I hoped.
“Give. Me. My. Daughter. I won’t ask you again,” I held my arms out.
“I’d listen to her if I were you,” Jonathon placed a flaming blue hand on the man’s shoulder. He screamed in pain as the flames consumed his clothes.
He was forced to let go of Makenna and I caught her easily, cradling her to my chest.
Her cries softened as she inhaled my familiar scent. “Mommy’s got you,” I murmured, “and I’m never letting you go.”
The vampire’s screams were piercing to my ears. I turned my back to him, shielding Makenna from the blaze.
When the vampire was nothing but ash, I turned back around to face my husband.
“Are the others dead? The Originals?” I was scared to hope.
He nodded. “Between me and Gabriel, the others were bored,” he chuckled. “I never knew this would come in so handy.” He held his hand in front of my face and blue flames flickered between his fingers.
“Still,” I said sadly, “not everyone survived.” I eyed the small group left. I spotted Tyson. At least one of Isaac’s friends had made it out alive.
“No,” he pulled me to him, “they didn’t.”
We stood in the hallway, waiting for everyone to join us. I was bit scared to see who we might have lost…everything had become chaos the moment we stepped into the compound and my sole focus had been on getting Makenna back.
Gabriel, of course, was the first one to join us. I spotted Aiden and Viola, still in one pice but looking exhausted…but I didn’t see my mom.
“Mom?” I called. “Mom?”
And then she appeared.
I handed Makenna to Jonathon and ran into my mom’s arms. For a second there, I thought I had lost her when I had only just gotten her back.
She held me close, running her fingers through my hair. “It’s okay, Kylie,” she soothed me. “I’m right here.”
“I love you, mom,” I told her fiercely.
I let her go and then ran to my brother, hugging him tightly.
“I’m fine, squirt,” Aiden assured me. “You don’t have to squeeze me so tight.”
“Yes, I do,” I cried. “Adam’s dead, isn’t he?”
“He and my sister went down together,” Vivian interrupted. “I watched it happen…they didn’t suffer.”
My lower lip trembled.
It was one thing to believe my brother was dead; it was another to hear it. But I couldn’t let myself dwell on his death right now, there would be time for that later. Right now, I needed to see who was still alive.
I spotted Gabriel and surprised him by launching myself into his arms.
“Whoa,” he hugged me back awkwardly, “what’s this for?”
“For helping me get my daughter back,” I kissed his cheek. “Without you, we would’ve never been able to do this.”
“I don’t know about that,” he smiled sheepishly.
“You know I’m right,” I smiled back.
“I was pretty helpful,” he chuckled. Sobering, he said, “Still, I wish no one had to die.”
“This was a war,” I finally said, “and a war has casualties.”
“Spoken like a true soldier,” He winked. Winked! I still wasn’t used to this new and improved Gabriel.
I made my way back to Jonathon.
Patrick, Danny, Mason, and Joseph were all there with him. But Diana was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Diana?” I asked, looking behind them as if she would magically appear. “Where is she?”
“Gone,” Danny answered.
I crumbled the ground as a scream tore through my chest.
Adam.
Vivian.
Colton.
Diana.
And countless others were dead. My chest constricted painfully. Had all those deaths been worth it?
The answer was yes, maybe that made me a sick twisted person, but I’d go through it all again if it meant getting my daughter back. I would miss them all, for the rest of my existence, their presence would never be filled.
Gabriel called over his shoulder, “We need to get out of here. In case you’ve forgotten, there’s still Guarde members alive.”
Oh, crap. I had forgotten about that.
The lights flickered.
“We need to hurry,” Gabriel’s voice was urgent, “or the battle won’t be over quite yet.”
We all started running.
I felt like all we’d been doing was running.
In no time, we came to a dead end. There was nowhere to go, except back.
We all started to turn around, but Gabriel halted us.
“This is the way,” he studied the marble wall. “I know it is.”
He ran his hand over the marble. I didn’t know what it was he was looking for.
He lowered himself to the ground, peering at the stone. “Aha!” He exclaimed. “Kylie, come here. You too, Jonathon, and bring the baby.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“Our way out,” he smiled, pointing at formations in the shape of hands drawn on the marble. “Put your hand here,” he pointed to a medium sized handprint. “Jonathon,” he pointed to another. “And baby Makenna,” he took the baby from Jonathon’s arms. “On the count of three, place your hands there. Okay?”
We nodded.
“But first, you’re going to have to cut yourselves…and Makenna. There has to be a blood sacrifice,” he stared us down.
“Hell no! We’re not cutting Makenna! Are you crazy?!” I glared at him, shaking my head back and forth.
“It’s the only way,” Gabriel said. Before I could utter another word, a knife appeared in his hand and he was slicing the fleshy part of my hand, Jonathon’s, and Makenna’s. “Remember, she’s a dhampir. She’ll heal faster than normal.” He began to count. “One. Two. Three—”
We put our hands against the imprints and Gabriel held Makenna’s hand to hers.
With a mighty puff of air, the wall began to move.
It slid about three feet and when we looked up we could see the twinkling of stars and smell fresh air.
“Told you,” Gabriel smirked, handing me Makenna. He crouched down and leapt up. He grunted as he landed outside. “Who’s next?” He peered down at us.
It took no time for the vampires and shifters to get out, but then we had to help the Coven members. The distance was far too high for them to climb.
I peered down at my daughter, at her sweet innocent face, and wondered why she had to go through this. Why did the prophecy have to be about us? And what would the future hold for her with her power?
I climbed into the car and held Makenna to my chest.
When I met Jonathon, I never imagined that our life would end up like this, that there would be so much death and destruction.
I knew now, that he’d known from the beginning that the prophecy was about us. There was no fighting it, but he’d tried to protect me from it.
But you can’t protect yourself from fate.
You have to embrace it.
I leaned my head against Jonathon’s shoulder.
F
rom now on, I was going to embrace every moment of my forever with him.
Epilogue #1: Lay to Rest
Amelia was devastated when we told her Diana hadn’t made it. Her eyes had widened in horror, her mouth falling open in disbelief.
I was numb…it was the best way for me to cope.
I pushed all thoughts of Diana, Adam, Vivian, and the shifters and Coven members who’d given their lives, to the back of my mind.
I knew they deserved to be remembered. But I just couldn’t do it.
I’d spent so long grieving Isaac and my dad, that I couldn’t put myself through that kind of pain again.
I needed to be strong, for my kids, for Jonathon, but most importantly, for me.
We gathered in the backyard for our makeshift funeral.
There was no way we could go back for bodies, so all we had was headstones for the three slain vampires.
Seeing my brother’s name on one of those headstones was like a kick to the gut. He was too young to die. I couldn’t believe he’d been introduced to this paranormal world only to be ripped from it so cruelly. The world worked in mysterious ways.
We were all solemn, staring at the three new headstones that joined the ones that marked the graves of Jonathon’s parents. I really hoped Diana had been reunited with them in the afterlife. She deserved to be with her parents again.
I prayed that death hadn’t separated Adam and Vivian. I hoped they were together, still enjoying the benefits of being soul mates. I also hoped that Adam saw our dad up there. Wherever there was.
Jonathon’s hand entwined with mine. He held Makenna in his other arm and I held Ren. I looked down at my son. My greatest wish was that we’d never be ripped from them, that this would be the last time we’d have to say goodbye to the ones we loved. I was sick of the fighting and the death. All I wanted was to live my life with Jonathon, our kids, and our family.
Amelia choked on a sob and buried her head against Patrick’s shoulder. He led her away and back into the house.
Danny and Mason joined them after a moment. Both of their hands were shoved into the pockets of their black pants and their heads were bowed.
“Bye bro,” Aiden saluted the headstone.
Viola pressed her fingers against the stone of Vivian’s grave, tracing her fingers over the letters carved there.
Then, they too, left.
With a sigh, Joseph headed back to the house.
Then it was just Jonathon and I.
“Goodbye,” we said simultaneously.
With my head held high, I walked away from my past and straight into my future.
Epilogue #2: An unknown future
A few years later
“Ren! Stay away from the water!” I yelled, coming out on the back porch of our house in Santa Barbara.
“Unca Gabe is wif me!” My three year old son yelled back.
I shook my head. Gabriel was always getting my kids into all kinds of trouble.
Suddenly, Gabriel’s head appeared in the ocean water, as he swam towards Ren while pretending to be a shark.
Ren squealed in delight when Gabriel reached him and pulled him into the water. He clung to Gabriel’s shoulders, giggling.
“Never thought I’d see this,” Jonathon chuckled, coming up behind me.
“You’re telling me,” I laughed as we watched Gabriel play with our son.
Never in a million years did I ever think that the moody vampire I despised so much initially, would actually become a part of our family.
Jonathon and I descended the steps. We found Makenna playing in the sand.
“Whatcha’ doin’ baby girl?” I asked her, sitting in the sand beside her, and placing a kiss on top of her blond curls.
“Watch mama,” she smiled her toothy toddler smile.
She placed her hand on a dead flower. Within moments, it was alive once more, its color vibrant. She held out the yellow flower for me.
“It pretty like you mama,” she hugged my arm.
I smiled, but inside I was scared. She was constantly bringing things back to life…and once Makenna brought something back to life, it never died.
None of us understood her power, not even Gabriel.
“Thank you,” I smiled at her.
Jonathon rubbed my back. I knew what he was thinking, he’d told me about it plenty of times. What if Makenna could bring back his parents? My dad? Isaac? Diana? Adam and Vivian?
Neither of us dared to use our daughter and her power that way. It was too risky. Besides, if others found out about her power, they’d use her for the wrong reasons.
As she grew, we’d have to teach her to hide her powers.
We didn’t know what the future held for us, maybe we’d get lucky and I’d see it. But for now, we were taking everything day by day.
We may have suffered a lot of losses and had to fight like hell to get our happy ending, but I’d go through it all again, if it meant Jonathon was waiting for me on the other side.
He was my other half.
My soul mate.
My forever.
Acknowledgements
A huge thank you is owed to my family for always standing by my side and supporting my dream. I’m extremely lucky to have all of you in my life. I love you guys so much!
The biggest thank you goes to the fans, to the ones reading this book. I can’t thank you enough for all your support in the slow process of finishing this book. You were all so extremely patient with me and ‘thank you’ doesn’t even begin to cover what I want to say to you guys. I hope you guys enjoyed the ending of Jonathon and Kylie’s story. They were my first characters that ever ‘stuck’ with me and I’m going to miss them a lot.
These acknowledgements would not be complete without thanking Emily W. This book is dedicated to you for your love of this series and for becoming one of my best friends. Words cannot express how much you mean to me. You’re an extremely special person and I know you’re going to do great things. I can’t wait to watch you grow into a young woman and go off and accomplish your dreams. I’ll always be by your side, cheering you on, just like you’ve cheered me on.
Forever (Fallen Series Book 3) Page 22
