by C. N. Owens
“The things you’ve had to do—”
“You’ll be disappointed. Maybe even hurt.”
“Leila, I’ve seen you… the real you, and yes, I still trust you.”
“Even when I didn’t listen to you last night? Or Cassie? It’s my fault Andrea died!”
“I’m just as much to blame for keeping you with me all night.”
“Your people.”
“They were loyal warriors to the end, and I forgive you.”
She growls and paces the small room. “It’s not that simple!”
“It’s as simple as I want to make it, so are you going to shut up and kiss me yet, or what? I’m happy to see you, damn it!” I say, knowing that the more I try to talk her down, the more upset she’ll get.
She stares at me for what feels like an hour, and then dashes into the room, grabs the little black box from where I put it and sits on the bed. “I'm sorry for being strange. Can we start over?” She grips the tiny box in her hands as I come closer. “So, am I right?”
I pry it from her fingers. “I don’t know if a covenant ordained by a God that hates us is appropriate, but I’ll take a knee, if you want me to be traditional about it.”
“No, you don’t have to do that.” Teary eyed, she shows me her left hand, fingers outstretched.
“Wearing this comes at a cost,” I say, and pop open the box. “I’ll buy you a diamond, if that’s what you want, but this, this small amount of silver, is our mark.”
“I don’t understand, I thought werewolves hated silver.”
“Yes, and you may learn to hate this ring,” I say, and pull the band I wear to the side, so she can see the red ring of inflamed skin underneath.
“Its natural antiseptic properties are antagonistic with ours—decay and corruption. It will hurt us, but not as rapidly as the old stories suggest.” I pull the ring from the box and slide it onto her finger. “It’s the only metal that will endure shifting; it literally cuts through the beast, and the beast heals around it. When you shift back, the ring will still be on your finger.”
“I’m a little letdown… no silver bullets?”
I laugh and give her a light tap on her chest, mimicking a bullet. “I imagine silver could be loaded into hollow-point rounds, but we would reject them before they could do any real damage.” I spin the band around on her finger. “Does it hurt?”
She shakes her head. “No, it fits well, too.”
“It’ll irritate your skin, have no doubt.”
“I don’t care,” she says, and reaches up and gives me a gentle kiss. “I belong to you. I’ll wear it till my finger falls off.”
“Good. Now, before we go down and talk to Cassie, how ’bout a shower?”
“You read my mind.” She stands, but stops me before we make it to the bathroom. “Trent?”
“Yeah, baby girl?”
“What about God?”
“What about him?”
“Well… this may sound naïve, but isn’t there a way for us to be forgiven?” she asks.
“Forgiveness,” I say, sneering. “He and the devil conspire as one against us all. God is a kid with a toy. We don’t need a deity or forgiveness to be good people.”
“How do you know this?”
“If God wanted to stop us, he could make us drop dead where we stand right now. He has killed humans for much less than what we’ve done. We’re here; you and I found each other for a reason. Same goes for Cassie and her kind. We are here to punish man for turning against Him.”
“And the same way we found each other, we will have her child,” Leila says.
“It will happen, and we will either embrace it, or we’ll rail against it.”
“Free will.”
“Correct.”
“We’re going to hell when we die, then.”
“We’re going somewhere, but not today.”
Her eyes narrow. “Not today.” She straightens and nods. “Definitely not today.”
-From the Author-
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