“Check the walls! This thing can crawl upside down!” I reminded everyone.
Flashlights flared to life and lit up every corner of the cavern to no avail.
After an hour of searching the cavern and coming up with nothing, Tanaka finally stopped me.
“Kieran. They’re gone. I’m sorry, but they are just gone.”
“NO! Dammit no! They can’t be far, we just. . . . We just have to figure out which way they went.” I spun around again and again, trying to force myself to figure out which passage they took.
Tanaka grabbed me by the shoulders and spun me to face him. “KIERAN! They. Are. Gone. It’s been too long and there are too many passages. There are miles and miles of tunnels down here, and hundreds of passages they could have taken that aren’t even mapped yet, possibly dozens never found at all yet. . . . Without having them in direct line of sight, it’s impossible to figure out where they went. It could take years to find them. Besides, you got Doc, and more importantly you killed Jacob. Vixen has lost her power base. She’s broken right now. It will take her time to reorganize, but she will be back. I know her. The only thing on her mind right now is YOU! She will come back. She will come back to kill you someday.”
I looked at him and knew he was right. I hated to admit it. But he was right. I broke down and nodded. He just pulled me close and held me. And I let him.
Because I had earned that. I had earned to be held. To have someone care for me. I had earned my place in life.
Chapter 30
I stood and poked at my face in front of the mirror for the fifth time since I had gotten dressed. The scars still showed through even under all the makeup. And I was cursing everyone for making me wear my hair up. It just made the scars stand out worse. At least I thought so.
When we had taken Cassie to get fitted for her school uniforms, Tanaka had me measured as well, for a “Surprise.” My “surprise” turned out to be a silk kimono. The blizzard had cleared some by the next day, and the school was having a festival. Of which I was being forced to attend.
I had stopped at Emmy’s office to change, because in all honesty, I had NO idea how to put on a kimono. I needed her help.
I was standing in front of the mirror in her private bath when my watch suddenly shook and beeped like it had back when Cassie’s vitals had dropped. My heart plummeted as I yanked the watch up.
Relief and panic filled me at once. Cassie was fine.
But Yuric and Marsala were both gravely injured.
“Arkon is calling for you,” Emmy announced with concern from her desk.
***
The dragon looked worried. And to make it worse, he also looked nervous. But what shook me the most was that the dragon of old was in such a mood that he never even bothered with his usual word games.
“You have seen their status?” he asked me as soon as I entered the room. No hello’s, no asking for stories, just a to the point question.
“Yes. Is there anything we can do?”
“I have a lead on where they may have gone. But to follow it . . . may put you at great risk.”
“Arkon, find them. Just find them. Then I will go get them and make whoever took them pay.”
He just gave a nod and turned back to his work.
* * *
The festival at the school was packed. And there was plenty of food and rides and goings on that we could each get lost in it all, and finally put the past few months aside for once and enjoy the day.
Anika and Vicki had made it clear that they want to talk with me, but also that they will wait until I am ready to do so. Which was good, cause I was soooo not in the mood for that yet.
So I stood there and smiled with warmth in my heart seeing them so happy together. I was happy that the girl part of me still loved had found happiness, even if it wasn’t with me.
“You are not a god.” The increasingly familiar voice whispered in my ear from the shimmer I caught out of the corner of my eye.
“I know. And I know your power could easily allow you to kill me at any time.”
“Yet you fear me not, why?”
“If you were here to kill me, you would have already done it. Or let Jacob do it.”
“Yes. You will yet again face yourself. A terrible choice you will face. Decide you must, but to keep the ones you love alive, you must die. To live will doom them.”
“When the time comes I will deal with it. And you? Will you be there watching over me?”
“Never again will you see me. Never again will I be your miracle.”
“Thank you. For saving us.”
“You are most welcome, Kieran Grey.”
And with that the shimmer faded and she was gone.
Cassie appeared with a huge grin and grabbed my hand to drag me off to the others. We stood there and watched as the festival ended with a grand display of fireworks.
Anika nuzzled into Vicki’s shoulder as they both smiled on. Tanaka flashed me a knowing smile and a nod of congratulations before pulling Ren closer. She patted his hand and looked at me with a mix of emotions, then mouthed out “you got him, good job” to me from across the way.
Mary took Cassie’s attention from me for a moment with some new snack she had found, and Emmy took the opportunity to sneak up and hug me.
“Thank you.”
“For what?” I asked her
“For being more than I could have ever hoped for. And for keeping your word. And for . . . everything.”
“Emmy, you gave me sooo much in return for what little I have done for you. I can never thank YOU enough.”
She kissed my cheek.
“And THAT, is what makes you human. Even more importantly though, that is also what makes me proud YOU are MY sister. Now and forever.”
She gave me another hug, then pulled back with a smile at someone over my shoulder. Before I could turn around, a stealthy female form pressed against my back and held me in the most loving manner.
“Hi,” Darcy whispered in my ear.
“Hi yourself.”
“I gotta tell ya, you’ve done one hell of a job with this band of misfits of yours.”
“Misfits?” I teasingly poked her in the ribs as I spun around in her arms.
“Yep, misfits, least till I come up with a better name for it. You were wonderful though Kieran. Seeing you fight the way you did was, well, inspiring. And you care about everyone so much. You put yourself at risk for them all the time and never even know you are doing it. It’s got me wondering what you are going to do next.”
“Next, I’m going after Yuric and Marsala. I will find them, and bring them both home.”
“Or die trying?”
“Hope not.”
We both smiled and even had a light giggle. Then a look passed her eyes.
“I changed so much when I was turned. Everything about me changed. How I look, how I feel, even how I see the world.”
“I know Darcy, I know. I changed a lot myself, even recently.”
“I was thinking, that maybe, sometime. . . . I mean, if you want to, maybe, we could hang out, er something.” She blushed and looked totally embarrassed that she said what little she had.
She didn’t flat out ask me to be her girlfriend, but that was alright. I wanted to have something slow and real and fresh.
“It sounds great. Whatever you are up for. I’m all for moving with the world at the speed of Darcy right now.”
She smiled at me, a deep loving smile like the ones I had gotten from Vicki, but with a touch of something else. Something I couldn’t quite read.
“Do you trust me?” she asked behind that smile.
I simply replied, “Yes.” Then I stood there staring at her.
She nodded towards my eyes. So I closed them. Her hands moved to my arms and slid down until her fingers clasped and slid between mine. If I tried to open a shield-bubble she would know right away by my fingers moving, but I had no intention of making one.
The kiss was light, but I
could tell it was her lips that brushed against mine. Feathery light kisses, one right after the other.
The fireworks grew to a crescendo for the finally, and so did her kisses.
With the great roar of the final seconds, she fully pulled me into the kiss and kissed me hard and deep with her entire body. I couldn’t NOT respond as I kissed her back, and then I could feel her smile.
“Finally!”
We both pulled slightly apart and turned to glare. Cassie was there staring right at us.
“Bout time you two kissed properly. Now you can get rid of that cot and just move into Big Sister’s bed.”
“CASSIE!” Mary chided her.
Darcy had blushed hard enough to match her blood-red kimono, and I could feel a great deal of warmth in my own cheeks. We pulled apart from our embrace. But her hand soon found its way back into mine again.
Maybe, just maybe things will work out for once.
EPILOGUE
Jacob was dead!
Doc had been slain!
Two hurrahs for us!
Vixen got away, again. (But we won’t talk about that right now. Denial isn’t just a river and all.)
I got dumped, but kinda found someone new already. And I’m totally loving it.
The hunt for Yuric and Marsala is the next thing for me. I got some heavy talking to do with both of them. And a good dose of gloating as well, cause we all know that everyone would.
It’s funny, but my greatest enemy is the entire reason everything good has happened in my life. And he is gone now.
Once I rescue the other two vampires in my life and bring them home, then everything will be alright with the world. And maybe, just maybe we can all find a few precocious moments of peace, before the next crisis almost destroys the world.
I am Keiran Grey, Hunter Class Officer for the GCP, the Survivor Reborn, the Slayer of Masters, and with all the hell in my life . . .
I’ve never been happier.
Immortal Death (Kieran Grey Psionic Hunter Book 3) Page 28
