“Fuck you.” The words came out slurred because Connor had hold of his chin. Evan wasn’t going anywhere.
“You’ve killed an awful lot of people all in Heather’s name. I wonder what she’d think about that.”
“She’s dead.”
“That’s true. But you know what else? She’s here. You may not be connected to your witch, but I’m in tune with mine and I’m telling you, Heather is here right now. And I think she might have something to say to you. Are you ready to listen?”
Evan grew very still.
“Well?”
“I am.”
“Good.” He switched to telepathy.
Engage both of us, Heather, right now.
A female voice pressed into his mind.
Evan, I’m here.
Heather?
Connor was relieved he could hear them both. Aloud, he said, “I’m going to take the sword away, but I’m keeping my knee in your back. And just so you know, I can hear Heather as well.”
“I understand.”
Connor slowly moved the sword to the side.
Go ahead, Heather. We’re both listening.
Her voice came through loud and clear.
Evan, you’ve broken my heart. What have you been doing all in my name and our son’s name? We’ve been waiting for you, but why have you killed so many people? The pain you’ve caused! That’s not who you were. Who we were together.
Evan’s telepathic voice sounded strained.
Heather, I hunted for you. I missed you so much. I’d already made the decision to take a vampire serum so I could look for you. Then I learned that Connor killed you. Why did you have to die? Why couldn’t you have waited for me?
I wouldn’t have survived much longer and I couldn’t feel the baby move anymore.
Evan didn’t say anything for a long moment.
Those were your last words, weren’t they? The ones you spoke to Officer Connor? The ones he didn’t tell me?
Yes.
Oh, God, what have I done?
You’ve hurt so many people and now you have to atone. If you want to be with us, you have to atone.
How?
You’ll think of something but now I must go.
Connor felt Heather shift her focus, though he didn’t understand why until she spoke his name.
Connor, a thousand apologies for using you as I did to take my own life. I didn’t realize how much I’d hurt you until Violet told me. Will you forgive me?
Connor hadn’t expected Heather to address anything with him. And Violet was right, Heather’s death had ruined something inside his heart. Still, in this moment, he couldn’t hold it against her.
This is a hellish world. I only wish I could have saved you that night.
I didn’t know I could trust a vampire. I thought you’d send me back to my abductors.
You had no reason to think differently.
Good-bye, Connor. And Evan, remember, you must atone and do it now. Or I will be lost to you forever. Our son, too.
Connor felt there was something significant in these last words about atoning, but he didn’t know what. Maybe her insistence that Evan ‘do it now’ referred to the location.
The next moment, a soft breeze blew through the terrible space. Heather departed, and the fight left Evan completely.
“I’ve made a mistake,” he said quietly. “You can let me up now.”
Connor’s cop training made him leery. But his instincts, enhanced by his time with Iris, caused him to levitate off Evan. However, he retained control of Evan’s sword.
He flew back slowly several paces, holding his hands wide, the blade secure in his grip, knees bent. If Evan attacked again, he was ready.
But Evan looked wrecked as he stared at Connor. He even looked around the space as though wondering how he’d gotten here. Iris still held Seraphina in a vampire thrall, a very strange thing to see, when she was just a witch. The dark cloud of Seraphina’s spell had disappeared as well.
Evan called to the vampires waiting outside the building. When they flew in, he quickly took one of their swords.
Connor moved swiftly in Iris’s direction, wondering if he’d just made the worst mistake of his vampire life.
But Evan dismissed the vampires, ordering them to return to their homes. He then drew close to Connor. “When I give the word, I want you to take Iris out of here as fast as you can. We had the place wired.” There it was, the reason Heather had told Evan to take care of business now. He understood then what Evan meant to do.
Connor nodded to him. “Let me contact Iris first.”
Evan dipped his chin.
He reached for Iris telepathically.
Did you hear Evan?
Yes.
Do you trust him?
I do.
I’m going to grab your shoulders and pull you out of here at exactly the same time, a single smooth flow of motion. Do you understand and do you trust me?
Yes and yes. Absolutely.
Then we’re good to go.
Connor nodded to Evan.
“On three,” Evan said, sounding unusually calm. “One … two … three … ”
At the same moment that Connor wrenched Iris away, he watched Evan’s sword slide into Seraphina’s stomach.
Connor pulled Iris tight against him, then flew her swiftly through the doorway and into the air, higher and higher, but arcing southeast toward Elegance.
The explosion followed within three seconds of their departure and was bigger and louder than at Sentinel. This time they weren’t directly beneath the blast. However, the ensuing shockwave catapulted them even farther into the night sky.
He didn’t try to battle the wave, but flew with it until it dissipated. When they were a full mile distant, Connor slowed his flight, turning them in the air to face No Man’s Land. The debris cloud obscured the night and car alarms sounded all over Five Bridges.
Iris held onto him loosely. She watched the cloud, and at the same time wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She had Seraphina’s blood on her lips.
“Did you get any of Heather’s telepathy?” he asked.
“Yes. All of it.”
“Good.” He released a sigh, but not in despair. It was a strange thing to talk to the dead, but both Heather and Violet had given him back his life tonight. What he felt was gratitude, deep eternal gratitude.
“Take me home, Connor.”
“No place I’d rather be.”
And that was the truth.
~ ~ ~
Once back in the garden, Iris stared into the face of the man she loved. He’d kissed her about a dozen times, his eyes brimming with tears. He’d professed his love over and over and reaffirmed they were engaged and would soon be married.
She saw how changed he was. The darkness that had held him in its hard grip was now gone. It had been blown away as surely as the blast in No Man’s Land had ended Evan and Seraphina’s tyranny over their lives.
As she caressed his face, she sought about in her mind for the best way to thank him for coming into her life. Finally, she said, “You’ve taken all my pain away. Did you know that? I’d grieved for so long. Now all is made new.”
He shook his head, searching her eyes. “I’m not sure you could have told me anything better than this. When you enthralled me, and I was able to see all that you were, I felt your pain. You’d lost so much. I also had a wish that one day I could ease your suffering. And if that’s what I’ve done, then I’m happier than I can say.”
Iris thought it fitting to take him back into the shower and to clean the debris off their bodies from their final encounter with Evan and his witch. He took her to bed afterward and kept her there for a long time that night and several nights after.
He kept telling her how much he loved her and she returned the favor. She wasn’t sure, given all that they’d been through in each of their
alter
lives, that the words could be spoken enough. Iris had never thought to find love in the harsh reality of their drug-riddled world.
But here was Connor, a huge surprise in her life, a blessing sent to her by her sister and to some degree by Heather. If she had one struggle, it was finding exactly the right way to tell Connor how much he meant to her.
Then one day, as Connor began moving his things to her home permanently, she figured it out. And she smiled, because he would love it.
~ ~ ~
“Iris?” Connor called out to his soon-to-be wife. She’d been in the garage for most of the evening with the Harley mechanic repairing her police cruiser. It needed a new muffler and gas tank and had other assorted dents one of his workers was repairing. Other than that, it had survived the Sentinel explosion really well.
He’d tried several times to head out to the garage to see what was going on. But each time he did, he got sidetracked with another household project. Iris had one helluva list for him, which included putting his Ducati poster up in the living room. But he needed her to eyeball the height for him.
He smiled.
He’d moved in.
A whole week had passed since his announcement that sent about every territory in Five Bridges on its heels. First, he’d made very public his resignation from the Crescent Border Patrol. Then shortly afterward held a press conference with that prick, Donaldson, announcing that he would be the first vampire to join the Tribunal Public Safety force. Donaldson didn’t know it yet, but Connor was making it his mission to see the man kicked out of the Tribunal, the sooner the better.
Connor had shaken up Five Bridges but good and at the same time had never felt more alive or more determined to make a difference in his world.
He couldn’t believe how much his life had changed.
Not even two weeks ago, he’d been alone, really alone and barely aware how skeletal his life had become. He would be a husband again and once more bound to the obligations of household chores. He couldn’t help but smile. Give him chores any day of the week. It seemed an incredibly small price to pay for being with the woman he loved.
And speaking of her, shouldn’t her cruiser be repaired by now?
“Iris?” he called out again.
When there wasn’t an answer, he got concerned.
He glanced out at the garden, but her latest spell held. Her home was safe. Iris now had a serious witch mentor who tutored her in the ways of fifth level witch-dom. Apparently, her basic power grid was exceptional anyway, but their bond had rocketed her potential into outer space. No dark witch could get through her spell now.
There was also talk she’d one day serve on the Tribunal Council. His chest swelled with a combination of pride and love. Iris had always wanted to make a significant contribution to their world and now she would.
He was about to call her name again, when he decided he’d have to tear her away from her bike himself.
The garage was on the kitchen side of the house. He went through the dining area, but as soon as he got near the door he felt compelled to go back and get the list of projects she’d made up for him.
And that’s when it hit him.
Damn. The woman had spelled the garage. He drew closer to the door, fighting the need to reverse direction, and there it was, a line of dragon’s blood and something else, probably ‘Connor specific’, all along the threshold.
“Iris, get your ass in here.” He was pissed. She’d promised never to spell him, but she couldn’t deny this evidence.
The door opened. She looked like a regular grease-monkey, wearing a kerchief on her head, her ponytail pinned into a bun, and blue overalls. She had the obligatory grease stains smeared here and there. “You spelled this door and you promised me you’d never do that.”
She looked sheepish yet pleased at the same time. She was even smiling.
Maybe he wasn’t being stern enough. The woman should be contrite.
She glanced over her shoulder. “Duke, I’m in trouble, but do you think he’ll forgive me?”
“Hell, yeah, he will.”
Connor frowned. “Okay, what’s going on?” A row of cabinets prevented him from seeing into the garage.
She reached over the threshold and kicked a break in the line of red powder and the spell dissipated. “Come here,” she said. “I have something for you. It’s a surprise.”
“You’re still in trouble.”
“I know. I broke a covenant between us, but it was meant for good. You can decide my punishment later. For now, come with me.”
When she took his hand, he followed, because he couldn’t help himself. She might have spelled him to keep him out of the garage, but her love had become a magnet he didn’t think he could ever refuse and that had nothing to do with witchery.
Once he passed the cabinets, he saw all three mechanics, also greasy, but grinning like school kids.
That’s when he saw the bike. A Ducati 1974 750 GT. “Iris?”
“She’s yours, Connor. The least you deserve for the man you are.”
He didn’t know what to say. He turned to her, and not caring she was covered in grease, he pulled her into his arms. He kissed her first, then held her so tight he wasn’t sure she could breathe.
He wanted to let go, but couldn’t. “You’ve given me so much.”
“Same here, my love.” She pulled back, her hands on his arms. “But is this okay? Or did I overstep?”
“You mean the Ducati?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “And the spell.”
“The bike is perfect as well as the intent behind it. Thank you.” His heart swelled. He held her gaze once more, not understanding where she’d come from. Iris had only known him a couple of weeks, but seemed to understand him to the depths of his soul. “Thank you.”
He then turned to the mechanics who were still grinning. “Well? Does she run?”
They all laughed. Duke said, “You bet she does, but you’ll have to sit down and try her out.”
Connor went over to the bike and that’s when he realized he hadn’t heard the engine once. Turning to Iris, he said, “You spelled the sound as well?”
She shrugged. “Kind of had to. You would have known at once this wasn’t my TPS bike.”
He chuckled. “You’re right about that.”
He sat down on the seat and kick-started her up. He loved the rumble, the feel, the beauty of it. The vibrations were heaven.
A part of his life had been returned to him.
He thought about taking it out, but dawn was coming and the mechanics needed to be on their way. He shut the engine down, then took his time thanking each of the vampires for the work they’d done.