My life was complete. I had my Ara back. The curse was broken. Mike and Emily’s baby would be okay, and my son was now outwardly the coolest little dude on the planet. But all I could do, after I shut the door and closed us away from everyone, was cry. My Ara was compassionate and caring—always there to support me if I fell apart—but tonight I felt like a complete loser, unable to compose myself for a moment to get the words out that I’d longed to say.
“I know,” she said, cradling my head against her heart, her gentle touch moving my hair back off my brow. “I can say it all for you: you’re sorry you couldn’t protect me, couldn’t save our baby.” Her voice broke a bit. “You’ve missed me more than you can ever vocalize, and you can’t even begin to measure with words the relief that I’m back. You loved me as I was all this time and you love me still now, even without the curse, and you just need me to know that.”
I laughed, feeling a sense of relief as her words unburdened me.
“And,” she added, looking right into my eyes as I drew back and sat up. “You’re sorry for what you did… in the tombs.”
I couldn’t look at her then, seeing myself instead as the monster I’d become with that potion.
“I know it was the potion, David.” She touched my hand. “I remember everything that’s happened between us since I woke up. And even though I wasn’t me, what I told you that day when you confessed it all”—she nodded to where we’d been sitting on the floor that day—“I meant it. I knew you weren’t the kind of man that could do that. I mean, what did you think?” She slapped my arm hard. “Did you really think, after all our years together, that I’d truly believe you suddenly turned into a rapist because of a bit of torture?” She laughed. “I am actually insulted.”
I laughed too, wiping my nose on my sleeve. “You’re right. It was me getting all curled up in self-pity.”
“It was.” She got to her knees and touched my face, rolling it up to hers. “And you’re over it now, I hope. Because we have a life to get on with.”
“And I’m all in,” I said, cupping her hips to pull her closer. “But it will take some time. There’s a lot of healing to do—”
“I know.” She bent to kiss me, and I noticed the difference immediately. It was my Ara. Her lips found mine like they’d known them all her life. She knew exactly which way to move as I got to my knees, taller than her. Her head rolled back and she angled it to the left, just as she always did, her hands going under my arms and up around my shoulder blades—as they hadn’t done since we were king and queen.
“Speaking of which…” She broke away from the kiss, leaving me grasping for more. “Lily is back! And she’s… so not what I expected.”
I laughed. “No. We all said the same thing.”
“I’m really glad you didn’t kill her,” she noted, looking off at distant thought. “And I’m so…” Her head moved in a no. “I just can’t believe how happy Jason is.”
“I would be too if I’d stolen the monarchy from my older brother.”
“You’re the younger one, remember, since you were born second.”
“Yes, but”—I threw her down on the bed and landed on top of her, caging her shoulders between my hands—“we grew up with me as the eldest, so that’s how it’s gonna be forever now.”
“As you say, Your Majesty.”
“Not anymore.” I dropped down hard beside her, laying with my hands across my stomach. “We’re free now, and the monarchy is in damn good hands. Just like we always talked about.”
“But you wouldn’t tell Jase that, would you?” she said with a sly grin, coming up on her elbow beside me. “I bet you let him think he stole it and you plan to take it back.”
I made a small gap between my thumb and forefinger.
“You’re so mean.” She slapped my arm.
“I know. But he’s my brother. It’s my job to pick on him.”
“Yes,” she said absently, and then she grinned, eyes wide. “And you have a cousin! I almost forgot.”
“Yes.” I made my eyes into vengeful slits, picturing him. “Cal.”
“Are you excited?”
“No.”
“Liar.”
I smiled, making the same small gap between my fingers.
She leaned down and kissed my brow, lingering for a moment longer than the kiss. “Things turned out pretty good. And I really like the way you smell.”
“The way I smell?” I rolled up on my elbow.
Ara leaned in and took a long sniff of my head. “You smell human. And I’m not really into the whole human thing, but it’s actually quite nice on you.”
“Quite nice?” She couldn’t come up with a better adjective than that?
“Mm.” She nodded, taking me in. “You’re sweeter.”
“Sweeter?” Right now, I was horrified. I rolled over and grabbed my phone off the nightstand. “That’s it,” I said, “I’m calling my brother.”
“Why?”
“’Cause he needs to get his ass back to Australia and turn me. Now.”
Ara laughed, rolling onto her back, her long hair spreading out all around her and tickling my arm. “Good. Then we’ll make good use of tonight—enjoy the last day of you being human—because I want my vampire back.”
“Really?” I said, putting the phone to my ear as it rang.
She nodded. “Human you is nice, but you’re a hell of a lot sexier when you can kill me.”
I shook my head. “Now there’s that messed-up girl I’ve been waiting for.”
This would be the last time we called Cal to feed Ara. I’d be a vampire again by the end of the week, and life would go on. But it would not be the same. So much had changed now. I was changed. Ara was changed. We were no longer the same people that died in those tombs. And yet, despite all the pain, when I looked at her, or when I looked in the mirror, I could see that we’d changed for the better.
For me, it was the physical changes. Looking back at my old pictures now, I couldn’t believe I ever looked so young. The lack of immortal blood in my veins had seen me age slightly faster than I otherwise would, or maybe it was all the stress and trauma. Either way, I looked twenty-five, at least—thirty when unshaven—and I knew that would make life so much easier for me from here. I would be required to wear less makeup when playing human, and I would no longer need ID when buying a beer in my true form.
Ara, however, would always look like a teenager. Even with the wisdom of ages once again behind her eyes, she had a youthful, childlike smile and the big round eyes of a hopeful soul. She’d been through hell and touched the fires, burned in the fires, and yet she could still see so much light in the world. I sometimes wished I had her heart, her soul.
I sat back on the couch and looked at my watch, wondering what was taking Cal so long. Then again, it’d only been fifteen minutes since I called him, and how was he to know I had news for him—that I was, loath to admit it but… excited to see him—to look at Cal and see family there where I once only saw a pain in my ass?
I lifted my foot down off my knee and sat forward, frowning to myself. Excited? Since when did I get excited about anything?
“Knock-knock,” Cal said, waltzing into the room like he owned the place. Once, I might have wanted to punch him in his smug face for the simple crime of being himself, but instead, I saw so much of myself in him that I… smiled.
With a quick and very hoarse clearing of my throat, I wiped that smile clean off my face. “Took you long enough.”
“Had to take a shit,” he said, scooping up a magazine as he sat down, propping his feet on the coffee table. He pored over it for a moment until he felt my eyes on him, then shrugged. “What, man, don’t you ever shit?”
The David I was when I left here last tried to retain the hatred and the disdain, but this version of me could see that Cal no longer bore the curse, and I almost openly admitted that I wanted him in my life.
“We’re cousins,” I said simply.
It took him a moment, but then he laid the magazine aside and sat forward, his pale-blue eyes wide. “Seriously?”
“Yeah.” I tried not to smile like a giant douche, but as the excitement flipped his face around, my lip pulled, and a small smile snuck out.
“Holy shit, man!” He tumbled over the couch cushions and pummeled me an in awkward bro hug.
I patted his back once, then twice, waiting for him to catch my drift and get out of my territorial bubble, but he kept hugging.
“I always wanted a brother.”
“And yet we’re cousins,” I corrected.
“Nah.” He finally sat back, shaking his head. “We’ll be more like bros, I can tell.”
As much as I wanted to deny it, I knew he was right. He was a part of the club—one that had been closed off for centuries. Jason and I were always alone. We had Arthur, but no other siblings, yet I knew we would both openly welcome Cal.
“So I have a… another cousin too?” I said, trying to remember the twin sister’s name.
“Yeah. I told her about you,” he said, sitting back. “Told her we might all be related.”
“You should have saved that until you found out for sure.”
“Nah. I had to tell her. She was majorly crushing on you at school, man. She was so grossed out when I told her you might be our cousin.”
I laughed loudly.
“So does Ara know?” Cal asked.
“She’s the one that figured it out.”
“How?”
“She saw a picture, but… then my uncle told her for certain.”
“Your uncle? I thought he was… Oh!” His eyes widened. “Is that the dude she saw at the end of her bed?”
I nodded, wondering when she’d ever told him about that.
“So cool!” He put both hands up, pushing them forward a little to reinforce his statement. “This family is awesome.”
“Yeah.” I sat back, bringing my ankle onto my knee. “We are.”
“So where’s Jason?” he said.
“He’s arriving tomorrow—staying for Christmas.”
Cal nodded, a sadness sweeping over him. I took a moment to study it, unsure what triggered it, and then it occurred to me.
“So you’re coming, right?” I said, flicking his arm. “To Christmas dinner?”
The gloom slipped backward. “Yeah. Sure. I mean”—he shrugged and sat back again, finding his cool—“if I’m not busy.”
I laughed. “And you can bring Bree too,” I offered, finally remembering her name.
He nodded. “What about my parents? Should we tell them?”
“I’m not sure I see any point,” I said, meaning that. His dad seemed like a dick, and I certainly didn’t want a guy like that—who could turn away from his own son for not being what he wanted him to be—in the immortal world. Clearly his father had inherited more of the Thomas Knight gene—my father’s—than he did the Arthur Knight gene. And if he knew immortality was possible, he would most likely demand it, leaving me stuck with him forever. “We can decide later,” I added.
“I say we leave that prick out of it—let nature take its course.”
I studied Cal for a moment, eyes shrinking. “What happened?”
“Huh?” He looked up in surprise. “Whaddaya mean?”
“I wasn’t born yesterday, Cal. What happened with your father while we were gone?”
He shrunk, sighing. “He saw my grades.”
“And?”
“And… I’ve been faking this entire year—made him think I was stupid. So when he saw my grades pick up suddenly, he wasn’t just annoyed that I’d been faking, he was furious. Tried to beat my ass.”
My blood mixed with adrenaline in my limbs, flicking the protective switch inside me. “That guy’s an asshole.”
“Tell me about it.” He flipped through the magazine absently, too quick to be reading anything. Then threw it down hard. “You know what? Forget him.”
“You have us now.” I reached out and reluctantly placed my hand on his shoulder.
Cal smiled at the ground between his knees. “You still gonna feel the same once you’re a bloodsucker?”
I nodded. Even though he was making light of it, it was a good question. Vampirism changed people, and without having a human to fall in love with, I was at risk of being the evil vampire again. Forever. “No matter what, Cal—immortal or human—family comes first. You’re in it for life now.”
“Life?” He looked at me, smirking. “I think you mean eternity.”
“That is your life now,” I stated, and Cal nodded.
“Touché, my friend. Touché.”
With Jason here in Australia to turn me back, and with Christmas so close, we decided to turn the annual event of gift-giving into a family reunion of sorts—with our beloved Ara finally whole again. Which, of course, meant we needed somewhere to host it. So, since Harry was enjoying his new life in Australia and with no monarchy to run now, I could finally, for the first time in our lives, give Ara what she had truly always wanted.
“No peeking,” I demanded, tightening the blindfold.
“I feel uneasy,” she said. “Call me crazy, but ever since I was tortured, I kinda have something against being blindfolded.”
I laughed, though I probably shouldn’t have. “Two more steps.” I guided her to the edge of the curb. “What do you smell?”
She drew a long breath. “I smell eucalyptus—from the lake and the park over there.” Her finger aimed in the exact direction of Lake Richmond and the grassy area just before it. “I can smell Mike and Em standing on the porch across the road. And I can smell how excited Harry is.” She reached out blindly and ruffled his hair.
I laughed, standing behind her to take off the blindfold, but at the last second, decided to stand in front of her so I could see her face. When I took it off though, expecting to see her sheer delight, she just looked at me blankly.
“What am I meant to be seeing?” she asked. “You’re still human, so I know it’s not that.”
“Better,” I said, showing her the double-story house behind me and making a point of the For Sale sign. “I put an offer in on it last week, and I just got the call saying they’ll accept it.”
“What?” Her smile dropped, eyes going wide. “Are you serious?”
I nodded. “I made arrangements with the current owners to rent the place until the settlement date—which is in four weeks.”
“Ah!” She squealed, her arms swinging out wide before cutting off the air to my lungs as she hugged me. “It couldn’t be more perfect.”
She was right. Not only was it directly across from our family and only a block away from Falcon in one direction and Elora in the other, it was also white—her favorite kind of house—and it had enough bedrooms for all the children we’d be having in the near future, a kitchen Mike was jealous of, and a pool. It was everything she ever wanted but, more importantly, it was here, in the place she always wanted to return to live.
“I don’t even know what to say,” she cried, touching her necklace.
“Say thank you, Mom,” Harry said simply.
Ara laughed. “Yes.” She grabbed my face in two hands and kissed me. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” I said, turning to face the house. “When I bought this, I also signed us up to host Christmas this year.”
“It has a really big room for it, Mom,” Harry said. “We can fit everyone in, and even a giant tree!”
“That’s great!” she said, bending to pick Harry up, even though he was more than half her size. “Then I hope you’re going to help put the angel on top.”
“I don’t want an angel this year, Mom.” He shook his head. “I wanna put Uncle Arthur up there.”
“Why?” She laughed, looking at me.
“Because he’s the one watching over us,” he said simply.
Ara nodded. “Well, okay then. We’ll make an Uncle Arthur and put it on the tree.”
I stood in beside her and held them both close, imagining our new life here in this house, and as I turned around at Mike’s request, all of us posing for a photo, my skin went cold. My mind flashed back to the picture Harry drew the other day and I realized I was standing in it. Right now. The only thing missing was the child in our arms. But this was the house he’d drawn.
“You okay?” Ara asked through her ‘camera’ smile.
I nodded, kissing her head as the flash went off. “I just realized something.”
“What’s that?”
“We’re finally going to be okay.”
“You’re only just realizing that now?” She put Harry down.
I nodded. “There are things in our future that we don’t know about,” I said, thinking back to the warning on the flip-side of Harry’s picture. “Things that scare me. But I just realized that, no matter what odds are against us, nothing has ever kept us apart. And I have the strong sense that no matter what comes our way, we’re gonna handle it.”
“Cheesy,” she said playfully. “But you’re right. And it kinda makes you feel brave, doesn’t it?”
I reached down and squeezed her hand, seeing an opening here for a great one-liner but keeping it to myself instead. The ending to our story wasn’t in words, after all. It was in the hearts of those that held on through the fight—all the people, blood or not, that we called family.