Epilogue

EPILOGUE

I was still drawn to the night. I looked forward to dusk each day, when a sense of relief would wash over me, as if I'd been holding my breath and could now relax.

Beezle understood. On my evening strolls, he accompanied me. He chased mice in the fields and offered me their heads, reminding me of all I was missing out on. But since Maxwell had driven that stake into Vrykolakas's heart a month earlier, I felt like I was learning every day what was really important in life. Not the pleasures I'd pursued to sate my appetite for human suffering. My tastes had shifted toward books and music. The sound of bones breaking was no longer my favorite sound. I fancied the exotic sound of the harpsichord.

Still, a feeling of longing overcame me as I walked hand-in-hand with Maxwell through a grove at night and bats twittered overhead, or an owl announced its successful hunt of a rabbit. The fact that I would never feel my body shift into the form of a wolf, a bat, or even mist, would haunt me. But they had never made me as happy as Maxwell did.

I shook my head. "I don't know what I did to deserve you. You've seen the sorts of things I was capable of. You should be … frightened of me, of the things I've done."

Maxwell sighed. "Lucian, we've been over this. I know you think you only brought death to our door, but look at the hope the future holds now. That was you too." He looked away. "I know your heart. You're not the person you were. All you can change are the coming days." He hesitated, grabbing my hand. "Besides, I don't know what I would do without you. You sort of grow on people. Like a fungus."

I chuckled. "Like a fungus. Quite the endorsement."

"I almost said parasite, but that would have been a little too on the nose, with the sucking blood and all."

My eyes widened. "You little brat."

He bit his lower lip. "You have grown on me, you know. I want …" He hesitated.

I stepped closer to him, gazing down at him intensely. "Yes?"

He tilted his head up to me, meeting my eyes. "You know what I want."

I grinned, my heart skipping as I watched his lips part. "I want to hear you say what you want."

He swallowed hard. "You."

I ran my hands through his curls. "I've wanted you since the moment I laid eyes on you."

He wrinkled his nose. "Even with that hideous mask?"

I grinned. "Hideous mask and all."

Maxwell glanced down and scowled. "Oh, Toby," he scolded as Beezle darted off the path in pursuit of something rummaging through the underbrush. He sighed and let go of my hand, tentatively picking his way over tree roots.

"It's Beezle!" I corrected him, watching him go, eyes finding the skinny badger Beezle had noticed, even though Maxwell had taken the lantern with him. I'd found my eyes sharper lately. Perhaps Vrykolakas's death had unblocked some dampener on my senses, for I heard Maxwell mutter under his breath as he continued to pursue Beezle, even though he was halfway across a field now. And yet my blood remained poisonous, dashing any hopes I'd had of going through the change once more. All the better, as it meant I wouldn't be leaving Maxwell behind, for he had no wish to become immortal.

I crossed my arms and leaned against a tree, breathing in the cool night air as crickets sang their song to fill the silence.

"Careful," a voice warned, far too close. I started, stiffening as a figure detached from the shadows gathered behind another tree ahead. "I hear there are vampires out there. And you're human now."

I squinted at the figure as she stepped into the moonlight. "Funny."

Violetta laughed, eyes dancing, even as they glinted in the night like a predator's. "I'm getting stealthy though, aren't I? Do say I am."

Isabel appeared from behind a tree and motioned for me to agree.

"I didn't notice you until you were nearly upon me. It was quite frightening."

Violetta beamed as she peered back over her shoulder. "You hear that, Isabel? I'm frightening."

"Yes, dear. Lucian is positively quaking in his boots."

"You are doing very well," Ambrose said quietly, melting from the trees. He sent me a lopsided grin. "Hey, Lucian."

"Ambrose," I nodded, turning toward the direction of the field, where I could hear Maxwell returning with Beezle, who wasn't pleased with being carried. "Growing accustomed to prowling the night, are you?"

Ambrose shrugged. "I can't say I'll ever get used to it."

Isabel slung an arm around his shoulder. "But we're all glad you managed to swallow some of Emmett's blood before he accidentally killed you, aren't we?"

"Father is the one who killed me." Ambrose scowled. "Don't get that confused. I could have recovered from what occurred at Gramercy House." He stared down at his hands and I noticed them trembling slightly. "I'm still trying to unlearn what he taught me, you know. I can still hardly believe that I'm a … But I am still me."

I snorted. "Of course you are. As frustrating as it is, you didn't develop a new personality."

Isabel laughed while Maxwell traipsed onto the road all at once, Beezle yowling in his arms. With a hiss, he leapt from Maxwell's arms, running to me. He hid behind my legs, staring at the vampire trio.

"What are you doing out here?" Maxwell asked, eyes flicking between our friends. "Secret vampire things?"

Isabel sighed. "We're hunting down Cecelia and Zachariah to suck their blood."

I raised an eyebrow.

Violetta slapped Isabel playfully on the shoulder. "What she means is, they've graciously offered to help us hone our hunting skills. We'll probably have to track animals at some point, especially if wolves target the sheep." She scanned the dark, lonely avenue ahead. "They're out here somewhere. I don't suppose you've seen them?"

"Vampires don't ask for directions," I chided her. "Use your senses."

"So tedious," Isabel muttered. She glanced back over her shoulder. "Melbourne is also hunting us. He's playing vampire slayer, so we need to evade him as well. But between us, I don't think he's particularly good at it. He bumbles through the underbrush like a rhinoceros."

"Be nice." Violetta frowned. "He tries very hard. And it's helping us develop. He doesn't have to help at all, you know."

"I think that's him now," Ambrose said, staring off into the distance where I couldn't see. "We should be moving along."

"Give Zachariah my love," Maxwell said.

"After we suck him dry," Isabel agreed, blowing him a kiss as she followed Violetta up the road.

"Are you alright, brother?" Maxwell asked, grabbing Ambrose's arm as he made to follow them.

Ambrose offered him a tight smile, eyes locking on mine momentarily. "It's harder than we let on."

"It gets easier," I offered. "If you ever want to talk about it …" I let my offer hang in the air.

"That's very kind of you," Ambrose said. There was still an uneasiness between us, like he didn't quite trust me. I couldn't blame him, not after what I'd put his family through. I was amazed how forgiving everyone had been. But even in my mortal form, I had much to offer them in the ways of the vampire. I helped as best as I could, although Raven and Helena saw to most of their training. Meanwhile, Flora and Maxwell used their considerable resources to shelter them from other vampire hunter groups and keep Hemlock Manor looking as normal as possible from the outside.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Violetta sing-songed somewhere in the darkness ahead.

Ambrose snorted. "I should …"

"Of course," Maxwell agreed. "Good to see you. Drink some blood. You're looking paler than usual."

Ambrose made a face. "Yes, well, don't age too much before I see you next." He jogged to catch up to the others.

Maxwell leaned his head on my shoulder as we watched Ambrose disappear. "You know, even though you're the youngest brother, you're going to look like the oldest soon enough."

"Stop that." He swatted my chest. "You'll be aging right along with me, you know."

I sighed. "I know. All this beauty … such a waste."

Maxwell rolled his eyes.

I pulled him against my side and squeezed him, kissing him on the cheek with unchecked enthusiasm. He pushed me away playfully, before leaning in again.

My new life had begun. It might not last forever, but it would be fuller than it had been. And I could already tell that I would be happy.