Chapter 28 - Percy

Rafael appears, as though from out of nowhere, spinning through the battle like a dancer weaving his way through the dance floor, and he is lighting the vampires on fire .

In one hand, he has a jug of gasoline, and in the other, a knife that must be hexed against vampires, because it makes them sizzle and cry and scream for help. After hitting them with the knife, he douses them in the gasoline, which lights up a moment later. It's mesmerizing to watch, and I have to remind myself to pay attention to my fight, the one happening with Veronica at my back.

My entire body is thrumming with the need to protect her. Tell her to get out of here and that I'll take care of it. Especially because I know about the baby she carries—and I would rather die than let anything happen to it.

Then, the reason for her fighting at my side dawns on me—if I die, so does she, and so does our baby. The thought is so painful, it fills me with a terrible loathing for the vampires we're fighting, always taking more and more and more and never being satisfied with what they have. I pass a knife to Veronica, and she moves with it like she's been doing it her whole life.

I make a note to thank Bigby for training her later. Right now, I focus on slicing and cutting, dodging those poisonous fangs, not wanting them to get another chunk out of me. The last one has just fully healed, even the scars disappearing from my skin, and I don't want a repeat of that.

I'm shocked when I see Olivia and Rosa appear in the field, and can feel Bigby sending to her again and again, telling her to leave, and her sending back that he should go to hell, that she's having fun.

When the last vampire falls to the ground, his head rolling off his shoulders from where Bryon sliced it with his sword, a new addition to his usual cast of knives, I'm breathing heavily, and Veronica is too, her back sweating against mine.

"Percy," she says, turning and dropping her knife, crushing her body to mine, taking my face in her hands. My entire body lights on fire, and I have to remind myself that we're around other people, that I need to temper my reaction to this, to her touching me for the first time since that meeting with Paul Smith.

Paul Smith—who must be dead now. You can't break a life-pact without sacrificing your life, and he must have sacrificed himself for the vampires to have a chance at taking Veronica.

Suddenly, I get the feeling that there's a lot she's not telling me, but I don't want to hash it out here, in the woods, where anything could be waiting to pounce at us.

"Let's get out of here," I say to her, starting to pull her away, but she grabs my face, bringing me back.

"Percy," she says, gasping, "I have to tell you now."

I look at her, at that long, dark hair, still glossy despite everything we've been through tonight. Those big, dark eyes, her smooth skin, the freckles dusting across her skin, everything I've ever loved about her, inside and out, collected here in the moonlight like a reminder of how she's precious to me.

"Honey," I say, "you can tell me—"

"I'm pregnant," she says, laughing a little after she says it. "I should have told you sooner, Percy, but I was so scared. I'm not scared anymore—I wasn't scared of these assholes, so why should I be scared of a little baby?"

"I don't know," Rosa says, stepping out from behind a tree, wearing a shirt from Ado, who didn't shift. Olivia is wearing Byron's and studiously avoiding looking at his chest. "Babies are pretty darn scary."

"There's something else I was scared of," Veronica says, standing and addressing everyone. There's sweat on her face and blood on her clothes, and she has never looked more beautiful to me than she is at this moment.

"I was scared to tell you all that. Basically, my mom was bitten by a vampire when she was pregnant with me. She died in childbirth, but I didn't. Which means I'm basically a vampire without the blood-thirst. And if you have anything to say about that—if you're going to treat me or this baby any differently because of that, tell me now so I can choose somewhere else to raise my kid."

"Veronica," Aris says, shaking his head and stepping toward her. "I was willing to make peace with the vampires. There are no paranormals who are inherently bad, just like people. I've never been a believer in that kind of ideology. All paranormal beings are worthy of consideration and kindness."

"Except water sprites," Bigby grumbles, from his place behind a bush, where he's standing to hide his modesty. "Also, we should really think about bringing clothes when we do this kind of stuff. I ruined a perfectly good costume."

"There's always next year," Rosa says, clapping her hand on Veronica's shoulder. "Right?"

***

The second Veronica and I step back into my apartment together, I have her against the wall, and I kiss her deeply, like I've wanted to for the past few weeks.

"Please," I say against her lips, "never be afraid to tell me something like that again. Never be afraid to tell me anything. I love you, Veronica. I always have, I just realized it the first time I saw you."

"I love you, too," she says, burying her fingers in my hair and pushing me backward toward the bedroom. "I don't know that I always have, I had a pretty big crush on Santa Claus as a kid."

" Santa Claus ?"

"I thought you didn't want me to be afraid of telling you things," she teases, and I shake my head, my nose bumping against hers as we do a complicated stepping game, moving around the furniture seamlessly to get to my room as we paw at each other, removing one article of clothing at a time.

"You were a very sexy pop singer," I murmur, "that body suit was killing me."

"It wasn't the microphone?"

"Maybe it was the microphone, just a little," I admit, which makes her laugh, and I lean down, capturing the sound on my lips.

"Veronica," I say, when I'm laying her down on the bed. "I never should have left you, back in New York."

"It's water under the bridge," she says, reaching up for me.

"No, wait," I say, smiling when she tries to tug me down. "Please, I want to apologize to you for that. Back then, I thought leaving was the only option. And maybe it was. But I hurt you. And that's my biggest regret. I could have found a way to hurt you less, even if it was just breaking up with you."

"You want to give me an apology that matters?" she asks, quirking an eyebrow at me.

"Yes," I breathe.

"Then touch me."

I shut up and oblige, slipping my hand under her panties and groaning at the wetness I find there, how ready she is for me, how badly I want to touch her, make her feel good, make her beg for me night after night after night.

"Since they don't hate vampires," I say, "does that mean you'll be staying?"

"Yes," she breathes, and I slip a finger inside her, feeling her making my cock even harder. I explore a bit, making her throat catch, her eyes flutter shut. "But I want to travel," she adds, when I ease up a bit with my fingers.

"Veronica," I laugh, leaning down and kissing her as I work over her clit with my fingers. I pull back and watch her face open, slowly, the longer I touch her. "I would do anything for you. Go to the ends of the earth—and for me, it's not just a saying."

"Wait, so are you a flat-earther?" she asks, opening one eye, and making me laugh again. This is what we used to be—joking and laughing even in the midst of our pleasure.

In a move that surprises me, she braces her hands on my hips and flips me over, situating herself on top of me, grinning down, looking wicked, her nipples peaked.

"Stop teasing me," she says, lifting herself and taking me deep, all at once, so my back lifts up off the mattress in a gasp, my hands coming to her sides as she laughs.

When I look up at her there, it's like I'm looking at my forever home.