23. Callie

Ilay in the last of the sun as it dipped towards the sea, soaking in the feeling of it against my skin as I trailed my hands through the soft sand.

We hadn’t seen a Familiar in days and there were hundreds of routes we could have taken since we left the mountain pass. We’d all agreed we were safe enough from Valentina for now to afford one night in this place and with our slayer’s weapons, we’d be able to detect her if she got close again.

Montana was beside me and we were drinking in the warmth of the sunlight together while our skin dried.

Magnar and Erik were setting up camp a little way along the beach while Clarice, Fabian and Chickoa hid from the sun within the tents. I’d felt a little sorry for them when the sun broke free of the clouds and they were forced into hiding once again. The sun on my skin was one of the best feelings in the world and happiness was building in my soul just because of the light it cast down on me. I couldn’t imagine having to hide from it for a thousand years. It was a cruel twist to their curse which seemed to serve no purpose other than to punish them.

Julius had taken charge of building a fire and though I’d initially offered to help him and the others with their tasks I didn’t feel particularly bad about it when they’d refused. I watched as Julius tracked up and down the beach collecting driftwood to build the huge bonfire and I was looking forward to sitting around it once the sun dropped and the warmth was stolen from the world once again.

My stomach was feeling a little empty but I was fighting off the urge to find food; Magnar had promised to cook for me and Julius tonight and I wanted to keep as much space in my stomach as possible for whatever he made for us. Every meal he’d cooked when I was travelling alone with him had set my tastebuds alight with joy and I wanted to truly appreciate my dinner tonight.

Erik had suggested that Montana and I enjoy some time on the beach like our dad would have wanted and I got the feeling that he was feeling incredibly guilty about our lives in the Realm. And despite the fact that I’d gotten past my hatred for him and his siblings over that, a part of me still agreed. They should feel bad about us never seeing a beach before: We should have come here with our parents and played in the sand as children. So if I got to lay in the sun now as payment for his guilt then I wasn’t going to refuse. But I guessed I had to forgive him for it now too.

“I can’t believe we’re really here,” I sighed, keeping my eyes closed as I listened to the crashing waves against the shore.

“Dad would be so happy if he could see us now,” Montana agreed.

I twisted the chain our father had given me around my finger, tugging it close to my throat. It felt empty now that it didn’t hold our mother’s ring anymore but I hadn’t taken it off. It was the last thing I had left of his.

“Maybe he can,” I sighed. I’d never been religious but I had to admit that now we knew the gods existed it made sense for there to be some kind of afterlife too. “Maybe him and Mom are watching us now and thinking ‘I wish they didn’t have to go through so much shit to get there but I’m so damn pleased they’re at the beach’.”

Montana laughed and I smirked as I turned my head towards her.

“I imagine he’d be more concerned about the men we’ve chosen for ourselves than about us finally having the opportunity to build sandcastles,” she teased.

“Monty - is that a vampire you’re stepping out with?” I demanded in my best -which admittedly was pretty shocking - impression of our dad.

“And Callie, does that man have a sword in his pocket or is he just pleased to see you?” Montana responded and I laughed.

“Do you remember when he caught you sneaking out to meet that boy...what was his name?” I asked.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Montana replied airily.

“Yes you do. It was Peter. Or Terrance or something like that. The one with the dodgy eyebrow-”

“He did not have a dodgy eyebrow!” she replied indignantly. “And Dad made sure I never did meet him anyway.”

I sniggered and she flicked sand at me.

The silence stretched as I bathed in the sunlight with a smile tugging at my lips.

“Do you think...” Montana began but she stopped before finishing her thought.

“What?” I asked, opening my eyes again.

“I’m worried he might be ashamed of me...of who I am now, what I am. Who I love...”

I reached out to take her hand, forcing her to look back into my eyes.

“Never, Monty,” I growled. “Don’t ever think that, even for a second.”

She looked like she was on the verge of tears as she went on. “But he hated the vampires so much. He taught us to hate them. To fear them. He dreamed of getting us as far away from them as possible and yet I ended up falling in love with one of the men responsible for all of our suffering. And becoming a vampire myself-”

“He would be so proud of you, Monty,” I said firmly. “I never could have seen Erik the way you did; as the man he was before the curse. I never would have realised that it wasn’t their fault. That the gods were the ones to blame in all of this. Your heart is so big and you’re so forgiving. Without you none of us would be here now. We’d have no hope of undoing this curse and stopping Valentina. Dad hated us living in a prison but he never questioned why the vampires felt they had to put us in one. And I know that Fabian was an ass and that mistakes were made but I can understand the idea of the Realms. Especially now we’re in this situation...” I pulled my hand from hers, turning my arm over and eyeing the cuts and bite marks on it. Montana frowned uncomfortably as she looked at my damaged skin.

“Being drained for the sake of a bunch of vampires helps you to sympathise with them?” she asked disbelievingly.

I snorted in amusement. “Yes. Because I can see how the bloodlust works. That they can’t control it and how it controls them. Andif they’d left the humans free after the Final War and allowed their kind to hunt us then I think there’s a good chance that the humans would have been wiped out in the end. There weren’t enough survivors after the bombs fell to feed all of them and the Belvederes did their best to protect our lives by taking our blood in a way that wasn’t fatal. It makes sense. Even if I hate it.”

“And none of it will ever stop unless we end the curse,” she murmured.

“Which we will,” I said firmly. “And then Fabian can give me that damn divorce, Valentina can die in the most horrible way imaginable and we can live out our lives in a house with a view of the sea surrounded by a bucket load of kids.”

“A bucket load?” she laughed. “And can you really see Erik and Magnar living in the same house as each other?”

I glanced over at the two of them as they built the camp, setting up tents and hanging out our wet things to dry in the sun. They were working together pretty seamlessly and as I watched, Magnar laughed in response to something Erik said.

“Actually, on second thoughts, maybe we should get houses side by side,” I said. “Because otherwise I’m worried that the two of them might get so friendly that they’ll cut us out of the equation all together.”

Montana bit her lip against her own laughter as she watched them, catching my fingers between hers again.

“This is why Dad wanted us to come to the beach,” she murmured as our amusement died away. “To have fun. Just sit in the sunshine and laugh for once.”

“Not a care in the world,” I teased.

“How about we make a deal,” she offered. “For one night only, nothing else exists. No Valentina, no Biters, no Andvari or Odin. No ring and no fucking mountain. Just us,” she said firmly. “The people we care about. No walls around us, no tomorrow.”

“With only the sea and the sand.” I grinned, liking the idea.

The sun was just touching the horizon and I pushed myself up to watch as it shimmered above the waves. Montana rose too, holding her hand out for mine and we sat together in silence as the sky turned orange and the blue water glimmered on eternally.

My heart felt lighter from our time together. Just being in her presence made my soul hum with satisfaction. We were two halves of the same whole and no matter our choices or curses, our vows or our loves, in the end we still completed each other.

In all my life I never could have imagined a moment as perfect as this. Simply sitting with my hand in my sister’s as the waves rolled in and the sun disappeared.

I knew it couldn’t last. We had so much to do to free the world from the curse that the gods had laid on us. But for one night only we let that all go.

And I allowed myself to bathe in that peace.

Hand in hand with the truest love in my life.