Epilogue - Welcome Back

O ctavius pushed his dino hat up a bit with his clawed, dino-gloved hands, trying to get most of the teeth out of his line of vision, as Turney pulled the van to a stop in front of Scarlett’s house. “Honestly, I can’t be faulted for not remembering the man. Like, Scarlett didn’t either!”

“He really…didn’t have a memorable face,” his friend mused while opening her door.

Turney snorted. “I mean…I suppose he didn’t have any features that stood out, but…the fact his face didn’t cause any bells to ring in either of your minds is slightly worrying.”

Octavius pushed his door open, jumping out. “I can only remember so many people. But I did text Lilliana to ask her about his name. And it happens to be?—”

“Hello…?”

He froze as he heard the whisper of a voice. His heart skipped a beat in fear that he’d just imagined it.

But then Octavius heard it again…a soft, distant, weak… “Hello?”

Octavius let out a laugh that was part sob before taking off. Scarlett was right there behind him.

“Octavius?! Scarlett?!” Turney and Min-ji both cried out.

But they ignored them as they rushed up the steps of the house. Scarlett got there first, the woman’s hands were shaking as she hurried to unlock the door.

Throwing it open, they raced down the hall. Pushing into Scarlett’s maintenance room, the woman fell to her knees, yanking open the latch on the floor—Octavius was right there, kneeling with her.

He let out a sob as he stared into the light-blue eyes of his friend. Eyes that were no longer dull, but finally filled with a spark of recognition. His angular features and sharp jaw were severe, due to him not having consumed any actual food in many months, and his usually long platinum hair only went down to his ears, but Godric was alive—well, undead again.

“Welcome back, old friend,” Octavius rasped, his tears breaking free.

He flinched as a hand touched his shoulder, and looked up to find Turney standing alongside him. The man was smiling, with happy tears in his eyes as well. Gripping that hand, he gave it a light squeeze, a silent thank you for the zombie just being there for him, with him.

Min-ji and Theo entered the room, and the witch moved to Scarlett’s side. Scarlett sagged back against her, a soft sob of clear relief slipping from his friend’s mouth.

Sniffling, he looked down at the restored zombie and said, “Let’s get you out of there.”

Godric swallowed, his eyes on him as the man began to frown. “Did I…interrupt a… costume party?”

Scarlett let out a loud, unflattering snort, before bursting into giggles. He frowned, his confused gaze going from Godric to her, until he remembered what he was wearing. The realization had him tossing his head back on a bark of laughter. The rest lost it too, as his action caused the dino head Octavius was wearing to let out an automatic roar. Even Godric, despite his obvious confusion, started to chuckle.

He fell back against Turney as he continued to laugh, moving more fully against the man as the zombie sank down to the floor in his own laughter and wrapped his arms around him.

Octavius’ heart felt light. All was right in his world—finally.

“YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE ME!” Aurelius screamed, grabbing at the bars as he tried again to reach a side of himself that he no longer felt. “They took it away. They TOOK something from me! I don’t know how they did it, but they did! One of them turned into a giant bat! And there was a wolf! And that beard of Octavius’, Turney, HE BIT ME! His face was cracking when he did it!”

The police officer’s mouth twisted in disgust as he slowly walked past his cell. “Yeah, yeah, we heard you the first twenty times. It’s lights out, so give it a rest! Sleep! You’re being transferred tomorrow, bright and early.”

“Y-you!”

The door slammed and the lights turned out. He slapped the bars with a growl and spun away. Aurelius paced for a moment before slamming his fist into the wall. “Octavius, you…”

On hearing the sound of a boot scraping, he spun around, his eyes widening as he stared up at the dark, cloaked figure that was now in his cell.

“How… How did you get in here?”

Aurelius stumbled back on a startled yelp as the man disappeared, and suddenly reappeared just inches away from him. He went to scream, but the creature’s hand shot out, wrapping around his throat. As his air was cut off, panic surged inside of him. Aurelius desperately searched for the part of himself that Octavius and his bastards had taken from him…but it wasn’t there.

“You are a disappointment,” the man growled. “All that work to get him back in your sights, and into that pea-brained head of yours…wasted…”

His panic soared as he croaked, desperately clawing at the hand that was clenched on his throat. Aurelius didn’t want to die! HE DIDN’T WANT TO DIE!

“One task, that is all you had. Kill Octavius. Fix the balance,” the figure whispered, before grinding out, “Why didn’t you fix the balance?!”

He opened his mouth, trying to at least lie, to save himself from this stranger, but only a gurgle came out instead.

“No worries…I’ll fix it for you.”

The End