Epilogue

TWO WEEKS LATER

Weeding a garden proved tricky when all the plants in it liked to bite any living thing who came near except its creator. Still, I had dirt up to my elbows and deep under my nails, and I was happy.

Inside our house, Nan and Matthias were cooking dinner and the smells drifted out the open patio door. Daniel and Sean had settled on the deck with beers to play with Baby Daisy, who'd recently discovered the game of fetch. Their voices and laughter and Baby Daisy's happy little woofs and playful growls reached my ears inside the tall wooden fence surrounding my blood garden.

"Rrrrrrrr?" Esme asked from her perch atop a fencepost, her furry head tilted in curiosity. If she were anything but a pū?is, I would be terrified for her to be so close to the plants, but they kept their distance from her, regardless of whether she was in feline or dragon form.

"A garden doesn't weed itself, Ez, even one filled with carnivorous plants." I tossed another uprooted weed over the fence and wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. "It's a dirty job, but it's got to be done. And since this garden eats anything that isn't me, I'm the gardener."

She appeared unconvinced. Cats—especially cat-dragons—seemed skeptical as a general rule. She raised a tiny gray paw, licked it, and washed her face very deliberately while maintaining eye contact.

"Do I have mud on my face?" I wiped my cheek on my shoulder and saw a smear of dirt on my T-shirt. "Oh, thanks."

"Rrrr." She swished her tail and jumped down from the fencepost, presumably headed back to the house to cajole or steal food from the cooks.

I'd spent a number of evenings lately in my blood garden, for my own sake and the plants' well-being too. Even with daily soaks in Katy's potions, I still experienced waves of cold and heat and twinges of pain that came with whiffs of damp earth and decay. Other than during my witchy baths, the only time I didn't experience any such discomfort was here in my garden. I hoped the sensations faded in time.

The plants certainly seemed to enjoy my presence. They swayed contentedly as I pulled the weeds that peeked through the layer of mulch. In between weed-pulls, I caressed their leaves. The plants shivered in excitement, leaning into my touch and rubbing my hand gently like a cat. The gentleness was deceiving, though. These plants consumed whole human bodies and pig carcasses on a regular basis, and required a very stout fence to keep them contained.

When I finished weeding, I treated the plants to drops of my blood, which I turned into the soil throughout the garden. The plants shivered and swayed and sighed. Blooms burst open from several of the plants, filling the fenced area with light flowery perfume.

I would have liked to spend more time sitting in my blood garden with my fingers in the dirt, soaking up the euphoric feeling of its power and the plants' adoration, but dinner would be ready soon. This was our first family dinner since Nan and Daniel returned from their honeymoon. I figured the occasion called for clean hands and clothes.

When I opened the garden's heavy gate—which we'd equipped with a sturdy deadbolt lock because the dang plants had figured out how to open a latch—I found Sean on the other side holding Baby Daisy.

"Did you weed, or just roll around in there?" Sean asked with a grin. "Did you leave any dirt in the garden?"

"Hush, you." I swung the gate closed behind me, making sure not to catch any of the plants in the door when it closed, and locked the deadbolt. "Don't act like you don't like it when I'm dirty. You know you'll get to clean me up."

"I do like getting you clean." He wiped the tip of my nose, then kissed me there. "There—I made a clean spot. That'll have to do until we're alone later."

Not to be outdone, Baby Daisy wiggled out of his arms and into mine, where she licked my chin.

"It's a team effort with you," Sean said with a chuckle.

"It really is." I put Baby Daisy on the ground and took Sean's hand for the walk to the house. Daniel had already gone inside. I loved that he always wanted to be by Nan's side, and vice versa. "I like my team, though."

"Good, because we're not going anywhere." He kissed my hair, then wiped his mouth. "Good grief. How did you get dirt in your hair?"

"I have dirt everywhere , babe." I winked. "I'm going to need a very thorough scrub-down tonight. Maybe with a little dirty talk to go with it. You know I like it when you make me blush."

He smiled and squeezed my hand. "Your wish is my command, Miss Magic."

Just as we reached the deck, my phone buzzed. I glanced at the screen and raised my eyebrows. "I'll be inside in a sec," I told Sean.

He kissed my temple and took Daisy inside, shutting the patio door behind them .

I swiped the green button. "This is Alice."

"Ms. Worth." Ernie Diaz cleared his throat. "Am I interrupting something?"

"We're about to sit down to dinner, but I have a few minutes." I leaned against the railing. I didn't want to get dirt all over our patio furniture. We'd probably be coming out here later to hang out with our drinks. "Is something going on?"

"No, nothing in particular." He coughed, obviously uncomfortable. "I…uh, wanted to apologize."

I did not see that coming. "There's no need?—"

"There is ." He sounded more sure of himself now, as if arguing with me put him back on solid ground. "The last time we spoke, the night you turned the Pierce case over the Vampire Court, I said some things I've come to regret."

"I didn't take any of it personally," I said, which was mostly true. "I hit you with a lot of big news that night. I don't think I would have reacted much differently in your shoes."

"Even so, I had no business calling you—" He cleared his throat again. "Any of that. Or accusing you of being in the vamps' pocket. I let my pride get in the way. I wanted to haul the killer down to the jail myself, or be there when it was done."

"I know." I half-sat on the railing and swung my leg back and forth. "If there was any way for Pierce to face justice in human court, whether it was local, state, or federal, I would have done what I'd said I would do and drop him on the steps of the police station. But there was no way. It was the Vampire Court or not at all. It wasn't any easier for me than for you."

"I understand that now. You were right when you said we both got into our line of work to help people who needed us and to put the bad guys away. And you're right that sometimes justice has to take a different path. It just took me a while to see it. For that, and for all the rest, I apologize."

"Apology accepted, then."

He sighed. "Goddamn it, it's still hard to believe Greg Pierce is a serial killer. I voted for him. I shook his hand more than once. I've gone drinking with him. How did I not see it?"

"Many psychopaths are experts at hiding who they really are. Don't beat yourself up, Diaz. He fooled everybody. But not anymore. And by the time the trial is over, every last awful detail will be out there for the world to see."

He chuckled, the sound as dry as gravel on concrete. "That's going to be rough on his ego."

"The bigger they are," I said.

"The harder they fall," he agreed.

"Anything else, Detective?"

He cleared his throat again. "You can call me Ernie," he said gruffly. "Not around Ferguson, though. In fact, it would be a good idea for you to avoid him altogether. I'm sure I shouldn't tell you this, but he got a write-up for some stuff he said about you in front of our lieutenant. Also a week's unpaid leave."

What on earth had he said that was bad enough to net himself a week-long suspension? "Anything I need to be looking out for? Slashed tires? Flaming bag of dog poo on my porch?"

"Nah. He's all talk." He grumbled. "Or he better be. He's got a good brain for solving cases if he'd stop being a little shitweasel long enough to use it."

I covered my laugh with a cough. "Thanks for calling, Det—Ernie. Stay safe out there."

"You too, Ms. Worth."

"Alice," I corrected. "Good night."

"Good night."

I ended the call, stuck my phone in my back pocket, and took a deep, cleansing breath. Diaz's anger, while not unexpected, had weighed more heavily on me than I'd realized until we'd made peace and my shoulders felt lighter.

The night was still, the stars bright. We'd decided to leave up the string lights in the backyard as a permanent decoration, and their twinkly colored bulbs made me smile. My skin buzzed with all the power I'd soaked up from my garden. I could relax here, surrounded by the people and things that made me happiest.

With the Court dismissing all charges against us and the Were Ruling Council and Matthias granted asylum, we could worry less about censure by the Council. Meanwhile, Charles and I continued to negotiate terms regarding me telling him the truth about the deaths of Valas and Vlad in Colorado. That transaction remained highly complicated thanks to the fact Charles could sense deceit, and Valas currently resided in a pit accessed via a mirror stashed in my basement. Everything in my life depended on no one finding out where she was—most especially Charles or my grandfather.

We'd seen no further signs of the so-called Disciples of the Sun, and no more information about them had surfaced. Sean and I were debating asking Cyro to dig around, but it was a thorny proposition. I didn't want them to know I knew they existed, much less that I was curious about them. Moses said he had intel, but I no longer accepted anything he said at face value. After his attempt to make the Court our enemy went south thanks to the deal I'd made with Charles, he'd be looking for another way to force me to rely on him.

The vampires in the area, including Charles and the rest of the Court, rose each day ninety minutes before sunset and stayed awake until well after dawn. Dark magic ebbed and flowed more strongly and more frequently than anyone could remember. Little earthquakes shook the ground near Northbourne almost daily. And last week, for two nights in a row, the evening sky had turned unnaturally red on the horizon.

The calm before the storm , Gregory Pierce had called it.

Something woke up , Katy had said.

And I continued to wonder: had Valas kept something at bay that now felt free to rise? Something or someone who wanted to be king?

I didn't know. No one did, except maybe Valas herself, but she hadn't appeared in the mirror again. Its surface remained eerily dark and silent. Carly said Valas still resided in the pit and hadn't fallen to Tartarus. Maybe she was in there plotting her escape. Or maybe she was just waiting.

Sean stuck his head out the patio door. "Food's on the table, babe. The wolves are getting restless."

"Sorry." I hurried inside to wash my hands and change.

A few minutes later, when I came back downstairs, everyone was waiting in their chairs, except for Daniel, who met me at the bottom of the stairs to give me a hug. I loved his signature scent that reminded me of a grassy meadow and sunshine.

"What was that about?" I asked as he rubbed my back and let go. "I just saw you five minutes ago."

He feigned disappointment. "I can't hug my daughter just because?"

I gave him another half-hug just for good measure. "You can hug me whenever you want, unless it interferes with me getting to my coffee."

"It's a deal." He smiled. He'd been doing that a lot lately. "You look good happy."

"So do you." I squeezed his hand.

We joined the others at the table. Sean pulled my chair closer to his as I sat down. "Everything okay?" he asked, glancing meaningfully over his shoulder at my phone, which I'd put on silent and tossed onto the couch because nothing was going to interrupt this meal if I could help it.

"Everything's good." I squeezed his leg. "Diaz wanted to apologize. He's coming around."

"Good." He leaned over to kiss my temple. "We'll call that another win for Team Alice."

When we'd all filled our plates, Sean stood, glass of wine in hand. "I'd like to propose a toast to Nan and Daniel, and to the love that brought you together." We clinked glasses.

"And to family, in all its wonderful forms," Nan added, smiling around the table as we tapped our glasses again. She raised her glass to the other end of the table. "And to Matthias, for what looks to me like the finest roasts that have ever graced this table."

Matthias actually flushed. We all focused on our food and pretended not to notice our new beta's embarrassment. Luckily Malcolm and Liam were out on a ghost date, or I was sure my sidekick would have teased him unmercifully about it at work tomorrow, which would be Matthias's first official day as my first-ever PI trainee.

Tomorrow evening, I would make a return visit to Merrum Manor for my second dinner with Moses. I thought I would worry about it constantly like I had in the days leading up to my first meal with him, but instead it barely registered. I'd actually forgotten about it over the past week until a calendar reminder popped up on my phone.

At the manor, at Moses's table, I'd eat gourmet, chef-prepared food and drink expensive booze.

When I sat down with Sean, or Malcolm and Liam, or Nan and Daniel, or Matthias, or Ben and Casey, or Arkady, or all of the above, those were family dinners . The two things were worlds apart.

And Matthias's roast, like the happy chatter around our table, was indeed divine.