Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Cade

S pring came quickly that year, followed by an unbearably hot summer. The age of the witch cottage and it's thick walls meant the house stayed cool — something I was grateful for. Shirley had done an amazing job with the gardens around the house. Obviously, something I hadn't thought about when buying the house in the dead of winter.

My spring and summer had consisted of a full recuperation. Turned out I had had a mild heart attack while we were attempting to get Death to help Sam. And with the loss of my generational family gift, I really had nothing to do but weed, water, and watch the gardens come into their full glory.

The neighbours across the highway were dreadfully quiet, which I delighted in.

But today, part way through September, with the leaves starting their change and with every Canadian staring into the future wondering how harsh the winter would be, I didn't care. It was still warm enough to be in shorts and a tee, so the cold stuff seemed miles ahead of us.

I stood out on my drive as the hired movers took the last load out of the truck and dropped the boxes off in the foyer.

Jay came out of the house in a tank top, muscles flexing, stressed over the movers and how they were handling everything. I lunged forward to capture him in my arms. He chuckled but squirmed to get away.

"Nope, you're all mine," I said.

"Cade, I just want to?—"

"Leave it. They are professionals. You don't have to supervise."

He looked up into my eyes as he smiled. He hadn't shaved in a week, and the stubble on his face made him look like a rugged outdoorsman — which couldn't have been anything further from the truth.

"You sure you're okay with all this? We have a lot of stuff."

"Yup. I'm totally good with it. I'm gonna love having you and Sam live here with me. It'll give Sam a little refuge when he needs it, and we get to sleep together every night."

"We kinda do that now." Jay reached up and tugged on my nipple through my T-shirt.

"Mmm, please, again?" Jay stood on his tippy toes and planted a kiss on me, and I kissed him right back, wrapping my arms around his waist and hoisting him up— just a little.

"Ahem." We heard from behind us and quickly ended our make-out session. "We're done. Is there anything else?"

"No, no, that's fine. We're good. Thank you! Can you send the invoice over to my office?" Jay asked the guy who had driven the moving truck.

"Yup. I'll get the boss to email it to you." He said. Good-looking kid, maybe in his early twenties with a thick red beard and muscles just like Jay. "Alright, then, if that's it, we'll pull out."

Jay bit his tongue to suppress himself from saying something completely inappropriate.

As the truck drove out the drive, Jay grabbed my hand. "Hot tub. Now. I'm done for today, and I want you to myself."

We walked around to the back of the house. Next to the sliding glass doors that led from the kitchen to the back patio, a newly installed hot tub sat with its lid off, and the jets running. Obviously something Jay had set up while I meandered out front.

"Sneaky. And a touch devilish."

"Well, Sam's at his mother's for tonight. He'll come tomorrow to set up his own room, so I get my non-psychic bear for our first night in our home together. Strip."

"What, out here?" I said, appalled and shocked.

"Cade, you live ten minutes out of town and your neighbours are all dead. Even if they are watching, you don't know about it. Get naked, bear-man. I want some fur petting time in the water." Jay stripped down. As he pulled off his shorts, I noticed he sported an erection.

"I see you've been thinking about this." I swatted his boner.

"Yes, Daddy!" He smiled at me, and as I dropped my khaki's he slid up closer, pressing himself against me, stroking all the fur he could get his hands through.

His ice-blue eye winked at me. It had taken a while to get used to the two colours, one hazel green, the other ice blue. Sharon had said the trauma of the spirit-touch had damaged the colour cells. I didn't care. I thought it made him even sexier.

I reached between his legs and grabbed his rock-hard cock.

"I love how I can't wrap my hands around this." I said, squeezing him.

"You love it more when I fuck you with it."

"Speaking of which…" I climbed into the hot tub pulling Jay in behind me. The hot, pulsating water soothed overworked muscles from a week of getting Jay and Sam moved in. But I knew of a better way to relax. I rose out of the water turned around and presented my butt for Jay. "In the tub, now. Right here."

"Oh, damn, yes." Jay took a finger and slid it down my wet hairy crack until he found my hole and slipped the digit in. "What the…? Cade Ivanov, did you pre-lube?"

I looked over my shoulder and grinned.

"Dirty boy." Jay smiled. He took hold of his cock and pushed in.

It had taken weeks to get acclimated to his girth. By now, I was more than used to it, and in fact looked forward to the stretch Jay gave me every time we fucked. He slid in with ease, and he went all the way until his hips were tucked tight against my cheeks.

"Slow? Or fast and hard?" He asked.

"Both!"

We laughed, but the rest of the afternoon and early evening we spent in and out of the hot tub, and naked, and playing with each other. I couldn't think of a better way to spend our first night together, officially as boyfriends who lived with each other.

The next morning, just after breakfast, Sharon rang the doorbell, and Jay answered.

"I have a special delivery." She smiled, as Sam ran into the house, dropping his bag in the entranceway and proceeded down the hallway to his bedroom.

"Ah, hi, Dad. Glad to see we're all moved in. How are you and Cade?" Jay mocked his son. Jay glanced at Sharon. "What the hell?"

"Oh, he couldn't find his game thingy, and he's been freaking out about it all night."

"Found it!" an excited Sam shouted from his bedroom.

I walked up to the front door and handed Sharon a fresh cup of coffee. "You coming in for a visit?"

She glanced at her watch. "Oh, sure, why not. I start my shift at the hospital in thirty minutes, so a quick cup would be great." She took the mug as we all walked to the island. Sam stayed in his bedroom, presumably playing with his game.

"How'd it go?" Sharon asked.

"Fine. No damages, nothing broken, but now we have to root through everything and get it all sorted. It'll take a while." Jay surveyed the living room, which was a total disaster.

"Well, moving always sucks. You sure Sam will be okay here, especially with…you know?" Sharon threw a thumb over her shoulder, which happened to be the direction of the church graveyard.

"Yup. Two iron fences in between the ghosties and us. All good." I said.

"Okay. I still worry about him. He stops dead cold some days and just stares off into nothingness, and then the next minute, he's fine." Sharon shrugged.

"That's usually when he's letting someone through. Does he ever say anything afterward?" I asked.

"Nope. Will not talk about it. Which is just fine with me, but then I often wonder if he needs to be talking to someone about it all."

"Agreed." Jay and I said at the same time.

"All right, boys, I gotta go. Look after him, and call me if you need me, otherwise I'll come pick him up in two weeks." She slugged back another gulp of coffee and then made a hasty retreat.

The rest of the day we spent unpacking.

I heard the front door open, rolled over in bed, and looked at the alarm clock.

It was three o'clock in the morning.

"What the hell?" I mumbled to myself, then pulled myself out from the tangled mess Jay and I always slept in, stepped into my sweats, yanked on a tee and went to the front door.

It was wide open.

Furrowing my brows, I walked out onto the drive. About halfway down, where the trees stopped, I could see across the highway.

Sam stood in the middle of the cemetery dead still. His face was stoic, deadpan

And then I saw it. A flash of light coming from his chest. It was just a small burst, but it was the first time I had seen anything supernatural in months.

And then as I continued to stare, I saw hundreds of orbs. Dull at first, then slowly becoming brighter and brighter.

The orbs stretched.

They morphed into shapes.

People shapes.

And then they were back. The dead had lined up in front of Sam as he let several people through.

"I trust your break was restful?" My skin pebbled, and the hair on my neck rose. I turned to see Corey standing beside me. He turned his head and smiled.

It wasn't a happy greeting. In fact, his grin left me anxious.

"My break?" I said.

"Of course. You had to sacrifice something in order for me to return you back to the land of the living, so I shut your gift off. Your sight I stole and lent to someone who needed it. They no longer require it, so I'm giving it back."

"I don't want it. Take it away." I demanded.

"That's not how this works. Besides, we've decided that we need you in our service. Sam is doing a fantastic job, but something is off again."

"Absolutely not." I clenched my fists.

"Cade, you know as well as I do that this is who you are. I gave you a gentle break. Be thankful. Now, we have work to do. There's a girl the next town over who seems to have collected a mass of souls. We don't know how, and she's not giving them back to us. Could be a demon. We're not sure. We expect you'll go investigate." Corey laid me flat out with that.

"What the hell is going on?" Jay emerged from the house, shirtless, but clad in his sweats.

Corey turned to him and grinned.

"No. No way! You can get fucked." Jay's face reddened, his anger apparent.

"Jay," I whispered. "It's back. I can see them again. And they need help."

Jay glanced between me and the reaper.

"You're good with this?" Jay's face said it all. Shock. Complete shock.

"Dad," Sam had snuck up behind us.

Jay turned. "Sam, what have I told you about reaping in the middle of the night?"

"I know, but a bunch of them wanted to go. They're scared. They don't want to be absorbed."

Corey cocked an eyebrow and glanced at Jay— an I told you so look.

Jay shook his head. "Well, the handful of normal months was nice. Now what?"

"Now Cade and I go fight a demon!" Sam said with a slap-happy grin.

Jay's heterochromatic eyes stared at me. "Just promise you'll keep him safe."

"Always," I said.

The reaper had disappeared, for now. No doubt we'd be seeing him again soon.

I leaned over and kissed Jay. "Come on, let's go back to bed. You too, mister." I said while guiding Sam back to the house.

"My life." Jay mumbled.

"Yeah, but your psychic bear is back, baby." And I smiled.