20. Maisie

Chapter twenty

Maisie

He doesn’t believe me, but he’ll have to. I want that life with him, a life where we could do this dance forever.

“But you’ll become a monster like me,” he says, shaking his head. “I would be sentencing you to this.”

I shrug. “Then I could protect you, too, like you protected me tonight.”

He searches my face, as if nothing I’m saying makes sense.

“You would do that?” His voice trembles. “For me?”

“For us.” I hug him tightly, and Barnaby relaxes into my touch. “Though my parents might be a little mad.”

“Let’s wait and see,” he says, stroking my back. “Move in with me. Set up your business here. Make sure that this is what you want, and in a few years, we will reconsider.”

I sigh. “Fine. But I’m not letting this go.”

He chuckles. “I don’t imagine you will.”

The next morning, I’m quite sore, and Barnaby inspects me to make sure he hasn’t torn me with his true form’s monstrous cock. I’m intact, but I think I’ll need a break for a few days before we can do it again.

When we walk back to my car, the werewolf is gone.

“I’m going to have to deal with that,” Barnaby grumbles. “Or somebody will.”

We drive into town together, and he opens the store while I head back up to my apartment and immediately start packing my things. We decided we won’t bother waiting, not when we spend every night together, anyway.

When I finally get to my computer, I open it up and check my email. There’s a new message from Wade... from two days ago.

Has it really been that long since I logged on? I’ve been so wrapped up in Barnaby that I hadn’t even seen it.

“Call me,” is all the email says, and a shudder travels through me. Is this good news, or bad news? Am I losing my job, or keeping it?

I’m surprised to find this email doesn’t stir that deep dread in me I expected. If I get to keep my job, I’ll be ecstatic—but it won’t be the end of the world if I lose it, either. Now I have a life here, and Barnaby will be there to catch me if I fall.

After tidying my mussed hair, I get on video chat and call. Wade answers, and to my surprise, he’s smiling.

“Maisie! I hope you’ve been enjoying your vacation.”

I hesitate, unsure how much to tell him. “It’s been, um, surprisingly good.”

“Good! I hadn’t heard from you in a few days, so I assumed you were off having fun. Well, the investigation has concluded, and I wanted to tell you...”

My heart thunders in my chest.

“...that you’ve been cleared of all wrongdoing. It was a bug in the deployment system, which you don’t work on. It took us a long time to find it, though, and I’m sorry about that.” His mouth screws up like he’s swallowed a lemon. “I shouldn’t have blamed you.”

It wasn’t me. It really wasn’t me. I didn’t fail, and I didn’t fuck up.

I drop my head into my hands as relief washes over me.

“Maisie?” Wade asks, and I glance up at the screen. “Are you ready to come back to work tomorrow?”

“Yes!” I sit up in my chair. This is what I’ve been wanting for weeks now, and it’s finally here. “Yes, please. I’d love that.”

“All right. Well, head home tonight and we’ll get you up and running again.”

I don’t have to think about it. “I’m not going home. I’m staying here.”

“What? Where are you?”

I explain about the little town of Hallow’s Cove, and how I’ve fallen in love with it. “I met someone,” I say sheepishly. “And I want to... stay here. To be with him.”

Wade grins. “Well, then. You already work remotely, so I don’t see why that would be a problem.” He smacks his desk. “Good for you, Maisie. But you said it’s a monster town, didn’t you? So who...?”

He doesn’t finish asking the question. I laugh at his awkwardness.

“A vampire,” I say. “He’s a good guy. A little grumpy at first, but I think we’ve gotten past that hurdle.” Barnaby was simply glowing this morning, all smiles, and I love seeing him that way.

Wade laughs. “All right then. Maisie’s going to marry a vampire. That wasn’t on my bingo card.”

“ Marry ?” I think about this for a moment. Yes, I’ve agreed to stay. But marriage? That hadn’t landed on my radar yet.

But if Barnaby asked me, I’d say yes in a heartbeat.

“Let me know when the wedding is,” Wade says, smirking, “and the team will come, I’m sure.”

“I’ll tell you as soon as it happens.”

With that, we end the call, and I get back to packing up my belongings. Then, while I wait for Barnaby to finish his workday, I binge the rest of the Anne Hadron novel.

And damn, it’s good. The heroine travels all across Europe, searching for the meaning in the next stage of her life. Eventually, she meets another woman about the same age in Austria, and a story of self-discovery turns into a love story.

By the end of it I’m in tears, flipping the pages to find out what happens next. It has a bittersweet ending when her lover passes away, but that doesn’t bother me. I like a little complexity.

It’s the author’s note that catches my attention. “This book is dedicated to the women who inspired the story,” it reads. “While I have fictionalized many of the events in this novel, it all stems from a true tale that’s close to my heart.”

The women who inspired the story? I didn’t realize that Anne Hadron was inspired by real events. I wonder who her subjects were when they lived.

Finally, I close the last page and wipe my face. Then I rush down to the bookstore, and Barnaby gets to his feet when I run inside in a jingle of bells. I slap the novel down on the counter, tears still in my eyes.

“Maisie...?” he asks, his expression uncertain.

“Give me the next one!” I slide the book across to him, and his mouth transforms into a grin.

“I have every book she’s published,” he says, as if to reassure me. He plucks one off the front display and hands it to me.

“Don’t you want me to pay?” I ask.

Barnaby gives me a stunned look. “Why would I make my girlfriend pay for a book?”

I snort at this. Somehow, girlfriend and boyfriend feel like ridiculous titles for whatever it is we have.

“All right. I’ll accept your generosity this time.” I sweep the new book up into my arms. “I’m all finished packing when you’re done here. And...” I have a huge smile pasted on my face. “I talked to Wade. The investigation concluded that what happened wasn’t my fault.”

His mouth falls open. “It wasn’t?”

“Nope. And I have my job back! ”

Barnaby’s eyes light up. He hops off his stool and jogs with a rather youthful vigor around the counter, then tangles me up in his arms. I spot Mayor Louise pass by the front window, and she has a huge, shit-eating grin on her face. She gives me a brief little wave before moving on.

“I’m so happy for you,” he says, leaning down to peck my lips. “Everything turned out just how it was supposed to.”

“I’ll need to drive back home at some point to get the rest of my things and move out of my apartment,” I say as Barnaby releases me.

He nods rapidly. “I’ll go with you on my next day off.”

“You’ll leave Hallow’s Cove?”

He shrugs. “It’s not ideal, but I imagine you’ll have a lot of belongings you want to move.”

That’s true. I could use some help. I want my nice desk, and I know exactly where it will go in the manse.

“All right then. It’s settled.” I kiss his cheek. “Thank you. I’ll see you when you close up.”

Barnaby pushes a lock of my hair behind my ear. “I can’t wait.”

When I get back to my apartment, I stack up my new books, excited to dive into them. But I have something to take care of first. I open a new email and, after some deep-dive internet sleuthing, I find Anne Hadron’s direct email address.

Dear Ms. Hadron,

I read your latest novel, The Knowing and the Finding , and it mesmerized me. My boyfriend, Barnaby Hallow, is a huge fan of yours, and a bookstore owner here in Hallow’s Cove.

Might you be passing through this area sometime in the future? We would love to host you for a signing event. I know that meeting you would mean the world to him.

Best regards,

Maisie Robbins

I send the email, hoping Barnaby won’t mind. I don’t expect a response, but it would be a pleasant surprise if I got one.

Barnaby

That afternoon, I call up Mayor Louise and tell her all about the werewolf we encountered. I don’t reveal, of course, how my true form emerged to solve the problem. Maisie knows his name after encountering him before at Killy’s, and Louise pledges to find him. We can’t have a vicious creature like that out and about during tourist season, but perhaps he can find support and prevent another full-moon rampage.

That evening, when the sun has long set, we load Maisie’s few bags into the back of her car and drive to the manse. She’s still a little sore, so we settle for licking and sucking on one another until we’re both shivering and spent. She lets me bite her, which sates my need for now.

“If I turn,” Maisie says with a forlorn face, “then you can’t drink my blood anymore.”

I cock my head at her. “Vampires drink from one another all the time. I would say it’s even more delightful, and it gives us greater strength.”

Now, she’s simply glowing. “So I wouldn’t have to drink cow’s blood? Because that shit looked gross.”

I burst out laughing. How long has it been since I laughed this way? Since before Eleanor, I know that.

“No. You wouldn’t have to drink cow’s blood as long as you have me.”

She sighs in relief. “Good.”

After she’s had a good meal, Maisie follows me down into the basement, and I show her my coffin. I lie down in it, and she crawls in beside me, molding her body to mine as I close the lid.

A few days later is the next street fair, and as agreed, I open the antique shop for visitors. I grumble as children enter despite the signage out front, and I follow them around the room like a hawk to make sure they don’t knock over any of my vintage lamps.

It’s a very popular attraction, though, and something about seeing all my furniture in broad daylight makes the specter of my memories much smaller. Someone even offers me a good chunk of money for a matching chair and nightstand. I hadn’t considered selling any of it, but the man plans on surprising his wife with the set, so I agree to his price.

I know what it’s like to want to see your woman smile.

When I look up, I find Maisie grinning at me from where she’s lounging on a sofa. She exchanges a few whispered words with the mayor, which I don’t particularly love, but I’m glad she’s finding friends here.

By the time afternoon has turned into evening, the tourists have petered off, and we close the antique shop for the night. But Maisie is bouncing up and down, clearly excited to tell me something.

“What is it?” I finally ask, amused by her impatience.

“Well...” She scratches the back of her head. “I reached out to Anne Hadron. I asked her if she would consider doing a signing here.”

My mouth falls open. Anne Hadron? Here?

“Don’t panic,” she says with a laugh. “She said no. It’s too far for her to travel, and she’s getting on in years. But...” Maisie opens her laptop and turns it toward me. “It’s as I suspected.”

I take the laptop and read the email on the screen.

Dear Maisie,

Thank you for reaching out to me. It is interesting that you mention Barnaby Hallow. Agatha, the love interest in The Knowing and the Finding , is based on a real person. I discovered her diary in an archive, and that is how the novel was born .

Her name was Beatrice Hallow. She had a long and fascinating life and died in the arms of her lover.

I thought perhaps Barnaby would want to know.

Best,

Anne

My throat constricts. Suddenly, the details click together. How Agatha had a twin brother. How some event in her past had broken her heart, but her relationship with the heroine had helped heal her.

My sister. She lived a long life. She found love. She died happy.

I don’t realize there are tears falling from my eyes until I hear Maisie whisper, “Oh, Barnaby.” She takes the laptop and sets it down so she can wrap me up in her arms.

Beatrice. After a century of mourning, of never knowing what became of her, I finally cry. It rushes out of me like a waterfall after a dam breaks, but Maisie is there with me the whole time.

At least now I know, and I can properly grieve her.

Some days later, we trek to Maisie’s apartment in the city, as much as it makes me uncomfortable to leave the familiarity of Hallow’s Cove. When we return with all of Maisie’s belongings loaded into a truck, Rick joins us to help unload it and set it up in one of my many guest rooms, which has already been converted into an office for Maisie.

As we settle into our new life, though, one last concern lingers in the back of my mind.

A few weeks later, after Maisie has moaned underneath me and let me drink from her again, I cage her in with my arms and kiss her on the lips.

“Beloved,” I say quietly. “May I ask you something?”

She nods sleepily. “Whatever you want.”

“Will you be my wife?”

Her eyes fly open, and she blinks at me a few times as if processing what I just asked.

“Are you saying you want to marry me?” She sits up abruptly, bonking me in the nose with her forehead. I rub it and she apologizes profusely.

“Of course I want to marry you. You fill my life with love. You complete me.”

“Yes!” She throws her arms around me, and I catch her in my lap. “Yes, I want to marry you and be your wife and live here forever and ever!”

I wonder how exactly I got so lucky as to find this woman. Or rather, that she found me.

It’s a small ceremony, with Maisie’s family and friends on one side, and my few friends on the other. I like to imagine that Beatrice is here with me in spirit, seeing that I have found my way back to the light after all.

Maisie’s family finds it odd that she’s decided to move here, and with a vampire no less, but they are surprisingly accepting. They just seem happy that she’s found someone to love, and I’m glad that she has such sweet parents. Her little brother is nothing but overjoyed and welcomes me happily into the family.

After the ceremony, I find that our small reception has grown rather large thanks to Mayor Louise telling everyone about it. Ted from the diner has provided the food, and Harley the drinks.

That night, Maisie and I dance together in front of everyone, and I can’t help but admire her in her beautiful white dress.

“Thank you,” I murmur in her ear as I hold her close to me, our feet moving in unison. “For loving me.”

“Always,” she says, kissing my cheek. “So now, are you going to turn me? So I can love you forever?”

I have to laugh. She is relentless.

“Soon,” I tell her. “We should find you a good coffin first, though.”

“Just please don’t make me dig myself out. I would cry like a baby.”

I shake my head. “Don’t worry. It will be painful, but I’ll make it as easy for you as possible.” I can’t believe she wants to give me such a gift.

We dance the night away, and then, when all the guests have left, I take her home to the manse and make love to her long into the early hours of the morning, promising her an eternity together.