The interior of the house was flooding from the rain and burst pipes. A brief flash of lightning was my only illumination as I stepped into the ruined hall. Zane was close behind me, and I could hear Jeremiah gurgling and coughing close by.
“Why…” He was muttering, crouched somewhere in the darkness. “I did what you asked…I did…I brought the sacrifices to you…I did everything…”
There was a sudden agonized, contorted cry. I spotted him, hunched over in the darkness, surrounded by the bodies of the followers Zane had killed earlier. He looked up at me, eyes wide, shaking his head. “Juniper…Juniper, don’t…”
“You fucking dare,” I ground the words out from between clenched teeth. “You dare to beg me? You’re a fucking coward, Jeremiah!”
He laughed again, and Zane muttered behind me, “He’s already dead, Juni. He’s falling apart.”
Zane was right — Jeremiah’s limbs barely moved, and he was surrounded by a puddle of black rot. He twitched on the ground, staring up at me, his face furious one moment, terrified the next. Thunder rumbled overhead, and a sudden burst of lightning was accompanied by a horrifying crack —
And then a boom. Then another.
I kept the gun aimed at Jeremiah as Zane hurriedly flitted from my side, then back again.
“It struck the house,” he said. “The gas lines are broken. When the fire spreads, things are gonna get really hot, really quick.”
I nodded, and looked back to Jeremiah — only to find him crawling away from me, dragging himself along the floor. I walked after him, shaking my head as he dragged himself down the ruined hall.
“Don’t make me shoot you in the back, Jeremiah,” I said. “It’s over. Face me.”
His voice growled into a high-pitched screech. “Nooo! No…it’s not…I’m blessed…God will…God…”
I pressed my boot against his back, pinning his weak body down. “Everything the Libiri did has failed,” I said. “You didn’t kill me. Your God couldn’t take me. Your sister died for nothing. You may have killed my brother, but he’s buried somewhere safe.”
Zane came up behind me. I felt his heat on my back. I took a deep breath and kicked Jeremiah over onto his side. He stared at me, but there was no light or recognition in his eyes anymore.
“Your God will never rise, Jeremiah. It didn’t have to end this way.” I took aim. My finger tightened. “You thought you threw a lamb down into the dark. You didn’t. You threw down a wolf, and I came back biting.”
I pulled the trigger.
The fire spread, quickly and violently. Zane had just enough time to throw the mangled bodies of the white-cloaks inside before the house was consumed. Explosions rattled the walls as the flames hit trapped pockets of leaked gas.
Zane and I watched from a distance, silent in the grass. Smoke was heavy in the air, but the pouring rain kept the fire from spreading too far.
“It’s over,” I said softly. “It’s really over.”
It had been years. So many years with the threat of them hanging over my head, so many years in fear. Years of hatred, of anger and pain. Those things didn’t simply go away, no, not after so long. Not even with them dead.
But I could breathe again. The unbearable weight that had dragged me down for so long was finally lifted.
This didn’t feel like an ending. It felt like a beginning. The beginning of a story not shadowed by pain, a story that wasn’t warped by terror. It was a story I didn’t even know how to begin; a life I had no idea how to live.
Zane leaned closer to me, tucking back my hair. Both of us were bruised and bloodied, ash smudged around our faces. Zane’s entire mouth and throat were drenched with blood from the fight. But the tension had gone out of him. His eyes were bright and golden again.
“As fierce as a wolf,” he said, and I rested my head against him. “You can rest now, love. You can rest.”
Fuck, that did it. I wept against his shoulder, my chest tight, the tears burning. It was overwhelming. It was freeing. He laid his head on top of mine, and when I finally had cried all I could and wiped my face, he said, “You can lead wherever you want to go, and I’ll follow. And, fuck, if you don’t know which direction to take, then I’ll lead for you.”
I shook my head, laughing softly through the last escaping tears. “I’m a mess, Zane.”
“Enough of a mess for this lifetime and the next. Every bright, sharp piece of you…” He kissed my bloodied hand, and then the other. “Your hunt is over, but mine isn’t. It never will be. Not for you.”
I leaned close, as if the words were still too tender to be loud, too intimate to be heard. “I love you.”
“And I love every messy piece of you, Juniper. I won’t tell you not to doubt it. I’ll just prove it to you every day until you can’t.”
The flames were beginning to die down. Little remained of the house now. “We should go,” I said softly. “Someone’s going to call the fire department over all this smoke.”
Zane nodded, getting to his feet and offering me a hand up. But as I stood, his eyes darted to the side, and instant panic shot through me. I lifted my gun as I turned, aiming —
But there, across the lawn just outside the trees, stood Leon.
Just Leon, alone. Then Raelynn…Raleynn was…
Zane put his hand on my shoulder. “Easy, Juni.” His voice was gentle. “You know he won’t hurt you.”
I forced myself to lower the gun. He was right, I knew he was right. I didn’t want to keep being afraid. I didn’t want to keep clinging to awful memories. I wanted to start over, even if I didn’t know how yet.
And I could see the relief on Zane’s face. He and Leon had left their own marks on each other, and they had their own eternity they’d promised. If it was for Zane, then I could figure out how to take one tiny step.
I could figure out how to forgive.
Leon put up his hands as he walked toward us. His clothing was torn, and there were angry purple bruises along his shoulder, his chest, his face. “You beat me here,” he said. “Got to have all the fun before I could, eh?”
I stepped closer to him, away from Zane’s side. He regarded me cautiously, but not as coldly as I’d thought he would. He looked at me with a cool air of respect — and, somewhere within those bright eyes, even a little sadness.
Someday I’d ask him about that night. Someday I’d try to understand the things Zane had said about him. I’d try to understand his side, his pain, his fears. I wasn’t the only victim in all this. I wasn’t the only one with nightmares.
“Someday” didn’t feel like much…but it was a way forward. It was another tiny step into figuring out how to live.
“Where’s Raelynn?” I said.
“Close by. Hidden. She’s safe.” His tone became immediately guarded, but I gave a heavy sigh of relief. He had her. The Libiri truly had failed. Their last sacrifice was alive, and who the hell would dare try to take her now? I didn’t know Leon well, but there was no doubt in my mind — he’d kill anyone who tried to take Raelynn from him.
“We left no one alive,” I said. “The Hadleigh family is gone. The Libiri are gone.”
He looked over at the house, silent for a long moment as he watched the lingering flames. “Jeremiah, too?”
“He died like a coward. You would have loved to see it.”
“I would have loved to do it.”
I chuckled, but I understood. He probably felt the same as I had for so long, except his revenge was claimed by another. I would have felt even more lost than I did now if I were in his place.
“I sold my soul for revenge. It was mine to take.” I nodded slowly. “But it’s over. It’s over.”
For a moment, I just watched the flames die with him. It was the end of years of pain, smoldering into ashes. The burning of the chains that had bound us both. Then, in the distance, I heard the wail of a siren.
“We should go,” Zane said, coming up beside me and tugging lightly at my hair. “This place will be swarming with people soon.”
I nodded and turned away — but it didn’t feel quite right yet. I took a deep breath, turned back around, and offered my hand.
Leon stared at my open hand as if he didn’t know what to do with it, as if he expected a trap and was trying to figure out where it would hit him. Damn, we really weren’t so different after all. But slowly, with narrowed eyes, he grasped my hand.
“I forgive you,” I said. “I really hate to say that, but I do.”
His eyes widened for a moment, confusion mingling with his uncertainty. He barely gripped my hand, as if he was afraid to hold too tight, as if he needed to be ready to move away in an instant. He didn’t say anything, but I didn’t expect him to.
I let go, gave him a nod, and Zane tucked me back under his arm. The sirens were growing closer as we reached the edge of the trees, and Zane paused to take one last look back.
“You didn’t say anything to him,” I said. “Why?”
“I didn’t need to. Leon…well…” He chuckled. “Leon isn’t great at processing the touchy-feely things. They scare him too much.” We moved under the trees, walking deeper and deeper into the darkness. “Funny, isn’t it? A being that dangerous is most afraid of what he feels. Afraid to let anyone in, afraid to be vulnerable. He needs some time to process all this.”
I understood that. Processing what had happened would take days, months, probably years. I didn’t know exactly what Leon had been through, but he probably felt like I did. I felt raw, like my cocoon had cracked open and left me exposed. I had wings, but I had no idea how to fly.
“But I…fuck, to see him alive, I…” Zane’s eyes brightened, a smile barely touching his mouth. “I’m so fucking glad he made it.” He squeezed my shoulder, leaning over to press a kiss against my head. “Where to now, little wolf?”
There was only one thing I could think of. One place I felt calling to me.
“The ocean,” I said. “I want to go to the ocean.”
