118 | NO PEACE

Dawn breaks over the tree tops just as the Witch finishes his chanting. I continue staring down at the plaque Blue and I placed over the site where Mom’s urn now resides. We’re in the only cemetery in Kiwina, surprisingly - or maybe not so surprisingly - close to the Coven. It’s just a little southwest, out of the usual paths I would take to leave the town. If Mom hadn’t…well, let’s just say I’d never had known this place was here at all if I never had cause to visit it today.

Hale’s hovering a few feet back with a few other vamps, not saying a word, but waiting quietly. I hadn’t invited him, but he must have sensed us getting close to his part of the territory, and hasn’t bothered us since. It’s a huge relief for me. I don’t have the energy or will to deal with questions or sentimentality. Blue isn’t even touching me, respecting the few inches of space I’ve left between us.

My mind’s doing it’s best to drown me in the past, flaring flickers of Mom’s greatest hits fluttering just under the surface of my thoughts. The only thing keeping me grounded is the oddness of the Witch’s ritual.

The Witch is wearing another weird t-shirt, this one just a simple black t-shirt with the skeletal outline of bones - as if he’s wearing a shirt that shows an x-ray of his ribcage. His hair is still wild and unkempt, but I can clearly see he attempted to make it more ‘presentable’ by slicking it down, the electrocuted-looking tufts are still at odd angles, refusing to bow - even to hairspray. I can’t help but wonder if that’s a Magic thing or just his genetics.

Finally, the Magician stops making pointed gestures and waving a still-smoking-bundle of herbs at Mom’s headstone. His lips still, and the scent of Magic fades to a more manageable level. I pull the collar of my turtleneck from my face and take in a cautious breath. My nose reflexively wrinkles as the assortment of herbs and Magic permeate my senses, but just as quickly, the smell ebbs. I give an experimental sniff and feel my stiff muscles relax as the morning breeze wafts through the graveyard and carries away the worst of the pungent scent.

“Part of the ceremony is to keep watch over the grave the next few nights,” Obie tells me after a prolonged silence as the sunlight slowly creeps into the cemetery and shines over the neatly trimmed grass around the rows of headstones. “Which is what I’m going to be doing during the week I’m here.” He explains in the same calm, almost placating tone he used yesterday when explaining this process to me. I nod absently, listening to him, but feeling almost like there’s an ocean between me and the actual moment as I stare at the words that spell out Mom’s name the the dates that signify when she was born and when she died.

“Thank you for agreeing to come all this way,” Blue speaks for me, closing the space between us and slowly allowing the heat of his body to warm me. I shiver reflexively as the numbness in my fingertips and bare toes starts to turn to prickles as I’m warmed. My body leans into my mate, bridging the distance between us and silently asking for his touch.

“Of course.” Obie nods to Blue as my mate’s arms encircle my shoulders and draws me into the heat of his body.

“Before you leave,” I begin, my voice scratchy again with disuse. I clear my throat before continuing. “Please write out the instructions I’ll need to maintain the site.” I manage to mutter, again without inflection. Obie nods to me and picks up his backpack. The jars of herbs are there now, I realize, and he’s left the still-smoking-bundle of herbs on top of Mom’s headstone.

“Will do.” The Witch tells me and nods to Blue and then to Hale behind us before turning and striding out of the graveyard. For a long moment, no one speaks, but the telltale rustle of clothing gives away the movement of the vampires behind us a few seconds before Hale and his crew materialize in my line of sight.

Hale’s wearing a suit and black tie, his face somber and wary as he slowly approaches Mom’s grave. His glamor has fallen and his normal facial features are on full display as he crouches to be level with the headstone. He looks to the letters that spell out Mom’s identity over the unpolished sandy-grey stone and he sets a large bouquet of flowers at it’s base.

“We’re sorry for your loss,” Ms. Jin tells me, and I blink a few times before I actually look at the three vampires who’ve accompanied my father today. Ms. Jin is standing a few feet away with Zoe on one side and Mikyle on the other. They’re all dressed just like Hale in nearly identical black suits, Mikyle wearing too-large-for-his-face black shades. But I recognize him anyway. I stare at the three vampires dumbly for a second, completely thrown by their presences and the reintegration of my ex-shadow in my life.

From what I can tell, Mikyle’s not looking at me, though, his head’s tilted towards Mom’s headstone, face expressionless. I open my mouth to talk to him, but Ms. Jin shakes her head at me, almost immediately shutting me up. Something in her expression lets me know the answer to the burning question of his sanity and mental stability: No, Mikyle’s still not safe to interact with.

It pains me to know this, but at least he looks put-together, so that’s something. It’s one thing to hear that he was on the mend and another to actually see it. I press my lips together and nod to her and the others as Hale stands back up.

Evergreen eyes burning with the hints of fractured light lock with mine and I gently extricate myself from my mate’s protective hold and go to my father. Hale’s normally tall and imposing form is slightly crumpled, shoulders hunched forward in despair. My already shattered-mess-of-a-heart takes another hit at seeing the man who’s my only living parent like this. There’s no doubt in me, not that there ever really was, that he loved my mom.

I wrap my arms around his waist, allowing him to pull me into a tight embrace as his body shakes silently. The trembling of his body intensifies as I gently pat his back, Hale’s whole body leaning into mine as his breathing becomes broken and ragged. I pretend not to hear his muffled sobs as his arms tighten around me, even as my own eyes threaten to overflow with my own sadness. Or…that’s what I tell myself. It’s easier to ignore the streaming heat of the salt water as it exits my eyes when they’re closed like they are now.

I hold onto the moment, forcing my horribly twisting and aching heart to experience this sadness for my father. We both need to grieve. Even if, as vampires, we could ‘flip the switch’ on or emotions whenever we want. Hale knows, just like I do, that Mom deserves better. Even if she’s gone now, we need to remember her and allow our love for her to remain fresh in our shattered hearts. To hold her here with us like that and think of her, even if it hurts like hell. To ignore her, and the life she lived, the love she showed us, would be the worst thing we could do.

I’m willing to stand there as long as my father need me to, but, as I’ve come to learn, things are never so simple.

The disgusting aura hits me without warning. Ten times worse than it had been when I’d last felt it in January. I should have been preparing for this situation. What with the wards down, I should have known this was something that would happen sooner or later. Maybe I just thought the world couldn’t be so cruel as to throw so many things at me at once.

Regardless, it’s clear the darkness in my life isn’t going to take a break just because I want it to.

One second I sense the power and aura so empty and bottomless it makes me gag, and the next I’m being thrown against the nearest tree. Blue lets out a guttural growl and I hear the vampires hissing in rage as I blink dazedly up at my attacker. My body reacts automatically as the force of the aura shifts above me, rolling to the side a split second before the black-tipped-claws shred through the bark of the tree where my head had been a moment before.

“Revenant!” Zoe screeches belatedly, her and Hale’s forms blurring as they try to rush towards me. Blue’s shifted, his massive canine form also in motion, but he’s fighting something else. For a moment, I think my mate’s attacking my ex-shadow - but the two are moving too fluidly together- against something. Then the flickering thing slows just long enough for me to see the stretched out, pale-and-black-web-skinned creature long enough to register the truth.

It’s not just the King who’s come to hunt me down. There are two Revenants here.

With my attention in two directions, I’m distracted long enough that the Revenant above me dives for my head again, this time with it’s too-wide maw gaping open like a heat-seeking missile aiming for my exposed throat.