The Long Kiss Goodbye

"Whoo, damn," Gretchen groaned as she braced her hand against the wound on her chest while she limped back to her bedroom. The further she walked, the weaker she felt and when she reached her room, she was panting for air.

Feeling her discomfort, Damien opened his door and saw her pushing her's open. "Gretchen, what are you doing? Why aren't you in bed?" He grabbed her arm and helped her to sit down on her bed.

As she pushed him away, she said, "I'm fine. You can leave now."

Damien pulled the chair in front of her and sat down. ""Can you just put your stubborness aside for just one moment and look at yourself? You can scarcely breathe. Why are you even out of the infirmary anyway?"

Gretchen looked him in the eyes and said, "I'm getting my things. I'm not going to spend one more night in this castle with you people."

Damien wiped his mouth with his hand and shook his head. "You can't leave, Gretchen."

She chuckled to herself and leaned forward then pushed herself up. "Watch me."

Damien scowled at himself for letting things get this far. "I'll stay out of your way, I'll go stay on the other side of the castle if you wish."

She groaned out in pain as she reached on top of the armoire and grabbed her bag. "No fucking way. When I say you people, I mean all of you. I don't want to see another one of your faces...well, I suppose Jason's alright. He's a standup guy. The rest of you can drop dead as far as I'm concerned."

Damien reached over her and grabbed the bag from her hand and threw it across the room. "That's enough. You can be angry with me if you wish, but my family has nothing to do with this."

Gretchen shook her head and laughed to herself as her ears burned in anger. She turned to face Damien and crossed her arms. "They have every thing to do with it. You're the most dishonest goddamn people I've ever met." While tears fell from her eyes, Gretchen shivered as her temper started to flare. "I was actually starting to believe I could be a part of all this, but I'm not going to be another member of your fathers fucked up end of the world super hero squad. I'm done, Damien. I'll go ride out Armageddon with the poeple I love in the North. You all can sit up here in your castle and be creepy together, but I don't want to be a part of it anymore."

As she put her hand on his chest to push Damien out of her way, he slapped his hand down on top of it. "It's my fault, all of it, you can't blame them for the choices I made."

Gretchen furrowed her brows and shook her head. "Come on. You can't tell me that every single one of them didn't know this whole time what you were doing. You're seriously going to stand there and tell me Hazel didn't know about that ring? Or that Jason and Rhett didn't know from the very beginning that I was your mate. And your parents for that matter...you're really going to pretend like they didn't know everything the whole time? You all hid everything from me and made me look like a moron over and over again. How many chances am I supposed to give you to just be straight with me?"

Damien dropped his head and closed his eyes. Gretchen pulled her hand away and said, "Look at me."

He knew what she was going to ask before she even opened her mouth. He'd been dreading it since the night it happened. He opened his glassy, blood shot eyes and met hers. "You knew what happened to my father that night, didn't you? You knew he was dead and you didn't tell me so I'd sleep with you, didn't you?"

Damien's eyes fell from hers and she knew it was true. She poked her finger into his chst and said, "I fucking knew it. But, you know what? I'm not even mad at you, I'm the idiot that bought into all your bullshit. That's on me. I should've known better, but I promise you I won't be making that mistake again."

Gretchen walked across the room then grimaced as the pain from her leg began to become unbearable. After she picked the bag up from the floor, she went to her dresser and started packing away her clothes.

Damien rubbed his face in his hands in frustration and asked, "Where exactly do you expect you'll go?"

She scoffed to herself and shook her head. "I don't know, I suppose we'll go stay with Tessa until I get better then I think me and my dad might travel for awhile. It's a big world and the further away from all of this I can get, the better."

Preparing for the worst, Damien took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "You're expecting, Gretchen."

As the shock of what he said hit her chest, Gretchen gasped in a breath and closed her eyes. "Are you sure about that?"

Damien walked to Gretchen and put his hands around her arms. "I'm certain."

Gretchen's body jerked under his hands as a few sobs escaped her then she lifted her head and sniffed back her tears. "Oh, damn. I was in heat, I guess it's not really a shocker. I suppose I won't be going on any adventures for a while then."

Damien smirked and huffed through his nose then pulled her closer. As his warm breath beat against Gretchen's neck,she almost forgot how angry she was. "I can't allow you to leave me now, Gretchen. You'll need me more than you think you will."

Gretchen looked up into the mirror at him and thought about what he said. "I will need you, but not now. Right now, I just need to be as far away from you as possible. I sure as hell don't want to spend the next nine months locked up in this place being miserable."

Damien turned Gretchen around and pulled her close to him "You won't be. I'll treat you like a queen, Gretchen. You'll never know love like I can give you, I swear."

Gretchen closed her eyes and shook her head. "Oh, Damien. No. Whatever it is you all think love is, I don't want it. This doesn't change anything at all."

Damien put his forehead to Gretchen's. "There's nowhere you can go that I can't follow you. If you go to the woods, then I'll be there too."

Gretchen pushed herself out of Damien's hold then picked up her bag from the dresser. "You do whatever you think you need to, Damien. I really just don't care anymore."




Teddy looked back over his shoulder at Gretchen as she walked through the doorway. ""You alright, honey?"

Gretchen nodded and limped to the bed then sat down next to Eason on the bed. "Hey there, handsome. How are you feeling?"

Eason swallowed the dryness from his throat and licked his lips. "I've been better."

Teddy put his hands on Gretchen's shoulder and kissed her cheek. "I'm going to go see what kind of trouble Tessa's gotten herself into."

Gretchen smiled and nodded. As he left the room, she looked back to Eason and sighed. "I'm so sorry, Eason."

He shook his head and scrunched up his face. "I told you already, it was my honor to fight beside you. Thinking I might have had a hand in saving you," he clicked his tongue, "well, that just makes my little brush with death all the more glorious. I'll recount it in every tavern I come to and limericks will be made to memorialize it, no doubt. So, tell me Gretchen, what's next for you and your father?"

Gretchen curled her lips under and looked out the window before facing him again. "We're leaving tonight. Going to go stay with my aunt in the North Woods for awhile."

He chuckled to himself and then coughed at the pain in his chest. "How's Damien taking that news?"

She looked out the window and shrugged. "About as well as you'd expect."

"Ah," Eason nodded. "Well, I think I will also be taking my leave of the Darke Kingdom."

Gretchen pushed out her lips in surprise. "That doesn't sound like you. I thought you were hard core loyal to these folks."

"It's been a fun 200 or so years, but I think it's time to see the shores of home once again."

Gretchen took Eason's hand and nodded. "Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. I'd give anything to see home one more time."

Eason rubbed her fingers with his thumb and sighed. "If you ever find yourself in need of shelter in the East, Gretchen, my kingdom will always welcome you and yours."

"Thank you. You never can tell where I might end up." Gretchen pushed her tears from her face then leaned over and put her head on Eason's chest. "I won't ever forget what you did for me. You're a good man, Eason. The best goddamn person in this place, for sure. I hope you find happiness wherever you go."

He closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around Gretchen, then inhaled her warm, balsamy hair. His heart ached and his throat burned as he realized that he would never again see her. She belonged to someone else and no matter how it pained him, it was Fate. "And you as well, Gretchen. Take whatever scrap of happiness you can and hold tight to it, don't ever let it go."

Gretchen lifted away from him then put her hand against his cheek and kissed his lips. Not being a man who'd dare turn down an offer from a beautiful woman, Eason slid his hand into her hair and grabbed it up in his fist as she moved her plump lips against his. Eason had been with women before, certainly, but never one like Gretchen. Between panted breaths and soft moans, she gently parted his lips and wove her tongue around his as she gave him a kiss worthy of a hero. When she pulled away from him, she licked her lips and smiled when he breathlessly opened his eyes. "Goodbye, Eason."