No, that didn't sound like Eric. No matter how mad he was, he wouldn't threaten such a thing. It didn't sound right to me. I stared out of the window next to me, watching the pale blue and golden hues start to creep across the sky and phase out the dark blue and stars that still hung in the air.

  If I was going to go to him, it had to be now. Before the sun rose completely.

  It was now or never.

  I ran up the steps, straight to Eric's door. Just down the hall I could start to smell that putrid scent that caused me to place a hand to my nose. Garlic, goddammit. Was he making his own wreath to keep me out?

  "Eric!" I shouted as I approached his door, jiggling the handle to no avail. There was no sound on the other side that I could determine after placing my ear to the door frame. Maybe he had left already—but then why would he bother with the garlic?

  "Open it up!" I shouted again, still leaning against the door, waiting for something. That was when I heard it—the sound of muffled voices and someone shuffling around the floor, walking around. Here we go.

  I leaned back, rearing back and slamming my foot into the door. It didn't take much of my strength to knock the thing forward, falling straight to the ground and allowing me to see what was going on inside.

  "Shit!" Clay shouted, holding onto Eric as he held his mouth to keep him quiet. Eric screamed into his palm, flailing his arms around.

  "What are you doing?!" I yelled at him. I tried to walk forward, but I couldn't. It was like there was an invisible force field that was preventing me from entering. I needed permission before I could step foot inside.

  "I'm making sure that you're not throwing your life away with a human! How long is he gonna live, anyway, huh? Another 60 years? Maybe 70? Why are you wasting your time with him?"

  I'd never seen him look so crazed. He was lithe as well, his usual musculature diminished greatly.

  "When was the last time you drank?" I asked him.

  "Why do you even care?" he snorted back.

  Of course. If he hadn't been feeding properly it was no wonder that he looked so famished. Even so, he was still big and strong enough to overpower Eric. I extended a hand towards him, testing the boundary that was keeping me back. As soon as my hand pushed forward towards the open doorway, it was like a sharp electrical spark enveloped my entire hand. I pulled away at the pain, trying to shake it out.

  "You need to eat something and calm down. You look terrible," I told him, trying to come off as sympathetic as possible.

  "I'm not drinking from animals anymore! And you won't give me what I need, you don't care! You never cared about us!"

  "I'm not the one who kept fucking around with different dudes every day. That was you! How could you possibly put me at fault for this?"

  Clay clearly didn't like what I had to say. He adjusted Eric to stand in front of him, still covering his mouth so that he couldn't invite me inside. Weak as he was, Clay was still smart.

  "Shut up, you just wanted a family. I wasn't ready for one, and you were pressuring me! I couldn't handle that! It's your fault, and you're going to help me."

  "Help you do what?" I raised my hands to either side of my head. "I'll do what I can, okay? Just tell me what I need to do."

  "You're going to forget about him! We're going to mark each other again and go back to being mates. And he can go. You're not going to leave me for a human!"

  He was making no sense, and talking in circles. Was his brain withering away as well?

  "Why haven't you been eating? Do you need me to get you blood from my job? Because I will, alright? Just let Eric go."

  "Maybe I'll just drink from him instead." Clay lapped his chapped lips, looking down at Eric before violently yanking his head to the side, his bare neck exposed and ready to be drained. "I can smell his fear flowing through his veins. I bet it tastes delicious. Doesn't it?"

  "Don't! I swear, I'll do whatever you want. Just let him go, and we'll leave. Right now. I'll drop everything and leave Worj."

  Clay grimaced, but I noticed the hold he had on Eric was starting to fall slack. I didn't break eye contact with my ex-mate, however. I couldn't let him know I was focused on Eric.

  "You got him pregnant too. I can't believe you'd do such a thing…"

  "It was a mistake," I said with a wince. The lie tasted bitter in my mouth. Eric was anything but that, he was never a mistake. My relationship with Clay was the mistake.

  He sniffled, the grip he held on Eric falling even more slack. I nodded, standing right on the threshold of that force field, waiting for him to do it.

  "Now, Eric, now!"

  He wrenched his head out of Clay's grasp. "Geoffrey is welcome here!"

  The static disappeared in seconds, and I rushed inside. Jumping over the couch, I grabbed Eric by the shoulders and shoved him out of the way before jumping on top of Clay.

  "You liar! You're a liar!" he screeched like a monster. His voice was deep and distorted, the glow of his eyes fading in and out. This was the monster that humans feared, a starving vampire without any sense about him. My arms squeezed around him tightly as we rolled, hitting a side table and sending it crashing to the ground. It took all my strength to keep his arms at his side, but he proceeded to knee me in the stomach with all his might.

  "Get off me! I'll kill you! I'll kill you both!"

  "Eric, the window!" I shouted, struggling to keep my hands around my ex-mate. Eric shook his head from the rough landing, scrambling up to his feet and running to the blinds of the window his air conditioner was installed in.

  He didn't need more guidance, ripping them down as he fell to the ground himself. I rolled over onto my back, holding Clay above my body as the sunlight came inside. It wasn't quite the bright light of day, but it was enough.

  Clay's body began to shake, and I could smell the smoke beginning to rise from him and me. The skin on my arms began to burn intensely as I held onto him. He started to convulse, but I couldn't take it anymore. The pain was becoming unbearable.

  I released him, pushing him up and maneuvering my legs underneath him as I kicked him. Clay propelled forward towards the window, slamming into the AC unit and knocking it to the floor below as he howled.

  I rolled out of the way then, taking the opportunity of the concealed light to get out of the way and hide behind the sofa, Eric crawling across the floor to come to a rest at my side. From the side of the couch we watched Clay shudder violently until suddenly his form was no longer there. His screams were gone, and a giant puff of ash exploded where he had been standing.

  The small grey flakes floated to the ground slowly, forming a large pile in front of the window.

  Destroyed. He was destroyed.

  "Holy shit," Eric gasped, holding onto his stomach subconsciously as he rose to his feet, heading to his bedroom quickly. He returned just as fast with a blanket and tossed it up onto the tacks that held the blinds in place to hide the sunlight.

  "You can say that again." I sighed myself, allowing myself to chill out and fall onto my back, lying splayed across the floor with my chest heaving while I caught my breath.

  "You're hurt, are you alright?" he asked as came back over, falling to his knees and grabbing onto my hands. I hissed, yanking them away to hold them up and examine them myself.

  The skin was flaking away, a bit of ash falling from them and onto my face.

  "At least I still have them."

  "They look like third-degree burns. I think I have a first aid kit somewhere…"

  "No, just stay here with me. I'll be able to regenerate soon enough." I smiled up at him. He returned the smile, taking my face in his cupped hands.

  "I shouldn't have doubted you, Geoffrey. I'm so sorry I caused this to happen."

  I shook my head. "It's not your fault."

  He placed a kiss to my lips, and as painful as it was, I grabbed the back of his head, keeping him there, locking him in. I could have lost him today, and I wasn't going to risk losing him again. No matter what, I would make sure of that. Even if we had to move out to one of the vampire towns outside of Worj. Even if I had to leave my clinic to make sure he was okay.

  Finally we parted, staring into one another's eyes.

  "I love you," I told him, giving him a cheeky grin.

  "I love you, too. C'mon. Help me clean up in here so we can finally go home."

  Epilogue

  "Shh, it's alright, Franklin," I said, rocking our baby as gently as I could. He was crying so much today. "Help me out?"

  Geoffrey came up, dropping down the cardboard box labeled KITCHEN on the front. It must have been filled with the pots and pans from how it clanged when he dropped it. Carefully, he stepped over the other boxes scattering the floor before reaching out and taking Franklin from my arms.

  He placed him over his shoulders, bouncing slightly as he patted him on the back. Immediately our baby stopped crying and proceeded to burp before starting to giggle.

  "That's my boy." Geoffrey winked at me. I palmed my face. He was so good with babies, it was ridiculous—although he’d had centuries to deliver them and learn what they need. That didn't prevent me from being envious. If only I could get Franklin to stop crying as well as his other dad did.

  "Does this mean that I'll hold him while you go unload the rest of our things from the moving truck?" he asked me, slowly bouncing his way over with Franklin happily cooing.

  "You can't ask me to lift heavy things. I only delivered Franklin a few weeks ago. You're the one who told me to be careful while the stitches healed."

  "I know, I know. I'm just teasing." He was quick to place a kiss to my temple before passing our baby back. Thankfully, he didn't start to cry again, content after spending just a few moments in daddy's arms.

  "Are you sure we're going to be able to move everything today? I'm worried about having enough time to do that and go to the clinic too. It's so last minute."

  He huffed, grabbing another box and positioning it underneath himself before taking a seat on top of it.

  "I'm going to have to make it work. They never set up a clinic here to start with, so besides furnishing the space and getting medical supplies, I'm gonna start working immediately once it's up and running."

  "At least you have work to do."

  I'd be home rearing Franklin while Geoffrey went to work, no time to rest at all. But this was our plan. We left Worj behind and moved out into one of the surrounding vampire townships. At least we wouldn't have to hide who or what we were. Not that I was a vampire, mind you. I had no intention to turn just yet.

  "You can come and assist me once you're fully recovered, you know. It's not like I'm kicking you out of my practice. How stupid would I be to leave my best nurse behind?"

  "It's still going to be a long time before I get in." I pouted.

  "You're cute when you make that face. You should make it more often."

  "How about this?" I said, sticking out my tongue and wagging my brows.

  I came closer and he laughed, wrapping his arms around my legs and resting his chin on my pelvis to look up at us.

  "You don't know how happy I am to finally have a family I can care for. Let's forget packing for now and go explore the town."

  "Little Franklin and I can go, but you can't, not until the sun sets. Remember what happened last time…" I nodded towards his arms. They had regenerated to a point, but there were still thick visible scars covering his hands and forearms. He insisted they didn't hurt, but I'd catch him making a face to mask the pain every now and then.

  "Ugh, don't remind me. At least you and Franklin can walk around outside. And no one will be around to bother you when you do."

  "That's our little sun-walker," I raised our baby up and above my head, unable to contain my grin as he squealed joyfully, his arms moving around as if he was actually flying. I didn't know there was such a thing as sun-walkers until he was born. Most of the time they were either human or vampire.

  "He's lucky." Geoffrey smiled, still staring up at me.

  "Sort of. I'm worried how he might be treated by other vampires growing up, being one of them but also a human. He won’t be able to play outside with all his friends in the daytime. They'll be confined to living in darkness too."

  "I'm sure it'll be fine. You're always so worried about it. Well, I better get back to moving. When the sun goes down, then we’ll explore the city. Sound good?"

  "Sounds good." I moved out of the way to allow my mate to stand up, bringing Franklin back into my arms.

  "I'm so happy that you're my mate, you know. I never thought I could find someone like you." He placed another kiss to my temples, then trailed kisses along my jaw and down the bridge of my nose before placing a final one to my lips. I kissed him back before pulling away in haste.

  "Not in front of the baby, silly." I chuckled. "But I'm happy too. Go on now, hurry up and get the rest of that junk in here so we can go out."

  I watched as he stepped into the garage to continue grabbing more of our stuff. Despite everything that had happened, all the pain and troubles we had to deal with, I wouldn't want to spend my life with anyone but him, either. And of course, not without baby Franklin either. I tapped his nose with my finger, moving to sit on the box that Geoffrey had gotten off and watching him move the rest of our belongings.

  He was all I needed. In this life, and maybe in the next.

  If I ever went down that path, that is.

  * * *

  FIN

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