Fallen Ever After (21 page)

All of us looked at one another. We all knew what that meant. Drinking Luna’s blood could make Victoria human again, and there was no guarantee that this experiment would even work. No one spoke. We all just stood there, staring down at Luna’s motionless body as if that alone would will her to wake up.

“Luna saved me. She was trying to protect me. I owe it to her to try and save her,” Victoria said, breaking the silence.

“You know what that means, don’t you?” Tessa asked.

Victoria nodded.

“This is crazy.” I asked. “Maybe I should. I mean, I’ve thought about it. I didn’t want to be a vampire, then I did, but I haven’t been for very long. Victoria would be giving up a lot more than I would. What if it doesn’t work and Victoria does this for nothing?”

“Then I’ll be human,” Victoria said.

Daeveena glared at me. “You can’t help. I cursed Victoria, not you. It has to be her.”

“I don’t think this is a good idea. We have no idea what this will do. But we do know that you’ll be human.” Arie shot Victoria a what-the-fuck-are-you-thinking look. “Do you remember what that was like?”

“Yeah, I do. I don’t think this is a good idea either, and I sure as hell don’t want to go back to being weak. But I can’t stand here and do nothing if there’s even a remote chance that it might save her,” Victoria said.

I couldn’t believe that after over a century of living as a vampire she might go back to being human. Before anyone could say another word, Victoria bent her head and reached under Luna’s neck, tilting it up, and bit into the side of it. Her luminous skin began to glow again. It was almost as if her blood had indeed been turned to stone, and Victoria’s love, drinking from her, made her blood circulate and move—reanimating her.

Luna’s eyes fluttered open, her silver lashes framing those shimmering pools. Victoria released her neck and moved away from her. She didn’t look so good. In fact, she looked like she might start retching at any minute.

“Luna!” Daeveena shouted, tears gleaming in her eyes.

Luna sat up slowly. “I’m okay.”

“I never meant to hurt you. I’m so sorry. I’m just so, so, incredibly sorry—”

“Enough,” Luna said. “I don’t want your apology. It won’t be enough. Not this time.”

Daeveena stepped forward. “No, please. You’re my sister. You’re all I have. You’re all I ever—”

“Then you wouldn’t have run off and left me to deal with our father and take his place just to save his sorry ass,” Luna said. “You fucking left me. Then you come here and attack my friends. No, my
family
. This is my family now.”

I’d never heard her talk like that. It shocked the hell out of me, but it was nice to see her stand up for herself. I still hadn’t forgotten the sudden revelation that she and Arie had slept together, but I really had no right to be mad about it since it happened before we ever met, before we were together.

“You could have come with me,” Daeveena said, looking down at her feet. “I begged you to come with me.”

“And do what exactly? Leave town for some sort of fucked-up faerie-demon Bonnie and Clyde road trip? I don’t think so. You’re no better than our father.” Luna shook her head.

Ty put his hand on Daeveena’s shoulder. From the incredulous look on Luna’s face she was about to fly off with a witty remark but suddenly Victoria gasped. And when we turned in her direction, her eyes were wild. Her skin looked slightly pink. Victoria was albino before she’d been turned, so her skin was still pale. But it wasn’t the same unearthly paleness that came with being a vampire. The flush slowly crept up her arms.

“What’s happening to me?” Victoria shrieked.

But then recognition lit her eyes. We all knew this would happen. She drank Luna’s blood to break the curse, and now she was turning human. I watched as my chance to be human was being realized by my friend. I would have taken her place. I’d have done that for her, but somehow through all of this I’d stepped into the life I’d landed into by accident and embraced everything that came with it. The flush had almost reached her neck when Victoria clenched her fists and it looked like it took tremendous effort to use the last of her vampire strength to shift.

I’d never seen someone shift, even though Katarina had pretended to be my cat so she could break into the loft and steal the protection amulet that Rue gave me. A flurry of black feathers drifted to the ground as Victoria took the shape of a crow and soared through the bar, her erratic flight darting over the balcony toward the Goth club below, which was still closed. She’d used the very last of her powers as a vampire to take flight. My heart broke. Victoria would be human, alone, and completely vulnerable when she landed.

Luna ran to the balcony, leaning over the rail. “No!”

Then she sank to her knees sobbing uncontrollably. I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her. I couldn’t be angry about her and Arie. Not now. It was the past.

Daeveena stepped forward. “Luna, I—”

Her head popped up. Luna stopped crying and those silver pools shimmered with a fury I’d never seen from the gentle moon faerie. “Shut up. Just shut up.”

“I can make this right,” Daeveena said. “I can fix this.”

“How? How do you think this can ever be right? You don’t get it. There are things you can’t control and things you can
never
take back.” Luna stood, toe to toe with her half-sister.

I scrambled to my feet and got ready to break up a cat fight if I had to.

“I love her. And now…” Luna shook her head.

“I came back here for you,” Daeveena shouted. “I heard about our father. That he was going to force you to come home and work for him. I couldn’t let that happen. Please…you have to believe I never meant for any of this to happen. And so what if she’s human?”

Luna slapped her half-sister so hard that her head spun sideways.

“She didn’t want to be,” Tessa said with quiet anger in her voice.

“Her life as a human was filled with unimaginable heartbreak,” Arie said. “She hated being weak. She’d never want to go back to that.”

“But Victoria is honorable and she would have felt guilty regardless of the incredible risk she took. Don’t you get it?” Luna asked.

“If there was a way to take it back I would. Please,” Daeveena begged.

“I saved her. So she felt like she had to do the same for me. She’s just that loyal. It’s your fault she’s human. It’s your fault that she took off. I love her and now she’s gone. Just get out!” Luna screamed at Daeveena who stood gaping as she rubbed her cheek.

“You can’t mean that,” Daeveena whispered. “I’m your sister.”

“And you’re also half-demon, and today you proved you’re completely evil. So yeah,” Luna said, crossing her arms, “I do mean it. Get out.”

“I’m not leaving without you.
You
are
my
family.”

Arie took a step toward Luna. “I think you should listen to your sister.”

Daeveena muttered something under her breath in a language I couldn’t understand. “The thing you love the most will be taken from you. Lost forever. Mark my words.”

Arie shrugged. “Wouldn’t be the first time. I think you need to leave.”

Ty grabbed Daeveena’s hand. “Come on. We should go.”

Daeveena intertwined her fingers with his, but before she turned to go she locked eyes with Luna. “I’m sorry.”

Luna wouldn’t even look at her.

The two of them turned toward the elevators when Arie stopped them. “Ty, just so you know, your cousin came here looking for you. I promised him that I’d call him if you turned up and I’m going to. If I were you, I’d go back to New York before you have the whole pack tracking you.”

Ty nodded. “Thanks, but I can take care of myself. Let them send their best tracker. I’ll be gone.”

With that the two of them left. Luna sank into a booth against the wall. Her hands were shaking and she looked like she might start crying all over again.

“I can’t believe she’s gone,” Luna whispered.

“She’ll be back,” I said.

Everyone turned to look at me.

“How do you know that?” Luna asked.

I shrugged. “Call it intuition, or maybe because I’m a seer, but honestly—we’re her family. She’s incredibly loyal, and I just I know that she’ll be back.”

“Holly is right,” Tessa said. “She probably didn’t want anyone to see her weak. She just needs some time.”

“So now what?” I asked.

“Now, I clean house. I’ll take some of my guys over and we’ll pay the rest of Victor Monti’s crew a visit. Tell them their leader is dead and if they don’t want to end up just like him they should leave town. I’d say that’s not only reasonable, it’s generous. Do you have any objections, Luna?” Tessa asked, her emerald eyes filled with fire.

Luna’s lip quivered, but then her expression shifted to one of resolve. “Maybe once, but not now. All he did was use people, hurt them, but now he won’t be able to do that anymore.”

Tessa nodded and helped Luna up. “Come on. You should get some rest. I’ll post someone outside Arie’s old apartment until I get back.”

“Do you want me to go with you when you pay them a visit?” Arie asked.

“No, but you should see if you can find Victoria,” Tessa said as she led Luna back to the apartment to go lay down. It seemed like a good idea because she wobbled on her feet almost as if she were drunk. Then again, after everything that had just happened I could see why she’d be unsteady, and who knew how much of her life force had been drained from Victoria drinking her blood. If she ever reversed vampirism again or had it forced on her, it might end up killing her. None of that seemed important—everything Arie and I had been through made me realize that I could deal with his world.

I bit my lower lip. “I’ll come with you.”

“No, I won’t be long,” Arie said as he wrapped his arms around me. “I have a feeling that Victoria is long gone, and that she used the last of her powers to fly as far from here as she possibly could. If Victoria doesn’t want to be found she won’t be.”

Arie knew Victoria better than anyone, so I imagined he was right about that. It broke my heart that she took off, and if I hadn’t seen how panicked she looked I wouldn’t have understood why. Her past was tragic, and it made sense that she held everyone at arm’s length, never slept with anyone, or drank blood—only psi. Wherever Victoria was, I hoped she would find happiness and peace. If anyone deserved a happy ending it was her. I only hoped that one day she’d return and share that happy ending with all of us.

I nodded. “I’ll meet you back at the loft then.”

Arie kissed me on the forehead. “I lost my friend.”

“I know. So did I.”

“When I get back I need to be inside of you,” he murmured into my hair. “I need to feel you.”

I breathed in the scent of him, his leather jacket and that smell that was uniquely Arie. I really hoped he was wrong and that he’d find Victoria shivering on a park bench somewhere. None of us would be the same without her.

“I want to be close to you too,” I said. “I’ll wait for you.”

Arie kissed my cheeks, my chin. “You will wait for me. Remember how you waited for me when I gave you this promise ring.”

He brought my knuckles to his lips and kissed them. My breath caught and my pussy clenched in response to his husky voice despite everything that had happened.

“Yes.”

“I want you waiting naked, blindfolded, and with your hands behind your head.”

“Can I take a bath first? Like before?”

He ran his fingertips down my arm. “Just like before. No pleasuring yourself in the tub.”

“I think I can handle that. I just want to relax and for this night to be over.”

Arie gave me a quick kiss. “I have to call Julian and let him know that I saw his cousin before I go look for Victoria.”

“Okay, I’ll see you back at the loft.”

I made my way to the parking garage and took the Venom back to our place. Bending time made travel easy, and Arie wouldn’t need it to look for Victoria anyway. Tears streamed down my cheeks. I was going to miss her. If only I could have taken her place she’d still be here and maybe she’d find happiness with Luna. On the twenty-minute drive back to the loft my cell phone rang and jolted me from the swirl of thoughts as I kept going over the events of the night in my head.

“Hello?”

“I just wanted to tell you that it’s over,” Arie said. “The crew packed up—”

“And left town,” I said, cutting him off.

“Yeah, Tessa called me. She gave his associates a choice. Die like Victor or leave and don’t ever come back. The Chicago Crew is finished in this town. I’m going to do one more sweep for Victoria and I’ll be back.”

“Okay, see you soon.”

I pulled into the garage outside the loft and parked the car. When I reached our loft I drew a bath, shucked my clothes, and melted into the tub. It reminded me of the lavender-scented water and rose petals and his erotic surprise at Christmastime, which almost felt like a lifetime ago. It had only been six weeks, but so much had changed.