“I don’t know. I’ve been angry for a long time. For how you tricked her. For how you tricked Dad. For how you tricked your way into Ordinary.”
Even as I said it, I knew Dad wouldn’t have been tricked by Bathin. He knew the demon, knew what he was like, what he was made of. Maybe Dad had hoped Bathin would catch his soul before he died. Maybe Dad had hoped in doing so, Bathin could finally step into Ordinary and live that new life he’d been circling for so long.
“No,” I said. “I would have washed my hands of you.”
He spread his hands, accepting my answer.
We stood watching each other, letting that truth settle between us. Letting that truth shape our way forward.
Was I happy he had taken my sister’s soul and held it long enough he’d damaged it?
Hell, no.
Could I forgive him for that mistake? For trying to navigate the human world with limited understanding? For doing the wrong thing while he strived to be something better?
That—making a mistake while hoping to learn how not to make a mistake—was a very human failing.
And forgiveness was a very human strength.
“I know I fucked up,” he said. “I should have given her soul back months ago. But I couldn’t seem to find the right way, and you were always fighting with me—which I liked, so that was confusing, but nice—and I didn’t want that to change.
“I was wrong to take her soul. I know that now. Holding your father’s soul changed me. Holding Delaney’s?” He blew out air. “Nail in the coffin.”
“And the scissors?” I asked.
“Taking them away from you meant you could never be harmed by them. It would keep Ordinary safe. It would release Delaney’s soul. I had to.”
“We always have choices. There is always a choice,” I said.
“I chose. I chose you. Myra, I will always choose you.”
I leaned up and caught his mouth in a kiss.
He grunted, surprised. For a moment, he was back to that stillness, that totality of silence.
Had I made a mistake? Had I misunderstood what we were doing here?
Then he groaned and his arms locked against my back, one hand cupping my head because he was a big guy and I was not all that tall. One massive leg shifted so that I was pulled even tighter against his body, balancing on my tiptoes, straining and tight with delicious stretch, while safe and solid against his chest, between his legs, with his hands holding, searching, needing.
And the kiss. He may have been the first to groan, but I wasn’t far behind him, lost in the zinging fire that licked luxurious waves through my body.
This, this, this. Here. Now. Now.
My mind chanted while my heart thrummed just one word:Yes.
When we pulled back, it was barely an inch, as if neither of us were ready to break this connection, to shatter the perfection and wonder of the moment.
The slow-clapping vampire behind us did it instead.
“You two kids are just adorable,” he crooned.
I freed one hand and flipped him off behind my back.
“You’ll have to sign a contract,” I said to Bathin, searching his face, his eyes. “That you’ll follow the rules of Ordinary.”
“I will. I will follow the rules of Ordinary.”
“You can’t possess souls.”
