“But as I’m not, enjoy her for me. I’ll deal with Rosanna. She won’t bother you again.” He looks at Rosanna. His meaning is clear. She’s not going to get a trial or a second chance. Hugo is going to give Rosanna justice in the old ways.
Maris doesn’t have to be told twice. She grabs my hand and starts dragging me towards the door. “Come on. We have to get out of here.”
I follow her, only pausing when we get to Hugo. “I’ll not forget this,” I tell him. It’s a twofold statement. I won’t forgetwhat he’s done. Letting us go while the rest of the Varcolacus wouldn’t, ending Rosanna. But also there’s what he said about Maris.
Hugo smiles. “As you shouldn’t.”
“Your car is outside. The town is going insane. We need to just drive and not stop,” Maris says. She’s practically running when we get to the porch. I see my car in the road like she said. I stop her when I see the lighter Rosanna brought. It’s on the porch next to the bottle of alcohol she intended to ignite.
“Wait.” I pick up the lighter and bottle. “We have to end this.”
“What are you doing?” I don’t answer Maris. I open the bottle and pour it out on the porch. When I strike the lighter and bend to light the alcohol, Maris grabs my arm.
“You can’t. Not the house.”
“Hugo is giving us a gift, Maris. If this house stands, there’s a chance all of this is for nothing. Isla will come for you.”
Maris bites her lip and looks down at the porch. “It’s the only home I’ve ever had,” she whispers.
“Not anymore. You have me.”
Maris takes a deep breath and holds her hand out for the lighter. “I’ll do it.”
Fifty-Seven
MARIS
Julian is right. If Vesper House is left standing, Isla will be back for me. She’d try and come for him too. None of what’s happened would be worth it. The howling of sirens drift up from the streets of Vesper Point. This entire town would have died for nothing. I look into the house where Hugo stands easy as you please in front of Rosanna. He’s pulled a knife from his coat and has it up to Rosanna’s neck but he hasn’t made a move to use it.
“You’ve run for quite long enough,” he says softly.
Even if it wasn’t Isla that tried to come after us, Rosanna would.
Vesper House must die.
It’s the only way to make sure Julian is free. That I’m free. I strike the lighter and a flame appears, bright and hot. It sways and dances in the wind and then I throw it onto the alcohol drenched porch. Instantly it catches. My instincts tell me to put it out. To find a way to stop the fire but I don’t. I step back with Julian and take his hand when I hear Isla scream from the third floor. She knows what I’ve done.
“We have to go,” I tell Julian. The second the words leave my mouth he has me up in his arms and a second later I’m in his car.
“Interesting parking choice,” he murmurs and eyes the broken windshield, but doesn’t mention it.
“There wasn’t a lot of time trying to save your life from a psychotic siren. Sorry about the windshield. My body broke it.”
Julian snorts. We’re quiet while he gets us going back down the hill. I can’t help myself, not when this is the last time I’ll see Vesper House. I turn in my seat and look. The fire has spread so fast, like it’s been starved and now finally can feast. The entire porch is engulfed. Fire licks its way up the house to the second floor. No doubt it’s inside and consuming every room in its path now.
I don’t expect to cry at the demise of my prison but I do anyways. There’s a particular kind of loss that comes when you shed the chains of the captivity you’ve always known for freedom. Living in Vesper House wasn’t scary, it was life. It’s living out here, in the world, that scares me.
I turn back around in my seat and wipe at my tears while we navigate out of my neighborhood and onto Main Street. It’s chaos but I knew that. Still, it's shocking. There’s fires and broken windows. It looks like hell.
Julian reaches over and buckles my seatbelt. “Safety first,” he says when I give him a questioning look. “You’re still human. I have to be mindful of that.”
He’s right, I am human. I’m weak. I watch town speed by and the destruction slows and fades as we approach the road out of town. The cliffs and seaside that I feared rise up around me and in his headlights I see the shiny patch of guardrail that marks my parents’ graves. Cold sea air rushes in through the windshield. It swirls around me like an embrace. It holds me tight and fills my ears and lungs. I can taste the sea. I’ll always taste the sea.
We drive past the guardrail. The hospital burns on the right but up ahead, I see the trees. It’s calm there. The forest is silent and untouched. I breathe in deep, I can already smell thedifference. Loamy and rich, the air is different here. It smells like life.
“I don’t have to stay human,” I whisper. There’s no reason for me to stay human. My home is gone. My family is dead. There’s nothing left for the Varcolacus to demand from me.
“No, you don’t,” Julian agrees. He holds out his hand to me and moonlight shines across it, making his skin glow bright like moonstone before we’re plunged into the darkness of the forest.
