“The best half second of my tremendously long life,” the Slayer says.
“Give Adam control,” Iris demands.
The Slayer looks pissed. “If anything seems suspicious with the undead, I will take over immediately,” he tells Iris. She just flicks her hand at him.
Suddenly his demeanor changes, along with his eyes. A regular man now stands before me, though he looks just as irritated as Iris.
He looks down at where Oz’s body was and he sighs.
“He’s the one who gave my family the summoning spell?” he asks, talking to Iris.
“Yes, I’m sorry, Adam,” Iris says, grabbing his arm, far more friendly with the man than she was the Slayer.
Adam nods, the toe of his shoe pointing in his guts.
“This piece of shit ruined my life,” Adam says.
“Mine too,” a deep voice croaks behind him. I look over Adam’s shoulder and I see Warin, a stake hanging out of his side. “Sunshine, you mind ripping another one of these out of me?” he asks.
Tears stream down my face as I run toward him. I’m not as delicate as I should be as I throw my arms around his neck and squeeze. He winces, and I pull back and look at him. He’s a blurry mess with how much I’m crying.
“I thought you were gone?”
“Just another stake to the side. Nothing I can’t handle,” he says, cupping my face.
He’s covered in blood. It’s horrific looking, but I nod and grab the stake, tugging with all my might as it falls to the floor. A sigh of relief fills me as his skin knits together immediately.
“What about the others?”
“As soon as the Slayer got here, we got out of the way so that he wouldn’t turn on any of us. Oz didn’t expect or sense him, thought we were dead in the fray.”
“How did Samantha know to text Iris?” I ask. Even if Warin told her, I can’t even be mad, her knowing about the Slayer probably just saved all of our lives.
“It seems as though she may have cloned your phone that first night I brought you back to the house. I can’t even be mad about it. Also, she’s Sebastian’s blood mate, or whatever. All of them are fine,” he assures, looking at me like he can’t believe I’m still alive.
The feeling is mutual.
“You scared the fuck out of me,” I say, grabbing his shirt.
“You did so good, you saved us with your magic. Without that, we wouldn’t have had a fighting chance. The Slayer wouldn’t have gotten here in time. You’re magnificent,” he says.
He’s holding me tight, like I might disappear when there’s a growling noise behind us. When I turn around, Adam is long gone. The Slayer is back in charge of the body.
“Nope. Hell no. I kissed you and you promised you would listen,” Iris chastises him.
The Slayer glances down at Iris, not liking her reasoning at all, as he glares at Warin.
“I don’t like it either, man. We both tried to kill each other, so let’s call it even,” Warin says, and I’m proud of him for agreeing to my terms. The Slayer killing his problematic maker might be part of it too.
“Another kiss and I let them walk away,” the Slayer says and I have to bite my lip as Iris looks so irritated with him.
“Fine. Can you two please get out of here quickly? Oh, wait. Here, Ember,” she says, tossing me a potion bottle. “Now, can you two get out of here?”
“Gladly,” Warin says, tossing me over his shoulder and moving so fast I may just throw up from the movement.
I hold on to his back and despite everything, I can’t help but to smile. We made it.
We’re both still here, despite everything. If that isn’t fate, I don’t know what is.
