“No, sir,” Achille responds, leaning against the wall, bored.
“You could have left the nest, gone nomad. Instead, you betrayed me, you almost killed Ember. If I wasn’t fast enough to get her out of harm’s way she could have died. Burned the shit out of my fucking face, too. Thanks for that. I kind of pride myself on my face,” I say with a roll of my eyes. “Now, you’re going to die.”
“Just do it al-already.”
“Well, I’m kind of testing a theory. Want to make a bet, Achille? My bet’s ten minutes.”
“I’ll give it seven,” he says, holding up his phone, showing that he already started a stopwatch.
“My theory is the stake will still kill you if it’s left in, even if it’s not in the heart. Would make sense why most people don’t live to tell the tale of a slayer. Lucky me, I had a pretty little witch take mine out. You know what’s sad for you? If she were still here, she would probably take mercy on you and pull it out. That’s what kind of person she is.”
Conner’s grim reality must be catching up with him as he looks up at me with pleading eyes. “Please. Take it out. I’ll do whatever you want.”
“Oh, that wasn’t even on the table. It was just a hypothetical if Ember was here. But she’s not. You’re stuck with me and I fucking hate you. She might have shown mercy, but you won’t get that from me. All you’ll get from me is pain.”
Red tears of blood spill from his eyes. I can tell he’s either about to plea for his life more or make up some pathetic excuse and frankly, I don’t have time for that shit.
I consider staking him again, but I don’t need to. Not as black veins creep along his neck, and his demise becomes evident. His jaw drops as he falls to the floor, becoming nothing but a shriveled pile of goo.
Achilles holds up his phone. “Five minutes and thirty-seven seconds.”
“Fucker. What victory prize would you like?”
“Not cleaning this mess up,” he says, and I let out a huff.
“Fine,” I groan, and Achille takes a seat in the corner.
I grab some of the cleanup as he crosses his arms. “Things have changed,” he declares.
The mop soaks up his guts as I glance over at him. “They have.”
“I thought it would be a bad thing, but I think change is maybe good.”
I pause cleaning, and stare at him. “You do?”
“I’ve known you for a long time. This is the happiest I’ve ever seen you. It gives me hope,” he says the last bit softly, and I wring out the mop.
I feel like a selfish dick, all these years moping and thinking I’m the only vampire out there having a crisis about who I am and what my purpose is. Achille may be doing the same thing.
“I didn’t realize you were having these feelings.”
He glares at me with an arched brow. “Yes, because we all talk about our feelings so much. Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to grow old, have a family, say goodbye to my grandfather. I’ve been wondering if there’s more to this life, or if it has run its course. So, yes, now I have hope.”
I stare at my friend I’ve had so long but have never confided in.
“You’re not tethered to me. If you want to see what else is out there, I’d never stop you.”
He adjusts in his seat. He still has on his gear, minus his face covering, as he runs a hand over his head.
“You mean that?”
“You will always be welcome in the nest, but yes. If you’re feeling unfulfilled, life is too short, or too long, to not actually live it.”
As I say the words, it sinks in deeper. The fact that I have tethered Samantha to myself, that she’s right, she was my only reason for continuing this life.
Ember has given me a deeper purpose, and it’s due time that I do the same for everyone else around me.
“I’ll consider it, maybe take some vacation days,” Achille says, scrolling through his phone.
