Even make a tattered halfbreed whole again.
I close my eyes and get comfortable in the pool of black water with only the sound of the trickling waterfall to keep me company. Time passes. It is not important how much time. This will take as long as it takes and I am prepared to wait for my reward.
Slowly the remnants of Little Baby in my arms become more solid. Muscles grow back. Bones mend. Skin reforms. And the parts of her that were missing—the foot, the ribs, the hand—are restored.
Then… the miraculous first breath. It comes out as a gasp and she sits up. Coughing, and sputtering, and crying.
She turns in my arms, then pushes off me, splashing backwards into the black water. Trying to get away from me.
I just smile. I smile, and smile, and smile as she grabs on to the ledge of rock and struggles to haul herself out of the pool. She gets one leg over, then one arm, then she’s out. But exhaustion takes over and she collapses into the loose dirt that lines the rocks.
I stand up in the water and wade over to her. She cries harder when I reach for her, but she has used up all her energy, so she must stay where she is.
My words are whispered right into her ear. “Rest now, Little Baby. I’ll be back for you soon. And then you’ll see, all the pain and trauma will be worth it. I promise.”
I kiss her head, then wade back over to the front of the pool and walk out of the water.
Clean and feeling more complete—moremyself—than I have in two thousand years.
I make the journey back up to Paul’s bedroom alone, leaving Little Baby in the pool of water. And after I close the door, I program a new code into the keypad.
She will be safe down there.
She will go insane, but it’s nothing that I won’t be able to fix with a good long drink of blood once the New Darkness is born.
Then I go downstairs with heavy, drooping wings and skin the color of a fresh bruise to finish the job we started.
