“You’ve been dead a year?”
“A few days short of a year, but yeah.” Amber’s fingers rubbed Orianna’s hand, as though soothing her. “I was watching you the night you met your angel.”
Orianna wasn’t sure what to say to that. Her eyes simply bounced over Amber’s face, absorbing her image. She looked the same as the last time Orianna had seen her, so long ago. Her features still soft and round, youth clinging despite the years that had passed.
“That guy thought I was you,” Orianna told her, thinking back to that night. “The one with the gun.”
“Yeah, well.” Amber’s grin widened. “I might’ve nudged that encounter a bit.”
“So he didn’t know you?”
A soft chuckle escaped her sister. “I’d never seen him before, and I seriously doubted he knew Dad. But he’d been out to do harm, so he wasn’t an innocent bystander, I assure you.”
Well, that certainly explained the weirdness of the situation.
Amber’s face sobered. “And I’ve been watching you these past couple of months.”
“So you saw Mom?”
There was a sadness in Amber’s blue eyes. “I check in on her all the time.”
“She’s with me. At the mansion,” Orianna said, though she realized it wasn’t necessary.
“I know. And she’s happy there. Don’t let her fool you. She’s taken to that young vampire, too. I think she needs someone to take care of in that manner, since she’s unable to physically. She and Bijou are connecting.”
Orianna had noticed that, too.
“And you?” she asked her sister. “Are you happy here?”
“I’m not running anymore.” She said it as though that was a relief.
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
Amber’s gaze shifted over Orianna’s face. “I’m finally at peace, Orianna.”
“What about your … remains? I’ve never found your body.”
“My ashes are being held at a funeral home in Harper, Kansas, of all places.” Amber grinned. “It’s right across from a Casey’s General Store. So, when you go get them, which I know you will, could you do me a favor?”
“Anything.”
“Spread them out over Darkness, where you live. That way I can be with you and Mom forever.”
Tears came and Orianna couldn’t stop them. They dripped down her cheeks, unbidden.
Amber gently squeezed her hand. “I’m happy now, Orianna.” She leaned in closer. “But I don’t want you to think I wasn’t happy when we were younger. Before…”
Orianna smiled. “I know we were. Then life got in the way.”
“It tends to do that from time to time.” Amber took her other hand, holding them both. “But it’s time for you to return to that life.”
“What?” Orianna glanced around. “I thought I had twenty-four hours.”
Amber smiled. “Time moves much faster here.”
“But…”
“Your angel’s waiting for you, Orianna. He needs you right now. He’s hurting and he needs you to ease that pain.”
