Awakening the Fire

Epilogue

Six weeks later, Ari returned to Riverdale on a gray, gloomy afternoon. The feel of early snow was in the air, no more than a few weeks away. She was glad to be coming home. Her arm had healed, she’d undergone rigorous retraining with her childhood Sensei, and she was ready, even anxious, to get back to work. Martin was exhausted from covering both territories, but at least there’d been no vampire wars or drug outbreaks during her absence.

She hadn’t heard from Andreas, but that was a good thing. At least she thought so most of the time. The manner of Sheila’s death had stunned her, but she’d had many hours to go over the details of that night. In the honest light of day, she realized she’d reacted mostly from anger at herself, the irrevocable choice she almost made. And she’d been afraid, still was, not for what happened in the caverns, but at the compound. The magical link. The idea of such a powerful connection with a vampire, one that could break all magical barriers and wake him from his sleep…well, that was something she still couldn’t wrap her head around. What if their magics consumed each other? Or the stronger one took control? And, Goddess forbid, what if it was all her fault? Or at least the fault of her family legend?

In her brooding, Ari almost missed the turn. She drove down the lane to the woods where Yana was buried and parked the Mini Cooper. She’d come to chat. She couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t brought her problems to Yana. This time, she also needed to tell Yana why she’d died.

And how the story ended.

Ari got out of the car and entered the woods. The ground was hard, the brown grass brittle and crackly. It crunched under her feet. Finally, standing in the middle of a small clearing, Ari explained it all. The drugs, the deaths, Sebastian’s ambitions, the compound attack, the caverns, and how Sheila died.

“I wanted to kill her,” Ari admitted. “And I don’t know why Andreas did it instead. His own reasons? Or maybe to protect me from stepping over the line. I’m still not sure I wanted to be saved.”

With most of the story behind her, Ari began to walk. She turned onto a trail made by summer hikers and plucked a tall slender blade of grass from the edge of the path. She chewed on the end. It was dry, flavorless.

“I wish I could turn back the clock,” she finally said. “Have you back. Do things better. But that isn’t how things work. So I guess I just have to do the best I can.” She paused to watch two squirrels chasing through the trees. “But I wish you could tell me what to do about Andreas. Until I figure it out, I’m going to stay away. There’s so much about him…us…that I don’t understand.”

She fell silent, listening to the wind in the trees. The weather grew colder every day, the winds stronger, more biting. She turned to retrace her steps. It was time to go.

Ari chuckled as she rounded the last curve in the trail. “You’ll be happy to hear Sebastian is having his own problems these days. Revolts among his vampires. Zoe heard Prince Daron had a hand in it. Payback can be hell.”

Ari spotted her Mini Cooper through the trees. She’d reached the end of the path—and the end of her story. A gust of wind whipped the hair across her face. She shivered, pulled her jacket tighter, and said her good-byes. Pulling a pouch from her pocket, she tossed a handful of sweet grass into the air. It spun and twirled, scattering its seeds, ready to renew life when the ground warmed again. Spring was only a winter away. A smile tugged at her lips as she took a last look around. Yana would rest now.

Ari wouldn’t be back.