Epilogue
Peter dropped a kiss on my forehead and went to answer the door. I wasn’t surprised when Haine drifted into the library. I had felt his aura before he rang the doorbell. We were still connected somehow, and I could sense his happiness without even trying. I turned to him to see his bright eyes sparkling. He was holding a thick, letter-sized envelope in one hand, and I stood and eagerly snatched it from him. Peter had come to lean against the doorframe and he watched us like a parent with two precocious children.
“Is this it? It came!” I opened the envelope and pulled out the thick stack of pages. It was a set of sample pages from our graphic novel. I flipped through the stack in awe, as usual, as I saw my writing juxtaposed with Haine’s beautiful artwork.
I had continued to live with Peter- as if there had even been a question of me returning to my apartment- but I refused to mooch off him. I wanted to be independent. It had been my goal as a human, and that hadn’t changed with the turn. So far, our graphic novel series about terrible, blood sucking fiends had been a hit. We had landed a publishing contract that included at least three more books, and things were looking good.
Peter slapped Haine on the back and took the pages from me, collapsing into one of the overstuffed chairs to peruse our work while Haine and I looked over his shoulder, grinning like idiots.
Peter frowned and looked up. “Can you really do this?” He shook the pages at us in illustration. Sure, we’d gone a bit overboard with that scene where the woman with telepathic powers subdues the rampaging, demon-possessed vampire, but really, it’s not like anyone was going to believe it.
I sat on the arm of the chair and refused to be ashamed. “We are going to start a theme here,” I said resolutely. “Our best stuff comes from actual historical events. No humans will know it’s real. How could they? And the vampire readers will be hooked, because they know it really happened.”
Peter just shook his head. Haine glanced at the clock and started. “Sorry to leave so soon, but I have a date.”
I grinned. You had to be a great boyfriend when you were dating your coven leader. Piss her off, and he would have to do a bit more than buy her flowers. He ruffled my hair and nodded to Peter, then glided out of the room.
Peter set the pages aside and pulled me onto his lap. “I’m very proud of you,” he said seriously. “I’m so lucky to have such a talented wife.” His lips met mine and I melted, thinking I was the lucky one. I shifted, lacing my arms around his neck, and the little koi charm on my wrist glinted in the soft light of the setting sun.