Page 160 of Afflicted

She smiles warmly at the camera, and opens her mouth to speak.

Silas squeezes my hand as she recounts the events of the past two weeks. The riots in Boston. The rebellion against the vampire covens in Boston by humans and vampires alike. The National Guard being disbanded for the improper use of Afflicted. The new virus they’d released that was slowly killing the Afflicted, their numbers dwindling by the day.

“All Human Preservation Compounds will be disbanded.” Her voice is strong and confident. “We know these facilities caused widespread suffering, and we will provide every support necessary to assist humans to transition back into a normal life.”

She turns to her side, and gestures for someone to join her. A man appears at her side, a vampire, his blonde hair hanging to his shoulders. His rusty eyes look out at us from the screen, and he smiles.

“We have made huge advancements in the creation of a synthetic blood alternative that provides identical nutrition to human blood,” he says, and the room bursts into murmurs. “The harvesting of human blood will be on a strictly voluntary basis, and only until the synthetic alternative is perfected.” He turns to the President, and she smiles warmly.

“He’s bitten her, he has,” Silas mutters under his breath. “Look how she’s smiling at him.”

I shove him with my elbow. “Shhh.”

“Seen that look on your face before.”

I suppress a giggle. “Shhh.”

“We will move together as one,” the vampire on the screen goes on. “One people, with a common purpose - to rebuild our world. Together.”

“Together!” Someone calls at the back of the room, and everyone bursts into applause.

I look at Silas, and his mouth lifts into a smile. He looks like himself again, even though his eyes are a lighter brown than they were before. He’s back to full strength, with the help of a lot of blood, and a new supplement Dr. Harris developed.

I lean over and kiss him softly. His lips are so soft and warm.

“You ready?” I ask quietly as the room around us continues to celebrate the possibility of this new future.

He nods. “Sure am. Let’s go. They’ll be waiting for us.”

We get to our feet, leaving the jubilations of the colony behind us. Outside, snow is lying thick on the ground, and a guard is sweeping it off our truck. Dr. Harris is waiting for us with two other people, waving a greeting as we approach.

“I can’t tell you how glad I am that you agreed to this.” He shakes our hands, and Silas chuckles.

“Happy to oblige. Sort of looking forward to a fresh start.” He puts his arm around my shoulders, and kisses my temple. “Been something of a rocky start to married life as you can imagine.”

The doctor laughs loudly. “A baptism of fire as they say. Well, they found you two a great apartment, everything is waiting for you.”

I look up at Silas. “Can’t wait.”

“Me neither.” He kisses my forehead. “Me neither, angel.”

Our truck bumps along the road behind the doctor’s vehicle, two escort vehicles flanking us as we make our way to Philadelphia. I stay under Silas’s arm, watching the landscape slip by.

“You know,” he says after a few miles, “now that the world’s going back to normal, we might be going to Paris sooner than we think.”

I can’t help but laugh. “You think so?”

“Sure, why not?”

“I promise not to throw up green macarons all over you.”

He laughs out loud. “Yeah, I did hear you talk about that.” He smiles down at me. “Forever, ey?”

“No, not forever.” I lean my head against his chest, the snow around us glittering as the sun beats down. “You were right. Forever isn’t long enough.”

“Not nearly long enough, angel.”

EPILOGUE

---