Page 67 of For Love and Blood and Fury

So she’d just laid there and wondered how to ask them what came next. She wished that she was direct like Zuri or fearless like Elena. But she wasn’t. No amount of wishing was going to transform her into someone new.

She was grateful that when Elena’s footsteps approached the bed, they disappeared again when she didn’t stir. Marisol wasn’t sure how Elena’s abilities worked, but it was obvious she could sense people’s emotions. At least she didn’t have to tell her that she needed to be alone. If Elena had sensed that she was upset, she’d also sensed that she didn’t want to talk.

Anxiety was an icy fist clenching Marisol’s heart. She didn’t even know where the hell she was going when this was over. She’d lost her nursing license—or she would, she was sure of it. Absconding with a patient in the middle of her shift,disappearing without a trace… There was no coming back from that. What the hell had she been thinking? She should have stayed. Should have explained.

Pulling the covers around her, she groaned.Sure. She would have explained that a witch made off with the vampire after a different vampire attacked them. That would have secured her job.

A wave of nausea washed over her, a cold sweat prickling her skin. She had no job, no career, no future.

If only that was just the loss, she could recover. But it was the lack of anything to replace it. It was the terrifying void that made her want to fuse into the mattress and disappear.

The memory of Lilith’s words echoed in her mind.Help my child... Show her the way. But what way? What was she supposed to do? Where was she supposed to go?

The Aglion. Her ancestors. Hunted, persecuted, nearly wiped from existence. The thought sent a revolting shiver down her spine, a primal fear programmed in her DNA. Vampires and witches had hated her kind so much that they’d wanted to eradicate them. And they’d essentially succeeded. She was alone. The last of her kind.

Before the tears stinging the backs of her eyes rolled down her cheeks, she stood. Her grandmother wouldn’t want her to lie there wringing her hands and feeling sorry for herself. She’d find a way on her own. She’d done it before and she could do it again.

Maybe it was time to leave Miami, she decided while turning on the shower. A new place, a better life. She could do it. It’s not like there was anything keeping her tied to one place. There was freedom in that.

After using Zuri’s diffuser on her wet hair and borrowing some of her products to make her hair wavy, Marisol decided to face the end with dignity. It’s not like Elena or Zuri would be all down in the dumps. They were eager to get back to their lives.Marisol was just one of the many women they’d shared, Elena had told her so herself.

And that was fine, she said to her reflection before borrowing Zuri’s eyeliner, because they’d already shared more intimacy than makeup. Ignoring the ache in her chest, she put on a pair of black leggings and a loose tank top.

In the kitchen, Zuri was sautéing vegetables. Elena was testing her range of motion with fluid movements that might have been Tai Chi—if they weren’t so overtly designed to be lethal.

Elena noticed her first, brown eyes dazzling like the prospect of leaving had reinvigorated her with new life. “Well fuck me,” she muttered, attention darting over Marisol like she’d never seen her before.

In response, Zuri turned from the stove, hand leaving the pan handle and resting on her hip. Her gaze drifted over Marisol’s body. When she returned to her eyes, there was unabashed approval.

Biting her lip to hide her smile, Marisol tried to play it cool as she sauntered into the kitchen. She went for the fridge, deciding that bending down to reach the water pitcher would prolong their visual adoration. And why not? It would be nice to think that they’d miss her.

“Going somewhere, Bambi?” Zuri asked after a beat, stirring the food in the pan without looking away from her.

“Aren’t we all?” she shot back, pretending that her pulse wasn’t jack-hammering in her throat while she poured a glass of water she didn’t really want.

Unsure what the heck to do next now that she had their unexpectedly undivided attention, Marisol released a question that had been swirling in her mind for days. “So, why did you two break up?”

Charged gaze fixed on Elena, Zuri tipped her head to the side as if to say,you tell her.

“She broke my heart.” Elena gripped her chest like she was a Shakespearean character wrestling poison. “I was ready to spend my entire life with her.” She staggered forward as if Marisol hadn’t healed every fiber of her being. “I was ready to give her anything she asked. Kill anyone?—”

“I’ve never once requested a homicide, and yet it’s all you seem to offer,” Zuri snapped, but her lips were still pulled into a lopsided smile.

“Your entire life?” Marisol focused on Elena. “Not hers?”

Elena’s expression lost its amused shine. Her attention floated to Zuri, and for the first time, there was a real vulnerability in her eyes. Even when she’d been on the brink of death, when she’d been attacked by a man intent on killing her, she hadn’t looked vulnerable. But looking at Zuri, Elena was soft. Breakable.

“And that’s just it, isn’t it?” Elena said without looking away from Zuri. “Mine is a bit too long for some people’s taste.”

“So you wanted her to be a vampire with you?” Marisol asked gently before she could tell herself to butt out.

Neither of them answered her, but they exchanged the weight of the universe in their eye contact. There was so much between them. A palpable pain.

After a deep breath, Zuri straightened. Turning to Marisol, she shrugged. “You know how these things go, Bambi. Tale as old as taxes. Witch will not change who she is at her core. Won’t trade her identity for more time.” Her eyes glistened, but Marisol couldn’t imagine her ever crying. “And the vampire can’t stand to watch another lover die.”

Stunned speechless, Marisol wished she hadn’t asked. It hadn’t been any of her business, and now they were looking ateach other like they had a thousand things to say, but neither wanted to speak first.

“Let’s eat, huh?” Zuri pulled the pan off the stove too hard and it banged against the metal coil, sending a slice of yellow pepper flying over the side. “I’m probably not going to eat again today,” she added, even though it was only the afternoon.

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