Page 51 of Blood Gift

Epilogue

Vanessa

“I hate this time of year,”I whispered as we passed yet another store full of orange and black garbage. If I stumbled over another pumpkin, I would throw it through a window.

Gentry only chuckled as he took my hand to lead me across the street. “Come on. They enjoy it.”

“They’re ridiculous. They understand nothing about our traditions.”

“Are you going to get this way around Halloween every year? Because I’ll make it a point to take you away for the entire month of October from now on, if that’s the case.”

“Hmm. Tempting.”

We both knew that couldn’t happen—especially since I had someone to celebrate the festival with.

It had only taken nearly a year to be sure nobody was watching my movements, to find her and convince her to meet up with me.

I would never have sought her out if I thought there was a remote chance of hurting either of them.

We walked up the endless flights of stairs, and I knew it wasn’t exertion that made my heart race. It wasn’t until I heard her voice again on the phone that I realized how much I had missed her.

And seeing her was better than hearing her. She looked better than I had ever seen her. Happy, radiant, healthy. I knew we made the right choice that night at her old apartment, after she and Elias saved me.

My sister Mariya threw her arms around me, then gasped when she felt what was between us.

“Vanessa?” She stepped back, eyes round and teary. “You’re…”

“Five months,” I announced with a grin, rubbing my growing belly. “Surprise.”

“Get in here!” She pulled me into the apartment hugged me more gently than before. “I can’t believe it. I’m so happy for you.” When she released me, she bear-hugged Gentry. “I don’t even know you, but I’m happy for you!”

He laughed in surprise and hugged her back—meanwhile, the sound of footsteps made me turn my head in time to see Elias enter the cramped living room. He looked just the same, but then, he always would.

“Hey there,” I grinned, but I was unsure. When I thought of everything that had passed between us, I wasn’t sure what to do. How he would react to me.

“Hey yourself,” he said before cracking a grin of his own. “You look great.”

I was surprised when he came to me with his arms open for a hug. We had never exactly been friends. Mariya had softened him up a lot.

I sat with her and we looked at each other for a while without saying a word. She was so different from before. No more permanent frown. She even looked younger.

“I’m so glad you’re happy,” I managed to whisper through the tears threatening to choke me.

“Me? What about you? When I think about you, all I remember is trying to talk you down from throwing a tantrum. No offense.” She glanced at my belly, then back up at me with one eyebrow cocked.

“Yeah. I know. And now I’ll be the one begging somebody to quit it with the tantrums.”

“You’re in for it. You know that, right? And you have it coming to you.”

Elias’s snort of laughter told me he agreed.

Gentry chuckled behind me. “I hate to think that I’ll end up hearing the tantrums when I didn’t earn them.”

I only rolled my eyes. He knew I knew he was no angel, either.

We laughed over the way we both used our powers to help us land and hold onto our office jobs. Not that we went over-the-top, but it helped when starting off with no marketable skills.

“Imagine not being able to do that,” Gentry grinned wryly, shaking his head at himself.

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