Page 24 of Forever Frenzy
“Just know I’m with you. Through all of this, please don’t push me away,” he asked.
“I’ll try.” That was all I could promise.
The tingling in my head went away as a flood of true memories washed over me, a tsunami of sadness forming in my heart, squeezing out any room for breath.
I cried while Tage sat beside me.
I cried until I had no tears left, until my body and muscles were sore from sobbing so hard.
“Why are you still here?” I yelled when he tried to pull me into his shoulder.
“Because I love you.”
“You lied to me.”
“Seth asked me to. He thought it was best, and at first I did, too.”
“Lies! It’s what you’re best at.”
“No.” He looked me straight in the eye. “Truth is what I’m best at. Our son told me to give you happy, to focus on the truth, but I couldn’t do both. I couldn’t make you happy that your husbandwas dead and you were bound here. But my truth is that I love you. I have loved you from the moment you looked at me, a frightened young girl in the pavilion, brave enough to hunt alongside and feed monsters just to survive.”
“You made me think this was heaven, but it’s really some sort of punishment. It’s hell, and I want out of here.”
“Where would you go, Porschia? You’re a vampire. You made the choice knowing the consequences, andthisisn’t hell. If you want to know what hell looks like, watch another man raise your child, sleep with your wife, love her, and spend every day with her, while you are stuck here, unable to be with any of them. Watch that for a day and then tell me what hell is. Then watch it every day for sixteen years.Thatis hell, Porschia.”
“You died!”
“You asked me to!” he roared. “I died foryou. I died for you every day and I would do it again, but don’t punish me for trying to help you cope.” He pushed himself up and stared out at the water. “Don’t punish me for loving you.”
I didn’t want to hear this. I only wanted to see my son.
Splashing into the tide, I sank until I couldn’t touch anymore and then swam back toward the tent. Angry as hell. Torn into shreds of a woman.
At the tent, I tugged on the tether I felt between me and Seth. Hard.
And when my son stepped through the doorway he’d made in the palms, I ran to him and hugged him tight.
“You know,” he said.
“You shouldn’t have kept it from me.”
Seth was able to find Ford. He was indeed married and his wife Amy was expecting. She and Ford were setting up a refuge for the formerly Infected. The medical care was offered by those with knowledge, but mostly it was a place where the scared or disfigured, the ill and injured could go without judgement or fear of being cast out. That was happening more and more as the formerly Infected succumbed to a variety of illnesses; human illnesses that might have naturally affected them at an older age, but were tearing through the community with a ferocity no one could have predicted.
Ford wanted Seth to see if Mercedes and Roman would consider moving there. Mercedes wasn’t sick yet, but she would be safe if anything happened. Blackwater as a whole wasn’t throwing people out, but the formerly Infected typically lived in the city, away from the Colony. They’d formed their own community by themselves, with Mercedes as the lone exception.
She loved Roman and their kids, and I knew there was no way in hell she was leaving her home. She’d tell them all to go to hell if they tried to boot her out.
Porschia didn’t let Seth out of her sight, and she glared at me every chance she got. This was going to be a rather longforeverif she was as stubborn as she seemed.
I noticed her fingers twitching, her lip curl, and saw her sniff the air. Seth was human, and humans were food. Before she could hurt him, I pushed in between them. “Leave, Seth. Now,” I commanded.
The look of confusion on his face faded as soon as he saw Porschia’s fangs gnashing at him. He swallowed, promised he’d visit soon, and then left The Sand.
A second after he was gone, she calmed. She didn’t need food here. There were no humans, thus no temptation. However, if you placed a deer in front of a lion, it would feed. It was simply nature.
She clamped her hands over her mouth. “I tried to eat my own kid.” Tears bubbled up in her eyes. “I’m the worst mom ever!” she cried.
“You’re a night-walker,” I teased, grinning at her.
