Part Ten

Yared was mostly numb as he walked into the forest behind Maple. Galdwyn’s death had blanketed the world behind him and there was only this moment now, when he was following the lamia girl who smelled of fresh blood between the rocks and trees.

She stopped at the edge of a quick-flowing stream. The other side was two yards away and Yared could see that the stream was almost as deep as it was wide. The waters, he knew, would be cold.

"Do you want me to sit down or stand?" she asked. "Or I could lay on the ground."

He nudged her until she turned around and faced the creek. Then he shifted painfully into his human form again.

The world looked different through these eyes. The moonlight meant more, so did the darkness. The break in the trees running over the stream left a crack of sky visible. True night was upon them.

He looked at Maple and she had changed, too. She was standing with the tips of her boots already in the creek; a tap would send her plunging into the water. Her hair was matted and her sweater had been torn open, and she stood weakly on one leg.

"Don’t turn around," he told her.

"I won’t."

Her voice wasn’t defiant, it was beaten. She was beaten. He had beaten her and now he was going to finish her.

He hadn’t realized how hard doing that might be. Last night he had told her they might talk if she stood by him. There was no contingency plan for what he would do if she didn’t.

He must have had faith in her as some point.

"I was a fool to think you were any better than this," he said. His voice hurt, and so did the strips of flesh torn out of his thighs that had once been his tail. "You deserve death for what you said back there. Not because you betrayed me, I don’t give a shit about you and me, but because you sold out an entire pack to a madman."

She tensed, he was grateful to see. The hatred in him had been dampened by seeing her so defenseless, but it hardened now as his words brought up memories.

"You tricked me. You mislead me. You even poisoned me. Some of it you did because Galdwyn had your sister. Some of it you did because you’re cruel. You have a cruel heart. You deserve a cruel death, so get down on your knees."

She did. That was when he wondered if this was going to kill him.

Galdwyn had been willing to do anything for the pack. Yared had thought he felt the same way, but...what if Galdwyn had been wrong? What if his fanaticism had driven him too far?

What Maple didn’t deserve to die?

"Do you really hate me that much?" he asked when he hadn’t meant to speak at all.

She was sitting on her heels at the edge of the stream. Yared was on his hands and knees a few feet behind her. She twisted her head as if listening to him.

"I don’t hate you," she said softly.

He crawled toward her, the dry leaves on the ground rustling. He could smell her skin and the scent of almonds rising off it.

"Then why did you lie tonight?"

"I’m ready, Yared, just do it."

"Why did you lie?" he repeated.

"Because I had to," she whispered fiercely. "I had to hurt you so that you could bring me out here and do it without reservations, without wondering if you had just cause."

"I don’t understand." Suddenly killing her was a secondary goal. "Why do you want to die?"

She didn’t speak.

"Maple, I asked a question. Why do you want to die?"

"I deserve to die. I’ve been weak my whole life, and now I’ve been so weak that people were hurt, people were murdered, and I stood by and watched. I deserve to die for my negligence. I deserve to die because I lived in Galdwyn’s house and watched what he did and never lifted a hand to stop him. Maybe I even fell in love with him a little. I certainly didn’t stop him from loving me."

Her reasons were completely different from Yared’s.

"What about Amber?" he asked. "You were trying to protect her."

"Good of the many versus good of the one. She’s one little girl. I put an entire pack in danger. Just do it already, Yared. I’ll always be weak, I’ll make the same mistakes over again."

He sat back and studied her. Her hair had fallen to completely hide her face, but her shoulders were shaking in reigned-in sobs.

From behind him came a sudden, "Oh!"

He spun and leapt to his feet. Maple turned around on the ground and they both saw a little girl in over-sized clothing standing between two bushes and clapping her hands over her eyes.

"Sorry," she said. "I didn’t know there was naked stuff going on."

Maple cursed under her breath. "What are you doing here?"

"Who is that?" Yared asked, although he had already guessed.

"I heard you say you weren’t coming back and I got worried."

"You heard me?"

"In my head. You were practically yelling, Maple."

"She’s alive?" Yared demanded.

"Who’s alive?" Amber asked. "Somebody’s dead?"

Maple shook her head and sat down on her heels again. Amber stumbled through the brush with her eyes still covered.

"You told me she was dead," Yared said.

"I thought she was. But when I got here today, Galdwyn had her in the basement."

She shook her head again. Amber tripped over a branch on the ground and released a high-pitched, "Oops!"

Yared hardly registered her presence. "Maple," he said, "did Galdwyn make you lie?"

"It doesn’t matter. I’m still...I’m so weak, Yared. I’m-"

"Shut up," he said in disbelief.

"Am I getting warmer?" Amber asked, a mere yard from the stream.

"Just stand there for a minute," Yared told her quickly, and then looked back at her older sister.

"I just want this to be over," Maple whispered. "I’m so tired..."

And then she rolled backwards in the water.

Yared didn’t know if it was an accident or a misbegotten suicide attempt, but he jumped in after her. The water felt like razors all over his body and when he opened his eyes he could barely see.

His knee touched Maple and her thoughts swarmed in his head.

-how he could think I’m anything but-

-such a fool, all over again-

-don’t follow me down-

-there’s only six feet of wa-

-even vampires drown-

-no they don’t-

He reached the bottom of the stream and his knees crunched on the loose rocks. Maple’s hair floated around her head like a cape lifted on the wind and her blue eyes caught the starlight even under water.

He reached for her hands. She shook her head in slow motion but he took hold of them any way.

-let Galdwyn kiss me-

-so what?-

-didn’t go further than that-

-I let Nieka kiss me, and she’s almost forty-

-you need a reason, here it is-

-I don’t want a reason-

-too tired to make it up to you even if-

-do anything for Thursy, and you would-

-do anything for Amber-

-how can I hate you for that?-

-I let you down-

-Galdwyn let me down, not you-

-You’ll never really be able to-

-I think I’ve already forgiven you-

-You never will in your heart-

-proof. I’m going to marry you-

-no one keeps those kinds of promises-

-I do.-

-Oh, mother Venus I think he means it-

Their heads broke the surface. Amber had the shoulder of Maple’s sweater and was trying to pull her out of the water, but she had a better chance of toppling herself in.

"I’ve got her," Yared said.

"Is she okay? Mapey, are you okay?"

Maple took a few gurgling breaths and coughed a cup of water out of her lungs. Yared wrapped his arms around her so that her bare stomach met his

-so much joy in forgiving-

and she collapsed against him, crying and choking and holding onto him, for the first time not being the strong one and not being the one who kept their heads above the water.

-I can feel it all around me-

"Are you okay?" Amber asked again. "Don’t you guys need to get out of the water?"

"No," Yared told her, "we’re

-washing away all that hate and hurt-

fine right here."

Maple let her head fall onto his shoulder and he kissed her hair.

-take her pills-

"Did you take your pills?" Yared asked Amber.

She nodded. Her straight copper hair swung around her face, which resembled Maple’s only in the chin and the size of her luminous amber eyes. "I told Osprey there was a secret passage in the basement and while he was digging for it I came out here. Who are you, anyway?"

He liked the honesty in her eyes and the way she kept reaching out to stroke her sister’s shoulder. "I’m Maple’s husband," he said.

Amber’s eyes widened even further. "No

-can’t believe you said that-

way!"

Yared smiled and whispered into Maple’s ear, "Believe it," and she pulled back far enough to look him in the eye.

This time, she didn’t look away.