Afterlife (37 page)

“The school is dead now,” my mother had explained earlier,
as Ranulf dragged a couple of vampire corpses into the fire to minimize tile
awkwardness when tile law arrived. “Without Mrs. Bethany, there is no Evernight
Academy. These students need to go home to their families.”

“What will this place become?” I said, looking at the
massive stone towers silhouetted against tile snow — cloud sky.

“Some millionaire’s mansion, maybe. Or tile state might turn
it into sometl1ing — a home for people in trouble. Another school.” Mom smiled 235
gently at Dad. “Good thing we never sold the Arrowwood place, huh?”

“We can’t go back there,” he corrected. “The people who
remember us will know we look too young.”

“I know, dear. I’ve been doing this a while, too, remember?”
She nudged him, fondly teasing. “But we can sell the house now, and use the
money to go somewhere else.”

He put an arm around her shoulders. “Homesick for England?”

Mom brightened, and I suspected their new home would be
somewhere near her beloved London. But she remained focused on me. “What about
you, Bianca?”

“I’m staying with Lucas,” I said, “but it doesn’t matter now
where I stay. I can be with you as quickly as blinking an eye. So we’ll visit
as much as we want. There’s no such thing as being far away from you, not
anymore.”

She drooped a little. “It’s so unfair. That you can give
life to someone else, but you’re a wraith forever.”

“Mom, it’s okay.” I’d been turning this over in my mind for
several days now, and after tonight’s astonishing events, I finally knew what I
wanted to tell her. “Stop thinking that something terrible happened to me,
okay? You guys, of all people, should realize that death’s not the end. Besides
— !
was meant to be a wraitil. I feel that now. These
powers, these abilities — already I can
‘ t
imagine
not having them.This is my destiny. This is what I’m supposed to be.” After a
moment’s pause, I added, “And it’s fun.”

My parents both started to laugh, and gatilered me into
their arms for a ftong hug.

As the cops kept taking extremely confused statements from
various students, and a very careful statement from Lucas, the red and blue
lights from their vehicles beat raggedly, turning the snow crust on the ground
different colors. Vic and Ranulf helped Skye down the front steps of Evernight;
I could see that she continued to shake, and was clumsy as she tried to handle
a duffle bag half as big as she was. When they walked past us, I heard her say,
“Vampires and vampire hunters and ghosts — and they’ re all at war?”

“Present company excepted,” Vic said, with a grin over his
shoulder. I could sense that Maxie hovered there, close by his side. “You know,
if you 236 ask me, those shouldn’t be the sides. Instead, it should be the
normal, awesome people versus the bug — nut crazy people. Plenty of people and
vampires and ghosts on both sides of that equation, you know?”

“We are among the awesome,” Ranulf said gravely.

“Whatever you say.” Skye looked mostly like she wanted to
get the hell away from anything supernatural and take a long nap. I couldn’t blame
her, but I didn’t want to let her go without saying thanks.

“Skye, “I called as I walked up. She looked at me tiredly.
“What you did up there — I’ll always be grateful. Me and Lucas both.”

“Lucas saved my life,” Skye said. “I wanted to help him,
which meant helping you. And, like I said, I’d want somebody to do it for me.”

Her voice was so weary, and her eyes remained haunted. C
hoosing my words with care, I said, “I possessed you for a pretty long time,
and some intense supernatural things were happening. Are you sure you’re okay?”

Skye’s expression hardened. ““ll be okay the sooner I get
away from here.” She took a deep breath. “Tell Lucas I’m happy for you guys.
And .
. . tell him good — bye.” Then she marched through the
snow to the police car without looking back.

In the distance, I saw Balthazar standing apart from
everyone else. I walked through the snow to his side. My father’s coat hung so
large on my shoulders that I felt as though I were wearing a cape. Balthazar
didn’t turn as I approached, but when I reached him, he said, “Someone will
have to take care of the stables.”

I followed his gaze to the school stables, where a few
students had kept their prize horses for riding. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

“I’ll go down there tonight, make sure the horses are fed
and warm,” he said quietly. “Their owners will come for them soon enough,
probably, but I’ll keep checking. Oh, by the way, while we were looking for you
today — I grabbed this.” From his pocket, Balthazar withdrew my silver and
coral bracelet and dropped it into my hand. “It was under the beanbag chair. I
guess Mrs. Bethany stashed it there when she replaced it with the trap.”

“Thank you,” I said, but it Wasn’t enough. Unspoken words
hung between us, and I knew we had to deal with this immediately. Tve drunk
your 237 blood, too,” I said. “What I did for Lucas — the return to life — it
might work for you. If you want.”

Drinking somebody’s blood was a deeply intimate act, and for
any other cause, I would never have offered; it would have been like cheating
on Lucas. Yet I knew that Lucas would never begrudge Balthazar the chance to
live again.

To my surprise, Balthazar shook his head. “No. There’s no
guarantee it would work, and if it didn’t, I’d be poisoned.”

“It’s worth a shot.”

“It wouldn’t work.” His eyes narrowed as he stared at the
horizon, as if he were blinded by the moonlight on the snow. “What happened
tonight — that Wasn’t about blood. It was about the bond between you. The two
of you are parts of one whole. That’s something you and I have never been.”

I laid my hand on his shoulder. “Balthazar, I’m sorry.”

He shrugged. “I’m no worse off than I was before. And — I’m
happy for Lucas. I mean it.”

Quickly I stood on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek.
Balthazar smiled at me, but I could tell he mostly wanted to be alone. So I
went back to help with the cleanup, and hoped that the police believed our
version of events.

They would, of course. It was going to be a lot easier for
them to decide that a water main had flooded the school, creating some ice on a
cold night and shorting out electricity in the carriage house to start the
fire. Why would they ever believe some panicked teenagers babbling about
ghosts?

There was no telling precisely how the final official
reports would read, but I knew how they would end: with the confirmation that
Evernight Academy existed no more.

 Around dawn, Raquel and Dana drove all of us to the
town where they lived. Although their motel was anything but elegant, it was
clean and safe, and there were tons of vacancies. If the tired couple running
the motel was confused to suddenly check in seven guests at two a.m., they said
nothing.

My parents also said nothing when I went to Lucas’s room
with him. My mom even checked Lucas’s bandage before we walked away and she
told him she’d put some Neosporin on it in the morning. He swallowed hard as he
nodded, and I could tell he was missing his mother, and the way she 238 had
cared for him.

Mom and Dad probably thought we were just going to fall into
each other’s arms. I liked the idea, but I knew that Lucas and I had to make a
lot of decisions tonight — decisions that would shape our whole futures.

When we were alone in the room together, I helped him ease
out of his jacket and shirt. Every mo·ve made him wince. I said, “You know
.. .
now
that you’re human again…
if
you wanted to call Kate — ”

“I don’t.” He looked up at me, and although his eyes were
sad, I knew he truly meant what he said. “I still love Mom. I always will. But
I know now, she
has .
..
limitations
.
She can’t see past her own fear. There’s no way for her to be a part of our
lives. Maybe someday, I might — I don’t know, let her know what happened. It
would be a load off her mind, knowing I’ve been changed back. But I’ll never
see her again.”

l
sat on the hotel bed next to him.
“Are you sad?”

“No. I’ve known we’d never be together again for a while
now.” He brought his hand up to the curve of my jaw and smiled. “And how could
I be sad today? God, Bianca, You’re a — miracle.”

I caught his hands in mine. “You’re alive again,” I said, my
voice shaking. “You can have any kind of life you want. So I just want you to
know that you’re free, okay? You’re free to make your own decisions. Even if — even
if that means leaving me.”

“What?” Lucas stared at me like he couldn’t believe a word I’d
said. “Why would I ever want to leave you?”

“You don’t have to fight vampires or wraiths anymore. You
told me how much you always wanted a normal life, and now you can have one.
Lucas, you could go to college, like you used to dream about. Meet some girl
who’s alive and well and never — never had to attack anyone, or to learn how to
kill.” I couldn’t quite meet his eyes anymore. “Someday you could get married.
Have children. That’s something I can never give you.”

Lucas stared at me, shocked into silence. He had to be
weighing what I’d just said. I didn’t expect him to agree right away, but he
had to see the truth of it on some level. Given time, he would choose to
fulfill his oldest dream: to live like other people lived. To have a house, a
job, a family. To 239 set aside the old battles forever.

Then he said, “How do you know?”

“How do I know what?”

“That we can’t have children.”

It caught me up short. Honestly, I’d never thought I’d be
able to have children; most vampires never did, with my mom and dad as a rare
exception. Becoming a ghost had only confirmed its impossibility. “Lucas, I’m
dead.”

“So were your parents.”

“I don’t have a body.”

He cupped my face in his hands, so tenderly it made me
shiver. “Feels like it to me.”

I could have a body if I wanted one, couldn’t I
?
There didn’t seem to be any limit on how long I could keep
it. “We don’t know that it’s possible,” I protested. “We can’t be sure.”

“That means we can
‘ t
be sure what’s
impossible, either.” Lucas smiled at me, his dark green eyes shining. “Bianca,
before tonight, nobody ever dreamed that you would be able to bring me back to
life like that. You made that happen. And now we’ll find a way. I’m not talking
about kids, or at least not just about kids. I mean, no matter what’s ahead of
us. We’II make it work. Because I love you too much to ever let you go.”

Joy rippled through me. “Are you sure?”

“Are you?” For a moment, hesitation flickered across his
features. “You’re the most amazing supernatural creature in the world, and I’m
just some guy who’s going to get old eventually.”

““ll make my hair gray to match yours,” I promised. “I’ll
add wrinkles when you do.” I hadn’t known that I could feel like crying and
laughing at the exact same moment. “But, Lucas — what about having a normal
life?”

“Forget normal.” He grinned. “We’re going to be
extraordinary.”

We kissed, and for the first time since he’d been changed,
there was no barrier between us, no hesitation.

It turned out, with a little bit of concentration, I no
longer had to take my clothes off. If l wanted them to be gone, they were, so
that only my silver and coral bracelet shone on my wrist.

It felt different, being with him now that he was alive and
I was not. Somehow, it felt even better. When we were together, I could sense
240 everything he sensed, be aware of his pleasure along with my own. And his
touch was no longer a simple connection of nerves and neurons, no longer
creating a merely physical response. Instead, I felt his touch as what it was —
an expression of the love between us — and that excited me as nothing else ever
had or could.

“Bianca,” Lucas whispered against my throat, his breath once
again warm, the scent of his skin again all around me. “You’re my life.”

“And You’re mine.” It was true. His heartbeat, his muscles,
everything that made him human resonated within me as strongly as my own life
ever had. Within myself I held everything that was wonderful about being
supernatural, and everything that had been wonderful about being alive. This
was what it meant to be anchored — to be loved.

Afterward, as we lay tangled up in each other, Lucas combed
through my hair with his fingers. As he stared up at the ceiling, he said,
“Only one thing bothers me.”

“What’s that?”

“The only thing I don’t like about being mortal means — I
have to leave you. Not until the end of my life, and trust me, I intend to live
a good long time, but just the same. That’s where we’re headed, someday.”

A sharp pang made me hug him tighter. ‘Til face that when
the time comes. If I’m able to have the next fifty or sixty years with you — if
we can be together and happy for your whole life — then that’s what I want. I’d
rather mourn when I lose you than not be with you at all.”

Lucas kissed me deeply, then folded me back into his arms.
“So that’s what we’ll do.”

“What about you?” I whispered. “I know how happy you are to
be alive, but
. ..
you
were
going to live forever, and now you won’t. You lost your immortality. Does that
feel weird?”

“I’ll never die,” he said. Before I could protest, Lucas put
two fingers on my lips. His gentle smile seemed to fill the room with light.
and
I realized he was telling a deeper kind of truth than I’d
ever known before. “You’ll live forever, and being remembered by you is the
only immortality I’ll ever need. If I only live on as a part of you — Bianca,
that’s my idea of heaven.”