“Me too. As long as the sun shines in the day and the stars at night.” Arran leans forward and gives me a long kiss. Pulling back again, he says, “As soon as you’re healed and used to your new body, we’ll go apply for our passports, then we can really start planning our first trip.”
Apparently if you change species, you need to get a whole new set of documents.
Since Arran hasn’t had any form of identification ever, he suggested he’ll apply for his too, so that if we were so inclined, we can go visit other creature-friendly towns like Willow Glen, or those even farther away.
Arran doesn’t know it yet, but I’ve secretly been researching all the places he’s told me about from his youth. Though his old castle isn’t in use anymore, I’m planning to take him there, back to his rugged mountains and stormy dales, to his old home on the mainland. I’m hoping it will give him some of the closure that he’s never gotten.
I’m still in the process of contacting descendants of his clan or anyone who could tell us about the area’s history since Arran left. But there’s no rush for any of this.
Tonight, I’ll start my transition, and tomorrow, my healing begins. Then we have the rest of our immortal lives together for everything else.
Arran tilts his head to one side, a secretive smile pulling on his lips. “Will you come downstairs with me?”
“Why?”
“Don’t argue. Just say yes.”
“Oh, you’re bossy. Fine, but you have to carry me.” Placing the back of my hand against my forehead, I feign fatigue. “My delicate human legs need rest before you drain all the blood from my body.”
“Audrey,” Arran scolds through a laugh, which turns into a mild groan. He doesn’t protest any further, simply scoops me into his arms and carries me toward the stairs.
Tonight, our sweet but chaotic little Anita will once again be staying with Pack Morgan while I’m transitioning. Our home doesn’t feel the same without her, but we won’t be able to give the pup the attention she deserves while our focus is elsewhere, and we know that the fox, wolf, and panther shifters adore playing with her.
Arran is quiet as he carries me into the foyer, everything looking gloomier than usual here.
Did we forget to open the curtains today? Why does it feel off?
I cling a little tighter as Arran turns toward the parlor and I squint into the darkness.
Suddenly, bright light floods the room as the curtains are thrown open and a myriad of creatures shout, “Surprise!”
I scream, my hand flying to my chest as I try to make out everyone who’s in front of me.
Tilly, Bodin, Ren, Maisie, Shinsu, Nori, Beryl, Calixta, Aurelius, Peregrine, Viggo and Juniper are all gathered in the parlor, the entire room decorated for a birthday party.
“What is all this?” I ask, staring at the cake and balloons and party hats on their heads.
Then, my eyes fall on the banner across the back wall.
Happy Forever Thirty-Two!
Nori comes over and places a crown on my head and a sash across my body saying “Birthday Girl”. “Since you’re not going to celebrate your birthday tomorrow, we thought we’d bring it to you a day early. We know how you feel about turning thirty-three, so we made sure not to mention that anywhere.”
Maisie makes jazz hands next to a big black cake decorated with delicate red roses and intricate calligraphy marking my forever age. “From tomorrow you’re not going to appreciate human food as much, and you need your strength before all the fucking and feeding you two will be doing tonight. So naturally we thought we’d come to help. Not with the fucking, but the feeding. But not the blood feeding, I mean the human feeding before the blood feeding—”
Ren clamps a gentle hand over Maisie’s mouth and pulls her against him. “Happy nonbirthday, Audrey.”
“Thank you, guys,” I say, still not quite believing what’s happening.
The cake is delicious and it’s so satisfying to know that after today I won’t have to worry about my blood sugar again. Yes, there’ll be other types of struggles, but if I can handle diabetes, I can handle whatever life throws at me.
I completely lose track of time as I spend the afternoon with my friends. Any niggle of worry or nerves I had are totally forgotten as they keep me distracted, filling me with so much love and attention.
Around sunset, I’m passed around the whole gang, each one hugging me with a word of encouragement whispered in my ear.
I know I’m essentially dying tonight before I’m brought back to life, but if the latter part weren’t to happen, I can’t think of a better way to spend my last day as a human.
In front of our ruby-red door, I lean my back against Arran’s chest while we wave our friends off as they return to their own homes.
