Page 56 of Nosfer-Meet You

Juliette drops down, down, down toward the ocean … but a harpy snatches her out of the air and carries her back up toward me.

The harpy carrying me nods. “We have secured your mate,” she says. “Now to deal with your nemesis.”

The dozen or so harpies screech in unison again as they hit Dante over and over. His wings are nothing but tatters at this point. I’d almost feel sorry for him, if he wasn’t … him. My throat tightens as they unleash their vengeance on him.

Dante begins to slip out of the air, too weak and injured to fly. One of the harpies grabs on to his wings, and I let out a whimper when I hear the crunching breakage of his bones.

Minutes later, we land back at the tops of the cliffs. Juliette is deposited safely in my arms, where she belongs.

I run my hand along her palm, then brush my lips against hers. “Jules,” I murmur. “Sweetheart.”

She lifts her hand and pushes my wet hair out of my eyes, then smiles. “Scotty. You came for me.”

I lift her hands and kiss her knuckles. “Always.”

The harpy who carried me hobbles toward us. “I hate interrupting, but the ancient one still lives.”

Nodding, I set Juliette down in the grass beside two gigantic harpies. When I approach Dante, who’s lying in the grass and still in his bat form, I realize just how … small the guy actually is. The way Juliette spoke of him, he always seemed larger than life itself. This towering menace with all this power. But now all I see is a pitiful ancient vampire who can’t even move his wings. Not so powerful anymore, I guess.

I kneel beside him in the grass and shake one of his broken wings. He lets out a gurgled cry.

“Yeah, I know it hurts,” I say. “That’s why I did it. Because you’re an asshole who deserves that and more.”

His yellowed, hateful eyes linger on mine, but he says nothing.

“And I’d love nothing more than to drive a stake through your chest. Watch as you crumble into dust and blow away in the wind. But unfortunately, that’s not my call.” I look over my shoulder at Juliette, who is now sitting up on her own. Good. She’s already healing. That’s my girl. “Julie.”

Juliette pushes herself up and wobbles forward. I hold out my hand to her, and she takes it eagerly.

“What do you want to do with him, love?” I ask. “It’s up to you.”

She frowns at me, then at the heap of bat in the grass. She kneels next to him, then runs her hand across the top of his head. “Dante.”

Dante lets out a hacking cough as he regards Juliette with his bat-face. “Little dove. You’ve returned to me.”

She shakes her head. “I will always be grateful to you, for saving me from the fire. From taking me away from the Nosferatu raid. For turning me.”

Dante’s chest heaves as he spits up a blood clot. “I knew you would see reason, little dove.”

Her eyes narrow into slits. “I am only grateful for those things because it gave me the chance to meet him.” She looks at me and nods. “Scotty. The one who taught me what real love is. What it’s supposed to feel like. You see, for centuries, I thought you—and only you—loved me. Probably because my own mother treated me worse than horse dung. I see now that only made me an easy target for you.”

Dante says nothing. He simply stares at her with pure venom in his eyes.

“You broke my heart. Made me eat my mother’s,” she says. “Now I’m going to break yours.”

Juliette sends her fist flying into Dante’s back. He lets out a strangled moan as she rips his heart from his rib cage and holds it in front of her face. She watches it let out a few last beats in her palm, then allows it to drop to the ground with a wet thud. But vampires can’t be killed this way. They need to be burned, staked, or decapitated. Surely, she knows⁠—

Juliette nods to one of the harpies. It lets out a mighty screech before removing Dante’s bat-head clear from his shoulders. Another harpy flies forward to catch it in their beak before it can hit the ground. I look away as the harpies descend on the head in a hungry frenzy. Gross.

“It’s done, then,” she says, and plops down in the grass next to me. “It’s over.”

I throw an arm around her shoulder and pull her against my chest. No other words are needed.

Rob leans against the reception counter as he strokes his beard. “And they said they don’t want to attack us, but their food supply is being fucked with?” he asks.

I nod. “They said something in the swamp is eating everything, so that’s why they started coming after you guys. But they said they’d stop if you could help them out with their food shortage.”

Rob regards me cooly for a few moments, and I’m worried he isn’t going to believe the tale. Fuck it. I probably wouldn’t. If I were him, I’d assume Julie and I were trying to get out of hunting duty. But then he hums thoughtfully and says, “Fine. We’ll take a look in the swamp. See if we can’t find the source of the issue. In the meantime, tell them we’ll bring ’em some leftover meat from the butcher. Sound good?”