AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The spirits of the girls began to celebrate. They gave what sounded like shouts of triumph at first. Then one after the other, the young women broke into a celestial, otherworld song.
Tears burst from Emma’s eyes. Vaughn, can you hear them?
Like angels singing.
It is.
Beth leaned her head against the well of Vaughn’s shoulder. She was shaking again so Emma put her hand on Beth’s forehead and let her healing flow.
“Oh, that feels wonderful. Almost as wonderful as hearing the angels sing.”
Emma glanced at her. “Can you see the spirits, Beth?”
“No. I can only hear their song. Wait, is that my name? Are they singing about me?”
“Yes.” Emma smiled through her tears. “They’re singing your praises, and I think they’ll be singing for a long time to come.”
Beth smiled. “I hear your name, too, and Vaughn’s, just as it should be.”
Emma was overwhelmed with the waves of gratitude that poured through the girls’ voices. She had no doubt the sound of all these combined voices, raised in celebration and thanksgiving, would forge her determination to do good in her world for years to come.
~ ~ ~
As Vaughn listened to the ghostly singing with an arm around Beth and Emma, his entire Five Bridges experience slipped through his head. What had been nothing but despair had transformed into an understanding of what this new world could be. From the beginning, he’d fought his alter experience, believing it could never be more than a struggle for survival.
Tonight, all that had changed.
He kissed the top of Beth’s head, then turned to Emma and dipped low to kiss her on the lips.
An ocean of love had arrived in his life, and he would never again be the same.
The spirits continued to sing, though they slowly began to vanish, one at a time, until only the triplets remained, three lovely brown-haired girls, each expression enrapt.
While Emma talked to them, Vaughn contacted Brannick telepathically to let him know what had happened and to ask him to bring in a search party to go room by room through the mansion. Brannick told him he would contact Connor, who was a Trib officer and who would know which of the uncorrupt TPS force he could ask to help with the search. Vaughn suggested they bring in a couple of trained police dogs as well.
Vaughn didn’t have high expectations about what would happen. No doubt as soon as Donaldson learned that Loghry was dead, he’d contact the cartels, and in turn oust Brannick and Connor from Loghry’s home. The best they could hope for was to discover if any other prisoners were on the grounds, then to release them before they could be taken somewhere else and funneled back into the sex trafficking underworld of Five Bridges.
Within fifteen minutes, Brannick and his team arrived, along with a pair of well-trained search-and-rescue dogs on the leash and ready to hunt. Every corner of the mansion was searched as well as two more hidden chambers within the labyrinth that Beth told them about. Loghry had been a deeply disturbed man and four more malnourished and tortured female vampires were found alive on the property. The dogs located at least a dozen corpses as well. No doubt more would be found over time.
Long past midnight, when word came that Donaldson was taking over the investigation, the team gathered near the guest house. Vaughn thanked Brannick and his men for their help. He s
hook hands with each of them.
As the team disbanded and headed their separate ways, he flew with Beth and Emma back to Emma’s home. Emma prepared a quick meal of vegetable soup, sour dough toast and red wine.
His sister ate ravenously, being nothing but skin and bones beneath her ragged dress. Her shakes had stopped, at least for the moment, in no small part to Emma’s intermittent healing touch. But withdrawal from any of the flame drugs was never simple and would require months to complete.
When dinner was over, Emma took Beth to the guest room where she would stay as long as she wanted. Beth was in good hands.
Vaughn, to his surprise, felt a strong need to be in Emma’s spellroom. He made his way there and found both Toby and Stormy present, eyeing him curiously. The room felt familiar and comfortable as though he were coming home after a long difficult journey.
He’d never thought to have a woman in his life again, and he took a moment to silently give thanks.
When Emma entered the room, he opened his arms to her. She walked into them, then surrounded his waist and held him tight, her head pressed against his chest. “I can’t believe all that happened. Vaughn, we made it.”
“We did.”
“And an evil man is dead.”
