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“Better?” I asked.
“If I focus on the ocean waves, yeah.”
I walked with him over to the stone barrier, placing a hand on the smooth rock as we both looked out at the dark ocean, waves lapping up onto a quiet shore. I wrapped an arm around Robby’s shoulder. He rested his head against mine.
“I can’t believe this all happened,” Robby said in a whisper barely louder than the gentle winds.
“Fate is fickle, and she also loves surprises. There’s going to be a lot that happens to us in life that surprises us, it’s what we do to take advantage of those surprises that matters.”
“Damien… I’m a vamp now. I’m forever changed. I feel like I can compete and win gold medals in sports that I don’t even know the rules to. I feel like I can run a marathon and eat a farm and drink for ages. I feel like I can cry until I’m a husk and then cry some more, but I can also jump straight up to the moon with how happy I am.
Basically, I’m a fucking mess right now.”
I held him a little tighter. “And you have all the space you need to be a mess. What you went through—going through—it isn’t easy. At all.”
“What if I can’t handle it?”
“You can,” I said. “You’ve handled far worse.”
“Than lifelong immortality and extremely sharp teeth?”
“Yes. Yes you have. Remember that time you had to kill a tarantula when you were closing up the Magic Box by yourself? I’d say that was pretty bad.”
He chuckled, the sound settling in my chest like the sweetest melody known to man. “True, true. And I guess now I can just use my heightened reflexes to snipe it with a sandal from across the room.”
“See, there you go, silver lining.” I kissed the top of his head. He didn’t know how fucking happy this made me, to hold him against me, listening to him breathing and laughing. Tears slipped from my eyes.
“And what about you?” Robby asked, head still on my shoulder. “Are you ok with dating an arch-nemesis? Dragons and vamps aren’t really known to get along.”
“We can make it work. Just look at Ben and Madds.”
“You mean the two who are currently broken up and still pining for each other? Not the best example.”
My turn to chuckle, which only pushed more tears down my cheeks. “They would have worked if my little brother wasn’t such a commitment-phobe. We won’t have that problem.”
“We better not, considering I’m in it for the long haul. The very, very long haul.”
Silence settled over us, the implications of his words not lost on me. Robby now had immortality, set to live until the world turned to dust or someone turned him to dust. It was both a blessing and a curse. One I would never be able to have. At some point, I’d grow old while Robby stayed locked in his invisible case of amber, keeping him looking and feeling like a twenty-seven year old for the rest of his life while my skin started to sag and bones began to creak. Granted, it wouldn’t happen for another two-hundred years, but compared to Robby’s infinite amount and that looked like child’s play.
It would be another hurdle we’d have to overcome, but we had time to face it. Now all that I wanted to do was soak in my second chance. I kissed the top of Robby’s head again, tasting some of my own salty tears against my lips.
“I love you, Robby. Always, forever, until the end of time. I love you.”
Robby lifted his head from my shoulder. I could see he had been crying, too. Golden brown eyes glittered under the moonlight, bright and full of life. I kissed him, hands going to his hips, bodies pressed together.
“I’d come back a thousand times over for you, Damien. I love you.”
I’m not sure how long we stayed up there, talking about anything and everything, watching the stars dance over the dark waters, the world finally feeling like it made a little more sense than it had the day before. Things were working out for us, finally.
I could look ahead and be excited about the future, not scared, and that was a feeling I could only attribute to the smiley and bubbly huma—vampire I called mine.
Chapter 34
Back to Work
Robby
The shop was busy today, a steady stream of customers coming in and out of the teal-blue doors. Some of them smelled like sand and sunblock, their flip-flops clapping against the freshly mopped floors. Others smelled like pan con bistec and a cortadito—likely coming from lunch at the nearby Cuban cafe. The shifter I was currently assisting with a purchase of crystals smelled like a field of lavender and roses.
It had been two months since the battle in the Obsidian District, and it was only a few weeks ago that I had started to become accustomed to all the different scents I could pick up. At first, I’d get constant migraines, overwhelmed every time the breeze picked up or someone walked past me. Now, though, I was learning how to manage it, same as I managed the side-eyes and fearful attitudes some people took when they realized I was a vamp. It was difficult at first, more so than the migraines and stomach cramps and urge to run until I fell off the world. I’d grown up wanting people to like me, breaking my back so that everyone around me felt comfortable and happy. That part of me was still very much alive and well, but it was a part that people seemed to ignore when they saw my airbrushed skin and subtle fangs. I had to go further in proving to people that I wasn’t a threat.
