Here lies Riley Becker.
Son and best friend.
May the angels bless you
And welcome you home.
Tears fall down my cheeks as I bow my head, wishing for a moment things could be a tiny bit different. Riley should never have become an angel, it corrupted his very soul and changed him into a monster. But I will never remember that man...I’m going to remember the boy who was my friend.
And miss him all the same.
Chapter 71
One Year Later
“Katy!” Aala shouts my name as I finish washing up the dishes from our breakfast. I pick up a tea towel as Aala crashes into the room, her red hair whipping around her shoulders like it’s alive. After the war, Aala was the light in our lives to bring us back to reality and what we all wanted for our future. I grieved for Riley, for all those we lost, but having to put on a brave face for Aala taught me how to actually be brave. How to move on. Shoving her locks of hair from her face, she grins at me. “I was invited to the tales ball for the little ones! Can I go?”
“That depends if a boy or girl invited you,” Henry grumbles, stepping into our kitchen behind her, another gust of wind from outside messing up her hair.
“What Henry meant is sure, but one of us will be taking you there and back,” I say, and she stubbornly huffs before hugging Henry and then running back outside to play with her new friends on our island. Henry’s eyes run slowly up and down my body as he walks over, and I don’t need to ask what he is thinking anymore. We simply just know each other. I wrap my arms around his neck as he picks me up, dropping my butt on the counter as he steps in the middle of my legs.
“How come you’re back early?” I question. The new vampire island, or as we like to call it Sizuta Island, is a big island not far off the top of Ireland, and it was completely isolated. Ren said some of our ancestors used to live here before they were killed, and it had some remains of buildings in the middle of it. The island is full of lush fields, rocky and sandy beaches, and even a tiny hill in the centre that could be a mountain if you look from a distance away. The main good thing about the island is the barrier the tales set up for us, making it invisible to humans and secure for us to live on.
For the past seven months, we have lived here in our little home near the hill. The five-bedroom house is cosy but perfect for us. The other vampires have made their own homes around the island, with the help of everyone and a bit of magic to speed things up. After the houses were finished around a month ago, we started building main places for our race to come and socialise. The town centre full of tiny shops is the first thing we all voted and agreed was a good idea, and my guys spend their days building the island. Myles is good at hunting and teaching the vampires how to fish. As for myself, I regularly make portals to the town I was from and get us food, also bringing it back through the portal. Learning to cast a portal took me three months of practice, and two times I dropped myself in the sea, but thankfully Ayda saved me. I’m certain my horse found the entire thing hilarious.
“I came to get you. We have a surprise for you,” Henry murmurs, running his lips across my jaw. His husky voice sends shivers through me. “But now I’ve seen you, I want to take you to our bed instead and let them wait.”
“Henry,” I groan, and he chuckles, pressing one sweet kiss on my lips before picking me up and dropping me back on the floor.
“Later we are replaying this moment, darlin’,” he insists, and I totally agree.
“What is this surprise then?” I question as he links our fingers, leading me out of the kitchen through the backdoor to our small garden with a stone path leading down the middle of it. Aala is standing at the end of the path with Ren, Thallon and Myles, and holding a small white bundle of fur in her arms. She turns, and I get a good look at the chunky puppy in her arms. I have no clue what breed it is, but it is stunning and so very cute.
“Surprise!” Myles says, and Aala looks ridiculously happy as she skips to me and hands me the puppy. I lift him up, seeing that he is a boy by the looks of things, and cuddle him to my chest. He licks my chin, and I’m in love. Nothing else is needed.
“We found a dog on the beach a few weeks ago with her pups, she must have swum out or been dumped in the sea and then had her pups here. We couldn’t sense anyone else,” Myles starts to explain.
“There were five pups, and the mother has been adopted by Suzie, and all the other pups have homes. We chose the biggest pup for you, what do you think?” Thallon asks.
“I think I’m hella lucky,” I say, feeling like crying. I always wanted a dog, a house with a man I loved, and the future. They each have given me that and so much more. “Thank you!”
“Anything for our queen,” Ren says, locking his eyes with mine. “What do you think of the name Prince?”
“I think our little Prince is perfect,” I say, holding the pup up, seeing his brown eyes. Our future could not get better than this. We have the world.
Epilogue
Eight years later
Sitting in the tea house, I watch the endless rows of people walk past on the other side of the glass, my hands cupped around the mug on the table in front of me. Even when I’m the queen of a supernatural race, I still love sitting with humans like I’m one of them. The weather has dropped into an autumn chill, the leaves are falling off the trees and coating the ground. The tea shop smells like the muffins they have on display, mixed with the strong scent of the coffee they are making. Everything about his tea house puts me at home, relaxes me into forgetting who I am. I can almost ignore the two vampires sitting on the bench outside, pretending to be human. Ren always sends them with me, and he always thinks I don’t know.
Every single Friday, at twelve o’clock, my mum and dad walk into this tea house and sit at the same table in front of me. I try not to watch them come in, not until my mum places her pale pink coat on the chair in front of my table and looks back at me. Her blonde hair, just like mine, is now going a little grey, but it only adds to her beauty. Wrinkles decorate her face, reminding me of the fact she will grow old and die one day, while I won’t for a very long time…but despite it all, my heart warms from just seeing her.
“Kaitlyn!” my mum says, and I grin up at her from my seat. How I wish I could stand up and hug her. She still has no clue who I am, but I’m the friend who walks her dog down her street sometimes and has tea in the same shop she does. I’m the stranger she almost thinks she knows...and I’m okay with that. It’s better than nothing. I’m in her life, and it gives me some kind of comfort. “It’s been a few weeks since I’ve seen you. How have you been?”
“I’ve been good, thank you. I’m just about to meet a friend here, actually, and tell her about my recent holiday,” I say, and she nods with a beaming smile.
“Well, I hope you had a good time. It’s good to see you again, Kaitlyn,” she says and stares at me for a second longer than normal. I almost wish she could remember, and I wonder if deep down, some part of her does. If she sees herself in my curly hair just like hers, or my eyes the very colour of dad’s. My dad barely glances at me as he brings back their drinks and his newspaper before sitting down. It used to hurt that he did, but sometimes I see him staring at me, a look of confusion before he snaps himself out of it. He knows in his soul who I am, just like my mum does, but it will be words we never say out loud. Mum shakes her head and goes to her table, and I’m forgotten about in their life once more.