Damon (41 page)

And as we came to the end of the trail, instead of finding the road where we’d left the car, we stood at the top of a ridge, looking down into a long, wide valley. A valley alive with colorful spring trees in bloom. Pink and white dogwoods, sugar maples, redbuds, cherry, pear, and magnolia trees. A creek curved through the valley and even at a distance, I could see the water sparkling in the golden sunlight.

Beyond the creek, a distant village spread across the valley. The hidden village Elliot and David had searched for all their lives. The village they’d never found.

I’d expected a few houses scattered about, having never really thought about it. The valley was filled with houses and streets and what looked like a square in the center with stores and a tall, towered courthouse. We were looking down on a real town. A town that might have existed on my world. It looked like my hometown, how Polar must have looked a hundred years ago.

We stopped to take in the sight.

“Is this it?” I asked. “The hidden village?”

“Home,” Damon said. “My town. My people.” He glanced at me, his slate blue eyes sparkling. “And now yours. What do you think?”

What did I think? It looked like home, and yet, somehow, it was remarkably different. And remarkably beautiful.

I’d never seen a place so beautiful, simply because I was still alive.

A rock path tapered down toward the valley and we began walking again. When we’d reached a lower rise and walked on flat ground, Damon stopped. He turned me, pointing. “Look.”

About a hundred yards ahead stood a large cabin, the sparkling creek winding a path around it and disappearing again into the woods.

“This is it,” Damon murmured. “My cabin by the creek. Our cabin.”

“Who lives there?”

“We do. You and me.”

I stared, awed and a little excited. The two-story cabin looked just as I’d imagined it, standing on stilts overlooking the valley, a long deck stretching the length of the front rooms. The sloping lawn was neatly trimmed and decorated with a few colorful bushes and trees.

Suddenly snapping awake, I looked at Damon, so glad to see his familiar face and blue eyes. I hugged him and kissed his neck and pressed myself against him as close as I could. “You’re still you. Say you’re still the man I know.”

He held me just as tightly. “I always was. Except for a few confused memories. And, maybe, except for these.”

I released him enough to see what he meant. He held up his wrist and I watched as the deep scar there vanished. He lifted his shirt and the chaos of scars on his chest vanished one by one. He lowered his shirt. “We don’t need those anymore, do we? Old scars?”

I looked down at the scars on my own wrists, but I couldn’t make them disappear. Damon’s past had been the confused and demented memories of a stranger. A lie. But my past would always be my past. My memories would never vanish.

And I was glad.

Soon, I might no longer be human. I would lose my human blood. But I’d never lose my memories.

I’d never forget the people I’d known and loved.

“No,” he said, the spark fading from his eyes, “you’ll never forget them. And I’ll never forget the life of a tormented man who couldn’t find his way in life. I was his ghost. He lived on for a month after death, in me.”

“Only a month? It seemed like years.”

“It was a lifetime for me.”

I looked at him and suddenly realized what he’d had to live through, trapped inside the mind of an insane man. I couldn’t imagine having to live inside my mother’s mind. He was stronger than I was. I couldn’t have endured it.

“I’ll be fine,” he said. “Now that I’m home again. I wanted an adventure and I got it.”

He smiled at me, but it was a sad smile full of remnants of his time on my world. Full of his time with me.

“Worth it,” he said. “Worth it to find you.”

“Will I be able to read your mind when I’m no longer human?” It really wasn’t fair. I couldn’t read his mind, but my every thought was his for the taking.

“I know,” he said. “It’s not fair. I can’t help it. We bonded through blood. We’ll go to the clinic tonight and tomorrow, you’ll be able to choose what you share with me. But, baby, we’ll always be connected.”

That was good. I liked that.

He put his arm around me. “Yeah. I like that, too.”

Down in the village, multitudes of people seemed to be gathering at the town square. A hundred people, maybe more. Some had human form and some were furry red beasts. I could hear the distant roar of their combined voices. I tensed and Damon followed my gaze.

“Welcoming party,” he said. “I’ll be a hero and you’ll be a celebrity.” He gave me a warm kiss. “Welcome home, Maggie.”

“Call me Star,” I said. “New life, new name.”

Damon nodded. “New world.”

We watched a magnificent black stallion trot along the cobbled street ahead of us. On the back of the stallion rode a furry red beast with shining silver eyes. The red beast waved at us.

Damon held up a hand in greeting.

“We’re dead, aren’t we?” I said. “We drowned in the pit. Two crazy dead people in a cave pit. Either that, or you shot me in the head when I wasn’t looking.”

Damon glanced at me and shrugged. “Does it matter? Our reality is our truth. We’re together. It’s nice here, isn’t it?”

A whitetail deer hopped past us then trotted toward the creek.

“Yes. It is nice.”

“Then it doesn’t matter. We’re safe here. Let’s live this life.”

I nodded and smiled. I couldn’t argue with that.

I wasn’t sure what my new life in this familiar, yet strange, place, would hold in store for me. But I knew one thing. My life had begun with Damon.

And it would be a much better life than the one I’d lived before.