Escaped the Night (60 page)

I held my breath
as
the
sun
light
ro
se
up
over the horizon.
The sky filled with beautiful shades of pinks and oranges, chasing away
the
shadows.
I stood in place a
s
the
sun
light
covered
my
entire
body.
I flinched at first, i
t felt
quite warm on my skin
,
but thankfully I
didn’t
burst into flames or
turn
ed
to ash
,
so I
began
relax
ing
.
The worst was over and
somehow
, I
managed to return to where I truly belonged.
“Thank you
so much
,
Gabriella. I don’t know how
I can
possibly
r
epay you.” I hugged my
friend.

‘
Consider us even now. You
saved me once from the pits of darkness
,
it was only fair that I
do
the same for you in your time of despair.’

“But, I thought you couldn’t heal nightwalkers?”

‘My dear
, you’re pure. You changed because of what was buried deep inside. He brought out the worst, but you
still
showed mercy even when you knew your world was nev
er to be the same. You have
compassion running through your veins and a true hea
rt to go with it. That’s why I was
able to do this for you.’

“But…
what about the blood?” I asked
,
disgusted with
myself for consuming
as much as I did. I was even more
appalled
when
I thought about what I
wanted to do to my dear friend Meriel.

‘The blood was yours. It
spilled
because of Donovan. You did not draw blood nor did you take it from anyone else. You did what was necessary for you to survi
ve. This i
s
all on
the path destiny
that
mapped out for
you, for
all of u
s. It’s what is
meant to be. This is the way, y
our way.’

It
was really over. All the nightmarish days and night
s
were gone and
would never
happen
ever
again. I didn’t have to worry
about who was coming after me o
r who was going to
hurt the people I cared about. Better yet, no one else had to worry about this either. Donovan was gone so h
e’d never
get the chance to ruin
this
or hurt anyone
else
.

I was myself, alive and in one piece
. I had the love of my life by my side and the best friends anyone could ask for. I was going to be all right.

“My way
,
” I said the words aloud as I pondered
over it
all
.
“
I’ve got a better idea,
our way. T
his
happened because of
us coming together
. The
worlds are
no longer going to be separated; i
mmortals will be allies from this point forward.
”

Gabriella nodded her head in approval.

“
Thank you so much
for helping me
.” I hugged my dear friend one more time.
Our final embrace took the warm sting out of the morning sun. My skin
was back to normal and
I was back to my old self
!

I turned around
.
Everyone stood
not too far
off in the distance. They’d given us some room so Gabriella c
ould have the time and space
needed in order to heal me. We walked over to join the crowd.

Merie
l was the first one to notice our return and
came running over and h
ugged me as hard as she could. “
I’m so glad to see you. Are you okay?”

“Yes, I
am. I’m
just as I was.” I smiled wryly
, thinking about all the changes I’d undergone in the past twenty-four hours.

Everyone
hugged
me
as they
welcomed me
with open arms
and well wishes
. A big hug came from behind
, lifting
my feet
up off the ground. Only one person I knew could or would
ever
have the nerve to do
something like
this
.
“Kael...
can’t breath
e!” I cho
ked out
,
without bothering to turn around to see who was
actually
holding me up
in
mid-air.
My feet landed
back on the ground as
he
spun me around to face him.

“Man oh man! Am I EVER glad to have you back!” He pulled me in
close
for another smothering hug. “No offense
,
but those fangs…
ugh gross. Didn
’t suit you at all!” He poked
his teeth
out pretending he had fangs as d
rool poured
down
out of his mouth.

We all
laughed. I imagined I
must have been
quite the sight
.
I
felt slightly disgusted, but decided to shake
the thought away. I was back
and
never hurt Meriel
,
so there
wasn’t any
reason for me to beat myself up over it.
“Kael,
all I can say is
I’m
really glad to be back. Besides, w
hat would I ever do without you
in my life
?”

Kael beamed and
I smiled
,
realizing I’d just inadvertently fed his ego. He
re I was, another girl who
couldn’t live without him.
He was in
a state of
awe
over
himself.
I decided to let him r
el
ish in it a while longer.

Kaleb came
up to
me and
didn’t even say a word
as I
embraced
his large mass
tightly
. He was always so loyal, e
ven when I was at my worst
,
he still saw the real me. H
e was the best friend I could’
ve ever asked for
and I was absolutely
the luckiest girl
to have him in my life
.
We broke out of our embrace and h
e smiled
as
his eyes le
d the way to Jayce.

Jayce was beautiful with the sun
shining
behind him
. The pinks, yellows and oranges of the glorious morning sky accentuated his dark silhouette
. He looked like an angel
who’d
fallen
from the
sky
just for me.

‘Y
ou truly are
my angel. Now get
that beautiful face of yours
over here
right now
!’

I ran towards him
. He
locked
me in his embrace
and swung me around,
lifting
me off my feet
. As
he placed me back down
,
he
took the opportunity to
plant
one of his fiery hot kisses on me. My lips stung
,
but in the best way imaginable
,
because it was what
I lived for. He was my
true love
,
just as
I was his. Now that
all of the
craziness
was behind us
, we c
ould
have our chance
to
be together forever.
I leaned in for another pleasant sting from his soft warm lips.

Hoots
and hollers came from the group.
Jayce and I had a way about us that involved everyone. When we were happy, they were
too
.
This was going to be
the way things were
from
here on out
.

Morning passed by quickly and our visitors
began saying
their good
-
byes
and heading
back
out
on their way. Jayce and I
thanked them for their support and for coming together when
we
needed
them
most.
The days of
daywalke
rs and nightwalkers were no longer. We were all immortals, no matter how it
came to be
. This was the way of the future. We all had a place and
a
function
. Allies for life!

Our
usual group
headed
towards the house.
The elements all smiled
, as did my dear friend Layla.
However, one
face really stood out
to me.
I glanced back over
at Meriel. She
wore the world’s biggest smile, and
instantly
I
saw
the apology she was about to bestow.
“Meriel?” I said.

“I know…
I know.
I
was stupid
and reckless
,
for that I
am truly
sorry. I
got
caught up in the
action and adventure. I just
thought
you’d been through en
ough. H
onestly,
I was only trying to help
.
”

“What
are we going to do with you
? Caught up in t
he adventure. H
a!
Just l
isten to you
,
” I said shaking my head. “
You
need to find another way
in order to
get those
adrenaline rushes
, crazy girl.
I
love you
.”

“Thanks
, I’ll try
.” She
spoke softly
in my ear
as we embraced
.

“You’re welcome
, but please
,
stay out of trouble. I can’t
keep getting people to save you,
” I said
,
poking her in the stomach
before breaking
free fr
om our hug. I said it
in
a joking manner
, but
I
was also quite serious. I’d lost two very dear people protecting
her
. She was an element and therefore
needed to stop acting
so reckless
. There was much more at stake than
she realized.

It was time to get a bit of sleep
. It had been a
long night for everyone and sleep
ing
was on top of the
to-
do
list.
Jayce and I made our way up to
his room. I walked in first with him following closely
behind
. I wasn’t
sure
he’d eve
r let me out of his sights
again, but
I was
thankful
that
he cared enough to stick around
through the tough times
. He closed the
door and I sat down on the bed.
My heart fluttered. It was so good
see
ing
him
like this. For a short while
I
thought I’d lost him
, but we were lucky because destiny decided he was meant to be here
with me now.