Escaped the Night (61 page)

Jayce
got a look in his eye
. I wondered
what was going on.
Prior to me figuring
it out,
he
raced over
,
knocking me flat out on the bed. “Don’t ever scare me like that again.
”
He
pinned
me down. “I love you so much.”

I
tried
to
speak
, but
he kissed me
,
and it was
in a way
he’d
never
done before.
We were
completely
connected;
hearts and souls
entwined. We’d
been
made for each other and he was the
one
person who
made me whole. We fit perfectly.
When we
finis
hed our kiss, he got up and looked lovingly
a
t
me.

“I love you
, Jayce,
” I said
.

“I love you more.”

“Impossible.”

“Then
,
I’ve done the impossible.” He leaned
in, placing
another steamy kiss
upon me
.

We went to bed
,
locked in each othe
r
’s
arms
. He held me so close.
I
felt
his heartbeat and
breath
caress
me
as he exhaled
. I
t felt like we were joined
and I
knew
this i
s h
ow it was meant to be. Hours
passed and
we woke
up
in the same position, n
either of us had broken our embrace.

We got up
and headed
down
stairs to
join the others.
Aiden, Makan, Meriel, Terran, Layla, Kaleb and Kael
all
sat in the living room,
just like old times.
Suddenly, I heard a female voice coming from behind
me
.
“Whoa! Quite the
night if you know what I mean. Right? Like
ge
ez
? Don’t you
guys
think?” Kynthia entered the room enthusiastically.

She’d taken me by su
rprise. The timid girl who’d
stood before me down at Mystic Beach was totally confident and far from the shy girl she’d once been.

“I’d say!” Kael blurted back
.
“Total craziness. Shanntal and the
fangs…
man oh man
!
” he snickered.

“Totally!”
Kynthia
said, sitting
down
beside him
.

E
verything became
clear
.
There was a love spark growing
there
and t
he thought of it made me
happy
.
I squeezed Jayce’s hand tightl
y because
I’d found my love spark.

I counted down the hours until dusk. I could hardly wait to
see the nightwalkers, I mean
, my
friends. I needed to thank them for coming to my rescue.
Th
e hours passed and nightfall finally ca
me. Jayce led me outside
and we
walked
towards the trees
. This time, e
veryone else
followed closely behind.
I shivered as I replayed the
memory of my previous
encounter in my head. Things ha
d turned out so differently from
what I’d thought. It was a positive outcome
in the end
, just not the one I
expected.

I felt
a rush of
sadness
when I
looked at the spot where U
ncle
Dane
had
taken his last breath. He’d died protecting
us and it never should
have been like this
.
Yes,
I was happy they
made it up to the stars
,
but I truly missed
them both and would
rather
have
them here with me
now
.

“Wait for it,
” Jayce said
,
taking my hand. With his other
hand
,
he pointed up
a
t the sky
.

I
looked
up
to see what he was pointing at.
Then
, that’s when it happened. A
beautiful pink smudge
danced
its way
across the sky
before settling
rig
ht in the middle
. The pink streak gathered and sparkled brighter than any diamond I’d ever seen. A few seconds later, Sitara and her love
arrived,
followed by the other happy couples.

I looked at Jayce
with tears in my eyes.
“Is that really them?”

“Yes,
that’s
Uncl
e Dane and Auntie Steph
up there
,” h
e
said, wrapping his arms around me
.

“Wow!”
I looked back up just as their star twinkled.
I knew it
was a wink and
it
felt
like they were
standing he
re with me now. I knew they’
d always be close and
I would
never be alone.

I
had a realization and
said,
“I never knew
they were older than Sitara.”

“They’re not.
”

“Then h
ow did they get to come out first?”

“
Your unc
le
rec
eived the greatest honor because
of
how
h
e sacrificed himse
lf in order to save you
and
Mer
iel. He lost his life
without fear and
did it
out of love. You’
re a very important person
,
Shanntal
,
as is Meriel
,
and because he saved you both
,
they get to shine first from this night forward. Everyone will know how he saved Meriel
,
but most of all
, how he saved
the one who brought our immortal worlds together.”

I felt a lump grow in my throat and
quickly
swallowed it down before the tears took over.

I heard a voice
speak
from behind
.
“All of t
his
happened because
of you
. W
e’re
proud to
call you
our friend
.”

I looked back to see who had said it. Daray and Lakylee came towards me.

“Hi
ya
guys!”

Lakylee
let go of Daray’s hand and
raced
over
,
giving
me a big hug. “I’m so glad to see you
’re
back to yourself
.”

“Thanks to you.” I looked around at the others
who were
beginning to gather
. “Thanks to all of you!”

Daray winked
and I winked back. This was unbelievable.
Together
as one, no longer labeled as daywalkers and ni
ghtwalkers, we were immortals. Best of all
,
w
e were friends.
I looked around
,
admiri
ng our group. We’d done it. We
found the better way
of life
and
did
it together.

New faces emerged
from
out of the woods.
Five people walked
towards us. A female with fire red hair and deep dark eyes led the group.
Something
about them
seemed familiar, though I was
n’t sure I’d e
ver seen them before.

“Glad to see you’re
lacking fangs,” s
he
said with a smirk
. “They d
idn’t
look quite right.”

“Umm…
thanks,
” I said
,
unsure.

“Don’t recognize her, do you?”
asked Sauda
as she came out from behind the group
.

I shook my head no. I had no idea.

“I’m Taini,” s
he
said giving me a smile
. “I
s
uppose
I look
pretty
different without all the fur.”

“Oh my,
” I said
,
taken back. “You’re the…
y
ou guys are
the werewolves?”

“We sure
are!” s
aid
the tall blonde fellow, sporting
a short beard
.

He was quite nice looking and
I never would’ve suspected he’d once been a werewolf.
“How? What? Is this
really
possible?”
I asked.

Everyone laughed, making me blush
.
I felt
embarrassed about my reaction, but this was
absolutely
huge. The werewolves had
transformed
. They
were no longer consumed by
their uncontrollable rage, enabling
them
to
take their human form
.
I
t
was wonderful.
I ran
over and hugged Taini tightly and s
he laughed as I embraced her.

We visited for a while and
T
aini explained
how the wolves
had achieved the ability to change when
ever
they needed to. If
the
y were in some sort of danger o
r
th
eir anger got the better of them
they would change back
, therefore
they'd a
lways have to be mindful
.
Without a doubt, they would
have to
ch
ange when the moon
was full. T
hey needed
to let the wolf out at least one night to run free
so it didn’t become restless and consume them
.

“You
still don’t have a grasp on how truly special you
really
are,
”
Lakylee
said. “
This is all possible because of you.”

Daray came over and stood beside me. “I’m really pleased to say
, she’s totally right. Yo
u’ve shown each and every one of us
that there’s
a b
etter way. You’ve shown us we can live together
,
and
you
even
managed to
t
each
the blackest of hearts
that
it could
stil
l do the most important thing. It could
still love.”