Bonus Chapter
I ’d lost my brother, and I’d shot my best friend while trying to take down one of the most feral vampires in history. It was my arrow that took Quinn’s life, and I’d watched as a bloodied Matteo gently lifted her in his arms, gave me a death stare, and vanished. I’d known in my gut he would turn her. But telling Mia what I’d done to our best friend was the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life. I’d sobbed in her arms as she held me, trying to comfort me.
“I’m leaving,” Quinn’s voice pulled me out of my reverie. “We’re leaving. We’re going to find a new home.”
My instincts screamed at me to put another arrow through her heart. She was the very thing I’d been taught to hate. To hunt. But I’d come unarmed. Killing a creature that wore the face of my best friend wouldn’t be easy. I’d declared us enemies, and we sat side by side in an awkward silence that hurt my soul. It was my fault she was a vampire, and she’d taken Mia from me in return.
I forced myself to meet her eyes, suppressing the shudder. They were still green, but the predator’s gaze within them was unmistakable. There was nothing human about her anymore. “I think it’s best that you do go,” I said. “You can’t stay here. I would hate to have to kill you. But you did kill the love of my life.” She’d broken the accords, and it was on me and my family to eliminate vampires that did.
Mia. I hadn’t even had a chance to say goodbye. She’d taken her last breath, lying on the cold ground, terrified and alone. Nothing more than a meal to our closest friend, who had shown no remorse at the time. I really didn’t want to kill Quinn, but I wasn’t sure how long I could endure before my grief won out and I went after her with a crossbow.
“You killed me first.” Her words were like a punch to the gut.
Tears stung my eyes, and I clenched my fist. “Damnit, Quinn, I know, and I have to live with that for the rest of my life. That I’m the reason you’re a goddamn vampire. Every time I close my eyes, I see that arrow hitting you in the chest.”
That really would haunt me for the rest of my life.
“Are you expecting anger from me? Or hurt?” she asked. “I am what I am and have accepted my new existence. Your guilt cannot change what happened. Not that I’d want to. I chose this. I asked him to turn me, even before the arrow.”
There was nothing of Quinn left. Again the urge to put another arrow in her heart fought its way to the surface. Did she really care so little?
“The Quinn I knew would never want that.” I passed a photo across to her. It had been taken in Brisbane, the three of us arm in arm, cheering with sheer joy. Our dreams realised, our first tour ahead of us. As she glanced at the photo, I searched for any remaining sign of her. “When you chose him, this is what you gave up. You destroyed your own dream, and mine, and you took Mia’s from her.”
My words had no effect on her. The look she gave me was as if she knew I was trying to get to her.
“The Quinn you knew is dead.” She stood. “I’m glad I got to say goodbye to you. All I ask is that you don’t come after us.” She walked away, leaving the photo on the seat.
I watched as she walked towards the black car with tinted windows. I could feel Matteo’s eyes on me, but didn’t move, until the car was gone, tail lights fading into the night.
The crushing pain of Mia’s death closed around my heart, a tight fist. Tears wouldn’t be held back this time, leaving hot trails down my cheeks as I returned to her grave. Quinn had left a daffodil at the headstone, and I picked it up, tearing the flower apart, throwing the pieces into the wind. A sob broke free, and I couldn’t stand anymore. Dropping to my knees, I let the pain surge through me, not caring that I was ruining my mascara. Heaving sobs wracked me.
“Mia, I’m sorry,” I murmured. “I should have kept you far away from all of this.”
“It’s my fault, I did go to the home of a vampire in the middle of the night,” her voice came from above where I knelt.
My heart skipped, as icy fingers brushed the back of my neck. I frowned. The lack of sleep and grief must be making me hear things, I assumed. But I lifted my head anyway.
She was there, standing over me with her gleeful smile.
“Mia?” My voice shook, pain piercing my heart. Had someone made her a vampire? “Y-you’re alive?”
“Well, no. A vampire killed me. I don’t think there’s any coming back from that. I’m dead. My body’s in there.” She pointed at the dirt. “So, I’m definitely not a vampire, in case you were worried about that.”
I was on my feet, bitter tears turned to tears of joy. “How are you here?”
“Yeah. I don’t know.” She faced her grave, staring down at her headstone. “This is so weird.”
I choked back a laugh. “You’re telling me. I was here for your funeral. I saw them bury you, yet here you are.”
“Am I a ghost?” she asked. “Ohh, there’s soo many people I can haunt!”
Her excitement over the idea of haunting people was contagious, and we laughed over who deserved to be haunted the most.
“I’d like to pay a visit to Quinn to give her a piece of my mind,” her smile faded. “I can’t believe she really killed me. It hurt, in more ways than one. Have you spoken to her?”
“She’s not Quinn anymore,” I said. “I’ve known about vampires most of my life, I never imagined my best friend would become one.”
I reached for Mia, only for my hand to pass right through her. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”
“Even if you were, what could you have done? You against two vampires, like that?” She pointed to the sling.
I yearned to touch her. To hold her in my arms. Tears welled up again. Words needed to be said while I had the chance. I didn’t know why she was here, nor for how long. I opened my mouth to say the words.
“I know,” she said, reaching for my face to wipe a tear away. Her hand made no connection with me. “Damn, this really sucks.” she let out a sigh. “I don’t know why I’m here if I can’t touch you.”
“I had a plan,” I said.
She remained silent, waiting for me to go on.
“I planned to propose to you at the Melbourne concert.” I pulled the ring box from my pocket. I’d carried it with me since she died.
I started to open the box.
“No, stop.” Mia stepped back. “Don’t open it.”
I frowned. “You don’t want to see the ring I got you?”
She laughed. “Oh, no I do. But I want to see what you would have done. How would you have proposed?”
My chest tightened. I was about to propose to my dead girlfriend for a wedding that would never happen. “I don’t know…”
“No, don’t do that Lil, please. I was cheated out of a proposal; this is my only chance.”
Her eyes shone, and I gave in. “Okay.” I took a deep breath and let it out. “You’re there.” I pointed to where she stood, then to the seat I’d sat on with Quinn. “Imagine my drums there, I’m sitting there.” I pointed to another spot. “Quinn’s there.” The pain returned at the mention of Quinn’s name. I would eventually have to face what she was, and probably find her to kill her. And Matteo. But for now, I pushed all that aside. “Quinn was going to be like, ‘Tonight’s a special night for us, and I want you all to know that the most important people in my life are right here,’ and then point to us. ‘Lilith usually stays at the drums, but tonight she is leaving her seat to say a few words.’”
Tears glistened on Mia’s face, which surprised me. I didn’t know ghosts could cry. Not that I knew anything about ghosts. “Quinn was in on it?”
I smiled. “Of course. She was so excited when I told her I was going to propose. Anyway, I was going to get up, and take the mic…” I held my hand up as if holding a mic. “I am a woman of few words. That’s why I’m a drummer, and not a singer. However, there is only one way to convey what I want to say.”
I dropped to my knee in front of Mia, opening the box as I did. Inside was a silver band with two stones set in it. One red, a colour that Mia loved and usually wore, the other deep blue. My own go-to favourite colour.
“Mia Wallace, I love you with all of my heart. We’ve all had one dream, to be here, on stage. Here we are. But I’m greedy and want more. I want you. I want to call you ‘wife’ and wake up next to you for the rest of our lives. To grow old with you.” I paused, this proposal hurting more than I thought possible. I would never wake up next to her, nor grow old with her. “Mia, marry me. Be my wife, and I will make you happy.”
Mia stood in silence, staring at the ring. She sniffed. More tears fell down my cheeks.
“That’s a beautiful ring,” she murmured. “It’s you and me.”
“It is,” I said, laughing.
She held her hand out to me. “I would have done this,” she said. “And waited for you to put it on my finger and kissed you so damn hard.”
I pulled the ring from the box and pushed it over her finger, even though we couldn’t touch.
“It would have looked good on me.” Mia started to sob. Again I wanted to hold her, my heart broken. “Oh Lil, I love you so much.” She knelt in front of me. “My last thought as I died was of you. Of how much I love you. I was scared and in pain, but I thought about you.”
We remained like that for a long time, grieving what had been taken from us. Occasionally, one of us would reach for the other. Only to put our hand down again. It wasn’t until the early rays of dawn streaked across the sky that I realised she was gone. I climbed to my feet with effort, wiping my eyes. I glanced at her grave stone again, one last time. “Goodbye, Mia. I love you. Always have, always will.”
I made the long walk back to my car and climbed in, letting out a shaky breath as I put my hands on the wheel.
“Okay, so I think I would have taken on your name but kept mine,” Mia said. “So what sounds better? Mia Wallace-De Micheli, or Mia De Micheli-Wallace?”
I stared. She was in the front seat.
“Your mouth is open.” She laughed.
“I thought you were gone,” I said.
“Well I’m not. You’re stuck with me. You think after a proposal like that I’d just leave?” She smiled at me, that beautiful smile that lit up her whole face and eyes. “Can we go home now?”