Epilogue
ECHO
He’d been incredibly proud of himself for being instrumental in the brutal murder of the Lyles—the nickname Baz and Vix gave to the cultists. According to Gareth, they’d called themselves the Order of the Truth, but we all thought it was super fucking lame, so the Lyles stuck instantly.
It had been a long, drawn-out affair, and for the most part, I sat and snacked in the Humvee—the larger one—while glowing up a storm.
Gareth had pulled out all the stops for the fight with the Lyles, and since the smaller Humvee wouldn’t fit all of the toys he wanted to bring, he decided to bring both.
Gareth is the epitome of the saying go big or go home.
I sat safe and snug inside with Vix and watched the show on a screen in Gareth’s mobile command central. Apple was at home with Adam, while Vale, Gareth, Baz, and Paris were outside dealing with the cultists.
Yes, Paris had gotten involved, too, even though everyone acted like he was a real-life angel. According to Vix, they’d upset the local animal population due to all the sacrificing they’d gotten up to. They were taking out the small, fuzzy things as well as the human ones.
It was a pretty dumbass decision, because Paris and his woodland army had turned what could have been a tricky fight into a one-sided bloodbath.
“Yes, Baz, everyone saw you,” Vale drawled lazily as I brushed some of the chunks of human out of his hair for him.
“Except Lyle #3!” Vix chirped. “You know… because of how he didn’t have eyes anymore?”
Vix really was a precious little bean of a person. Twisted, but still somehow managing to be innocent at the same time. I could understand why everyone was so protective of him.
Vale had been correct when he’d said Vix was the most protected person in the group.
He had two dogs—Delilah and Trixie—following him around everywhere he went.
Apparently, Trixie could move through shadows and snatch him out of harm’s way at a moment’s notice while Delilah protected their escape.
It was a pretty neat trick, and it explained a lot about what had happened during the attack on the house by the Dawn Initiative.
Vale had been amazing during the fight as well, popping heads off of Lyles left and right, but the real MVP of the battle was Gareth for single-handedly killing the boss.
It turned out that the Lyles had found enough people to sacrifice in order to turn their fake god into a real one, and by the time we got there, the god had been snacking away on a buttload of kidnapped people.
It hadn’t discriminated at all, either. It had been chowing down on the Lyles just as much as it had anyone else, but for some reason, the Lyles continued to defend their god to the bitter end.
Humans, am I right?
I can say that now because I’m not human anymore, and let me tell you, even in the short time I’d been that way, I was absolutely loving the upgrade.
“I’m personally a big fan of the time when Echo caved in the face of that first guy who got into the Humvee,” Vix said.
Yeah, it turned out that The Cody hadn’t told us everything about our new bond because I’d gotten a LOT stronger. I discovered that tidbit when the god had used a massive tentacle to rip the door off the Humvee.
Gareth had grabbed it and used the tentacle to strangle the new god to death (Thanks, Gareth!), but while he was in the middle of that, a few of the Lyles had gotten inside.
Trixie vanished or ate one of them (I’m still not sure what she does with people when she drags them away.), and I punched one of them in the face as hard as I could, and he maybe kind of exploded.
Just a bit.
“I wish I’d seen that,” Baz said mournfully.
“Vix said you managed to punch that Lyle so hard, it sent bone shrapnel into the throat of the Lyle behind him. We were all running to save the two of you, but there was nothing left for us when we got there. Echo, if it weren’t so amusing to see the way Vale acts around you, I’d be upset that you’re putting my job in danger. ”
I laughed because there was no way I was ever punching some guy in the head again. There was no amount of cleaning that would be enough to convince me I got all the dead guy goo off them.
I have to use my hands to eat! Gross!
“Seriously, though. Echo,” Baz insisted, “you have to tell us how you tamed the bitch. It has to be mind control, right? Vix has been having a hell of a time with his mind control research, so if you mind-controlled Vale, you should ‘fess up and help Vix harness it.”
I gave a hmmph and set to ignoring Baz, because I didn’t mind-control jack shit. I was naturally beguiling, and it had been inevitable that I would reel in someone amazing once I decided to stop trying to exit the world.
That whole situation would be a work-in-progress. I’d still have bad days, but I officially had an entire weird-ass, extremely hard-to-kill family to live for, so having a reason to stick around was going to help a lot.
“The bitch is sitting right here,” Vale said without heat. His head was lolling backward sleepily as I brushed his hair. It hadn’t actually gotten too dirty in the fight. Maybe it was due to how fast Vale was, but for the amount of killing he did, his hair was surprisingly clean.
“This is my hair now,” I informed Vale. “I’m taking care of it from now on, so it’s mine.”
“Anything you want, my love.” Vale closed his eyes and leaned his head against my chest, forcing me to change my brushing technique due to my limited range of motion.
“This is exactly what I’m talking about, Echo. What the hell did you do to him?” Baz leaned forward, disturbing both Trixie and Delilah into giving him low growls of warning. He’d been their pillow, and they didn’t seem to like being woken up.
I shrugged in a sorry, can’t tell you, don’t talk kind of way, and pulled out the pack of wipes I’d stolen from Gareth’s magical supply chest. He has everything in there.
Like, EVERYTHING.
You know that mom friend we all have who we joke has everything in her bag? Yeah, no. She would be acid-spittingly jealous over what Gareth has in his war chest. Gareth is the über mom friend.
I used the wipes to make sure every strand of Vale’s (our) hair was spotless, and he was fast asleep before I was satisfied.
By that time, Vix was curled up asleep on top of Paris, and Baz was sleeping in a pile of two dogs and one cat.
Vix had insisted we bring Oda Nobunaga with us, because he claimed Oda Nobunaga had twisted his ankle during the attack on the house and couldn’t be left alone. Dude is serious about his parenting responsibilities.
And, folks? Vale is absolutely obsessed with that cat. He was as worried about Oda Nobunaga as he was about me when he tore (literally) into the Humvee after it was breached. He’d held both of us in his arms, covering us with gore, but in a loving way, so it was okay.
His hair may stay fairly clean, but his hands get super messy when he kills.
After a change of clothes and some barely acceptable spot cleaning in the tiny portable shower Gareth had, we’d all settled into the smaller Humvee for the long ride back to town, with Love controlling the wheel.
It was coming up on night as we entered our town, and I was reminded of the bells when Vale stiffened in his sleep and curled close to me.
Gareth watched as I stroked Vale’s forehead soothingly, and Vale blinked sleepily at me with a ghost smile as he relaxed.
“Well,” Gareth said after a moment, “I suppose now that you have Echo, there’s no point in having the bells anymore, Vale. He’s taken away all of my fun.”
Vale bolted up from my lap, suddenly wide awake, and he and I both gaped at Gareth (me from the corner of my eye because he still wiggs me the fuck out if I look at him for too long.).
Finally, Vale hissed, “You. It was you??? You did this to me? To the entire fae community? Why would you do that?”
Gareth quirked his mouth into a brief smile. “Guess.”
Gareth was the Patron of the Bells? What the fuck?
He and Vale had a stare-off, and it seemed like they were communicating far more than anyone but them could comprehend.
Eventually, Vale said stiffly, “I’m sorry. I just wanted one of us to escape that horrible place. I didn’t need it to be me.”
“Well, I needed it to be both of us.” Gareth glared coldly at Vale.
“Whatever. Are you happy with yourself, you vindictive fuck?”
“Very.” Gareth crossed his arms behind his head and leaned back. He wasn’t smiling, but he still gave off an air of smug satisfaction.
“Decades, Gareth. You punished me and the fae for decades for a single slight. What the hell is wrong with you?” Vale rubbed his forehead. “I think I need another nap.”
I motioned to my willing lap, and Vale leaned over to plant a kiss on my lips.
“You really pissed me off,” Gareth grumbled.
“If the fae ever found out it was you…” Vale warned.
“Let them. I’m more than capable of defending myself.” Gareth’s cocky nonchalance showed me he fully believed it.
After watching him strangle a god to death with his bare hands, I was inclined to believe it as well.
“We should do the bells together. All of us,” I told Vale again, so everyone else would know of our plan.
“Family bonding!” Baz chimed in from his dog pile. “Christmas is a bunch of bullshit anyway. We might as well ruin it for everyone else, right?”
“I think everyone in the town would consider it a gift if we took the bells out, Baz,” Vale said with his ghost smile.
“Way to ruin it for me, Vale,” Baz pouted. “Now I don’t know if I want to go.”
“You’re not invited anyway,” Vale informed him.
“Well, now I definitely have to go! Love, take us home so we can get Apple and Adam.”
“We aren’t taking Adam to a free-for-all,” Gareth said. “Apple would have kittens.”
“What if I promised to protect Adam the entire time?” Baz asked.
“Then we’d have to hold a funeral for both of you, and I’ve got better things to do with my time,” Vale said, taking my hand and kissing it.