Chapter 7
Seven
Zamir
"Zamir! Zamir! Where are you?" Keoni shouted, his voice ringing through the trees as I placed the luggage on the ground, then eyed Dustin.
"Did you pack the entire house?" I asked, then turned toward the trees and called back, "I'm here!"
"Babies need a lot of stuff," Dustin declared when I turned back to him, and I accepted it with a nod. I wasn't dumb enough to argue with the dad-to-be.
Silas, it turned out, was. "And so do their pregnant dads, huh?" he asked as he hauled out the second suitcase, which was even bigger, and Dustin turned on him, hands on his hips, light blue eyes narrowed.
For a tiny human—barring the big belly with the tinier person growing inside—Dustin could be scary when he wanted to be, and watching the half-troll stumble back with his palms raised in surrender made me snicker.
Silas could crush Dustin with one hand, not that he'd ever hurt a human, pregnant or otherwise, and he might've been stupid enough to antagonize Dustin, but he'd realized it was best to retreat.
"Liam and I will take your stuff over to his apartment, and then you can make your way over, okay?" Silas said, and Dustin stared at him for a moment longer, then nodded.
"I'll miss you," I said, and Dustin smiled, his blue eyes soft and sad.
"I'll miss you too. Hopefully, we'll be back soon."
I nodded, then gave him a gentle hug, careful of his belly. Khush came out with Scrappy, their cat, cradled in his arms, and I raised a brow at him.
"Aren't you taking her with you?"
The two shared a glance, Dustin's lips pressed in a thin line, and Khush sighed, his yellow-brown eyes soft and hesitant.
His dark hair was a mess, as if he'd been running his fingers through the strands repeatedly.
"We thought it would be best if she stayed here.
We might need to go to the hospital at some point, and we don't want her to be alone. Will you look after her?"
I blinked, then took her from Khush. She rubbed her cheek against my beard, and started purring. "Of course. We all will. She'll be okay, Dustin."
He smiled sadly. "I know she will, but I don't want her to think I don't love her anymore now that the baby's coming soon."
"She won't. As soon as she sees the baby, she'll love them too."
Keoni stumbled out of the trees, and the grin on his face fell instantly when he saw us gathered outside Khush and Dustin's house.
"You're leaving?" he asked as he came closer, and Khush nodded. He slithered past us and pulled Keoni into a hug.
"I'll be back soon, okay? Knock some sense into the headmaster. Get him to accept help. I want my baby to grow up here, with their Uncle Keoni, okay?"
"Yeah," Keoni mumbled, sounding choked. Those two had always been close, like brothers, and I hated seeing them unhappy.
Khush and Dustin left soon after, and we walked them to the exit, while Liam and Haruto went with them to the comic book store above which Liam's apartment was.
He'd lived there before he met Haruto, but now that they were married and living here, the place had been empty.
At least Khush and Dustin wouldn't be far, and Liam would be able to check on them daily.
Once they were gone, Keoni and I returned to the Forest with the others, and while everyone scattered, Keoni stuck by me, and I remembered he'd been looking for me earlier.
"Was there something you wanted to tell me?" I asked, and the confused look on his face prompted me to remind him.
"Oh right! I forgot all about that," he said, then pulled an envelope out of his shirt pocket. "This came for you."
"Came for me?"
"Someone slid it under the door, and considering the fact that it made it here instead of the actual building, I think it's from your dragon," he said with a grin, his melancholy muted for a moment as he watched me turn over the envelope.
On the front, my name was written in beautiful penmanship, and the back was sealed in red wax, though I could sense some magic in it too.
"I couldn't open it," Keoni said with a pout, and I chuckled.
"You think maybe that's why he sealed it?" I teased as I pulled the flap, and the seal released with a soft sound. Keoni leaned closer, peering at the folded piece of paper as I slid it out.
"If I ask you to let me read privately, would you?" I asked, and he gave me an offended look.
"Of course I would!"
I raised a brow, and he grinned. "Come on! Let me seeee. You owe me."
"I do?"
"Yes! I'm the one who told you to get drunk, remember? If I hadn't, you wouldn't have ended up at his house."
"I suppose you have a point there," I conceded, unfolding the letter.
It wasn't very long, written in the same beautiful handwriting. Had he used a fountain pen?
Dear Zamir,
I realized after you'd left that I forgot to ask for your number, so I'm resorting to a more classic form of communication. I hope this letter gets to you, but even if it doesn't, I'll be at your door tomorrow evening, knocking until someone opens it.
That brings me to the reason for this letter: are you free tomorrow evening for that date we talked about? I'll pick you up tomorrow at six, but if you're busy, let me know. I've included my numbers in the postscript.
Thank you for saying yes to the date. I know I should've told you earlier, about us being mates, but I want to reiterate that it wasn't because of you. It was all my baggage, and I'm dealing with it.
Clip and the gang say hi.
I hope to see you tomorrow,
Take care,
Nolan.
Like he'd promised, the postscript listed three numbers: one for his phone, one for his home landline, and the third for his bar landline.
I hadn't realized people still had landlines, but then again, this was a man who used fountain pens and wrote letters on thick, expensive paper. Of course he had landlines.
"Holy shit, he's sweet. I did not think Nolan would be sweet. Liam described him as pierced and grumpy, if I remember right," Keoni mused, and I shook my head.
"He isn't grumpy. He has like—" I counted in my mind, "—nine pets."
Keoni's eyes widened, and he grabbed my arm with both hands. "Tell me everything."
Nolan
"What are you thinking about?" Agnes asked, her brown eyes still the same as they'd been the first time we met when she was sixteen.
That had been sixty years ago now, and while I looked the same, she didn't. Her smooth skin was heavy with wrinkles now, her bones weak, her back curved.
Her fingers trembled as she reached for my hand, and I clasped her cold hand between my warm ones.
She was alive, and yet she was so cold. It wouldn't be long now.
"I don't want to lose you," I admitted, and she smiled, her face soft. I knew she was in pain. I could sense the war waging through her body. I'd done all I could to make her comfortable, but I'd never been much of a healer.
"I've had a good life, Nolan. All because of you. But it's time now."
I shook my head, bringing her hand to my lips, wishing I could do something.
Anything. When she'd been younger, I'd offered to find a vampire who could change her, so she could live longer, but she'd refused.
She didn't want to live forever, and honestly, I didn't begrudge her that.
If I had the choice to live a normal life, one where I grew old, where I could die.
.. would I refuse it? I didn't think so.
"Do you remember the day you saved me? I'd never been more terrified," she murmured, and I squeezed her hand. I remembered, of course. I recalled every day I'd spent with her, but that day was burned into my memory.
At sixteen, Agnes had been curious, much too curious for the small village she'd lived in. She'd asked questions, figured out things about nature that seemed strange to the other villagers. And of course, what people couldn't understand, they villainized.
I'd been traveling, in search of somewhere new to settle down for a few years before I'd have to move again, when I'd stumbled upon a crowd gathered around a bonfire. I'd wondered if they were celebrating something, since it was much too hot for a fire.
That was when I'd heard the screams. I'd reacted without hesitation, and pushed through the crowd until I reached the bonfire that wasn't a bonfire at all. It was child, tied against a post, being burned alive.
I hadn't cared about hiding my magic. I hadn't cared about anything but saving the girl. I'd sucked all the fire into me, freed her, and carried her away from there as the townspeople watched in shock.
I'd found a healer, a mage, who'd healed the burns on her skin, and then we'd traveled together for years, and I'd answered all the questions she had.
"Can I ask one last question?" Agnes murmured, pulling me out of the memories, and I squeezed her hand gently. So, so gently.
"Always."
"Do you know what happens? After?"
My lips curved in a sad smile, and I shook my head. "I'm sorry, child. That's one question even I don't know the answer to."
She chuckled, then broke into a coughing fit. "I'm not a child anymore."
"You'll always be my child, my sweet Agnes," I said, and she smiled, her eyes fluttering shut as she exhaled, and her hand slowly went limp in mine,
"Goodbye," I whispered, hoping the other side would be kind to her. I fell forward, resting my head on the bed, her bony hip against my head as my tears soaked into the sheets, my insides twisting and aching as I felt her disappear, go wherever people went after they left this world.
Even after all these centuries, I hadn't gotten used to losing people. I hadn't grown numb, hadn't accepted that it was a part of life. I couldn't.
Every person I ever loved was unique, and so every loss hurt in different ways too.
****
I woke with talons digging into my cheek, and I hissed, pushing Nugget away as I sat up.
The remnants of my dream still clung to me, and I could almost feel Agnes's cold, wrinkled hand in mine.
I rubbed it over Nugget's feathers to get rid of the sensation, and cleared my throat to get rid of the lump in my throat.
Nugget chirped, and I patted her back before moving her off me so I could get up. "I know it's late, but I went to bed late, remember?"
It'd taken me a while to get the bar cleaned up and closed last night, and I'd come home somewhere around three in the morning. After the previous sleepless night, I'd succumbed to slumber the moment I hit the mattress, so of course I'd forgotten to set the alarm.
Thankfully, I had a horde of fur children to wake me up on time.
I made my way to the kitchen and turned on the coffee machine, then started plating food for the cats and dogs.
I took the bunnies' favorite veggies to their cage, then sprinkled the hens' feed onto their feeding mat.
I'd learned quite early they preferred to search for their food than eating from a bowl or plate, and so that was how I fed them.
Once I'd had some coffee, I took the dogs for a walk, pausing when I reached the Sanctuary. A neon-pink sticky note half-hidden behind a panel of the boarded up windows caught my eye, and I grinned when I saw the words written on it in a messy scrawl.
See you tonight.
He'd gotten my letter, then. Why he hadn't texted me, I didn't know, but I liked the little note much better. While Muffin and Clip sniffed at a bush, I crossed the street and hurried up the stairs to grab the note, then returned to them before they could take off.
I ran my thumb over the three words, then slid the note into my pocket. Though it was simple paper, it felt almost warm in my pocket. Alive with possibilities.