Chapter 41
Forty-One
JULIAN
Idon’t know what happened between Liz and Maris. I took longer than I should have getting back to her because believe it or not, having a job in a hospital means I have to fucking work. Liz didn’t get that memo it seems.
“What happened?” I ask. We’re in my car and I’m driving back to town. The storm is raging again. Water from the waves crashing against the cliff side shoots up in the air and splashes onto the passenger side window. Maris jumps every single time.
Did what happened with Liz upset her that much?
“Maris?” I reach out and touch her hand when she doesn’t answer me. “Maris, what’s wrong?”
She jumps at my hand on her leg. “Th-this road is where they d-died,” she stammers. “It was just like this when they died. There was a storm. It washed out the road, swept their car right off and into the sea.”
“Fate took my parents from me. It killed them on an empty road and dragged them out to sea.”
This is the road. I look at the curving stretch of pavement with new eyes. This is where her parents died.
“We didn’t find them for a week. I couldn’t-I wasn’t allowed to see their faces at their funeral.
I didn’t understand why, but now I do.” I hear the pain in Maris’ voice.
A week at sea would cause severe decomposition.
Not only would the salt water break the body down but the bodies would be a food source for any passing animal.
Whatever was left of Maris’ parents wasn’t fit for a child’s eyes.
“What do you need from me?” I squeeze her hand and then press both of our hands to her thigh to ground her. I don’t know if it works but Maris stops looking at the water spraying up from the sea and looks at me. At our hands. She puts her other hand on top of mine. It’s shaking.
“J-just keep driving, Julian. Don’t let the sea take me too. Please, don’t let it.”
Maris is pleading. She isn’t just scared of this road. She’s scared of the ocean, the water. She thinks it’s going to drag her down like it did her parents. She starts to tremble so I start talking.
“You aren’t going anywhere, wife. You’re mine,” I remind her as I take a turn and the lights of town come into view, “and I’m not good at sharing. The sea will never have you.”
“I believe you.” She takes a deep breath but doesn’t say anything else. The rest of the ride back to town Maris keeps my hand in a death grip. It’s only when we cross the official city limits of Vesper Point that she relaxes with an audible sigh of relief.
It’s when we’re sitting at the stop light to turn up the hill to Maris’ house that she breaks the silence.
“It’s him,” she whispers.
“Who?”
“The man I killed.” Maris points to a man standing on the sidewalk that leads to the docks. He’s not moving. People walk around him but he doesn’t look at any of them. Not even when they try to speak to him. He’s looking out towards the sea like he’s waiting for something.
I scowl at the sight of him. There’s only one reason why he would be standing out here in the sun looking as human as he does.
“I buried him. Evidently not fucking deep enough.” The light turns green and I keep driving. Fuck the man I buried for her. We’ll deal with that later.
“You what?” Maris whirls to look at me.
“I buried him,” I repeat.
“H-how? When? I mean, why would you do that?”
“Quickly and with my hands, after I listened to your confession. I did it because I wanted you,” I answer her questions in quick succession as I pull up in front of Vesper House.
Maris puts a hand on my arm to stop me when I move to get out of the car. “But you-I didn’t know you did that. Why didn’t you tell me that you did that for me? I’ve been waiting for his body to just turn up. I thought Aria knew when she tried to stab me.”
“I didn’t tell you because it wasn’t important and you didn’t ask me. You killed a man, understandably distressing for a mortal but who hasn’t these days?”
“I don’t get it. Is he a fucking zombie?” Maris looks over her shoulder like she thinks the man is going to come shuffling up the road behind us.
“Zombies aren’t real,” I tell her and open my door. “He’s a vampire.”