Epilogue
Two Weeks Later
“What do you think?” asks Nick.
I take a step back to assess our handiwork. We’ve just finished repainting my bedroom wall, the one with the fire damage, although the bedroom won’t be mine for too much longer. I’m moving in with Nick.
But I’ll be staying until Liv can find a new roommate. When it comes to rent, I don’t want to leave her in the lurch.
“Looks good,” I say with an approving nod. “Looks like a slayer never slept here at all.”
Nick frowns at me. “I’m sorry,” he says.
“For what?” I ask.
“You know what.”
I sigh. I do know. Poor Nick. First he felt guilty about unwittingly turning me into a vampire slayer, and now he’s been feeling equally torn up for unknowingly undoing the change.
I put down my paint roller and walk closer to him so I can thread my arms around his waist. “All you did was make me realize how much I love you,” I tell him, peering up at him. “You don’t ever have to apologize for that.”
“I can turn you, you know,” he says. “Just say the word, and we can get Arlo and The Book on a plane right back here.”
I smile. We’ve talked about this before, but I’m not ready to take that step just yet.
It’s not that I have any doubts about Nick. I am so done with the doubts. I know with absolute certainty that I want to spend the rest of my life with him. And if that life is an immortal one? So much the better.
And it’s not that I’m squeamish about him biting me. Full disclosure? He already has. Since our initial foray into the world of light bondage with the bike lock, I’ve become a lot more sexually curious. I guess that’s what happens when you have a partner you trust implicitly. And let’s just say that I understand exactly why someone would want to be a vampire’s blood donor.
But for now, after all the supernatural chaos, I’m happy just to be human again for a while. I’m happy just to be me.
And honestly? Being me has never been better. I mean, I’m moving in with my soulmate. I’ve got the best friends anyone could ever have. And I just gave my notice at Pete’s because, in another two weeks—drum roll, please—I start my absolute dream job playing ADA Cassidy Carmichael on Robbery-Homicide Division .
I’m not sure how I’ll explain the obvious change in my size when I show up for my first day of work. Then again, maybe I won’t have to. After all, Heather will be handling my wardrobe. Besides, I know I didn’t land this part because of what I look like. I got the role because of what I can do .
“Someday,” I tell Nick. “Someday I’ll ask you to turn me. But not today.”
The truth is, as amazing as things are between Nick and me, I still have a fair bit of work to do repairing some of the other relationships in my life. I mean, I’m pretty sure my ex Jonathan hates my guts. And I don’t think my parents are exactly thrilled with me at the moment either. So before I choose to become a vampire, I want to make sure there’s no one out there who could be negatively impacted by my choice. Nick didn’t know about the consequences, but I do. I don’t want to be responsible for turning anyone into a slayer without them choosing it for themselves.
Plus, it might be a couple of years before I have enough Hollywood clout to demand that all my shoots be night shoots. But that’s a problem for later.
In the win column, Jenn is trying to control her slayer. And she’s making progress. Good thing too, because I know at least one vampire I very much want to keep un dead.
Nick wraps an arm around me. He uses his other hand to tip my chin up higher to better meet his gaze. “You really don’t miss the power?” he asks. “The power that came with being a vampire slayer?”
It’s a funny question, really. Because the power I had as a slayer never felt quite right. It wasn’t a good kind of power. It was power that was rooted in hate.
It was only by fighting that power that I found my own power. A good kind of power. The best kind of power.
I move my hands up Nick’s torso and over his shoulders, looping my arms around his neck. “Nick,” I say, rising up onto my tiptoes and angling my face for a kiss. “How could I miss my slayer powers? I have you. I have love. True love. And that’s the greatest power of all.”
Nick grins, flashing epic dimples that, even if I do live forever, I will never get tired of looking at.
“You still slay me, you know that?” he says as his mouth homes in on mine. “You absolutely slay me.”