Page 74 of Fangbanger

“Don’t forget I can stake you and take the apple by force.”

He smirks. “Have at it.” He reaches into his coat pocket and comes up with the apple. He tosses it, and I catch, stretching my wounds painfully.

The apple is impossibly light for something so powerful. My hand trembles. I once wanted nothing more than to eat one of these and bring my parents back.

“Leah, don’t. We talked about this. You cannot bring back the dead.” Karina’s gaze is stark. “They’re a reason the apples are named for a man. Because men are fools.”

My fingers tighten around the tiny ruby-red fruit. “I have to try. Not for them.” My voice cracks.

Karina’s eyes flare. She watched me hunt for one of these for years. “For him? He’s your heart’s desire?”

I nod. “He can’t die like this. Not when we have unfinished business.”

The apple seems to throb in agreement.

“Hold Julian, Karina. Take him with you and contain him, please.” I manage the words before I reach inside and feel for the bond. My attempts to follow it are fumbling, like the first time I drove a car or tried to write left-handed. It doesn’t sing for me like it did just minutes ago. It reminds me of a dying tree limb, gnarled and blackened.

Marcus. I pinch my eyes shut and stumble in the direction the bond tugs me. My feet meet the porch.

Inside. The vampire went inside.

I feel like a newborn deer as I make my way inside on shaky legs. I lean briefly against the wall of the dining room, my breath sawing in my new lungs. The bond tugs insistently.

I know, I tell it. I just need a minute.

The little black cat leaps onto the dining room table and meows at me. Her eyes are a bright green, and under them, a little gold tag on a green collar dangles. I grasp it and read.

Luna is inscribed in swooping script.

He named the cat. My vision blurs with unshed tears. “Foolish vampire,” I mutter. He named the fucking cat for a children’s cartoon that I had no idea he even knew about. One I used to watch when I was nine. I still have the comics, and he must have seen them.

Luna noses at a mug on the dining room table.

My shaking fingers trace the letters on the paper under it.

Leah,

You have shown me more kindness in one week than I have received in my entire life. I promise that this coffee will be the first of many I share with you. You are incredible, my little mate.

All my love,

Marcus

I think back to our conversation earlier. His reassurance that it wouldn’t hurt when he left. I think back farther, to his quiet rescue of me, to the food he made, and the coffee machine, and the way he told me he wanted a lifetime of Costco trips. The confessions he made and his promises not to hurt me. The tender way he cared for me, the anguish any time I was injured. The sheer volume of his affection.

Even if he could lie, I’d believe he didn’t know about the past. Because the vampire I know would have confessed to me. He’d never knowingly hurt me. Not like that.

In the face of his actions, does the past matter?

Isn’t the full life I have with Marcus what my parents wanted for me? It’s what I’ve been searching for. Am I willing to let it go?

Isn’t a chance at happiness worth far more than vengeance?

Of course it is. I deserve happiness, and Marcus does too.

My tears splash onto the paper. My fingers spasm around the fruit. Without thinking, I bite it and chew.

It tastes like no apple I’ve ever had. A burst of flavor like mango, then bitter like an orange peel. I force it down. The whole thing. I have to eat the whole thing. The magic is most potent in the seeds.