Slay Alive

Chapter 23

twenty-three

I lied. I’m not on my best behavior when I arrive at the tavern to find the door locked and the curtains pulled shut.

I bang on the door. “Hello?! Is anyone here? I need help!”

“We’re closed!” A voice shouts at me.

I keep knocking. “Rhiannon, it’s Bonnie! Open up.”

“Closed for business!” Whoever is inside shouts again and I see red.

“The fuck you are.” I go full vigilante justice and kick the door of the Prickly Possum in. I practically take the door off the hinges, courtesy of my hunter strength. A roomful of women scream in terror when I storm into the tavern. There’s party streamers and balloons and a couple of guitarists playing in the corner. Women sit in a circle with fruity cocktails in hand and in the center of the room is what I’m pretty sure is a massive three tier cake that a male dancer just popped out of.

A woman stands to meet me. “This is a private party. You can’t be here.”

A banner hanging over the bar declares “Happy Bachelorette Party, Meg!” If I wasn’t so mad I’d feel bad for ruining some pre-wedding fun. As it is, I’m barely hanging onto my sanity.

I go toe-to-toe with the woman. “Rhiannon. Now. Where is she?”

Her eyes go wide. “You’re a hunter.”

“I am. Now point me in the direction of the witch or I’m going to tear this place apart.”

“Tsk, tsk, hunter. I thought you were supposed to, oh, I don’t know, learn how to channel that anger in all your training. Achieve inner zen and all that to help you catch the baddies.” Rhiannon sweeps into the room, seemingly from thin air and glares pointedly at her door that’s barely hanging on by a hinge.

“I’m sending you the bill for that.”

“Whatever, put it on my cosmic tab because I’m thinking I’m the one that’s owed right now.”

Rhiannon scoffs. “I gave you what your heart desired. I set you on the path to true love and you think you’re the one owed a debt? Please, try again, Bonnie-bear.”

The witch and I are locked in a stare off when the woman from the bachelorette party that spoke up clears her throat. “Should we go? Because we put down that deposit for the full day, Rhiannon.”

Rhiannon glances at her with a sigh. “Kinda hard to have an epic showdown when you’re talking about deposits, Cheryl.”

Cheryl holds her hands up and backs off. “Sorry, sorry.”

“Be back in a sec. All drinks are on the house until I get back.” The women let out a wave of screaming cheers as Rhiannon snaps her fingers and the Prickly Possum vanishes. We’re outside now. I look around and see we’re at Stargazer Plaza. I’d recognize it anywhere from its gemstone dotted floor even in the daylight. The gems still shine but more so in a reflection of the sun. Their light is subdued, toned down while everything around it is in hi-def colors. Seeing this place makes me miss Cade so much I could scream.

“I don’t take kindly to you interrupting my business revenue by smashing up my tavern, hunter.”

“And I don’t take kindly to you making me a vampire’s soulmate just to rip him away from me.”

Rhiannon smiles. “Figured that one out finally. Mazel tov.”

I flip the witch off. “Don’t you dare congratulate me. What the fuck? I’m his foretold fucking soulmate you prophesied and that makes me what? Prophecy girl? And I’m just supposed to leave him here when I go home? When I was getting shit-faced in a bar and you sat down beside me, do you know what I thought? Wow, she’s so pretty! I hope we can be friends! Not, oh, look what an evil witch monster, I hope she ruins my life. So what the fuck, Rhia!”

Rhia crosses her arms. “I didn’t ruin your life. I helped you. This is exactly what you wanted.”

She’s right. All I ever wanted was to end up in a place like Fangs Are Forever. For years it was the place I wanted to escape to the most, except in all my daydreaming it was only me. There was no one else it would hurt.

Now there is.

“But it’s not what Cade wanted. This isn’t fair to him. I can’t-you can’t do this to him.” My voice breaks at the end and hot tears spill down my cheeks. “Fuck!”

“But it is,” Rhia says softly. She takes a step closer to me. “Everything that happens here is for a reason, Bonnie.”

“How can it be? You told him I was his soulmate. He changed everything and for what? When I’m going to break his heart.”

“I’ll tell you why, Bonnie. Cade Graves as he was, the “Nightstalker”, well that vampire was downright no good. He would have drained you without a second thought. Do you know how many others he hurt? For over two hundred years that vamp has wrought nothing but hell on this world. But when he had something to live for? He changed. You stopped him. You gave the beast a heart. He’s good now, Bonnie. No one could have done that but you. Don’t you see that? You saved countless souls and when you’re gone you will continue to save countless more.”

When I’m gone.

“Who cares? I don’t care what he did or who he hurt. I don’t care about anyone but him. I don’t. I know that makes me a bad person but he’s the only one that matters.” I don’t say the words that are on the tip of my tongue, the ones that I want to say but I’m too scared.

Love.

That’s what got me into this mess. The need for it, the craving so deep in my bones that the dream of it kept my heart beating.

I want to say it about Cade but I can’t. Not to Rhia.

The witch takes a step closer to me. “Then stay here with him. Live forever in Briarwood Hollow. You have a purpose, friends, a soulmate. Stay here.” If I didn’t know better I’d say she was pleading with me to stay.

I shake my head and look out at the plaza. The gemstones glitter in the sunlight. It’s almost as beautiful here as when I was with Cade.

Nothing will ever be that beautiful.

“I can’t. I have a life. My friends,” I say softly. What if there, I’m sleeping and I never wake up? Oh gods, that would break Gio and Donnie. They’re my family. Vanishing into this world and leaving them without even a goodbye? “Can you tell me if my friends are okay?” I ask Rhia and the witch’s face goes soft.

“I can’t. That’s not how this works.”

“Why not?”

“Because the universe never gives with two hands,” she tells me softly. “I’m sorry, Bonnie. I can’t tell you. Whatever you decide for yourself, you’ll have to do it on your own.”

Donnie and Gio have been my family. Oh gods. My family. My mom and dad would never recover if they lost me. I’m an only child of a loving and supportive family that’s always worked to make home a soft place to land. I can’t break their hearts like this. They would never survive losing me.

“I have to go home,” I tell Rhia and she nods.

“I thought you’d say that. I’m sorry, I really am,” she clasps her hands and has the decency to look apologetic, “Cade will survive. He’ll be different but better because of you. That’s why you were put together, Bonnie.”

My heart cracks when she says that. Cade might go on here without me, but I don't think I can manage it without him. I don’t say that. I keep it simple because I'm still a badass, albeit a brokenhearted one.

“Yeah.”

“But there’s also another reason you were put together, and seeing that you have plans to return home now's as good a time as any to tell you.”

I motion for her to punch me in the face because she’s already figuratively laid me out. “Hit me with it.”

“You have to stop the Ascendents. You’re the only ones that can get it done. Fail and this world is done for.”

I throw up my hands. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”