Damon (40 page)

“You wouldn’t be crazy at all if one of my people hadn’t come here fifty years ago. The portal needs to be closed. We’re harming others. I can see that now. We sent a scout fifty years ago, but he never returned, so we didn’t know.”

“Because he attacked them. He killed Joseph Jarvis. He was vicious.”

“Not vicious,” he said. “Under attack. You saw how the police reacted to my father in that red suit. How we felt when we saw my uncle. Terrified and ready to fight. The old folks must have been the same way. They must have attacked him in fear. He fought back, to defend himself.”

“And Elliot killed him.”

Damon nodded. “In his death moments, as his life flashed before his eyes, in his horror, our scout must have sent Elliot his thoughts. Elliot remembered them and wrote them down. It was all true. The book isn’t fiction, Maggie. Not entirely. Only Damien and Sarah were fictional.”

“Maybe not,” I said. “You and I. We’re Damien and Sarah.”

He held me close again. “Two lovers from different worlds.”

The man in the cave with us, the alien, spoke in his strange language and I whirled around, having forgotten he was there.

Damon wrapped his arms around me from behind. “It’s all right, but we have to go. The portal is unstable. It’s closing. My uncle came to find me, to warn me. We have to leave while we can. Once the portal closes, we can’t reopen it. Ever. The project has been terminated.”

I stared at the man across the cave room with the shining silver eyes, standing in his own globe of light. “He’s your uncle?”

“He’s also my commander. I have family, honey. A big family. A happy family. You’ll be one of us.”

I had always wanted a big family. I’d also wanted a happy family. I’d wanted that more than anything most of my life. But I was terrified of the unknown.

“He’s your age,” I said, stalling. Then I realized I had no idea how old Damon was. Not really. If he could change shape, he could apparently look any age he wanted. Then, so could his uncle. “Is everyone like you? On your planet?”

“Only those born of the sanguine moon, and their descendents. Of the billions on our planet, there are only a couple million of us. We are revered by most, feared by some, but the wars ended millennia ago. We take human form and walk among them. We only show our true selves to those of our own kind. We created villages where we can live in peace.”

“Secret, hidden villages?”

“Secret, perhaps, but not hidden. Surely, you can see why we can’t stay here. We have to return home. We don’t belong here.”

I turned around, realizing how much like Elliot’s characters, Damien and Sarah, we were. Damon had to leave. He had to return to his home planet. And like Sarah, if I wanted to be with him, I’d have to go with him. I would have to abandon my world.

Our time left together was too short and I began to panic. I clung to him, needing to hold him there with me until I could think this through.

“I don’t know who you are. I don’t know your name. I don’t even know what you really look like.”

“I can take any human shape you want. And my name is Damon. To you, I’ll always be Damon. You don’t have to be afraid. I’ll be with you, always.”

I wanted to believe him, but he’d already changed into a man I didn’t know. A man with a sound mind. A man with a happy family, from some distant planet or dimension. In an instant, he’d turned into a stranger.

I understood why Sarah had let Damien leave her behind in Elliot’s book. Now, I understood. I didn’t know who he was anymore. I didn’t know what he was. Or where he was going. I couldn’t begin to imagine his home planet. I didn’t understand the language.

I would be the alien there.

Sarah had felt the same. Completely disconnected from the man she’d known and loved. Betrayed. And terrified of the unknown.

There would be no coming back. If I took this step with him, I could never return.

I could either jump with him or stand there and watch him vanish – forever.

“I’ll still be crazy,” I said. “I’ll be crazy in a strange world.”

“No,” he said, stroking my hair. “We know how to fix that. The answer is simple, now that I remember. We’ll replace your blood with ours. It’s a simple procedure, like a blood transfusion. You were born with our blood in your veins. Our blood mixing with your human blood, each fighting for dominance. There will be no dispute that you should be one of us. Family. My wife.” He held my face between his hands. “But you’ll have to lose your human blood. You won’t be human anymore, baby. You’ll be like us.”

“An alien vampire?”

Once, saying such a thing had been a joke to me. Now, he nodded seriously.

“Our blood doesn’t mix. And now I’ve poisoned you even more. We put our blood in your veins, but not enough. Only enough to make you a partial vampire. Only enough to drive you crazy. We destroyed your mother’s life and my… David’s life. And others. We’re guilty of that. But we never meant for it to happen. I hope you know that. We never knew that could happen. We have to close the portal forever. It’s too dangerous.”

“But… you don’t really know me. You don’t really love me. It was all…
him
.” I pointed vaguely back over my shoulder toward the dead man on the ledge. “It was all David.”

“You never met David,” he said. “Remember? He followed you, he watched you, last winter, but he never had the courage to face you. You met me. We met and fell in love. I do love you. Me. The real me. I didn’t have to fall in love with you but I did. And you fell in love with me.” He paused and I felt his body shaking. “Right?”

I wasn’t sure. I couldn’t say for sure what had really happened. I wasn’t sure who I’d been with, David or Damon. I wasn’t even sure if I was married. My ring had been bought with a deranged stranger’s money.

“I’m in the military,” Damon said. “I’m a scientist, an astrophysicist. My uncle is chief commander of the portal project and recruited me ten years ago. I’m an adventurer by nature. I had to make the journey myself to see what was here. I was alone, no wife, no real purpose. I was looking for something I couldn’t even name. And I found it. You. I crossed dimensions to find you, Magic Maggie. Your mother got your name right. You’ve been my magic star. You filled my life with magic. You. The instant I saw you I knew. Not David. Me.
I
knew. You knew, too. I know you did.”

Until a few minutes ago, I would have sworn I did. But now….

“I’m me, Maggie. I was always me. The memories of my past were confused, that’s all. I knew I had to find my way home but I couldn’t remember where I’d come from. Everything else was me.” He lifted my hand. “I’ll buy you a new ring once we’re home. A ring from me alone.”

The ring was the least of my worries. “You’ve been reading my mind all this time, haven’t you?”

“Only a stray thought here and there, until we bonded by blood. Then, your thoughts became much clearer. I know you inside and out, baby. And I love you.”

He knew me, but I didn’t know him. Not really.

“Yes,” he said insistently, “you do. You know me.”

His uncle spoke again, more sternly this time. We both glanced his way, then Damon gripped me by the shoulders.

“The pit is filling. We have to leave before it’s full. We’ll be washed away and the portal will close. You have to decide now. The water’s coming.”

I heard it then, the roar coming closer. The water coming in a wild, unleashed fury.

Soon, the cave would be flooded.

A blue light rose up from the pit, brightening the cave, and I saw the expression in Damon’s eyes. The same expression I’d seen the night at Chester’s when he’d believed I no longer loved him.

I couldn’t stand that look.

His uncle yelled at us and Damon took my arm, trying to lead me toward the pit where, apparently, we had to jump into the light.

Damon pulled on my hand but I hesitated. I couldn’t decide. I wanted to talk it over with Chester. I wanted to think about it. It was all happening too fast.

“Please don’t vanish, Maggie,” he said. “Don’t vanish. We’re forever. Remember? Forever. No matter where we are.”

I nodded but still I couldn’t make myself move. I’d always thought I’d be brave enough to go anywhere with him. Even to die with him. But, I wasn’t. I wasn’t brave. I was terrified. “Grab me and drag me through with you,” I begged.

He shook his head. “You have to decide. Either come with me or I’ll stay here with you. I’ll never leave you again. We can stay here and go crazy together. I don’t care as long as we’re together.”

My gut tightened painfully in terror at that thought. “I couldn’t do that to you. I could never do that to you.” I couldn’t condemn him to a life of misery. I loved him too much.

“Then come with me. Come with me, Maggie.”

I thought of Verna Jarvis and her lost love. I didn’t want to end up like her, with only an old photograph to hold on to. And then I realized - I didn’t even have a picture of Damon. I would end up with nothing. Nothing but memories. Memories that would slowly fade as I lost my mind. I would end up like Richard Jenkins, with scattered memories of a red beast in a cave, desperate to find Damon again, my mind lost in an insane mission to find something that no longer existed. I’d end up dead on a floor, full of bullet holes.

Or, I could do what Gram, Chester, and Bella had done. I could go somewhere else and start over. I could reinvent myself.

“Are you… do you look like…?” I didn’t want to say horrid beast and offend him. I couldn’t think of a nice way to say it.

He nodded, smiling. “I am. I’m sorry. I know that image frightens you. I promise you’ll never see me like that. If you like this image, then this is the only way you’ll see me.”

“Do you have fangs? That night….”

He smiled and two very sharp fangs replaced his canines. “David had the fake ones. Mine are real.”

Ordinarily, I would have found his fangs incredibly sexy. Now….

The fangs retracted and he frowned. “You’ll only see me like this if you want. I’ll always be your Damon.”

But I knew he wouldn’t be. Not really. He’d only be wearing a mask, a costume, for my benefit. I didn’t want him to give up his true self for me. It wouldn’t work in the long run and I’d be stuck with a stranger on an unknown planet.

“I live in human form,” he said. “I always have. Most of us do. It’s not a costume. It’s natural for us. We are both, and neither. We’re whoever we want to be. I had David Jenkins’ memories, Maggie. That’s all. The rest was me. My true self. I can only ever be me.”

“Always reading my mind,” I said, trying to smile.

He shrugged. “I love listening to your mind. Even when you want to punch me in the face.”

I laughed and tears came to my eyes, then sobs to my throat, so uncontrollable I could barely see or breathe or even think. And that was the turning point for me. The moment I made the decision to believe, as Damon always had, that somehow, some way, everything would be all right.

As long as we were together.

Stepping forward, I took his hand. He smiled at me and I smiled back.

“Do you trust me now?”

I nodded, my heartbeat racing. I’d never trusted him before, not really, but I did now. And I never wanted to live without him. I was no longer afraid.

Damon’s uncle nodded to me and jumped into the pit, disappearing beneath the blue, glowing water.

“Ready?” Damon asked.

“Yes,” I said. And I was. I was ready for the madness and the exhaustion to end. I was ready for peace. “Let’s go home.”

He squeezed my hand. “I knew you’d jump with me.”

The strange bluish light rising from around us grew brighter, almost blinding. The roar of water became deafening and unbearable, and the tidal wave hit, almost knocking us apart. Damon caught my wrist and pulled me back against him, wrapping his arms around me in a fierce embrace as we dove into the pit.

We floated underwater, beaten around like rubber toys beneath a raging faucet, until I could hold my breath no longer and I gave in to the desire to replace the burning fire in my lungs with cold, soothing water.

MAGGIE!
Damon screamed.
HANG ON! WE’RE ALMOST THERE.

I love you,
I told him with my last conscious thought before nothingness swirled me down the drain.

EPILOGUE

I woke up. I had never really believed in death. I mean, like most people, I could never quite conceive of my own death, as if it would happen to everyone else except me. Still, I was shocked senseless when I woke up, and saw green grass beneath my hand.

I was lying on my side, coughing and sputtering water from my lungs.

As the spasms eased, I lifted my head and saw glowing silver eyes staring at me. Silver eyes staring at me from the dripping wet face of a bright red beast. A red beast dressed in jeans and a blue t-shirt.

I sat up with a gasp. The beast shook himself violently, spraying me with water, and looked like Damon again.

“Sorry,” he said. “Going through the portal does that to me.”

I swallowed hard, wiping my face as I blinked rapidly, trying to see my new world. I filled my lungs with the wonderful fresh air. I could see nothing but trees, mountains, and blue sky. And it was all beautiful.

But it looked just like the world I’d left.

“Where are we?”

“Home.” Damon lifted me to my feet, steadying me against him when I swayed. “We made it. We’re here.”

I finally found my balance and looked around. We were on the trail leading to the cave. I recognized the tree to my left with the huge gall. The pregnant tree. We weren’t in an alien world. We were in the same world. My world. Dread began to set in.

“Where is your uncle?”

“He went ahead to tell everyone I’ve returned. Let’s walk. It’s not far.”

“What isn’t far?”

“Home.”

As we walked, I recognized the rock I’d sat on, the rock where I’d rested after Damon had tried to kill me. “We’re still here. We didn’t make it. We didn’t leave.”

“No. We made it.” He lifted his head and took a deep breath. “Can’t you feel the difference?”

Now that he mentioned it, I could feel the difference. I looked along the trail where he’d dumped the bullets but they were gone now. We were in a different place. Everything was the same and brighter, fresher. The sky was bluer, the trees were greener, the air smelled sweeter. Colorful birds flittered about. Vivid yellow goldfinches, brilliant blue indigo buntings, red scarlet tanagers and purple finches.