Eternal: More Love Stories With Bite (31 page)

"Boy, you are so dead now," Billy whispered. "If he ever finds out you told—"

"I'm sorry," Gavin said to me, lurching to his feet.

They ran. My hands curled into fists as I realized they were headed for the parking lot, not the pavilion.

"You chickenshits!" I screamed. "Get back here and help me!"

I crawled over to Liam, who lay half on
his
back, his legs twisted at a crooked angle. Blood ran from his mouth, nose, and ears, pooling in a puddle that soaked his golden hair.

"Liam ..." I kissed his forehead, then forced myself to my feet. "I swear I'll be back. Don't leave me, okay? Don't you dare leave me!"

Maybe it was the dizziness, or wishful thinking, but I thought I saw
his
lips move. Whether it was real or not, it was
all I
needed.

I ran, then staggered, then crawled toward the pavilion. I tried to scream, but my weak cries were drowned out by the music.

"Cassie!"

Bridget's high-heeled pumps appeared in front of my eyes. Then her hands, holding my shoulders, giving me strength to lift my chin.

"Help . . . Liam."

"What's wrong? Where is he?"

I couldn't remember. How far had I come? It seemed like miles. "Woods." I
coughed out the most important word. "Bleeding." They could follow the scent.

"We'll find him." Michael's voice was calm,
in
control. "Come on, Bridget."

I felt my grandmother's embrace and smelled her sharp perfume. As the darkness swallowed me whole,
I
prayed I'd see Liam again alive.
I
prayed someone would catch Gavin and make him pay.

I prayed I wasn't too late.

* * * *

My ears woke before my eyes, but I couldn't make out any of the words around me. Then I realized I was surrounded by older folks whispering in Cant. They always complain that the young people can't speak it, but they use it
all
the time when they don't want us to understand.

I twitched my fingers and found I was lying under a fleece blanket on a thin mattress. A warm breeze blew over my face, and
I
heard a curtain scraping against an aluminum window frame above me. They must have carried me into an RV brought by one of the guests.

They stopped whispering, maybe because I'd moved. I tried to speak Liam's name, but my tongue was too dry.

Then, in the distance, I heard Martin Finnegan play alone. The fiddle's keening cry sliced through my mind's fog as I recognized the mournful opening notes of "Danny Boy."

My heart thudded to a halt.

They didn't play "Danny Boy" at weddings. The last time I'd heard it was at my daddy's wake.

Liam was dead.

My lips formed the word my mind was screaming, but my throat couldn't bring it to life. So it echoed around my head, louder and louder with every bounce. NO.

"She's awake," Nana whispered in English.

I reached out for the only thing I wanted. "Liam . . ."

"Shh." She stroked my hair, pulling on the bobby pins. "You did everything you could."

I clutched the blanket, wishing my hands were wrapped around his murderers' necks. "It was Gavin and Billy and Owen."

Nana gave a deep sigh. "I thought it might be those boys. They disappeared same time as Liam. I'll tell Donal, and he'll send someone to find them."

My great-uncle would have them in his hands by the end of the weekend. Maybe even the end of the night. For killing one of their own, the three boys would probably be banished— a fate worse than death to most Travellers.

But it was a fate I'd wanted, if it meant getting to be with Liam.

I thought of his vision of our lives as a burning building. He'd never seen me standing at the door. Instead he'd fallen to the flames and smoke.

At that moment, I thought I'd fall, too, choking and burning, never to rise from the ashes. What was left in this building, anyway? A stepfather who'd wanted me to marry a murderer?

I clutched Nana's hand. "Gavin said Brendan told him to do it."

She gasped, and her fingers spasmed inside mine. "No." She shook her head so hard, I thought her dangly gold earrings would pop off.

"That's what he told me."

"Liar," she hissed.

I let go, stunned. Did she mean me or Gavin? Either way, if everyone else thought the way she did, then Brendan would never meet justice.

I turned away from her, facing the wall and tugging the blanket up tight under my chin. At that moment, I felt something I'd never felt in my entire life.

Alone.

* * * *

My eyes slammed open to see the bright red numbers on my clock flash to 2:00. I remembered coming home and
fall
ing into bed, praying I'd dream of Liam's face, tonight and forever.

I was back in my room, but not alone.

"Nana?" I whispered.

"Shh." A pale figure knelt beside my bed. His blond hair glowed in the moonlight.

It was exactly the dream I'd prayed for.
Thank you, God, for small kindnesses.
I
opened my mouth to speak Liam's name.

But quick as a magician, he placed his finger against my lips. "Don't speak. Don't move. Everything depends on it."

Confusion paralyzed my muscles. I didn't understand why instinct told me to obey him without question.

Then I realized why. This was no dream.

And Liam's hand
no
longer trembled.

"It's me," he said in the softest whisper. "It's still me."

My breath quickened, and a shiver worked its way
up
my spine until my shoulders shook. A tear slipped out of my left eye, dripping over the bridge of my nose. Bridget had saved him the only way she could.

He wiped my tear away. "Fear not, Mary Cassidy."

In an instant, my sorrow flipped to joy. Alive or undead, it
was
still Liam.

I narrowed my eyes. "I may be a virgin Mary, but you sure as heck ain't no angel Gabriel."

"I told you to shhh." He pressed his finger to my lips again.

I kissed it, holding his gaze. "Make me shhh."

His eyelids went heavy, and he leaned in, so slowly I moaned.

He stopped. "You know what I am now?"

"You're in this world. That's all that counts."

His eyes opened wide, then crinkled at the edges. "I was wrong, Cass. We are too good to be true."

"Luckily we don't give two shits about the truth." I placed my hand over his heart, which beat as strong as when he was alive. Then I looped my fingers into his shirt collar, giving it a tug. "Kiss me."

"It could be dangerous."

"Good."

"Not we-might-get-arrested dangerous. More like, I-might-chomp-your-tongue-off dangerous. If I get thirsty."

I touched his cheek. "You're warm. You're not thirsty."

"I drank before I came here. But I'm so young, I could be starving any second."

"Then either kiss me or go away. I hate when you tease."

He leaned in close again. "Liar."

"Thief."

He brushed his lips against mine, soft as a wish.

"Get away from her," growled a commanding voice, "before I tear your damn fool head off."

Liam put his hands up and slowly leaned away from me, revealing my cousin Michael silhouetted in the doorway. The light flashed on, then off, then on again.

"Are you psycho?" Michael yanked Liam to his feet. "You want to get staked your first night undead?"

"I had to see her."

"And now you have." He dragged Liam toward the door. "For the last time."

I sat up. "Where are you taking him?"

"Away from humans."

I leaped out of bed and followed them into the hallway. "Wait!"

Michael stopped short, and they turned to me. Liam's gaze dropped to my thighs. I realized how short my sleep shirt was.

I put my hands on my hips, hiking the shirt higher. "He's still my fiancé."

Michael's eyes went cold, his scowl made fiercer by the jagged black scar across his right cheek and the bridge of his nose.

"You can't marry a vampire." His voice was flat and patronizing, like he'd said, "You can't milk a frog."

"Michael's right." Nana's voice came from behind me. I turned to see her in her flannel nightgown. "Liam can't grow old with you. He can't even go outside during the day." She raised her palms. "Most of all, he can't give you children."

Reality
slammed
me,
almost knocking me
off
my feet.

Liam
and I
stared at each other. His life on
earth
had just been
doubled,
but
his
future
with me
had been
cut
to nothing.

Yet I
loved
him
not one
tiny
bit less, and
needed our
Now more than ever.

"Fine,"
I said.
"I
won't
get married."

My grandmother's face darkened
like a
storm
cloud.
"Go to your room. Michael—
take
that boy home."

"You got it, Aunt Kate." Before I
could take
a step toward Liam, my cousin had dragged him down the stairs toward the front door.

I ran to my bedroom window and pushed aside the curtain.

Nana entered behind me. "Don't you ever say a thing like that. Not get married. You want to give your grandmother a heart attack?"