“If I can use the old cliché, my home is wherever you are.” He pressed a soft kiss to her lips and she melted into him happily.
***
As they sat on the fire escape, peering inside her old apartment, Avery was glad that some of Brennus’ powers remained intact. Like not being seen by her Aunt Caroline as they watched her move around the apartment. She was wearing cycling shorts and a sports top, her sneakers squeaking against the hardwood floors as she rushed around getting her stuff together. There was no sign of the cancer. She looked younger than ever. Avery’s eyes prickled with happy tears. Brennus had given her such a wonderful gift. As Caroline passed the telephone cabinet in the corner, Avery spotted a picture of her parents instead of the photo of her at her prom.
Brennus had kept his promise. She hadn’t existed. No one remembered her to miss her. Avery thought she’d feel sadder about that. But the truth was… maybe she hadn’t ever existed.
“Brennus?” She asked softly as Caroline left the apartment. “Would you have taken Caroline away from me before her time, like you threatened?”
He stared deep into her eyes. “I wouldn’t have had to. She wasn’t going to last long.”
Avery took a deep breath. “But if she hadn’t been…?”
“Truth?”
“Truth.”
That ruthless glint she had seen in his eyes that first night was back. “I would have done anything to have you.”
She nodded slowly. He was being honest. There was a darkness in him. He had lived too long. Seen too much. And in the end he hadn’t taken Caroline before her time. Plus…Avery had chosen him, hadn’t she, despite all that. She shrugged to herself. There was darkness in everybody. She loved Brennus. Not the man she thought he should be. Maybe that made her dark and twisty like him, but at least it made her something.
“You glad you made a deal with the devil?” Brennus murmured in her ear, his arm warm and strong encircled around her back.
Avery smiled into his eyes and leaned forward to press a quick kiss to his mouth. “With this devil, yes.”
When he grinned back at her, she saw herself in his eyes. That person in there, shining back at her… that person existed. He and Caroline had made sure of it in the end. She brushed her fingers across his jaw in affectionate thanks.
“So what now?” He asked softly, glancing around them pointedly.
“Now?” Avery grinned and wrapped her arms around his neck, drawing him close. “Now… dance me home.”
The End