Read A Gift of the Darkest Magic Online
Authors: Ashlynn Monroe
A Gift of the Darkest Magic (10 page)
He smiled very sadly at her and held out his hand. She walked over and took it. He
squeezed her fingers tightly.
“I’ve lived for centuries. I have nothing else to do. I’ve seen every place that interests me.
I’ve read all the books and seen all the movies I’ve ever wanted to enjoy. Existence holds no appeal for me. If you’d given him up to be mine, maybe I’d feel differently right now, but I can feel your bond with each other. I can smell him on you. Your love is real and strong. I can never be a part of that. I’ll never change, never evolve.” His eyes moved rapidly back and forth as he watched her face. “Can you understand that?”
“Yes,” she whispered. When Matt was dying, her time had been nothing but a collection
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of days, there was nothing to interest her into really living instead of just existing.
“Fear not, the magic that healed your man will outlive me. His cure is not contingent on
my existence. There is no reason I should survive, unless you’ll allow me to bring you into my clan and make you more than human. With him, you’ll get decades. I can offer you lifetimes.”
There was a hopeful note in his voice.
“No.” She didn’t bother justifying her rejection of becoming undead.
“I’ve had women beg me for what I offer you, but the choice is yours. I also have a
choice, and I chose to walk into the sunlight and end my tedious existence. Being with you gave me the gift of closure. You can’t imagine how precious that is to one who’s longed for it for centuries. I loved my wife as much as you love your Matt. I’m glad you were spared losing him, for now. Everything dies, Clarissa, even the immortals.” A red tear rolled down his cheek.
He stood, his large but flaccid cock dangling between his legs. She admired his powerful
body, wondering why he was naked.
“I am nude as to leave no trace behind. I released Franz from his duties earlier tonight. It
was the first time in his life that he wasn’t under compulsion, and I think he liked the freedom.”
She gasped. “You forced generations of his male family members to work for you?”
He grinned. “I’m a villain, yes. I never told you I was a tamed creature. It is my nature to
manipulate and control, you yourself can certainly attest to this. Come with me. Stay with me while I die.”
“I don’t want you to die,” Clarissa sobbed.
“I’m evil, and nothing, not even your sweet compassion, will change my inner beast. I am
the monster under the bed, the thing mortals fear in the night. I have killed and would kill again.
Don’t mourn with your human sentiment over me. This is not a bad thing, lovely. Hold me.”
She stepped into his arms. She felt his cock grow stiff, poking her in the stomach.
Ignoring the erection, she let him hold her tightly.
“When we walk outside, step back and do not try to save me. Just watch, I need to know
someone cares enough to watch me die.”
“Okay.” She nodded sadly. He was right, she shouldn’t mourn him as if he was human,
but she still didn’t want his existence to end.
He stepped back and took her hand. She followed him up the steps. They stepped into the
gray darkness. His pale, naked body looked translucent in the moonlight. She sat down on a
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bench that stood against the wall of the club.
“Goodbye,” he wept.
The pink rays of dawn came over the horizon, hitting his body directly as he stood nude,
in the middle of the street. There was a flash. She averted her eyes due to the overwhelming
brightness and when she glanced back, Braden was aflame. She gasped and cried out.
He roared with agony. He was watching her watch him die, and it was the most horrible
moment she’d ever experienced. Then he fell to his knees and the flames intensified to a white-hot level that left the pavement under him melting. He crumpled to the ground and the flames
died away. Curled in the fetal position, his body was nothing but ash. A breeze blew down the alley and the ash collapsed into a pile where his fallen body had damaged the street. Clarissa sat on the bench for a long time, crying. When the sun was fully up, she managed to wipe her face and stumble back to her car.
The drive home was a blur. She didn’t think about anything except being home and safe.
She quietly entered the house. A noise in the kitchen drew her in and she peeked in the doorway to see her husband pouring a cup of coffee.
Matt grabbed a second cup and added hot chocolate mix to the cup, just the way she liked
her overly-sweet morning brew. He handed her the cup. “He’s gone,” Matt stated.
“Yes.”
They sat down and quietly sipped the coffee. The girls were still asleep.
“I love you,” he told his wife.
“I know. I love you more,” Clarissa replied.
Matt smiled. “Today’s a brand new day. Let’s take the kids out hiking. We can pack a
lunch and spend today having fun. I’ll call them out of school and you can call in sick to work.
Let’s live again.”
Some of the melancholy in her heart lifted. “Okay, awesome.”
“Before my connection to him ended, I felt something different. He’s at peace now, Clair.
Let’s be happy for that instead of sad.”
She put her hand over Matt’s, looking into his eyes. “I’ll try. We owe him so much for
saving your life. I wish I could’ve saved him.”
“Sweetheart, don’t you realize? You did save him.” Matt stood and came around the table
to give her a tight one-armed hug. “Clarissa, you saved your vampire just as surely as you saved
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my life. Smile, live, and know that you have nothing to regret. I’m not mad at you anymore. I wouldn’t have let you die either. Come on, let’s take a shower, wake up the girls, and spend the day just living.”
She smiled as a bittersweet happiness began to replace her melancholy mood; her sorrow
faded. Living sounded like the best way she could imagine spending the day. She stood up and
followed her husband into the bedroom. Birds cheerfully tweeted outside and bright sunlight
shined in the windows. Today was going to be a beautiful day. She leaned, resting her hip on the window frame and trailed her fingertips down the glass, enjoying the sight of her neighborhood waking up.
“Thank you, Braden,” Clarissa whispered.
About Ashlynn Monroe
Ashlynn Monroe has been dreaming up stories all her life. She started to put them on
paper at thirteen, but it wasn’t until she was thirty that she decided to share them with others.
She’s a busy mom with a full-time job, fantastic friends, and a unique sense of humor. She’s just a regular girl who’s in love with the idea of happily-ever-after. She’s honored to be multi-published by some of the best electronic publishers in the industry. Ashlynn survives each day by dreaming up her next tale of romance.
Ashlynn’s Website:
www.ashlynnmonroe.com
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