Even The Vampires Get The Blues

'She's diminishing,' I heard Clare's voice say. The words were familiar, but they didn't seem to have meaning to me anymore. My focus was on the tornado of misery that ripped through me. 'My aunt said something once about elves who diminish. They just sort of fade away until they are no more.'

Sam, my love, hold on to me. Don't leave me now, not when I need you. I can't live without you.

Paen's words seemed to come from a long way away. I examined them, holding them, wondering why such beautiful words should mean nothing to me anymore.

The pain washed over me.

Hold on to me, love. I'll help you with the pain.

There was no sense fighting it.

You must fight it, Sam. Don't give in to it, don't let it sap your strength.

My ending had been written. How ironic that it would happen now when I had found the one person I was ready to give up everything for.

Dammit, Samantha, I will not let you go! You are a strong, smart, sexy woman and I will not lose you. Now fight, damn you! Fight for me!

'Can't you do something to stop it?' Clare asked, her voice thick with tears.

Pilar sighed, his voice as distant as everyone else's. 'I've always found elves to be so melodramatic, but since she did stop you from slaying my mortal form, I will return the favor.'

'You've done enough already,' Paen snarled.

'Not yet, but I'm about to. This will accord us without debt on either side,' Pilar said.

'What—'

I was ripped from Paen's side, yanked without ceremony from my existence to another one, a world filled with drifting souls and beings which had been caught there.

'Behold the Akashic Plain,' a familiar voice said behind me.

Epilogue

'You already talked to him—why do you need to talk to him again?' I held the phone away from my ear for a second. 'No, he's not going to change his mind. He's not that kind of man, and besides, he can't. I'm his Beloved. He can't impregnate me and leave me for someone else. Well, OK, he could, but he wouldn't because he's nice. And he loves me. A lot. He was going to destroy a god for me! Only a man head over heels in love would decide to do something so ridiculous.'

My mother, never one to keep feelings to herself, unburdened herself of several items, up to and including the likelihood that the elf side of my family would look down on Paen because of his dark origins. 'Like I care what they think?' I flinched at the barrage that followed that statement. 'Sorry. Yes. Yes, I hear you. Yes, yes, yes. Huh? Of course we're going to get married! I don't know about Clare—she and Finn seem to be pretty tight. More than her usual boyfriends. I think they may be getting serious. We'll just have to see how that goes.'

Outside, traffic hummed along merrily in another gloriously sunny—AKA rare—May day.

'No, you can't talk to him again, you've talked to him three times already today. Someone finally tracked down his parents, so he's telling them everything that's been happening. Yes, you'll meet them. Yes, they're nice. Mom—' I sighed and prayed for patience. 'No, I won't let his mother help me pick out a wedding dress, OK? I have to go. No, now is not a good time to look into ear reconstruction surgery—I'm happy with my ears! Paen likes them, too. No… no… it's not a matter of money, I just don't want them re-elfed! Look, I really, really have to… Mom… Mom, Paen is stark naked with an erection that could bring down buildings, and he's calling for me. Gotta run! Love to you and Dad. Again. Bye!'

I clicked off the phone to the sound of my mother sputtering indignantly, rubbing my ear in an attempt to get feeling back into it as I leaned against the wall and stretched. I knew my mother was going to be excited by the news that I was now immortal (something she had been fretting over ever since I had my ears bobbed), and madly in love with a man who was just as crazy about me, but she was running amok with international phone calls. I had a suspicion she'd be dragging Dad over to Scotland in the very near future.

Still at it?

My toes curled at the warm, rich voice in my head. Yes. It feels good. I like doing it. I may do it every single day from here until the end of our time.

Paen sighed from where he leaned against the door. 'How is your arm?'

I smiled at nothing and arched my back, relishing the absolute joy that sunlight on my skin brought, making me giddy from the power it fed me. I was clad in a rather risque eyelash lace chemise… and nothing else. 'Perfect. You were right—the sunlight did a lot to hurry along the healing process.'

'I thought it might. Was that your mother again?'

'Of course. We'll probably hear from her another good dozen times today before she works most of the excitement out of her system. I liked your parents.'

'Good. They liked you, as well. My mother says you're not to pick out a wedding dress until they get back to Scotland. She's excited about having a daughter-in-law and doesn't want to let any of the wedding planning slip past her.'

I laughed. 'That'll be a battle royal—my mom against yours. Oh well, we'll let them work it out. I don't really care so long as the end result is the same.'

He raised an eyebrow. 'Wild, unbridled wedding night sex?'

'No.' I shook my head, to his surprise. 'A passionate, romantic, wonderful beginning to our eternal wedded bliss.'

He smiled.

'Followed immediately by wild, unbridled wedding night sex.'

'Sam? Are you decent?' Clare's voice drifted in through the closed door. Paen edged past the pool of sunlight on the floor, grabbed my robe from where it lay over the wooden rhino, tossing it to me before he opened the door.

I sat up on the window seat where I'd been soaking up the all-healing rays from the sun, and watched with curiosity as Clare forged a path into the room. 'We brought you some flowers—merciful goddess, what happened here?'

Paen handed her the machete. 'It appears her plants are happy again.'

'Good god, it's like a jungle,' Finn said, only part of him visible as he fought his way past a particularly exuberant African oil palm. 'I expect to see a lion or rhinoceros at any moment.'

Paen moved aside to hold back a rubber tree leaf.

Finn laughed at the sight of my rhino. Clare disdained the use of the machete and beat her way over to my dresser, placing a large bouquet of hothouse flowers there, turning them until she was happy with the presentation. 'Are you all better?'

I stretched in the sunlight, happiness welling out of me as I looked at Paen where he leaned against the wall, his arms crossed casually over his chest. Those lovely eyes of his were like sunlight on silver, shining back at me. 'Yes, I'm all better now.'

'Good. Is your mother happy about the wedding?'

'Very, although she is a bit annoyed we haven't actually set a date. I tried explaining to her that I only just forced Paen to his knees to propose, but you know how she is once she gets an idea—she doesn't much listen to anyone else.'

'Well, she is an elf. You know how they are.'

I sent Paen a mischievous grin. 'Mom did say that she'd be perfectly happy organizing a double wedding, if you and Finn…' I let the suggestion fade to a stop, expecting one or the other of them to voice a negative exclamation. To my surprise, they just eyed each other for a moment.

'You never know,' Finn said finally, with a grin that warmed my heart.

'I'm going to expect a lot more than a proposal in a car riding home from the scene of a demon attack,' Clare informed him, then snatched one of the flowers from the vase and popped a petal in her mouth as she