Lover Eternal

'You don't have to be social,' Butch said softly, as if he knew she was struggling to be polite. 'You just do your thing.'

She nodded and looked out the window. The IV in her arm wasn't bad; it didn't hurt or anything. Then again, she was so numb they could have hammered nails into her veins and she probably wouldn't have felt a thing.

Holy hell. The end had finally come. The inescapable reality of dying was finally upon her. No outs this time. Nothing to be done, no battle to be waged. Death was no longer an abstract concept, but a very real, impending event.

She felt no peace. No acceptance. All she had was… rage.

She didn't want to go. Didn't want to leave the man she loved. Didn't want to give up the messy chaos of life.

Just stop this, she thought. Someone… just stop this.

She closed her eyes.

As everything went dark, she saw Rhage's face. And in her mind she touched his cheek with her hand and felt the warmth of his skin, the strong bones underneath. Words started marching through her head, coming from someplace she didn't recognize, going… nowhere, she supposed.

Don't make me go. Don't make me leave him. Please…

God, just let me stay here with him and love him a little longer. I promise not to waste the moments. I'll hold him and never let him go… God, please. Just stop this…

Mary started to cry as she realized she was praying, praying with everything she had, throwing her heart open, begging. As she called out to something she didn't even believe in, an odd revelation came to her in the midst of the desperation.

So this was why her mother had believed. Cissy hadn't wanted to get off the carnival ride, hadn't wanted the carousel to stop turning, hadn't wanted to leave… Mary. The impending separation from love, more than the ending of life, had kept all that faith alive. It was the hope of having a little more time to love that had made her mother hold crosses, and look to the faces of statues, and cast words up into the air.

And why had those prayers focused heavenward? Well, it kind of made sense, didn't it? Even when there were no more options for the body, the heart's wishes find a way out, and as with all warmth, love rises. Besides, the will to fly was in the nature of the soul, so its home had to be up above. And gifts did come from the sky, like spring rain and summer breezes and fall sun and winter snow.

Mary opened her eyes. After blinking her vision clear, she focused on the dawn's nascent glow behind the city's nest of buildings.

Please… God.

Let me stay here with him.

Don't make me go away.

CHAPTER 49

Rhage raced into the house, whipping off his trench coat as he pounded through the foyer and up the stairs. Inside their room he ditched his watch and changed into a white silk shirt and pants. After grabbing a lacquered box from the top shelf of the closet, he went to the center of the bedroom and got down on his knees. He opened the box, took out a string of marble-sized black pearls, and put the necklace on.

He sat back on his heels, laid his hands palm up on his thighs, and closed his eyes.

Slowing down his breathing, he sank into the position until his bones, not his muscles, held him in place. He swept his mind clean as best he could and then waited, begging to be seen by the only thing that might save Mary.

The pearls warmed against his skin.

When he opened his eyes he was in a brilliant courtyard of white marble. The fountain here was working splendidly, the water sparkling as it went up into the air and came down into the basin. A white tree with white blossoms was in the corner, the songbirds trilling on its branches the only splashes of color in the place.

'To what do I owe this pleasure,' the Scribe Virgin said from behind him. 'You have surely not come about your beast. There is quite some time left on that, as I recall.'

Rhage remained on his knees, his head bowed, his tongue tied. He found that he didn't know where to begin.

'Such silence,' the Scribe Virgin murmured. 'Unusual for you.'

'I would choose my words carefully.'

'Wise, warrior. Very wise. Given what you have come here for.'

'You know?'

'No questions,' she snapped. 'Truly, I am getting tired of having to remind the Brotherhood of this. Perhaps when you return you will recall such etiquette to the others.'

'My apologies.'

The edge of her black robes came into his vision. 'Lift your head, warrior. Look at me.'

He took a deep breath and complied.

'You are in such pain,' she said softly. 'I can feel your burden.'

'My heart bleeds.'

'For this human female of yours.'

He nodded. 'I would ask that you save her, if it would not offend.'

The Scribe Virgin turned away from him. Then she floated over the marble, taking a slow turn around the courtyard.

He had no idea what she was thinking. Or whether she was even considering what he'd requested. For all he knew she was out for a little exercise. Or about to walk away from him.

'That I would not do, warrior,' she said as she read his mind. 'In spite of our differences, I would not desert you in that manner. Tell me something—what if saving your female meant you would never be free of the beast? What if having her live meant you must remain in your curse until you go unto the Fade?'

'I would happily keep it within me.'

'You hate it.'

'I love her.'

'Well, well. Clearly you do.'

Hope fired in his chest. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask if they had struck a deal, if Mary could live now. But he wasn't going to risk tipping the balance of the negotiation by pissing the Scribe Virgin off with another question.

She smoothed her way over to him. 'You have changed quite a bit since we had our last private meeting in that forest. And I believe this is the first selfless thing you have ever done.'

He exhaled, a sweet relief singing in his veins. 'There is nothing I would not do for her, nothing I would not sacrifice.'

'Fortunate for you, in a way,' the Scribe Virgin murmured. 'Because in addition to keeping the beast within you, I require you to give up your Mary.'

Rhage jerked, convinced he hadn't heard right.

'Yes, warrior. You understand me perfectly.'

A death chill went through him, stealing his breath.

'Here is what I offer you,' she said. 'I can take her out of the continuum of her fate, making her whole and healthy. She will grow no older, she will never be ill, she will decide when she wishes to go unto the Fade. And I will give her the choice to accept the gift. However, as I present the proposal, she will not know of you, and whether or not she consents, you and your world will be ever unknown to her. Likewise, she will not be known by any of those whom she has met, lessers included. You will be the only one who remembers her. And if ever you approach her, she will die. Immediately.'

Rhage swayed and fell forward, catching himself with his hands. It was a long time before he could squeeze