“I am sorry,” he begins, and I throw up my hand to stop him.
“No one knows better than I do what happened to you. You were not at fault, and you are an absolute brave beast of a man to be able to break out of it long enough to even try to give me a chance to escape, and then you saved us all in the end,” I tell him sincerely, clasping his hands in mine gently. “You’re a hero.”
“Thank you,” he says tearfully, almost crumbling at my words. “I went to The Bishop Hotel and I knew that it was the only way. Malvina had only ever wanted to have my permission to use my body to reach Mary, but I was too scared as a child. I let her this time.”
Kayla, Erik and Jupiter amble up and almost as though it’s been choreographed we all fall into a group hug. We sob like that for minutes, for the people we lost, the freedom we’ve now gained and the trauma that has defined us, a thing that was written long before we were born, right here in this very spot. A spot where we can now bury it.
When we break away I turn to Erik, wrap my arm around his neck and pull him to me. I raise my toes and plant my mouth on his, enjoying the feeling of his luscious lips again, which have been relegated only to my dreams all these years. He doesn’t hesitate to complete the embrace, giving sweetly into the kiss as he holds me close at the waist. I feel complete and nourished. I know that the road ahead holds trauma to work through for the both of us, but I know that we will be able to work through it together. We were always a team.
“Please tell me the rest of your distant relatives are better than that,” Erik finally jokes, pulling back and cradling my face in his hands.
“Please tell me you aren’t descended from any other murdered fuck boys with jealous mistress ghosts,” I retort with a smile, recalling the absolute obsession that Mary had for Erik, it had felt almost augmented by my feelings as her host.
“Not that I know of, but there’s always my mother's side…” he laughs as I mockingly smack his chest.
I look down at myself. “The outfit isn’t half bad, but hopefully I didn’t hose my entire career while possessed. I can’t imagine she was very personable to the staff at The Bishop.”
“I’ve encountered nicer people,” Kayla admits. “But she did at least clean your room. I don’t think she shared your love of snacks in bed and trash on the floor.”
“Had she tried some of our finer convenience foods of the modern age she would have come around,” I say. “All she needed was ramen and an Oreo and she too would have been a convert. Snacking amidst her evil deeds.”
After a laugh Juniper pats Erik on the arm. “Now that this is over let’s go right upstairs and put this goddamn house on the market.”
“Yup,” he agrees, turning on his heel. “You guys coming?”
“You can’t keep me away,” I say, ambling behind him, taking one last look at the dreary surroundings where Mary died twice, and I know it’s the last time my eyes will ever look upon it again.
Epilogue
Kat
One year later
I look up at the promising blue of the sky and smile. Not a cloud in sight and I look over at the gang with a smile. We are all huddled on the verdant grass right at the entrance to the beach in San Diego where we’ve all gathered today.
Kayla and Cara, dressed to the nines hold hands across from me, and somehow Kayla’s hair only billows beautifully behind her in the breeze as the rest of our hair whips around, sticking to our lipstick.
Juniper smiles from ear to ear as she holds hands with Mario, who she has been dating pretty happily since we banished Mary. they make an unlikely couple with over a foot in height difference between them, but they are both happy. Slowly but surely Juniper’s humor and vibrancy has returned and she has a new lease on life. I haven’t heard her utter even one doom laden phrase since then, and it is music to my ears and even more symphonic to Erik.
Erik and Juniper were true to their word and sold the house to the city, which has used it as a museum and as the crowning jewel of their effort to bring tourism to the sleepy hamlet. We all left the house that night surprised to see that the oleander had shriveled up, and we knew Mary was truly gone.
Erik and I had gone straight back to my suite at The Bishop and finally consummated our relationship after the longest, weirdest courtship ever. Erik moved in with me in Los Angeles, but Juni stayed behind when she started her relationship with Mario, moving into his cute little house temporarily which had rapidly become permanent.
I smile at Ian who is still dateless, but also still probably the best looking man wherever he goes, so we don’t feel too badly for him. He also now has a bestselling book to curl up with at night. His retelling of our story, aptly named “Bloody Mary” garnered national attention and both he, my brand and Bishop have all benefited from it.
Ian has turned his concern to the book of magic sitting dangerously in a basement in Bishop. He is worried that it will be scanned for public consumption and then identified by the wrong party as the tool it is and used for nefarious purposes. Erik was unable to recoup it after donation so many decades before, so Ian continues to turn his eye to somehow using his platform to
