I opened the medicine bag and the scent whooshed out. I could smell Eli on the leather. He had made it for me. I hung the bag around my neck with my gold necklace. I opened the plastic bag holding clothes. I stripped out of the rags and dressed in tight, thick yoga pants, a stretchy, tight tank, and two loose, long-sleeved tops, all in shades of dark blue. I retied the green scarf around my waist and braided my damp hair, fingers moving fast. There were three elastics in the baggie and I tied off my plait with the blue one. There was a pair of rock-gripping climbing shoes in another plastic bag, but they wouldn’t fit my pawed feet.
In the bottom of the bag, I found weapons and strapped on the vamp-killer. Left the handguns and the stakes in the bottom of the bag. Caught a fleeting memory of the soul-home vision and wondered how I was supposed to be the warrior who brings peace. I would figure it out. Hopefully. I was tired of winging things. I needed to learn to plan things.
Beast chuffed at that. I ignored her.
In the side pocket of the gobag was an envelope. I opened it and smelled Bruiser’s citrusy Onorio scent. Tears flooded my eyes and I gave a single, harsh sob as I realized that the arcenciel had been telling the truth when she said my man had survived. His note read:
My darling Jane,
I don’t know if you will ever come back to me, or if you even yet live. I hope you climb from the pool that stole you away, read this, rush to the top of the crevasse, and call me. I hope you still love me as I love you, and I will love you with all of my heart and soul, forever. I miss you more than I would miss the sun if it was taken from me.
But you are Jane and I know you are impatient for news. I come here, to the rift, two times each week, and leave new supplies and a new note, so this one is less than four days old when you read it.
I smiled, and my skin and pelt felt tight and shriveled, my mouth moving in a way that was not-Jane, not-half-form, but something strange and new. I wondered what I looked like, lifted a hand and ran it over my face and head. My jaw was humanish but square and with a cleft. My skin was tight, plastered across my skull. I had Jane hair but was pelted on the back of my neck and shoulders, but not my throat or chest. I had rounded Puma ears. Again I ran my hand over my ribs and skinny belly. No Dudley. No cancer. No tumor. Was I healed in my Jane form? I went back to Bruiser’s note.
The Flayer of Mithrans was not eaten by Brute. We burned the body of the last Son of Darkness over the fire, until even the bones were ash. Then Evan and Eli brought in bags of concrete, mixed the concrete with water from the rift, and stirred the ashes into it while Evan wove a music spell. Trueblood magically bound the ash into the dried concrete at the cellular level. If you noticed the fire pit, it has a cement bottom. The Flayer is gone.
I looked at the pit and a creepy feeling came over me, the feeling described by childhood acquaintances as someone walking on my grave. I planned to never spend the night at the rift. I figured I’d have night terrors. His letter continued:
We are all healed. EJ is well, with no memory of the events at the hands of the Flayer. Tex and Shiloh are with us here, and we found Roland, who has returned to his anamcharas in New Orleans. Derek is well and human, though as angry as usual. The Everhart-Truebloods, with the exception of Liz, have left the winery, to see how much is left of their homes. Edmund has returned to Europe as the emperor, where he and Grégoire, the Dark Queen’s Warlord, are fighting for control of all European lands. Though they know you have no desire to rule, they hold the land in the name of the Dark Queen, and await your return.
We have gained a new pet. A strange creature that looks like a striped, foot-long,