The Awakening (28 page)

"I know," he replied. "Let's
walk over to Isobel's."

As they walked, Aya couldn't help but wonder what
Tristan would do now. He'd spent so much time with her in the beginning and
when they parted he'd tried to forge a life for himself, but his need to find
her again had overwhelmed everything. It had resulted in him joining Regulus,
the enemy, in hopes of finding her. She hoped that he would finally find some
kind of peace on his own. Whatever he needed, she would help. If Aya had her way,
she'd never lose contact with the knight again. This whole experience had
taught her that life was fleeting, even for the immortal.

When they reached the apartment they found Alex and
Isobel coming down the stairs.

"Hey," Isobel said brightly.

"Hey, yourself," Aya replied, throwing a
grin Alex's way. She looked much better, her eyes sparkled and her cheeks were
flushed.

"Tristan's upstairs still," Alex said.
"We're going out for a little while."

"I'll come with for a little bit, if you don't
mind," Zac said.

"Sure," Isobel declared. Aya knew that
she'd forgiven him for using her as bait, especially after everything that had
happened at the manor. She'd be the best protected human in history for the rest
of her life, and that was just in reference to her brother.

Zac kissed her on the cheek and they disappeared
outside as she continued up to the apartment. When she opened the door, Tristan
looked up and smiled.

"Arrow," he said, standing. "I
thought you'd be gone by now."

"How can I leave without saying goodbye to my
oldest and dearest friend?"

"You're too good for me," he said with a
laugh.

"I think you mean, you're too good for
me
."

"Never," he said with a laugh.

Aya sat at the table and leafed through a newspaper
that had been left out.

"Are you going back to America with Zac?"
Tristan asked, sitting opposite.

"Of course. He and I are one now. What I want
to know is what you're going to do?"

"I'm going to stay and help Nye," he
said. "He needs it and I have experience."

"You're too good for it, Tristan."

"Arrow, it's a chance to make this place a
little less…thuggish. Regulus ran things a certain way, with fear and violence,
but maybe I can help change that. I need to find my own place in this world, now
that things are well. You have Zac and the witches, but I need something
else."

"If you say so."

"I know so."

"Good," she declared. "As long as
you're happy."

"I'm not sure about happy, but I'm workin' on
it." He stood and pulled her in for a hug.

"Oh," she said as he let her go.
"Before I forget, I have one of these now." She pulled out the cell
phone that Zac had bought her that afternoon. She still didn't understand how
it worked, but she could no longer deny that the thing was useful.

"You have a phone?" Tristan asked in
surprise.

"Yeah, don't get cocky about it," she
laughed. "Zac's teaching me, but I know I'm going to have trouble with
this auto-correct thing."

Tristan took the cell phone from her and punched in
his number. A moment later his began to ring. "Now I have your number and
you have mine."

It was so normal, exchanging numbers like the
friends they were, it made her smile brightly. "You'll really be
okay?"

"I'll be perfectly fine," the knight
replied. "I've got plenty to keep me busy and you know Nye is a
handful."

"That he is. But if you ever need me..."

"I have your number."

"You better use it, even if you don't need
me."

"You can count on it, Lady Arrow."

Alex wandered down the street with Isobel at his
side. Zac leaned against the outside of the building and nodded for them to
keep going.

"Don't let me intrude," the vampire said.
"I'm waiting for Aya."

Alex shot him a grateful smile. "Thanks."

"Don't forget to call if you need
anything."

"You're on speed dial." He raised a hand
in farewell and Zac disappeared into the night. They rounded the corner into
the lane way that had seen so much trouble in the past week, taking the
shortcut into the main part of town. They were going to the Christmas market
for some sense of normalcy and he wanted to buy Izzy a present.

"Remember the time when a crazy fairy
kidnapped me from this very spot?" Isobel asked with a laugh.

Alex groaned. "Don't remind me, Izzy."

"I'm sorry you had to…you know."

"Turn into a founding vampire?"

"Yeah, that."

"Don't be sorry. No regrets." Alex had
been thinking about it for a few days now and it was time to tell his sister
about his plans. He had to move forward and most importantly, Isobel had to go
on living the life she wanted. He wouldn't allow her to drop everything for
him. Her life was more important to him than his own, he'd already made that
crystal clear. "I want you to have my house and my things."

"No, I can't," Isobel cried. "What
about you?"

"That life has ended and now I have to start a
new one."

"But-"

"You'll stay here and finish your
Masters," Alex interrupted. "Don't feel obligated to drop everything
because of me. I want all of your dreams to come true and getting your Masters
is your dream, Izzy. It always has been."

"What about your dreams, Alex?"

"My dreams have changed and I'm okay with it.
I really am."

Isobel let out a shaky sigh, like she was holding
back tears.

"Izzy," he said, holding her shoulders so
she'd look at him. "This won't be the last time you see me. I didn't die
or anything, I was reborn into something else. I intend to stick around for a
very long time. I hope that one day I will see you get married and have
children. I hope I get to see them grow up and have their own. Times that by
like a billion and you have my life's purpose. I will protect this family with
my immortality and strength until the day the world comes to an end. I swear it
on my life."

Isobel couldn't hold her tears in anymore and they
began to spill down her cheeks. "I love you, Alex. Always."

He pulled his big sister into his arms and held her
tight. "For eternity."

EPILOGUE

Zac shielded his eyes against the warm LA sun and
scanned the lawn in front of him. It seemed to be semester break in this part
of the world and only a few students hung around the campus of UCLA, maybe
because they were from here, or didn't have much to go back to. After so long
in the dead of winter in the UK, the temperature change seemed like a time
warp.

His gaze fell onto a familiar sight and he felt a
smile pulling at his lips. Leaning against a tree trunk he watched his
little brother, Sam and the ever adorable Liz, across the lawn and wondered how
long it would take for his presence to be noticed. They were sitting in the
grass, Liz surrounded with books, while Sam tried to distract her with a long
piece of grass in his fingers. He ticked her cheek with it every so often,
making her laugh and swat him away. They looked happy, carefree. Just as he
hoped.

When Sam finally looked up, he knew his brother had
sensed someone was watching them. He frowned as he looked around, his eyes
finally settling on the dark form of his big brother. He shot to his feet, Liz
scolding him when the books scattered.

Zac grinned lopsidedly and began to walk across the
lawn toward them. As Sam came to meet him, he threw his arms around his little
brother and thumped him on the back.

"Zac." He sounded relieved.

"Little brother."

Sam drew back and looked him over. "I didn't
know if I'd ever see you again. At least not this decade. How are you?"

Zac knew exactly what he meant and grinned.
"Better than ever."

"Aya?"

He gestured behind him, where the Celestine sat on
a bench watching their reunion, sticking out like a sore thumb in her dark
clothes and combat boots. She raised a hand in greeting and Sam shook his head.

"You guys finally worked it out?" he
asked.

"Not without some melodrama." He
threw an arm around Sam's shoulder and they walked towards Liz, laughing.

"There's always melodrama with you. Where have
you been?"

"Brother," Zac said, shaking his head.
"Have I got a story to tell you."

"You've got a story? Wait until you hear about
what Liz and I have been doing."

Liz was in his arms a moment later. "Never do
that again," she cried.

"Do what?" he asked, stifling a grin.

She slapped him on the arm. "Disappear and
never call."

"I knew you had a thing for me."

"
Zac
," she shrieked.

"You're making me jealous," Aya said,
appearing at Zac's side.

"I've only got eyes for you," he said,
pulling the hybrid close and sunk down onto the grass. Aya was at his side
and his brother and sister before him and after all this time,
he realized it was the thing he'd been searching for all along. His
family had always been here waiting for him, he just had to have the courage to
find them.

Zac was twenty-three when he died.

But he was one hundred and seventy before he
started living.

APPENDIX

The Untold History of the Witch Hunter Saga

The following
information was not divulged in the four books of the Witch Hunter Saga, and it
may be of some interest to those wondering who the unknown players are in their
world and some of the stories we didn't get to hear.

The Celestines and
the Five Founding Witches

The Five Founding
Witches were gifted their powers from the last five Celestine adults. The last
children were Aeriaya and her brother, Aydrenn (finally named in The
Awakening).

Aya's parents
gifted the ether (her mother to Ismena) and the earth (her father).

The remaining
Celestines gifted air, fire and water onto three other humans before passing to
the other side.

The Celestine
Syriah gifted the essence of fire unto the witch Katrin.

The Celestine
Cerydrn gifted the essence of air unto the witch Lizbeth.

The Celestine
Firaya gifted the essence of water unto the witch Yolande.

The Celestine
Dydrenn gifted the essence of earth unto the witch Jorgen.

The Celestine
Ayasti gifted the essence of ether unto the witch Ismena.

Aya

When Aya went back
to her home in the field of white flowers, it was her mother's power that
allowed a fragment of their souls to remain to farewell their daughter and
sister, Aeriaya.

Ayasti had an
affinity with the ether, the other side, and was able to do this as a gift to
show her daughter that it wasn't her fault for being taken.

Aya took after her
father, power wise. She has the ability to move the earth (as displayed in The
Shadow's Son).

Her family never
came to free her from the Roman's because they didn't have the power to go
against Katrin and the six founders, not without losing everything. Aya never
understood this and never got the chance to find out, but she forgave them
anyway.

Morgan

After Zac left
Morgan at the docks in Calais in 1944, she returned to complete her work with
the French Resistance. She was responsible for saving hundreds of lives during
WWII.

When she turned up
in Ashburton, Louisiana, looking for Zac in The Return, she was telling the
truth. She did hear rumors about a massacred werewolf pack and that's what
peaked her curiosity. She'd come to America with thoughts of the soldier she
found in a ditch by the side of a dark road outside of Paris in the nineteen
forties (Zac).

Her code name in
the Resistance, which she never told him or anyone else, was Banshee.

The Six

In The Awakening we
heard everyone's stories. Nye, Rix, Maddox and Pyke. But we never heard from
Rob or Holly, who weren't around very long anyway.

Rob was a new
vampire who replaced an earlier member, Will, who was cut in half with a scythe
by a rouge vampire. This was not the same Will who accidentally turned Morgan
(as told in The Return). Rob was a cage fighter who Maddox met at the
underground ring mentioned in The Awakening.

Holly was a
prostitute in eighteenth century London. One of her clients was a vampire who
wanted to possess her, so she was turned. It wasn't until a hundred years later
than she joined the Six on Regulus' bequest. Much of her life before is a
mystery.

Aoife

Aoife was born with
the Celestine name Anorel.

She was the
daughter of one of the most powerful Celestines ever born and during the end
days of the war with the Tuatha, she was offered as a bride to the Tuatha king,
Lir, as a peace offering. The terms were agreed to and the pair married soon
after. She was given the Tuatha name, Aoife as a part of the ceremony.

Aoife's fate is
unknown, but it is thought that either Lir exacted his revenge after he
realized her betrayal or Isolde killed her when the Celestine tried to end her
insane creation. No one knows for sure which of the two really happened.

Tristan na Tri Tor

Tristan (his name
is old Irish for Tristan of the Three Towers), was the son of a lowly Irish
Lord. He was sent to London at a young age to squire for a knight who later
went in to found the Knights Templar in the mid to late 1100s.

There, Tristan took
a wife (Rose) and had a daughter (Rhiannon) with her. Unknown to him, his wife
died while he was away fighting the Fourth Crusade (where he was when he was
turned underneath the city of Constantinople in what is now known as Istanbul,
Turkey). His daughter lived and married into a merchant’s family and lived a
long life believing her father died a hero.

The castle outside
of Dublin that Regulus took Gabby to in The Awakening was Tristan's ancestral
home.

The Original Witch

In The Awakening,
Aed talked briefly about the witch that created him and his sisters. Her name
was Isolde.

Isolde was Aoife's
human handmaiden given to her by the Tuatha and due to their relationship, the
Celestine trusted her and created the first witch in existence. Neither of them
understood what would happen and Isolde was driven mad from the potent
Celestine blood that was used in the ritual.

Isolde created the
Tuatha hybrids as instructed by Aoife, but they realized too late that the
instability had been passed to them.

After hunting down
and binding the Children of Lir, Aoife attempted to kill Isolde, but she
escaped, never to be seen again.