Shimmer |✓|

//Finale// Part 1

Frozen grass crunched underfoot, fresh snowfall collecting in soft white heaps between lines of headstones. My red bottoms ate the distance between the rows, a funeral veil chopping my world in delicate lengths of black. A red rose dangled from my gloved fingers, thorns intact. Selected from a vase Mr. Talbot, the family lawyer, had placed in my hands - along with the Elder's will, changing my life, and the Garou, forever.

"His orders were very strict, Miss Noble. You're to have the estate, everything belongs to you."

"I don't understand, Mr. Talbot. Why would he do this?"

"Well, you were family, were you not?"

The truth was, it had never felt like it, not until the moment I lost him. I thought we had more time to fix things. Now we never would.

I laid the rose on his grave marker, a heavy marble slate buried in the ground, and brushed the snow from the lettering. "I'm sorry I was such a disappointment. And I'm sorry I didn't stop you sooner."

"Don't be." The Alpha appeared at my side, dressed for mourning but with no mercy to spare. "You couldn't have stopped this. You read his letter, he admitted everything. Charles worked with Catherine to take out Leda Martin so she wouldn't stand in the way of their new Alliance. But Catherine went off the rails; he never expected her to take over, to turn on the Garou." His eyes were yellow above the sneer.

"Catherine threatened him. He did this to protect me."

The glow faded from his eyes, the hardness remained. "And how many times have you nearly died since? How many people have been killed for his Alliance?" I turned my face aside, shamed by the answer. "I don't think Charles ever disappeared, Mimi. I think he was with Catherine the entire time--maybe she kidnapped him, maybe he went willingly. The point is, she used him against you." She turned him rabid.

I could have healed Charles, I wanted to, just as I had healed Tidus the previous night. My ichor could no longer remove his Vampirism, but I retained the ability to heal. The plan was never to hurt Charles, but I also had to protect the Alpha. Charles I lost long before that night. I couldn't lose Ethan too. I would carry that guilt forever.

"My grandmother woke up yesterday. I had to tell her that her husband was dead--that it was my fault."

"Naomi, you can't blame yourself for what happened. That's on Catherine."

"Diane said the same thing, but when I looked in her eyes... she was afraid of me. I'm tired of losing people, E." I raised the veil. "We're ending this."

"How?"

"With Dracula's body. I know where Catherine's keeping him." The Alpha sidled close, his hazel gaze narrow in interest. "The Otherworld..." A golden ballroom in a golden castle. "He's been home all along."

*                   *                   *

Diane left the hospital a few days later, but she never returned to the manor. I didn't blame her. Her belongings were packed, the west wing she shared with her husband sealed, and I said good-bye to my grandmother for the final time.

She smiled from the backseat of the town car, wan, but hopeful of a future outside the Village. She reached through the window, accepting my hand with a squeeze.

"Make the manor home again. Don't let Catherine take this from you too. I love you, darling..."

"I love you too. Take care."

The car eased down the winding drive; the gates slid closed behind her.

*                     *                     *