EPILOGUE
CONNOR
“It was a lovely celebration of her. She would have enjoyed it,” Lettie remarked as we stepped off the elevator into the apartment floor hall of the Victory building.
“Yeah, but her family didn’t seem to get it,” I said, shaking my head at the lack of understanding they had of their own loved one.
“I don’t think your outfit helped any, but Billy, her grandnephew, seemed to be the closest to her, and he loved that you carried out her wishes to the letter,” she informed me, sliding under my arm and into my side to give me a squeeze. This week had been hard on both of us, and I didn’t think I would have survived it without Lettie at my side.
We’d called Zander once Fallon’s onslaught eased a bit and we could all think clearly and build a wall to keep her out. He said she’d just dropped to the floor like a stone, then began seizing and glowing with power, though only he could see the last part, being the only witch in the room. She woke midway, and that was when the screams started till her body accepted the gift and transformed the necessary genetics and biology for her to become Navah and Horseman. We had our own house doctor run tests to be sure; our family could not suffer another loss. Her DNA was no longer human.
Zander refused to leave Fallon’s side, but told us if we laid the interference amulet on top of Falcone that we should be able to move him without much notice. We did, and brought our brother straight to his beloved books, laying him on a table in the library until a proper memorial statue base could be made. By the time we made it upstairs, our mates were a mess and Fallon was in a frozen state of shock.
Warren left to mourn on his own, and Zander took Fallon to Dean’s guest room to rest for the night. That left Dean and me to explain to the girls how the night went horribly wrong. I decided to wait till later the next day when we were alone to tell Lettie about her brother; she had been through enough in one evening to last a lifetime. She took it well, better than I expected.
When all was said and done, the girls only had one question. “Is what Fallon went through what we should expect of the mating ritual?” Julie asked, and we honestly didn’t have an answer. Falcone would have known though.
Gods, the loss of him would sit with me for the rest of my days.
Lettie and I went home, and as I moved through the apartment shutting down lights, she reminded me softly, “We need to call Ms. Higgins, honey.” I told her to let her have one last decent night’s sleep, that I would tell her in the morning. I wanted to call Billy first so he could be there with us for her; she was not going to take this well.
In the morning, I called a somber Billy. “Mr. Apocalos, Connor, I was just about to call you. Aunt Mary passed in her sleep last night.”
Fuck me. Fucking hell, the loss of another so close to me had me once again dropping to my knees. Lettie cried out and came to my side and took me in her arms. Billy was choked by his tears but pushed through. “She wasn’t ready when I came to pick her up this morning. I found her in bed still…. She was smiling.” Billy was the only one of Mary Louisa Higgins’s relatives to have the honor of knowing our true identities; he had been going to school to work at HHF with Ms. H and me. He also knew that Falcone and Ms. H had a past relationship. Through a thick voice I told him of my brother’s passing. “No wonder the old battle-ax was smiling, they must be together. Thank heavens. I can accept losing her if it means she finally gets to be happy. Thank you for telling me, Mr. Apocalos. Is there anything I can do for you?”
There actually was something I needed Billy to do.
With Lettie’s help, later that day, I met with Billy’s mother and grandmother with Ms. H’s will and burial wishes, both on separate documents. I offered to pay for the entire funeral as long as her wishes were followed to a T. It was not my fault they were only interested in the will and agreed without looking first. Apparently, Ms. H knew them better than they knew her, placing wishes she knew they would find distasteful on a separate document, counting on their greed to cause them to overlook it completely, especially if they didn’t have to pay for anything anyway.
I looked down at the outfit in question. “I’m wearing a suit, and she bought me this shirt.” I was wearing a black well-tailored suit and a black tee that said, I’m Making This Shit Up As I Go. Lettie was dressed similarly, but in a dark navy suit with pants that hugged her ass in ways that should be illegal and a white burnout T-shirt that had her navy bra playing peek-a-boo from under her lapels with my cock for hours.
It wasn’t your typical funeral wear; it was a celebration of life. Ms. H wanted no eulogies, no church or traditional services. She wanted open bar and Guns N’ Roses. She wanted an all-you-can-eat buffet in a second ballroom, and when all was done, she wanted to be cremated and me to have her ashes, since I was like a son. In truth, she was to go to Falcone, but her family was less likely to question if she put down me. I would see she still rested beside Falcone, as he would have wished.
“I think she would have had a blast today,” I said, giving Lettie’s shoulder a squeeze as we reached our door. Another thing we had cleared up over the last few days, this was our home. We moved everything she had with her out of the spare room and into ours. Then she, Warren, and I went to make sure she was completely moved out of her old place.
“About damn time, I thought that thing would never end,” Warren barked with relief when he popped his head out of the meeting room. Over the last week, he had made progress in accepting Lettie into the family, but he was hurting, and we had all been targets of his mismanaged grief. Tact when speaking had never been a strong point, but now it was virtually nonexistent.
“That thing was the celebration of the life of someone we loved dearly, asshat,” Lettie snapped with fire in her eyes. Warren was fucked. “We were hosting and needed to stay till the end. We didn’t have the luxury of cutting out five minutes in,” she informed him, stepping away from me and slamming her hands down on her hips. “Warren, I get you are hurting and are in a foul mood, but you need to start thinking before you open that damn mouth of yours. Or one of these times, someone is going to shut the freaking thing for you.” Yep, my girl is pissed.
Looking properly cowed, Warren apologized. “You’re right, Lettie, this was Mary’s day and I’m being an ass. We’re waiting for you guys. We have a package from Falcone.” He ducked back in the room before I could wrap my head around what he had just said.
“Did he just express remorse to me and then say he had a package from Falcone?” Lettie asked, looking as adorably confused as I felt.
“Don’t ask me. This has been one painful, weird-ass week. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was an otherworldly carrier pigeon from the great beyond in there shitting on Dean’s head. Let’s go find out what going on,” I responded tiredly.
“He already opened it without us,” Julie accused as we took our seats.
“I told you, I only opened the main box because it was addressed to me. As soon as I saw the top letter, I came straight here and waited,” Warren defended, and handed me a sheet of paper.
Dear Horsemen,
Falcone instructed me that, should he fail to contact me within three days, then he would be no longer with us and I was to forward these two parcels to you. I am so very sorry for your loss. The world is a bit dimmer this day with one less brilliant light in it.
Oliver Pairpoint
Shit. Glancing up, I gave the note to Lettie and asked the obvious question. “So what’s in the box?”
“Looks like four ring boxes and a letter, but Warren the Wanker wouldn’t let anyone look till you got here,” Dean explained.
Warren glared at Dean as he pulled out the letter. At this point, I noted how quiet Fallon was being. She was struggling with… well, everything. The heightened senses, being ridiculously stronger, hopping into our heads and us hers, and that was just scratching the surface. She was also unable to control the gift of Famine yet. This meant she was confined to the apartment floor during working hours, and she had to quit her job at the bar she loved. We could tell she was overwhelmed, upset, even angry, but there wasn’t anything we could do to change things now. I didn’t think Zander’s sudden disappearance was helping anything either. She needed to start training; at the very least it would be a distraction.
“Lettie, will you read it?” Warren asked. Lettie looked as fucking gobsmacked as the rest of us. I could see the slight tremor in Warren’s hand; this whole situation was probably killing the big guy. He wanted to know what was inside, but didn’t at the same time. Lettie was the newest person to our growing family, and the one who’d spent the least amount of time with Falcone. She may be able to make it to the end without breaking down, and that was what Warren needed to make it through the next however many minuets.
“Sure,” she answered gently. Lettie took the letter and carefully opened it.
My brothers,
If you are reading this, then my long-foreseen end has come to pass. I am sorry to have kept so much from you, but it had to be. I will start from the beginning and try to be as succinct as possible.
Being the only one with a mother and family, I tried to speak of them as little as possible. I didn’t want to rub in what I was fortunate to have. My mother was Romani. They are sometimes referred to as Gypsies, though many consider this a slur. Certain Romani have passive psychic powers, such as empathy, precognition, retrocognition, or psychometry. My mother’s line all had precognition. This gift either became dormant or was bred out as they married outside of the culture and practice. My sister was a very gifted clairvoyant. She foretold a great many things that taught me not to doubt her word.
One day when she was three and ten years, she came to me crying. She spoke of how Kayne would fall ill of his own gift and cause a pain and suffering the world had never known, and in order to save him, I would die. That my death would herald forth the changes needed to bring him salvation.
She was half in love with Kayne at the time and devastated at the thought I would one day perish, so I did not push her for more details then. Over the next decade, I asked questions. I knew that Kayne would start to grow ill ‘when religion had a new son,’ so I began to take notice during Jesus’s rise, but only after the library burned did I begin to worry. She told me I would never have a mate of my own, but I would be gifted with a great love.
Also that I would know my end was near when my brothers began to find their other halves. I am just happy for the time I was able to spend with the two sisters I was fortunate to have met. Warren, please, try not to be too difficult to your future mate. She will see through the scars and love your inner grump, regardless of how much of a bastard you are. You’re loveable like that.
Now for Fallon, you, sweetheart, are my biggest regret. I would not wish Famine on my worst enemy, let alone my own kin. I wanted desperately to tell you, but would you have believed me? I have been looking into your past and only a few days ago found exactly how we are linked, though I knew immediately it was so. You are the spitting image of my little Faustina.
I thought my sister’s line died with Jonathan in 1953, but it turns out his fiancée was pregnant. She was young and alone, and her parents pressured her into giving up the baby. That baby was later named Joleen Baker. She was adopted but grew up hard with an abusive father. Eventually she turned to drugs. She managed to get clean while pregnant with you, but quickly figured out motherhood was not for her. Fallon, the greatest kindness she did for you was leaving you at that church before she started using again.
Again, you have no idea how truly sorry I am to have thrust this evil upon you, my child. I hated myself a good long time because of it. I hope you will never need to use it as I once did, but you will need to prepare for all possible outcomes.
Warren, I am tasking you with her training. Being my closet confidant, I have told you all she will need to know. You are both stubborn, so this will not be an easy task, but I trust you will see it through, my friend.
Inside this box are four sets of mating bands I had crafted by the Navah. Nothing fancy, just some horses playing around a band of the purest silver mined, and strengthened with alchemy, but it’s a piece of home. It’s also why Dean was taking so long to “put a ring on it.” Sorry, Julie, I asked him to wait so I could have a friend retrieve these from my vault for me.
Connor, I am tasking you with looking after my Mary until she is returned to me. I’m trusting you, brother, with the most precious thing to me.
I love you all so greatly, and I do not know what else to say except be happy and keep Kayne’s ring safe. Faustina says he will need it one day.
Love, Your Brother
Falcone Apocalos