"Josanna?" Damien knocked on her bedroom door, cracked it open, and walked in. "Anna?" He saw her sitting on the floor, her black dress piled around her. "Hey," he said, standing over her.
She didn't look at him.
"Are you still mad? About the sun thing?" he asked.
She took a breath. "You're bleeding," she said.
"Yeah." Damien re-examined his neck. "Gabe bit me."
She was suddenly on him. Examining his neck wound, she pulled him down to the floor.
Damien winced as she prodded at it.
"Why didn't you heal it, silly?" She pricked her finger on her own tooth. She pressed the small bead of blood that welled up into each puncture, and both wounds healed. "There," she said, "didn't even leave a scar."
The thought of gaining another scar made Damien uncomfortable.
"Why'd he bite you?"
"Long story, but I sort of think he was trying to talk to me without Alec hearing. Can- Once a vampire bites you, can they get in your head?"
Josanna pulled away with a distant look in her eyes. "Yes." She pulled her hair over her shoulder and began to stroke it. "Once you have had their blood in your system and they yours."
"Well, that explains that," Damien thought aloud, now aware of who had given him blood after his bar fight. "Gabe wants me to take you back to Devereaux's. What do you think about that?"
"Why?" She squinted.
"Because-" Damien stopped himself short to take an aggravated breath. He ran his fingers through his hair. "Because, Alec is doing bad things. Surprise, surprise."
"Alec loves me," she protested.
"I know," Damien said. "I know, but... He's hurting a lot of people."
She shrugged in casual agreement.
"He tried to have me killed today," Damien said in the same tone as if he were discussing the weather.
Josanna's eyes turned dark.
Damien added, "But, then again, it was Gabe who was executing that order so..."
"And Victor poisoned me with deadman's blood, so can we trust him?" Josanna added.
"We should go to hear him out and then- Do you want to get away from here? Like, we could go anywhere, and I can make it so the sun will never hurt you. I can make it so you don't have to drink blood if you don't want to. We could go anywhere! Be anyone we want to be. What do you say?"
Excited, Josanna moved onto her knees before him. "To our cottage in the woods?"
Damien laughed. "As you wish."
Their eyes locked together in their mutual hope, their shared desire for freedom, and he kissed her. Josanna kissed him back as she wrapped her arms around his neck. He placed his hands on the firm sides of her corseted dress, and he leaned back to lay on the floor, taking her with him.
She purposefully clipped the side of his tongue with her fang, and, as they continued, she sucked the blood from his mouth. After a moment, she pulled away, and he sat them both up. "Forgive me." She said, "I know you don't like to be touched, or-"
"Oh. No! I liked that, and I started it, so..." He grinned as he wiped the blood from his lips with the back of his hand, leaving behind a red smear.
This caused her to reach up to wipe the rest away with delicate fingertips.
Damien said, "I told Gabe we'd meet him there in an hour, and that was a while ago." He stood and helped her to her feet.
She offered him her hand, and he accepted it and took them both to the gates of Devereaux's mansion.
***
Damien easily tuned out the family feud going on around him by daydreaming about the cottage in the woods with the gazebo in the back. He wanted something simple, unadorned, but he imagined Josanna would want decor and frill, maybe some lace curtains. Damien was remembering her twirling her parasol over her head in the sunlight while Victor Devereaux's thick French accent prattled on around him.
Victor was upset about Alec, about the portal, about Josanna, and was yelling at Gabriel for any and all offenses he could find. Josanna was standing with her arms folded. She was exasperated and rolling her eyes because they had been at this for some time now.
"He," Victor pointed in Damien's direction, "is the one who stole her away to Alec's to begin with!"
"Woah," Damien said, coming to. This was one of the first things he had said outside of how do you do. "I didn't steal her, because Anna doesn't belong to you."
"Anna?" Victor spat. "Who is this Anna?"
Josanna rolled her eyes.
"Her name is Josanna! It's Hebrew for-"
Damien interrupted, "I know what it-"
"No. You do not. Otherwise you would not be calling her this Anna."
Damien slumped back into the chair. "Jesus Christ."
"Father," Gabriel interjected before Josanna could jump in. "I think he is the only one who can fix this now. He has the power to-"
Josanna clapped back at Gabriel. "His power is not yours to wield."
Gabriel responded, "Well, that's why we're here. So we can discuss, put all of our heads together, and maybe find a mutually agreed upon solution. But, Father can't seem to stop pointing fingers long enough for us to get to that conversation."
Victor reluctantly agreed. He sat down in an armchair in defeat.
Josanna sat next to Damien and reached over to grab his hand. Victor sucked his teeth and glared at Damien.
Gabriel started the negotiations. "Damien, I know you have magick that can do incredible things, and I know you didn't like what you saw at the club. What can you do to help us?"
Damien's jaw went slack as he tried to imagine all the things he could do to fix it. Make it so Alec had never thought about making the portal to begin with. Make it so Alec had never been born vampire, human, or otherwise. Make it so the zombie apocalypse broke out in the human world, so when Alec went to bite that human last night, it ended up biting Alec back. Then, he'd make the entire club turn into a Thriller flash mob scene, and Damien would walk away like Judd Nelson at the end of the Breakfast Club.
Josanna answered for him. "He can close down the portal."
Damien was relieved she had come to his rescue. Her idea was much more sensible than any of his.
"On one condition," she added. "He closes down Alec's portal, then Damien, myself, and Bunnie can go far away and never hear from any of you ever again. If Alec starts a war afterwards, you deal with it. If you see me on the street, you keep walking. Don't talk to me. From that point on, we don't know each other. Deal?"
Victor leaned forward, "Josanna, I-"
"Do we have a deal?" Josanna struck out her hand.
Victor raised his hand to hers. He made to turn her wrist to kiss the back of her hand, but instead, she forcibly shook his hand like an enthusiastic car salesman.
Both Damien and Gabriel snorted out a laugh.
She turned to Damien. She was poised and erect with her hands on her lap. "Damien?"
"Oh. Right. It's done." Damien's mind flitted to the portal in the sewers, and with only a mere thought, he fried the wires, chewed them, frayed them. If it wasn't damaged from his outburst before, it was certainly inoperable now. His mind returned to his body, he stood from the sofa, and Josanna did the same.
"What do you mean it's done?" asked Victor.
Damien heard Josanna's voice in his head, and it startled him. Pretend like it was harder to do than it was. She had healed his bite with her blood and she had drank his.
He tried to correct his initial fumble. "I mean consider it done. I'll... do that tonight. And I think we have to go. Don't we, Anna?"
She smiled at him.
Victor glared again at the shortening of her name, so Damien said, "Oh, and Gabe, Al knows what side you're on. Watch your step. He'll only keep you as long as you're useful." He enjoyed the small victory of shortening everyone's name to spite Victor.
Victor slowly craned his head to Gabe, who only nodded at this warning.
"And, don't worry about your daughter, Vic. She's in good hands."
Josanna giggled, and Damien took her hand. They disappeared off to their meadow. It was still dark, and tree frogs and crickets sang softly in the sweet spring breeze.
"Okay. Close your eyes and picture the cottage, and when you open your eyes you'll see it will be right in front of you." Damien raised his hand, poised to snap.
With her eyes closed, she said, "Wait! Let me get rid of the evil clown first."
Damien paused, concerned.
She smiled, "Okay, I'm ready."
"Okay. On the count of three... One. Two. Three!" Damien finished.
She opened her eyes and saw a perfect cottage with a big front porch. Every light in the house was on, and the light cut through the darkness outside where they stood. The house was surrounded by beds of wildflowers. Tiny fairies as bright as lightning bugs hopped from flower to flower, and they left behind trails of luminescent glitter as they went.
Damien watched as the sight illuminated Josanna's face with the glitter of pure joy and wonderment, and in that moment, he decided that was real magick. That glint in her eye, that smile on her lips, could turn lead into gold, water into wine, and nothingness into wholeness. None of his magick tricks could compare.
She grabbed his hand, lifted the corner of her skirt, and drug him to the door. "It's ours?" she beamed, as she danced into the house.
Damien stood outside the threshold and peered inside the bright living room. There was a large picture window looking out onto the porch and the trees beyond. Facing the fireplace sat a couch with an intricate doily covering the back, and Josanna twirled by it straight into the kitchen.
"It's ours." Damien stepped inside and took a breath. "We're home." He closed the door behind him.
