If I Die By Sunrise

Epilogue

A few weeks passed and they hadn't heard any sign from Charley. Peter had gone alone to check the house he believed Jerry was staying at to see if anyone was there. He had gone in prepared to put up a fight and rescue Charley, but there was nothing. Just dust, rubble, and emptiness.

When he told Amy and Jane, they didn't want to believe it. That night, Jane cried in his arms and he held her, crying too.

It was Amy who was quiet, she refused to speak or eat for several days. Even Ed, who was trying to make sense of everything, of his amnesia and this crazy world, had tried to get her to tell him what was wrong. Eventually, she broke down, one day when they got a letter from someone they believed to be Charley (it had no name or address). All it said was: I'm sorry.

Ed was recovering, slowly, while Jane and Peter saw something in each other they never thought they'd see again: hope. Amy never let herself forget Charley, like Peter and Jane, she remembered him, but she also made sure to remember herself.

Peter said they could rebuild their lives from scratch, start over. And Amy, Jane, and even Ed had never heard of a better idea.

Charley's POV

I stare across at the busy highway through the clear glass of the motel window. Watching the cars whizz by, I try to distract myself. Jerry is sitting across from me on the bed, watching me. I know because I can feel his eyes on me.

"You know," I say, breaking the silence. "I understand why my dad left. I mean it doesn't excuse it at all, but I do understand. He didn't want to put us in danger, him being an empath. Still, I wished he'd stuck around, stayed and explained my powers to me, and just been a proper dad in general. It sucks though what happened to him. What Demetria did." I feel the anger rise in my chest.

Jerry nods. "Your dad, wherever he is, is very proud of you, I'm sure." He smirks. "Demetria has only set us back. Her driving a wedge between vampires and empaths will lead to her downfall, one day."

I smile. "I hope so." Then, "Jerry?" I ask, nervously.

"Yes?"

"Promise me something?"

He frowns, dark eyes looking at me with worry. "What?"

"Promise me that you won't leave." I swallow the lump in my throat. Because I have no one left.

He nods. "I promise, I won't leave." In a second he's sitting beside me by the window, cool breath ghosting across my face. "You, Charley, set my world on fire. And I would not have it any other way." He presses his chilled lips to mine and I stay still. My heart thumps absurdly loud and I know that he can hear it but neither of us care.

That night when we're driving across another state line, I think of my life, and laugh at the thought that I ever wished for death. It seemed like a ridiculous, awful thing to ever want. And now that it was Jerry and me against the world, there were so many things that I wanted: to laugh, to love, to dance in the moonlight, to walk in the sunlight, but on the top of the list, at the very top, I wanted to live. That was all, and that was enough for the rest of my life.