Kiss of Osiris

Chapter Nineteen

Evee's eyes popped up and she screamed. 

Dark Al paused, confused by this creature. She looked strangely...familiar, not like the others he had just killed. Her arms shot up in alarm, "Al? Al is that you?..." Dark Al snorted at her quizzically, not sure what to make of this. He raised his arm again to kill her. "Stop, Al, dammit, it's me! It's Evee. Ev-eee!" 

The creature paused but didn't put its arm down. Something inside him was screaming. Dark Al was debating whether to give in to his fight response or his flight response when she reached out to touch him. He stepped back, wide-eyed in alarm like an unbroken stallion, but he did her no harm. "Al...Al it's me. It's m-me!" Evee said. 

Her face twisted up in pain as she began weeping uncontrollably. She shambled after Dark Al as he kept backing up, confused by this exchange. "Dammit Al! Snap out of it! It's me! For the love of god it's me Al! Evee!" She raised her arms at him pleading, her heartbreaking. "Please Al, I know you're in there. Please hear me, I love you! I love you Al you stupid man! You wake the hell up or I'll beat your ass! Please Al, I love you!" she cried. 

Dark Al was in a flux of emotions, and the animal side of him panicked. He took off running toward the desert. Evee ran after him shouting obscenities and that she loved him. Dark Al ran as best he could with his injuries and would have flown away but his wings were in tatters. Finally, after what seemed like forever Dark Al, paused and collapsed. He was gasping like a fish as his blood pressure dropped. It seemed like he was going into hypovolemic shock from blood loss. His now jet black skin seemed cold and sweaty.

 He licked his lips, and seemed confused, with nausea setting in. "Oh god! What's wrong Al?" screamed Evee. She put his head on her thighs, minding the horns. His skin began to revert to its original color and the red arcane markings cooled and disappeared. The huge black horns retreated back into his head and he returned to normal. Other than that he was dying. His body jerked and convulsed. "Al! Please god stop, get better! Damn you get better!" said Evee.

He reached out and grabbed Evee's hand. "E-Evee? Is that you?" "Yes! Yes, my love! Oh thank god, you came back! You came back! Oh, Al, I thought I lost you!" "Wh-hat?" said Al. He seemed disoriented. "Evee I think I'm dying," said Al. He was struggling to breathe. "Don't say that Al! You old bastard, you better not die! I'll kill you if you die!" Al laughed at that, coughing up blood. "Y-you always had a way with words E-evee." 

She smacked him on the shoulder and started crying again. Abruptly he closed his eyes. He seemed to stop breathing. 

Evee screamed. 

His eyes popped open. "God Evee you're so loud! I think I really did die for a moment. Don't let me close my eyes again." Evee was speechless but nodded. She managed to drag him over to some shade to shield him from the direct sunlight. His breathing became more normal eventually and he seemed to get a little better. His dark transformation and taken a lot out of him, but it had probably saved him. 

All those people he fed on helped him endure the injuries he had sustained. Evee spent most of the afternoon pulling out knives and other nasty things the villagers stuck in him. Al helped by taking out most of the bullets in him with his claws. He was in bad shape. By nightfall, they saw a passing caravan and they flagged them over. They were kind people (not all humans were bad) and they gave them food, water, and aid. With the supplies, Evee was able to bandage most of Al's wounds, and by the end, he was starting to act like his old self. "Evee..." "Huh?" "...looks like we'll be able to have that date after all," he said with a grin. Evee looked at him blankly, then threw her head back in laughter. "Yup, I guess you're right. Lucky you." She smiled. "But you're paying." He made a frowny face and stuck his tongue at her.

They cuddled on the caravan wagon they were on and looked at the night sky together. Millions of twinkly stars looked down at them, like the prayers of hundreds of souls, like dancing dreams realized in the twilight of the afterlife. They would look into each other's eyes, giggle, look away, then look again. They held hands, and Evee tended to his wounds. He would swear whenever they hit a bump or the wagon rocked too hard. It was insane to think what they had been through together, she felt like she had lived multiple lifetimes with him already. "I'm glad I didn't eat you when I first met you," Al said. "I'm glad I didn't stake you in the heart with a sharpened broomstick handle while you slept," said Evee. Al frowned. "That's oddly specific." Evee only giggled and booped him on the nose. Then her face became serious. "I love you Alcinous Sealy." "And I love you Safiya Magdy." "Call me Evee," she said. They kissed.