Page 102 of Serpentine Valentine

It was dark and cold, each tiny creak and murmur frightening menot just because it was Halloween but because this was where Lex had woken, forever changed and broken that morning last year.

“Lex,” I started to protest.

And then I saw it.

The glimmer of light through a gap in the trees.

Followed quickly by the bass of strong music, thumping through the forest floor into the soles of my shoes.

We stepped around a few more trees, and suddenly, we were in a clearing, everything bright and clear. A huge bonfire crackled red and yellow in its center, casting orange light and dancing shadows over the women gathered around the edges. I recognized Taya and Haley, heard the distinct cackle of Gracie over the noise, and the low murmur of Effie somewhere nearby. All women, all gathered with drinks in their hands, some dancing, others chatting, every single one of them at ease and smiling.

“Like maenads,” I whispered, wondering if it was real.

Lex grinned at me, pulling me close to her side and tucking an arm around my hips. “Exactly. Wild and free, dancing together. I thought it was the perfect way to celebrate. Not just the annihilation of monsters, but the start of something safe and strong for women at Acheron.”

The warmth of the fire seemed to leap through me, surging hot through my veins.

“Do you know all these girls?”

Lex nodded, a proud little smile around her mouth. “Yes. They’re my all-women wolf pack, I guess. They’re all a part of the Man Eater Patrol or in the support group with me. They’ve all been through something and come out the other side.”

“Just like you.”

“Just like us,” she corrected, kissing my temple.

“Good, you’re here,” Gracie crowed, skipping over. “I think it’s timeto dance.”

Lex looked at me, and I realized I was her touchstone, the grounding rod for the lightning force inside her. What a gift, what a responsibility, one I’d bear happily for the rest of my life.

I smiled at my girlfriend and then at the sister she’d given me. “Yeah, I think it’s time to dance.”

And we did.

Scores of women dancing around a bonfire, drinking and laughing and yelling loudly just to hear our voices raised in tandem against the dark sky. And I knew as we writhed and seethed around the flames like hissing snakes, like beautiful, dangerous creatures, that our ending wasn’t the tragic kind.

It was a well-earned, hard-fought happily ever after.

“I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.”

––Daphne Rae

Four Years Later

Luna

Lex was gonefor three days that winter. I didn’t go with her. She told me it was the end of her (anti)hero’s journey, and she needed to do it alone. Also, if anything went wrong, she didn’t want the blame to fall on me.

I knew nothing would go wrong. In the years we’d been together, life had blessed us with luck and joy as if the fates knew we’d suffered enough for now and we deserved a break.

Dylan Morgan was released on parole on a Tuesday. Lex left on the Wednesday, and when she returned on the Saturday, it was done.

The last dark deed to end a dark story.

The story went like this.

Morgan went for a walk in Cockasponet State Forest two days after he became a free man. Maybe he wanted a breath of real fresh air afteryears in jail for his crimes. A sentence too short for the severity of his heinous acts. Maybe he wanted to stretch his legs, or maybe he wanted to search for some young female hiker alone on the path, eager to assert his dominance and terror again.

Who knows.