Creatures

EPILOGUE

Chrissy walked through the front door of her house. Ryn and Jasper were entangled on the couch watching a movie.

"Hey." She said, exhausted.

"Hey," Ryn called back, sitting up. "We got him to eat something for breakfast, and something small for lunch. He's just been sleeping."

She took a breath. "Thanks again."

"It's no problem." Jasper replied.

"We can stay and make dinner if you like." Ryn suggested.

Chrissy just shook her head. "No, it's fine. I just wanna join him in bed. Jasper, you have the spare key, right?" She asked.

"Yes, ma'am." He replied.

"You can finish your movie. Just lock up when you leave." She offered.

Chrissy went upstairs and into their bedroom, tossing her bag, her pants, and her bra on the floor. She crawled into bed next to Tristan. He turned and wrapped an arm around her. "Hi." He murmured. "I missed you."

"I'm sorry I had to leave." She told him. "Her name is Bronte Allison."

"Where'd they get Bronte from?"

She shook her head. "I have no idea."

"Allison was your mother's name, right?" He asked.

She played with a piece of his hair. "Yeah."

"Hm." He snuggled her closer.

"She's got her mom's hair." She told him.

He chuckled to himself and smiled. "Redheads are fun."

She flicked him on the forehead. He chuckled again. After a minute of lying there, Chrissy sighed deeply. "I took a pregnancy test."

"It was positive?" He confirmed.

She leaned over, picked up her purse and dug through it. She handed Tristan the test.

They were silent for a while. Tristan stared at the positive result.

"I'd understand if you didn't want to keep it." He finally said. "You're only nineteen. You should be having fun, going to college, going to parties. No one so young needs so much responsibility."

She'd thought a lot about this on the car ride over. "Well, then I guess it's good thing I'll be young forever. What's twenty years when you have a thousand?" She murmured. "Plus, Alex and Ryland already figured it out. If... I did, and they found out, they'd have a heart attack on the spot."

"I couldn't do it at nineteen." He said. "I didn't have any sort of emotional maturity."

"Ah, well... I had to be an adult by the time I was seven." Chrissy commented, still playing with his hair.

He frowned.

"Nothing we can do about it now." She told him. Chris changed the topic of conversation. "How are you feeling?"

He shook his head. "I'm not recovering like I should be. I still can barely walk without help."

"Maybe we should call up the doc." She said, then had to bring up the immediate fear that popped into her head. "Can someone take your immortality?"

He shook his head. "No." Tristan took a breath. "I would be dead if so."

She had to ask. "Tris... what did he do to you?"

He flinched, shook his head. "I don't want you to know."

That really stung for some reason.

"I wish I didn't." He mumbled.