Epilogue
“So then Laura goes and punches him right in the face!” Valery said to Eva as she and Laura leaned against the counter of the shop.
Eva burst into laughter unable to help herself. “You did not!”
“He said my tail looked like a tentacle, that’s the one of the worst things you could say to a mermaid,” Laura defended, her large fishlike eyes filled with rage at the thought of the lizard man who’d insulted her. “He deserved more than a broken nose.”
Eva laughed some more, leaning against the front counter as she shook her head. “Oh my god Laura I love you.”
“Well it was awesome talking to you but we gotta get going,” Valery said as she looked at her watch. “Laura’s got another date to get ready for another date.”
“Another one already?” Eva asked her brow arching at the new information. “Whose it this time?”
“This really nice water elemental I met at the beach the other day,” Laura answered as she crossed her index and middle fingers on both hands and smiled an anxious smile. “Here’s hoping everything goes well.”
“We’ll stop Spectra’s place and get you a good luck spell of something,” Valery reassured as they said their goodbyes to Eva and left her store. She sighed and sat on the stool behind the counter of her shop her eyes moving around the store front scanning over the shelves of jars filled with dried herbs, vials of herbal essential oils, and other remedies.
It was still hard for her to believe how far she’d come so far in just three years. After Bertrand was taken care of she’d moved back in with Jasper and Spectra but for some reason it didn’t feel quite right. Yes she had all her memories and her friendship with Jasper back but she needed more. Her whole life she’d been forced to rely on others, been forced to meet up to the expectations of her Gran, her parents, and then Bertrand when he’d taken her. With her memories returned to her she wasn’t quite sure who was anymore or what she wanted. Did she want to return to school? Did she want to stay with Spectra and Jasper? What was it that she wanted?
The only thing that made sense or felt right was when she was helping customers in Spectra’s shop or healing people. She’d forgotten the joy healing others had given her, how her whole being was consumed with joy and glee when she was able to bring tears of happiness to the eyes of her patience and their families. It just felt so…right. That’s when she decided to open her own practice, a little pharmacy of sorts where she would sell herbal remedies, just like her Gran had taught her all those years ago, and heal those in desperate need. So, after a year of saving her wages, she bought her shop as well as the apartments above in the next village over and opened her practice. It was a huge success right away seeing as healers, or any type of physicians, were in short supply in the underground. People were always seeking out her help and she was always busy.
“We’re still open?” Eva broke from her thoughts and looked to the front door of the shop as Lisette walked in, the setting sun making her blonde hair sparkle. “I thought you would’ve closed for the day by now.”
After Bertrand was gone for good Jasper had lived up to his word and became Lisette’s personal blood donor. Within a few hours Lisette was able to walk in the sun and was relieved of all her vampiric desires, though the need for blood would pop up once a month when she needed to feed. Like Eva, she’d been living with Spectra and Jasper helping out at the shop when she could but when Eva announced she was striking out on her own she’d vowed to go with her new best friend and help her run the place. Eva was unsure of the idea at the time but once business took off she was glad to have the hard working woman in her corner. She helped organize her appointments, stock shelves, dry herbs, and deal with customers all day.
Eva smiled at her best friend as she stretched. “I was just about to do that,” Eva explained as she moved to the door to the shop and moved the sign from “open” to “closed”. “I just got lost in thought is all. How was your feeding?”
Lisette shrugged. “Not bad…” she trailed off making Eva suspicious. “Jasper asked about you.”
Eva sighed at the thought of the male necromancer. When she decided to move out on her own he was a little against it, worrying something would happen to her and not wanting to be separated from her after they’d finally got things back to normal. Once she explained why she needed to leave, though, he understood completely and wished her luck even going so far as to offer to help her with the store. She denied of course knowing once she left Spectra would need his help more.
He’d pop in every now and then at first, but after awhile he began thinking about what he wanted to do, just like she had. Eventually, about a year and a half ago, he returned to New York to finish his degree, Spectra going with him to reopen the coffee shop. She was sad to see both of them go but knew it was for the best, that they had to live their own lives. Sure she cared for Jasper, and he her, but it wasn’t healthy to be so emotionally dependent on others. The move seemed to irritate Lisette the most. Their moving meant she had to make plans to go to New York to get blood but after awhile she’d gotten used to the monthly trip each time returning to tell the young healer Jasper asked about her but saying no more than that.
“Did you tell him I’m doing well?” Eva asked as she took the broom and began sweeping the store.
Lisette nodded. “I told him you were busy as ever,” Eva nodded going back to her sweeping. “Right after I helped him move the last of his stuff back into the shop.”
Eva froze where she stood before turning to stare at Lisette. “They’re back?”
Lisette nodded. “He graduated last week,” Lisette explained with a pleased smile on her face. “In fact I think he’ll be here any minute.”
Eva swore and ran to the backroom of the shop, placing her broom in the corner as she did so before pulling out a mirror to inspect her appearance. “Lisette, why didn’t you tell me?!”
“Because I enjoy seeing you frazzled,” the vampires teased earning a light glare from her friend.
“Remind me why exactly I tolerate you,” she asked, trying to fix her slightly matted pixie cut. “I’ve been with patience all day and probably look a mess!”
“You look fine,” Lisette sighed from the doorway of the backroom. “He’s going to go into shock when he sees you’ve cut your hair.”
Eva stared at her shorter hair in the mirror. When she opened the shop she vowed to put the person she was behind and with that came the decision to cut the long locks her mother and Bertrand loved so much. She didn’t regret the decision, if anything she wished she cut her hair years ago. Now it was more manageable and she found she wasn’t getting it caught in everything anymore.
The sound of the shop door opening broke her from her thoughts and had her looking to Lisette who only smiled and nodded towards the store front. Eva took in a breath and nodded, rising from her seat and going where she knew Jasper was waiting. He stood in the middle of the store front looking a lot different than he had the last time she’d seen him close to two years ago. His hair had grown out, gently caressing his shoulders and falling into his green eyes that scanned the store looking for her. He didn’t look as thin as he was before either, looking as if he was taking better care of himself. When their eyes met she was surprised to see his trademark eyebrow piercing gone.
“Firefly,” he gasped as he analyzed her from tip to toe. Beside her short hair she hadn’t changed that much in appearance but he knew she was so different than before he left. Her back was straight and her chin held high, confidence radiating in her eyes where fear and caution used to always take up residence. She radiated confidence and joy, a sight that filled him with joy of his own. He’d missed her terribly though it was nice to have some time alone and rediscover himself.
“Jasps,” she greeted a wide smile appearing on her face as she took a few steps closer to him. “Congratulations on your degree. I knew you’d get it.”
He nodded a smile spreading across his face as well. “You did and thanks,” they stood there, not saying anything to one another for awhile before Jasper finally broke the silence. “I was wondering if you wanted to get some coffee with me.”
Eva nodded. “Coffee sounds awesome actually,” she agreed. “I could use some caffeine.” Jasper nodded leading the way to the door after Eva retrieved her wallet from the backroom, leaving Lisette to finish locking up for the evening.
They got their coffee and walked to a nearby park, sitting on a bench and watching as children and their parents spent what was left of the day together. Neither of them said anything for awhile, each just being glad to have the other beside them after so long apart.
“So your shop’s doing well?” Jasper asked breaking the comfortable silence.
Eva nodded. “Yeah everything’s going extremely well,” she confirmed. “What are you planning to do now?”
He shrugged. “Help Spectra out, take some commissions here and there, maybe some freelance work…I like not really having the pressure of a real job on my shoulders.”
Eva nodded allowing both of them to fall into silence once again before deciding to break it. “I missed you Jasps.” She confessed with a large smile.
He turned to look at her a smile that mirrored her own on his face. “I missed you too,” he returned his hand gently taking hold of hers. “I understand why you wanted to be on your own for so long and I’m sorry I wasn’t that supportive at the beginning. I think it was something we both needed.”
She nodded, her smile still in place. “And I’m sorry I didn’t call and avoided you so much.”
Jasper shook his head. “It’s not a big deal firefly; you needed to figure things out.” Eva held his hand back, looking out to the park as the sun began to set more over the enchanted horizon. “So what now?”
“Would you be against the idea of wanting to date me?” she asked with a cocked brow.
He sighed dramatically. “Oh well if I must.”
Eva nudged his shoulder with her own her smile still in place. “Oh don’t act as if I’m twisting your arm.”
“You so are, you’ve nearly broke it,” he declared over dramatically making Eva roll her eyes before giving him a kiss on the cheek before snuggling into his side closing her eyes as Jasper placed a return kiss on her head.
A/N: Well guys it's finally over. Now before I go on to say anything else I just want to put out there that this was a first draft and intend to go back and edit. I know the last chapter was a little rushed and to be quite honest I'm not completely happy with this epilogue but I mainly just wanted to get it done so I could begin editing it and cleaning it up so I can, hopefully, publish it somewhere down the road. I'll be sure to send out a message to all my followers when I've finished editing it so if you weren't a 100% happy with how the ending was written or noticed a couple of holes that hadn't been filled in then please let me know what they are so I know what needs to be dealt with (and please do not say "Bertrand needs to end up with Eva" because I'm afraid that's one thing I will not be changing).
With that said and out of the way I'd like to address the issue of a possible sequel. I know a lot of you have been asking about a possible sequel and as of right now I have no plans of writing a direct sequel to this story. Now that doesn't mean you won't see Eva or Jasper again. I have a couple of other stories that could be classified as companion pieces to "The Monster's Love", my next story having to do with Will and where he ended up after Bertrand was killed so you will definitely be seeing Eva and Jasper again. But as far as another book with Eva nad Jasper as the two main characters that won't be happening. Maybe down the road but I honestly don't even have an idea of how I would write a sequel to "The Monster's Love"
Speaking of other stories I would like to mention the other story I plan on writing after I've finished editing "The Monster's Love". This next story will be called "Death and Blood" and like I said before will be staring the mysterious Will who we met in the last few chapters of this story along with a bunch of new characters and some other characters that some of you may recognise from my first story "The Mirror" which also needs a lot of work and takes place in the same universe as "The Monster's Love" and the upcoming "Death and Blood". I will have a teaser at the very end of this A/N if you're interested in the new book and if you have any questions please don't be afraid to ask. I try to reply when I can.
Ok, now that all that's out of the way I'd like to thank all of you amazing readers for sticking with this story and giving me your support. Your kind words and votes fill me with warmth and give me the gumption to want to continue writing and for that I will be eternally grateful to you all. I'm still in shock this story got so many votes, comments, and reads considering I litterally pulled it out of nowhere after seeing a painitng by a wonderful artist on the internet and have just been making this up as I go along for the most part, though I fully intend to put more effort into it now so it all comes together like a real book would. So thank you, all of you, so much for everything because without your reads, votes, and comments, this would've become another unfinished piece clogging up my hard drive.
So I will let you all know when I have finished my editing, future edited chapters will have a * next to their title so you know what chapters have been fixed and what ones have not. If you guys have any questions, about anything having to do with the story or just about anything in general please don't be afraid to ask I'll be more than happy to answer anything that's on your mind.
Hopefully I'll see all of you again when "Death and Blood" is up and if not I wish you all the best and very happy reading. See ya!
~Sam
Death and Blood teaser:
Will thought after Bertrand was gone he'd be a free man, that he'd be free to kill and drink to his hearts content. But one night in a fit of hunger he'll forever bind himself to the young necromancer girl and her rag tag group of exercists. He thought things couldn't get any worse until a wounded, red haired, demoness comes stumbling throguh their door one fateful night, beginning a series of events Will would've never seen coming.