Free A Vampire's Christmas Carol by Cynthia Eden Page B

it’s probably hard to recognize yourself…”
    Fuck.  Ben craned his head and looked into that grave. He saw…bones. A skull.
His
skull?   
    The humans threw Simone’s body in the grave. Her body and her head.
    His eyes squeezed shut.
    Why don’t you have a Christmas tree?
Her voice whispered through his mind. She’d loved those damn trees so much.
    And…
she loved me.
    She’d been so giving. So open.
I want to help you.
    She’d looked him in the eyes.
I love you.
    She had.  An angel, loving the monster he’d become.
    Ben opened his eyes and saw that the men had started shoveling dirt onto her body. 
    “See?” Jamison asked as he slapped a hand on Ben’s shoulder. “You’re together forever.”
    Ben’s heart stopped beating.  “I’m really the skeleton in that grave?”
    “Um, yes, you are.  Simone didn’t wind up saving you, but you…you sure introduced her to the darkness.”
    Welcome to the darkness.
    “Simone couldn’t handle the darker urges of her vampire side. Not once her wings were gone.”
    The men kept shoveling dirt onto Simone. 
    “Christmas Day,” Jamison said. “She lost the last of her wings then.  They were her gift to you, because she knew…” Jamison walked around the grave. “She knew that you’d wind up here. See, after you killed Miles—”
    “I
didn’t
kill him!” William had stopped him before he’d taken the human’s life.
    Jamison smiled. “Are you sure about that?” 
    Ben sucked in a sharp breath.
    “After you killed Miles, you lost your hold on sanity. When it came to your prey, you didn’t care about guilt or innocence. You gave in to the darkness. You drank from anyone,
everyone,
leaving shells behind. You became the true monster that everyone fears, and you had to be put down.”
    Simone’s blonde hair was covered by dirt.
    “And without you…” Jamison’s voice roughened. “I think she was ready to die, too.”
    She’d smiled at him, in that last moment. Or had she smiled
because
it was her last moment?
    Jamison pushed a hand through his hair. “Some people aren’t made for the darkness.” 
    Ben glared at Jamison. “This
isn’t
happening to Simone.” 
    The shifter’s face hardened. “Then you’d better change your future, vamp. Because if you go dark, so does she.”
    Ben leapt toward the shifter. He grabbed Jamison’s shoulders. “Take me to her! Not this twisted future. I want the real Simone,
now
!” 
    The wind began to howl.
    The humans vanished. The cemetery vanished.
    “It doesn’t work like that.” Jamison’s voice was quiet, almost sympathetic.
    Ben didn’t want his sympathy. He wanted Simone. “Screw how it works. You know where she is. Take me to her.”
    “Earn…her…” Jamison broke from Ben’s hold and dropped to the ground. The shifter’s bones began to snap. “Save her…earn her…”  Fur spread along his arms and legs.   
    “Do
not
turn panther on me!” Ben reached out for him, but the panther’s claws sliced along his arm. “I need Simone!”
    The panther opened his mouth and roared.
    The snow fell again. No, not snow—
feathers.
Feathers from an angel’s wings
.
She was losing more wings for him even then. Trying to teach him some kind of lesson? Trying to save his life?
    But she was losing her own life in the process.
    Ben tilted back his head and stared up at the sky. “I want her! Give her back to me, and I’ll do anything!”
    The howling of the wind grew louder.
    “I can—I can change!” Ben yelled as loudly as he could. “Just…
don’t let her die!
Don’t let her wind up like—”
Me
. “Please, save her,” he whispered. “
Please.
”
    And everything went dark.
    Welcome to the darkness.

Chapter Nine
    The alley reeked of garbage and death.
    “Pl-please, buddy,” Miles Gavin begged. “Just let me go, just let me—”
    Ben’s fangs flashed.
    Then he stopped as understanding hit him—hard.
What the fuck? I’m back here?
    Ben shook his head as Miles trembled