The final chapter of The Juliette Tales must stand alone. Perhaps I will produce the rest of the story later, if anyone is interested. But the final chapter works by itself.

The Juliette Tales are about Juliette, an Irish peasant who became Marcus' pet and mistress. Her defining characteristic was extreme obediance; she considered Marcus her master, and would do anything he commanded. She loved him, but he said there was no such thing. Despite that, when Marcus destroyed his own coven, he let Juliette live, on the condition that she never come into his sight again. He returned to Juliette a locket he wore, with her picture in it, in trade for her matching pendant with his own portrait.

This Final Chapter takes place after the end of Underworld: Evolution, when Selene & Michael have left the ruins.

As the sun set over the castle ruins, the world was still but for a dark figure in the rubble.

Juliette walked, weeping, amidst the stones and corpses. When she found William, she knew who he must be, and she wept, if only for Marcus' sake. But when she found Marcus, she uttered a silent wail, turning red eyes heavenward and moaning at the moon.

But she tore her gaze from the dead Elder, imagining his voice wringing in her ears "William… Juliette, can you stand here as my brother lies shattered?" Then she returned to his lycan brother, and, tearing fabric from her own dress, bound the wolf's jaw together, reattaching William's head. She tore off her outer skirt and wrapped it round him as a makeshift shroud.

This done, she made her way back to what remained of her lord and master; silent, grim, her eyes dry and blue.

She picked, barehanded, through the debris, finding what pieces she could of the dead vampire, and laying them methodically down until the floor looked like a forensic anthropologist's table. When she was finished, a humanoid figure was visible through the gore. She removed her petticoats and tore into them with nails and fangs, quickly reducing them to strips. Then slowly, with agonizing care, she bound the pieces together, like Isis binding her broken husband's body into the first mummy.

But there was no magic spell to bring Marcus to life, no miracle allowing him to be with her again.

Yet Juliette wrapped him in her last article of clothing; her cloak, and she hung his bloodied locket around his bandaged neck. He looked near human now, and regal, a true king. She pulled him tenderly into her naked lap, holding his head heavily in her arms. She stroked the bloody white face. She ran her fingers through the long red hair. And she kissed him once more on the lips, feeling fangs through the skin; sure that the cold she felt would never leave her.

"Juliette, you must know that there is no such thing as love- it is a foolish sentiment, better suited for children than for monarchs."

Juliette had obeyed all Marcus' commands gladly, but for one.

But now Marcus was dead.

Now she could love him.

The End