Okay guys, last chapter. This story is officially complete. Thank you to everyone who has read it, I hope you enjoyed it, and if not, well, sorry. Haha. I do have an idea for a sequel if I decide to go down that road, so this may not be THE end for these two, but we'll see. Anyway, enjoy. X


Epilogue

I don't know where I am, or where I'm going. Nor do I care. There's an emptiness inside of me. An emptiness that I very much doubt will ever be filled. I've lost people before. Many people. Almost everyone I've ever cared about, excluding Eric and Nora, has died, so I'm no stranger to loss, but it's different this time. It's harsher. Colder. Much, much more painful. A part of me wants to scream until I burst, to set myself on fire or throw myself into a pit of molten silver just to feel something other than this crippling heartache. Another part of me never wants to feel anything but the heartache ever again. It welcomes the emptiness, the abyss that was once my soul. The pain is a solid reminder that it was real. That my feelings, however inappropriate, were real. Our relationship happened, whether she remembers it or not, and there's nothing that can ever change that.

I'm suddenly aware that I'm being watched. I look up and almost start in shock. Aimee, Alex and Mark are all sat around a table, watching me warily. There's a girl sat next to Mark. A dark-haired girl. Please don't be Thalia, I hope against hope. The girl's hair is longer than I remember Thalia's being, and she wears it straight whereas Thalia wears it in curls. Please don't be Thalia, I will it to be true, though I know that it's hopeless. I know it's her. I knew from the moment I laid eyes on them. I'd recognise her anywhere. She turns around when she realises that her friends are no longer paying attention to her, and catches my eye. There's nothing there, no recognition, no spark of déjà vu. Nothing. I thought she might remember me from our brief encounter in the hospital, but given the medication she was on at the time, her memory of that time will be somewhat hazy. It's a blessing, really, although it doesn't feel like it. If she recognised me even a little, there'd be no walking away.

"Do you know him?" She asks them, turning back to face them. It's like a punch in the face. Of course, I already knew that she wouldn't know me, but hearing her say it out loud is…well, not nice. Oh, her voice. I'd almost forgotten her voice. I'm suddenly struck by memories of her crying out my name in the dead of night between the bed sheets and my resolve almost shatters. I want to rush over there and beg for her to take me back. But that would be futile, because she has no idea who I am.

She gives me a small, apologetic smile and I have to physically stop myself from sagging to my knees. "Stop staring!" She hisses when they don't answer her. She's got her back to me again and I almost call out her name. I just need to see her face again. Just one more time before I leave and never see her again.

"Do you guys know that boy?" She says and they all shake their heads. Good. I was worried that one of them would drop the pretence and tell her the truth. Mark certainly wouldn't. Now that I'm out of the picture, he can continue his pursuit unhindered. Alex and Aimee, however. Neither of them agreed with what I had to do. If anyone ends up telling Thalia that she courted a vampire before being hit by a car and forgetting everything from the past eleven months, it would be them.

"Then why are you all staring?" Oh, my love, if only you knew.

"He's a vampire." Alex tells her after a terse pause.

"A vampire!" She exclaims excitedly and I force myself to turn and start walking in the direction I came before she can turn around and catch my eye again. I know that if I look her in the eye again, I'll never be able to drag myself away. But I can't help myself. My disturbing lack of self-control is laughable of a vampire my age. I glance backwards and she's there, watching me.

"Stop staring at him." Mark mutters. How can he still be jealous? She has no memory of me whatsoever. If he was looking for an indicator that I'm no longer going to be an issue, that was it!

"I was just looking." She protests. "I'm curious."

"About what?"

"Vampires!"

I wish I could get out of earshot. But at the same time, I don't. I'm torturing myself. With every passing second it hurts more and more, and yet at the same time I can't quite bring myself to stop the never-ending pain. Call me a masochist.

"Stay away from the vamps, babe," babe? Babe? "Your daddy will have a heart attack if you come home a fangbanger." No, her father would have a heart attack if she started banging the same vampire that she'd been secretly banging the past eleven months, though she has no recollection of it.

"A fangbanger?" She repeats incredulously with a laugh. Ouch, is the idea of being with a vampire really that laughable? "I said that they were interesting, not that I wanted to start sleeping with them. Not that there's anything wrong with that but as of right now I have no interest in being with a vampire."

"Good." Marks mutters. "Let's keep it that way."

I've heard enough. I don't want to listen to any more. I can't listen anymore. I can't stand here and listen whilst Mark of all people pretends to care about her. I can practically hear the smugness in his voice. We all know, Alex and Aimee included, that my absence is what Mark thinks is his chance to get his leg over. I would really like to rip his head off.

I glance at the time. It's almost eleven. There are a number of places that I could be, and an even greater number of things that I could be doing, but I'm not going to do any of them. I know exactly where I'm going, and what I'm going to do. I hear that the Fellowship of the Sun are in need of a vampire to sacrifice to the sun. That coincides nicely, because I am ready to die.