She put her hands together for just a moment and bent her head. It was a wordless prayer to whatever Power might be out there.
Then she took off her glove and gently scraped snow away from the marker with her bare hand.
It was a simple granite headstone with a scrolled top. It read "In loving memory. Our son. Gary Fargeon."
"Gary Fargeon," Gillian said softly. She looked up at the figure leaning over the stone. "Gary."
He gave a mocking laugh, but it sounded forced. "Nice to meet you. I was from Sterback; we were practically neighbors."
Gillian looked back down. The date of birth was eighteen years ago. And the date of death was the previous year.
"You died last year. And you were only seventeen."
"I had a little car crash," he said. "I was extremely drunk." He laughed again, wildly.
Gillian sat back on her heels. "Oh, really. Well, that was brilliant," she whispered.
"What's life?" He bared his teeth. " 'Out, out, brief candle'-or something like that."
Gillian refused to be distracted. "Is that what you did?" she asked quietly. "Got yourself killed? Is that unfinished business somehow?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" he said.
Okay, retreat. He wasn't ready yet. Maybe try some feminine wiles. "I just thought you trusted me-Angel. I thought we were supposed to be soulmates ..."
"But by now you know we aren't, don't you? Because you found your real love-that jerk."
Gary turned up the brilliance of his smile. "But even if we're not soulmates, we are connected, you know.
We're cousins. Distant, but the bond is there."
Gillian's hands fell to her sides. She stared up at him. Lights were going on in her brain, but she wasn't quite sure what they illuminated yet.
The strangest thing was that she wasn't entirely surprised.
"Didn't you ever wonder why we both have the same color eyes?" He stared down at her. Although everything was dark around him, his eyes were like violet flame. "I mean it isn't exactly common. Your great-grandmother Elspeth had these eyes. So did her twin brother, Emmeth."
Twins.
Of course. The lost Harman babies, Melusine had said. Elspeth and Emmeth. "And you're..."
He smirked. "I'm Emmeth's great-grandson."
Now Gillian could see what her mind was trying to illuminate. Her thoughts were racing. "You're a witch, too. That was why you knew how to do the spells and things. But how did you figure out what you were?"
"Some idiots from Circle Daybreak came," Gary said. "They were looking for lost witches. They'd managed to track Emmeth's descendants down. They told me enough that I understood what kind of powers I had. And then-I told them to get lost themselves."
"Why?"
"They were jerks. All they care about is getting humans and Night People together. But I knew the Night World was the place for rne. Humans deserve what they get."
Gillian stood. Her fingers were getting red and swollen. She tried to pull her glove back on. "Gary, you
are a human. At least part. Just like I am."
"No. We're superior to them. We're special-"
"We are not special. We're no better than anyone else!"
Gary was grinning unpleasantly, breathing quickly. "You're wrong there. The Night People are supposed to be hunters. There are even laws that say so."
A chill that had nothing to do with the wind went through Gillian. "Oh, really?" Then she had another thought. "Is that why you made me go to that club? So they could hunt me?"
"No, you idiot!" Gary's eyes flashed. "I told you-you're one of them. I just wanted you to realize that.
You could have stayed, been part of them-"
"But why?"
"So you would be like me!" The wind was gusting wildly again. Frozen tree branches creaked like creatures in pain.
"But why?"
"So you could come be with me. So we could be together. Forever. If you joined them, you wouldn't have gone on to the Other Side-"
"When I died! You wanted me dead." Gary looked confused. "That was just at first-" Gillian was angry now. Yelling. "You planned the whole thing! You lured me. Didn't you? Didn't you? That crying I heard in the woods-that was you, wasn't it?"
"Everything you did was designed to kill me! Just so you'd have company!"
"I was lonely!" The words seemed to hang and echo. Then Gary's eyes darkened and he turned away.
"I was so lonely," he said again, and there was something so hopeless in his voice that Gillian stepped toward him.
"Anyway, I didn't do it," he said over his shoulder. "I changed my mind. I thought I could come live with you here-"
"By killing David and taking his body. Yeah. Great plan."
He didn't move. Helplessly, Gillian reached out a hand. It passed right through his shoulder.
She looked at the hand, then said quietly, "Gary, tell me what you did. What the unfinished business is."
"So you can try to send me on."
"Yes."
"But what if I don't want to go on?"
"You have to!" Gillian clenched her teeth. "You don't belong here, Gary! This isn't your place anymore!
And there's nothing you can do here, except... except evil." She stopped, breathing hard.
He turned, and she saw the wild look again. "Maybe that's what I like to- do."
"You don't understand. I'm not going to let you. I'm not going to stop or give up. I'll do whatever it takes to make you move on."
"But maybe you won't have the chance."
A blast of wind. And something else. Stinging granules that struck Gillian's face like tiny needles.
"What if there's a blizzard tonight?"
"Gary, stop it!" The gale buffeted her.
"A freak storm. Something nobody expected."
"Gary..." It was very dark-the moon and stars had been blotted out. But Gillian could see a driving, swirling whiteness. Her teeth were chattering and her face was numb.
"And what if Amy's car won't start? If something went wrong with the engine ..."
"Don't do this! Gary!" She couldn't see him now. His light was gone, swallowed in the storm. Snow slashed her face.