With prompts from Dashiell, Molly walked the audience through the whole story. When she was done, she stayed right where she was as Kirsten testified about the existence of boundary witches, and Jesse, who was wearing a special witch bag that protected him from Kirsten’s wards again, came onstage. Staying well away from me, he explained his involvement and actions in a classic cop tone, like he was filing a verbal report. The audience ate up every word at first, but as the drama faded and explanations wore on, they began to gradually get just a little bit bored. This, too, was according to plan. Drown them in information, in proof, until the truth was so obvious that no one would bother denying it.

Just when we started losing the audience’s attention, we did the big reveal: Katia came onstage in a wheelchair, with Allison “Lex” Luther pushing her. Maven, who was Lex’s cardinal vampire the way Dashiell was ours, had signed off on this whole spectacle as long as Lex didn’t identify who or what she was to the LA Old World.

Katia confessed to everything, including pressing Molly the moment she woke up that night. She confirmed Oskar’s plans, his reasons for wanting to frame Molly. When she got to the part about helping him steal the bodies of the four new vampires, she teared up a little, but pushed through.

During our pre-Trials meeting, Jesse, Kirsten, Will, Dashiell and I had voted on whether we should let her go to Colorado with Lex. Jesse, Kirsten, and I voted in Katia’s favor, and although they’d voted against, Will and Dashiell agreed to honor our majority. Now I saw Lex give Katia’s shoulder a quick squeeze, worry etched on her face. I kind of thought the two of them were going to be okay.

After Katia left the stage, I could tell that the mood in the room had shifted. The crowd was getting restless. And, wonder of wonders, they were ready to move on. To them, this whole “Molly Goes Dark Side” saga had had a disappointingly anticlimactic ending, and now everyone was over it and looking ahead to the parties.

It was both aggravating and magnificent.

Manuela wasn’t in the front row tonight. That afternoon Jesse and I had gone to her condo to personally explain that her stepdaughter was a new vampire. It was a very difficult conversation, which still hurt to think about. But she hadn’t come to glare at me tonight, and I was grateful.

When all the testimonies were finished, Dashiell, Will, and Kirsten made a show of whispering amongst themselves for a moment, pretending they hadn’t already decided on Molly’s sentence. When they straightened up, the crowd’s wandering attention returned to Dashiell, who said in his unintentionally grandiose way, “We agree that it was a mistake for you to move in with human women, and you are therefore partly to blame for what happened to them. However,” he added, “we absolve you of responsibility for the murders themselves and the resulting risk of national exposure. Because of the terrible physical abuse you suffered, and because you and your . . . helpers”—in the wings behind him, Jesse winked at us—“were able to neutralize the negative publicity and keep our existence concealed, we’re willing to sentence you to time served. Next case, please.”

Now, I squeezed her hand.

Epilogue

“Where do you want these?” Jesse asked, bending backward a little so he could see over the top box on his stack.

“Uh . . . living room for now,” I said, which was how I had answered the last three times, too. Molly’s new bedroom—the cell formerly known as Shadow’s—was really too small to support even her few belongings, when you factored in a bed. On the plus side, it was completely sunlight proof, and rent was cheap. Also, her last residence had burned to the ground. It really cuts back on possessions.

“Did you switch out the doorknob yet?” I asked him, putting familiar dishes on the shelf above the sink. This was the stuff from Molly’s old house in Hollywood. Handling it again was bittersweet.

“Yeeeees,” he drawled. “Molly can now lock us out, and we cannot lock her in. Did you order the pizza yet?”

“Nooo,” I said back, imitating his tone. “I figured the divorced guy coming out of the months-long depression would know the best place for pizza.”

Jesse considered that for a second, and then he gave me a regal bow. “Touché.”

“Thank you so much for helping with these, Jesse,” Molly said warmly, from behind a stack of boxes that was twice as tall as his. Vampire strength is fun. She set them down well out of my radius and straightened up, tossing her new, short blonde curls out of her face. I hadn’t asked about the hair. I figured she’d explain it if she wanted to. “I didn’t realize there was so much stuff still in storage.”

“Well, we can use the furniture,” I said, pausing in my unpacking. Eli had taken the pieces that belonged to him: the kitchen table and chairs, the work desk, a loveseat. Even the soft blankets we had used when we watched movies together.

“You gonna cry again?” Jesse asked, but his voice was gentle. “I can get some tissues if you’re gonna cry again.”

I looked at the plate in my hand. “Don’t throw it at him,” Molly advised. “I really like that set.”

I put the plate down carefully, picked up an oven mitt, and chucked it at Jesse’s head. He ducked it easily. “Go outside and throw the ball for Shadow, please,” I instructed. “And let me know if Lex calls you back.”

“Yes, Mom.”

Jesse had been checking in with the Colorado boundary witch every few days, since she and Katia returned from freeing Oskar’s current stable of prostitutes in Reno. Dashiell had been having a lot of conversations with Lex’s boss, Maven, both about the liberated vampires and about Katia’s rehabilitation and future. I got the occasional “official” update, but Jesse and I liked to keep on top of how Katia was actually doing, and talking to Lex was the best route.

Jesse had also been checking cell phone records for Frederic and the others, but we would probably never know who had lined up to help Oskar take down our Old World structure. Both Dashiell and Will had their suspects, and they would take care of them in their own ways. I probably should have been bothered by it, but honestly, I wasn’t too concerned. Or rather, I recognized that the problem wasn’t mine to fix. Dashiell and Will would need to get their houses in order, and they would let me know if there was any way I could help. That was enough.

After the front door slammed behind Jesse, Molly reached over to touch my shoulder. “Have you heard from him at all?” she asked.

I shook my head. “Will said that after the full moon last week, he’s taking a couple weeks off work. Going camping, or something. We’re both trying to give each other . . . space.”

“And Jesse?” Molly said. “Are you guys . . .” She trailed off. I stared at her, not getting it. “Banging?” she added brightly.

I rolled my eyes. “I can’t tell you how much we are not,” I told her. “He’s raw from his divorce; I just broke up with Eli. You’re gonna have to ship someone else, Molls.” She pouted. “On the bright side,” I added, “we’ve kind of found a nice friend rhythm. It’s working for us.”

And it was. Jesse and I had never really done the friendship thing properly. By the time we’d learned to trust each other, back at the beginning of our relationship, he’d had a crush on me. And, okay, I was harboring a little something for him too. And then it just got more complicated from there. But now, years later, we’d finally figured out how to hang out together. It was nice, having someone in my life I knew I could count on, no romantic strings attached.

Molly came up behind me, wrapping an arm around my shoulders in a hug. “That’s good.”

Well. Someone else.

After the Trials were over, I had invited her over to ask if she wanted to move in with me and Shadow in the little cottage. I could put a crate in my bedroom for Shadow—I’d need to have it specially built, but it was possible—and the second “bedroom” could be Molly’s. It was tiny, but she didn’t need to put much in there.

I didn’t want to rekindle our friendship on a lie, though, so before asking, I had sat her down and told her the truth: I’d known that Lee Harrison was coming into the room, and I’d egged on Oskar to admit how little he cared about the MC so Lee would kill him.