"So, that's what started all this," I said, stroking Matt's thick, sandy hair.

He was curled up with me on the bed, his head on my shoulder, and we'd both just had a long conversation and a good cry—two things my father would rather have had his intestines ripped out by rabid dogs than do, and of which I was therefore very proud.

"I'm sorry you thought I didn't defend you to my dad."

"I'm sorry I thought so, too," Matt replied, sniffing.

"Hey, that's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault—it was a misunderstanding. Now the cupcake, on the other hand..."

He shifted away from me and looked up, the long lashes around his blue-gray eyes still wet with tears. "Ben..." he swallowed, and his lips—slightly chapped from crying and probably from mild dehydration—parted, as yet another apology prepared to escape them.

"Shh, Matt—it's enough, already," I said, silencing him with the press of my fingertips. "I'm sorry. You're sorry. I forgive you, and you..." I raised my brows.

"Of course I forgive you," he said, losing another tear. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"Sure I did," I countered. "If I hadn't, you'd have known better than to think I'd agree with my dad. I think..." I hesitated, brushing my fingers over the smooth skin at the back of his neck. "I think we've been headed towards this for a long time, babe."

"Towards what?" He leaned back from me again, his eyes widening and brows drawing together with concern. "I told you, Ben, I'll give it all up—the museum, the magick—everything. Please don't—"

"Matt, Love, just listen, okay?" I sighed. "I just mean that we've been headed for...this kind of a moment; you getting deeper into this other world, and me just holding on tighter and tighter and getting more and more afraid every day. Afraid that I'll lose you, one way or another. Whether to some magical accident, some monster, or..." I held my breath a moment, but it needed to be said. "...or a better man. One way or another, it feels like you're going places I can't follow. And as much as I want to hold on to you, it's not right of me to hold you back."

"Ben..." His eyes were filling again, but I forged on.

"So...Will you take me with you?" I asked. "Or at least...will you try?"

"What do you mean?"

"I won't lie. This world you've become a part of still scares me; but if you're a part of it, then I want to be a part of it too. If you'll let me, that is."

"Ben..." Matt's bottom lip trembled. "You've been a part of it all along, dummy," he said. "You showed it to me, remember?"

"Only by accident," I said, frowning.

"A happy accident, then," he insisted.

That made me laugh. "You remember how we met?" I asked.

"Of course. I was riding my bike and you hit me with your car."

"Yeah," I smiled.

Given what a stressful, terrifying moment that had been—thinking I'd killed someone and might be going to jail for a long time—it was funny that the fear wasn't what I remembered about it. What I remembered was how I'd felt when a handsome, sandy-haired man had picked himself up off the pavement, dusted himself off, and told me that he was fine.

Extremely relieved, and already a little bit in love.

Then of course he'd fallen over, and I'd panicked and taken him to the hospital, and more or less hadn't left his side since.

"I guess that was a happy accident, too," I said, trailing my fingers down the side of his face and then to the two little marks on his throat.

I felt my laughter fade as I did, and knew my feelings were plain on my face.

Volkir had stuck around long enough to make sure we were both okay, and that everything was calm in the house, and then he'd left, but not without giving Matt a rather lingering hug first. It was strange, but I wasn't as jealous as I thought I'd be.

If there was room in Matt's heart for more than one kind of love, I wouldn't stop him from filling it.

"I love you, Matt," I said, looking back up to meet his eyes. "I love everything about you. You've been scaring the shit out of me since the moment we met, but...I guess that's part of who you are, too, and I wouldn't have you any other way. So, wherever you're going...take me with you, okay?"

His eyes were wide and teary by this point, and I still hated myself for being the cause of those tears, but I hoped that at least some of these were caused by happiness.

"Ben," he sniffed, blinking. "You're an idiot."

My heart stopped for a moment before he went on.

"But I love you anyway," he said.

Then he cried some more, and I did, too, a little. Then I made him drink some water, because he'd lost a lot of fluids in the last half-hour, not to mention all that blood.

And then we made love, and we stayed in bed until well after noon.

For the first day of the rest of my life, I figured it was off to a pretty good start.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

"Did you want the dolls upstairs or down, Love?" I called over the sound of hammering and drills.

"Down! I think they like the windows where they can see out on the street!"

Matt's voice drifted to me from the second floor of the old brick building. It had once been a Mason's lodge but had long since fallen into disrepair. About a month ago, Volkir bought the whole thing outright and gave it to Matt—to us, I should say—as a gift.

I'd protested a little—I didn't want him becoming the deus ex machina to all our problems—but the vampire had prevailed. Apparently, he was accustomed to lavishing his 'partners' with expensive gifts but had been unable to find something he thought suitable for Matt, until he'd seen the building for sale.

"A new home...for the museum," he'd said.

I couldn't pretend I didn't like the idea.

Now we were in the process of remodeling. Once it was complete, it would house The Theodosius Lorenfield Museum of Cursed Objects and Magickal Artifacts, as well as a gift shop (Santa Marina was a tourist town, after all, and we had to make money somewhere), and finally...a bookstore.

In the month or so since I lost my job, I'd realized a few things. One was that I still loved books. I'd gotten into the publishing industry and become an editor because I loved books. Unfortunately, I'd discovered too late that I did not love editing books. I loved reading them, and I loved sharing them.

And, it turned out, while I didn't necessarily love experiencing the strange, weird, supernatural, and paranormal (with which I was now constantly surrounded) I did love reading and learning about it.

And so, I would become a bookseller—specifically of books related to such things. My shop would be on the first floor, and most of the collection on the second. That way, people would have to walk past—and be tempted to buy—the books twice.

Best of all, I had a ready-made stock at my disposal.

Chris had jumped at the chance to combine our businesses—mostly for the opportunity to move from a space on an obscure side-street to the center of the touristy historic downtown, and I'd agreed that we could keep the name of his shop—Bell Witch Books—which had a nice, chilling ring to it. Pun intended.

It was not a particularly profitable endeavor, but I didn't care. As long as we had enough to get by, to keep Matt's café going and the museum open, and take care of ourselves, that's all that mattered to me.

Best of all, it cleared out almost the whole bottom floor of our house.

"I don't know why Uncle Theo never thought of this," Ari said, standing at my side and watching as the movers unloaded boxes and boxes of haunted crap into its new home. "I mean...the whole bottom floor..."

"I know," I laughed. "It adds almost eight-hundred square feet of usable space to the house."

"I guess Uncle Theo lived there alone, and then with just me..." Ari said. "We didn't need that much space, so we never really noticed."

"Yeah, well..." I cleared my throat. "We're actually thinking to remodel a few of the rooms—with your permission, of course."

"Actually," Ari turned towards me, his dark eyes sparkling with something like mischief. "I was thinking that being a landlord doesn't really suit me. Volkir's not the only one who can make grand gestures, you know."

"Ari..." I didn't know what to say.

"You don't fool me, Ben Shafer," he said, his soft, springy hair shaking as he laughed. "I can guess what at least one of those rooms will be used for. Here," he held out a little box. "This is for the nursery."

I blanched, but he only nodded at the box. I lifted the top and found a little chew toy inside. For a dog.

"Shit. Am I that obvious?" I asked.

"Always. Though not to Matt, I would guess. It will still be a surprise. Also, good luck keeping it out of your bedroom. The nursery's a cute idea, but you've never heard a puppy howl." He winked and grinned, and I was struck again by how much he'd grown and changed over the last year and a half.

"You're probably right," I sighed. "But Matt will like the whole 'puppy room,' idea, don't you think?"

"He'll love it," Ari assured me, and lightly punched my arm. "I gotta go," he said. "Soren's waiting. See you both at the ceremony, right?"

I nodded and returned his smile. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

It was the full moon tonight. Apparently, that was a thing.

I didn't know what I was getting myself into half the time these days, but I'd also found that 'I don't know,' is a perfectly valid response.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

"Do you think Pete's lonely?" I asked, looking over at Matt where he lay beside me in our bed.

It was about a week later, and everything that we intended to move to the new museum had been moved. Only the most dangerous things—as well as Pete and Zumi, of course—had remained behind. Matt had also picked out a few select objects which he said had intelligent spirits attached, and who, he said, had chosen to remain in the house.

"No," he said, sliding his hands over my chest. "He's actually pretty happy with all the new space. He has all that room to roll his ball."

"Speaking of rolling balls," I grinned, and slid my tongue over my lips.

He laughed.

Until I made him breathless, that is.

A while later we resurfaced: he lying sprawled across my chest, and me delighting in the syncopated rhythm of his heartbeat against mine.

"I love you," I said, rubbing little circles on his back. "You know that, right?"

"Yeah," he said, and I felt his smile. "I know."

"Good. 'Cause I got you something."

I sat up, pushing him up with me.

"Really? Is it... Is it another watch?" he asked, clearly not thrilled with the idea.

I giggled.

Yes, giggled.

A few months ago, it would have been a watch. Now, it was something else.

"Nope. You'll have to come and see."

I took his hand and led him downstairs—all the way to the newly renovated ground floor. Stopping at the door of what used to be the old storage room, I covered his eyes with my hands.

"Okay, you can open your present now," I said.

"Ben... You know a home office isn't really—"

"Just open it, for Pete's sake."

"Fine, fine," he laughed. "But you know he can hear you, right?"

"Matt!"

"Okay!"

He pushed open the door.

Then he stood for a moment in silence.

And then he screamed, fell to his knees, and snatched something small and wriggly into his arms.

"She's...a little unusual," I said, watching him play with the ball of fur. "Her dad is a hellhound and her mom is a wolf, so...she probably needs someone pretty special to raise her if she's not going to turn into a monster of some sort..."

"Oh my God, Ben! She's GORGEOUS!" Matt squealed, and, puppy in hand, pushed me into the wall and kissed me.

There was a hellhound hybrid inches from my face, a djinn hiding somewhere in the house, and a poltergeist probably watching us, but I didn't care.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

~ The End ~

A/N: Thanks for reading this silly story about Matt and Ben (✿◠‿◠). They will return in the third and final book of Ari & Soren's arc, Lethe's Kiss (Coming Soon!). Let me know what you liked (or didn't like!) if you want to. I did keep this story PG-13, since that's how Ari & Soren's stories have been so far, but I do love the interactive nature of Wattpad, so if you have thoughts, please share! ♥♥♥

[2020-07-01]