I carried the Subaru with me through so many things. When my parents could no longer drive themselves, I had been relieved to have a vehicle at my disposal. It helped me care for them in some of the only ways I could at the time. Then, when I had started hunting and gained my own income, I kept the car. I kept it in the hopes that I could show my dad how well I had taken care of it when he got better. Then, I kept it so that I could think of the way my mom sat in the passenger seat with her hair fluttering in the wind. I remembered my dad replaying the same six CD's on road trips. It was the thread that I clung to, the shirt that was stuffed in a closet. If I closed my eyes tight enough, I could make myself believe it still smelled like them.

Now, I was handing off the keys to some teen with acne and braces. He seemed delighted with the entire purchase and was unbothered by the ripped upholstery and the old stereo. I watched my old car slink away down a hill, out of my neighborhood.

I expected to feel more. I expected tears to well in my eyes and I told myself that I wouldn't be upset with my weakness if I couldn't let my keys go to someone else. Grief and loss were ugly and twisted. They were unpredictable in a way that occasionally made me want to sob in a grocery store when I saw a kind father smoothing his daughter's hair.

But I just watched my car go and breathed a sigh of relief.

It was done. My parents were dead. My life had been turned upside down and shaken about. The people I had trusted betrayed in a way I couldn't even fathom half the time.

And since we moved away, the car was the last thing that I clung to from my old life.

Releasing it was a breath of fresh air.

I would have a hard time trusting anyone for a long time. I would doubt and question each and every word out of anyone's mouth for years to come. I would never live in my small mountain town again. I wouldn't be able to look at a cinnamon bun without becoming violently ill. I wouldn't have the relationship with my brother that I deserved to have. And my parents would stay dead regardless of how messed up my grieving period had been.

Those were things I could not control, even though I desperately wanted to.

But I didn't need a car to keep them close. They stayed with me and would sing little reminders in wafts of perfume, in a loud booming laugh. They would live on with me, long after the Subaru was in a scrapyard.

I just didn't need to be weighed down anymore.

"How did it go, my love?" Ryder asked when I came back into the house. Our house. He stood over the stove, a platinum band glinting on his finger while he stirred a pot of tomato sauce.

"It went alright," I answered, slipping onto a bar stool.

"Is the car gone?"

"It is."

"And you're doing okay with that?"

I gave him a crooked smile. "For now. Who knows what I will feel tomorrow or the day after. But it was the right thing to do, especially since Ajax bought me that new car."

I had tried to refuse the king. A Volvo sedan was not a gift of gratitude that I expected. Then again, I hadn't expected the cute little bungalow that he purchased for us or the pack position he offered to Ryder. I had protested a little bit, but Ryder had silenced me gently. He reminded me that I had saved a community. I had fought for a species that was not my own, even when it meant turning against everything that I thought to be true.

Ryder and I deserved this and so much more. We had lost what could never be replaced.

Besides, if Milo could take a few grand towards his education and a trendy flat in a city center, then I could accept this.

"We can always sell it and get you a forester or maybe an impreza?" Ryder suggested.

I shrugged my shoulders, offering him a truer smile now. "You know what? I think I might become a Volvo girl just yet."

I complimented Ryder's tomato sauce every second that there wasn't a spoon in my mouth. he would never admit it, but he liked the fawning. Now that he had a home to call his own, he had taken to domestic tasks. Something as simple as sweeping was thrilling to him because this was finally his. No housekeepers coming at check out, no more living out of a duffle bag and eating food that only required a microwave. He had his home now.

And my home was where ever he went.

I couldn't lie and say that everything had gotten better. but I could rely on him to be there when I woke up from nightmares. I could trust him to stand beside me when I wrestled with the lives that I had taken. He held my hand proudly when we were formally introduced to the pack, even when Ajax slipped that I was a former hunter. Even then, no one judged, though some asked general questions.

This my reality now and since the council had distributed press about the matter, it was quiet. Everyone knew what they needed to. Werewolves were no longer being hunted. Hunters were to be reported so they could be captured and educated if possible. Anyone with wolf-drain was to be treated quickly. New rulers had swept in for the fairy community and, even though they seemed lovely, they were being monitored heavily. The alchemists were working off their sentences slowly. I would be dead for decades before a single one of them was released.

And I spent every night sleeping beside the man that I loved.

"Georgia," someone whispered, the voice feminine and fluid.

I blinked my eyes. And panic clenched my chest. No. no, I could not be back here. That meant—

"No, don't worry," she hushed, talking my pale hands into her own purple ones. "Dear child, I didn't mean to frighten you."

"I have it again, don't I?" I choked out.

"Oh, no, never again. But this is the only way I can reach you and even then, it's taken several dozen attempts. I hope you aren't angry with me," she said. Her black eyes shone with concern.

"Why am I here?" I gasped.

"Because I called you to me. And finally, finally, it worked. Do you know how much energy I have spent on you?" she demanded, placing her hands on her hips.

I said nothing, feeling like my heart was in my throat.

"Right, well, now that you're here, I want to give you a gift." She twirled away from me, the low clouds the covered the floor swirling around her as she moved. There, on a small table, she picked up two marbles. "I was devastated when you two were torn apart. Take this as a representation of my gratitude for all that you sacrificed." Slowly, she pressed the two marbles back together. "I can't keep you here for long, but know that you have done my children a great service and that I am forever indebted to you. You and Ryder will always have my blessing."

I jerked upright in the bed, gasping.

"G?" Ryder groaned, his features barely visible in the early morning light.

And when he looked at me, his eyes swam like mercury. 

~~~Distraction Section~~~

Hello everyone! I hope you're doing well. 

This is the last chapter in Huntress. I hope you had as much fun reading it as I had writing it! Thank you for coming along on this wonderful journey with me. 

As always, I will not make any promises for a epilogue, however, I do write them rather often. If you have any ideas of what you would like to see as a bonus chapter, please let me know here :)