The Gathering Dark (53 page)

Peter shook his head at the foolishness of this notion. Nikki smiled and touched his face and she nodded as if to say she understood.

“I lost track of my friends. My family. That’s what they are, really. My family. I’m grateful to have realized what a mistake that was. We’ve got a war to fight. Call it a crusade, even. It’s going to be years before we figure out what the Tatterdemalion let loose on Earth, whether by accident or design. Some of us are uniquely suited to doing something about it. And we will.

“
I
will. Even if it takes the rest of my life. Otherwise what’s the point of being here at all, of surviving? And if I can fight this war surrounded by the people I love . . . all the more reason to stay alive,” he said quietly, the breeze rustling through the vineyards.

Nikki searched his eyes. “I’m part of this thing, you know,” she said. “Don’t count me out just because I won’t be here.”

Peter smiled. “We have to be vigilant, Nikki. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t other things in life. Music, for instance. We don’t
all
have to move in with Kuromaku.”

He reached out once again to caress her face.

“I never should have let you go without me the last time. That’s another mistake I won’t make again.”

Nikki gazed at him for a long moment, an expression of surprise etched upon her features.

“You’re coming to L.A.?”

“Just when you
have
to be there. We don’t actually have to live in Los Angeles, do we? It’s a short flight from San Francisco.”

“San Francisco,” she mused. “That could work.”

Peter took her hand and the two of them turned to walk back through the vineyards, the rich smell of the earth all around them. He knew that out there in the world there lurked unknown horrors, things he had not yet imagined that waited in the shadows for the darkness to fall.

But today, at least, the sun still shone brightly above them and he had his chosen family around him. Nightfall would come soon, as it always did, but Peter would not concern himself with the dark until it arrived upon his doorstep.

Even then, he would face it with the knowledge that night was, ever and always, followed by morning.