Juliet Immortal

There’s no point arguing. My fate is written in her impassive face. “If we don’t speak again, remember I will always hold you in my heart.”
    And then she leaves. And I stay in the bathroom until the bell rings. Ariel’s going to get an F on the dissection project, but at this point I can’t bring myself to care. There are too many bigger things at stake. Like lives.
    “Five minutes!” Mr. Stark calls out, snapping me back to the dreadful present.
    He’s making another breathless sweep through backstage, but stops to jab a finger in my direction. “Get ready, Ariel. You’re going on. Break a leg.”
    I wait until he’s passed by before reaching for the backstage door. Outside, a sickly orange light illuminates the concrete path leading around the building. Still no Gemma. Beyond, the night is dark and quiet. The rain has finally stopped—something everyone in town is celebrating—but the air seems more ominous for the stillness. The world is holding its breath, waiting to see if good or evil will win back the night.
    “She’s not coming,” Romeo whispers from behind me.
    I face him and nearly gag as I get a whiff of his stench. He reeks of death and disease, to the point that the rest of the cast has finally begun to notice. Everyone has given him a wide berth since he arrived, the few boys in the production hurrying to change into their costumes and leave him alone in the men’s dressing room.
    “My maker knows the truth,” Romeo says, leaning closer. I press my hand to my mouth and back away, until my shoulders hit the brick wall. “He knows Gemma’s not alone in that body. He lost her when she left campus after lunch, but he’ll hunt her down and end it. Tonight.”
    Oh god. If only Gemma were answering her phone, if there were some way to warn her before it’s too late. “Who is he? Where’s he hiding? You have to—”
    “Jason’s dead,” he says. “My maker killed him so he could have a body close to me.” Romeo smiles. “I don’t know why I never thought of that, killing for convenience. Suppose I’m not as diabolical as everyone believed.”
    Jason. I’m not surprised. Seems there’s a good reason he made my skin crawl.
    “It’s easier for the high ones to hide when the body’s freshly dead,” Romeo says. “I know you can’t see our auras,but they’re usually black. Black as sin, as inescapable as a shadow.” He reaches a hand toward me but stops when I flinch. “Yours was always golden. Until now.”
    Golden. Like Nancy’s. “Did he do it? Did he kill Nancy?”
    Romeo smiles. “Of course he killed her. And he will kill Gemma and that boy you love and you and me and the blood will never stop flowing,” he says, the sadness in his voice scaring me more than his delight ever has. Panic swims inside me.
    How to stop this? How to stop the Mercenaries when they feed on the very violence that seems the only thing that can end them? Murder isn’t the answer. I believe that now. But what is? What?
    “They don’t seem to care as much about love anymore.” Romeo sighs and swipes his curled hair away from his forehead. “Not even enough to destroy it.”
    “Places, people!” Mr. Stark flashes the backstage lights three times, the sign that we should find our spots in the wings. I try to move past Romeo, but he steps in front of me, blocking my path.
    “It’s too late. We can’t work the spell.”
    “I wouldn’t. Even if we could.”
    He nods, slowly, thoughtfully. “I loved you,” he whispers. “I did. And I was sorry. I remember that I was, that I wanted to get up off the floor and tell you that—”
    “I know what I did.” I suddenly want him to know the truth, to understand that I’m not the same fool I’ve been for the past seven hundred years. “I know it’s my fault, that I did this to myself.”
    He shakes his head, fingers the scarf he’s insisted on wearing though it isn’t a part of his costume. “No. It was mine. I deceived you. I can remember the guilt. I can’t feel it anymore,but I remember.” His eyes are distant, his expression blunted by pain and fear. For the first time I feel pity for the monster.
    “What did they promise you?” I ask, wanting to know before it’s over.
    “They promised me your happiness.” He smiles, a vague, confused smile. “Eternal happiness and joy, more than I could ever give you. But as soon as I saw your face, I knew you’d never have it. Even if the Ambassadors hadn’t claimed you. I could