Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 9

wash over his pangs of guilt and lust.
    Kieran shrugged a single shoulder, and as he neared, Damian could feel the magic coming off him prickle his skin like static electricity. No single mage he'd encountered gave off this kind of power. "You were leaving me. You found a new love, and it was taking up all your time. I couldn't compete with magic."
    The hair on Damian's arms was standing up now, and he could taste ozone and copper. While this seemed liked Kieran, something was very wrong. He called up energy, felt it sing through his bloodstream, and readied himself for a shielding spell. "You never had to. Why are you giving off so much energy?"
    "Ah. You noticed?" His smile grew slightly wider, and now his eyes started to faintly glow. "They brought me back as a vessel for white magic. I'm a suicide bomb, Ian. According to their seer, it was always prophesied that I would destroy you."
    "Love would destroy me, not you," he replied, feeling heat pool in his groin. God, he wanted him still. He knew it was wrong, and yet that had never stopped him from wanting something before.
    Even now, knowing that he was talking to a resurrected corpse, feeling the energy crackle around them, Damian could still remember the taste of his skin, the warmth of his body, how he could make him feel like the most powerful man in the world long before he became just that. Kieran had been naive, insecure, and ultimately faithless, but he had loved him beyond all limits. At one time, he'd felt the same about him. Somehow, it felt like someone else's memories, a glimpse of a life that had never quite been his own.
    Kieran's eyes seemed to burn through him, right to his core. Sorrow transformed his face, making him look younger and haunted. He held his arms open, and said, "I really have missed you, Ian, in spite of it all."
    The longing to step into those arms was fierce and undeniable. But he also knew it would be a horrible mistake. "You haven't really forgiven me, have you? You just want to destroy me."
    "No. I want you to forgive me … and join me. We can still be together."
    "In death?"
    "I exist nowhere else."
    Something inside Damian cracked. He had missed him, just like he had loved him once. No, he still loved him and had never stopped, even after he killed him. Why else had he wanted to find his doppelganger so badly, to the detriment of everything else? Damian felt tears welling in his eyes as he realized he couldn't just leave him, nor could he bring himself to kill him again, if that was even possible. "I am the most powerful sorcerer that has ever existed. You shouldn't be beyond my reach."
    Kieran's smile was heartbreaking. "Didn't someone once say love makes fools of us all?"
    Damian gingerly touched Kieran's chest. He could feel the inferno of magic raging beneath his skin, but his flesh was still oddly lukewarm, as if he was so cold the heat could barely get through. "I was so close," he told him. "The world could have been mine."
    "Was it worth the cost?"
    He wanted to say yes, but the word lodged in his throat. "I don't know," he admitted.
    Kieran cupped his face, his skin cool yet comforting against his cheek. "It's time to let go, Ian. Kiss me."
    Somehow Damian knew that that was death. Yet it seemed right, karmic somehow. A fate not only deserved, but just. "I'm sorry," he told him, and for the first time in a long time, he meant it. He felt like his old self again, the one he used to be before magic became the all consuming passion in his life; the one where he was just a simple man who loved a beautiful man.
    Kieran just took his face in his hands, and Damian watched as his eyes became orbs of pure, blinding white light. "I know."
    Damian kissed him, feeling his soft lips before the light curdled the power in his veins, and the energy began to burn him from the inside out, crisping his flesh and boiling the tattered remains of his soul. But even as he was torn asunder, he couldn't help but smile as Kieran pulled him into a final, deadly embrace.
    At least he wasn't alone anymore.
    THE END
    Author bio: Andrea Speed was born looking for trouble in some hot month without an R in it. In her spare time, she arms lemurs in preparation for the upcoming war against the Mole Men. Viva la revolution! She is also the author of the Infected series for Dreamspinner Press, and the Josh of the Damned series for Riptide Publishing.
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SPY HILL
    by Dusk Peterson

    "We both