Aleksander’s expression softened.
He reached across the counter, gently placing his hand over hers.
“I’m sorry for your loss, Lexi.”
Lexi gave a tight, sad smile and shook her head, as if trying to physically brush off the memory.
She pulled her hand back slowly and let out a heavy sigh, staring down at her coffee.
“I always think he hated me in the end,” she muttered, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Because of the choice I made. If I hadn’t become a vampire, they wouldn’t have come for us. I caused his death.”
Aleksander didn’t offer empty comforts or tell her she was wrong.
He just hummed quietly, his dark eyes studying her with a thoughtful, intense gaze.
The air in the kitchen seemed to still, the morning sounds from the street outside fading away.
“If you had a chance to talk to him again,” Aleksander asked softly, his tone completely serious.
“Would you take it?”
Lexi looked up, her breath catching in her throat.
The question felt heavy, almost electric.
She didn’t even have to think about it.
“I would,” she replied immediately, her voice breaking slightly.
“In a heartbeat.”
Aleksander pushed his chair back and stood up.
With a sweeping, dramatic bow, he offered her a charming smile.
“Then your wish is my command, my lady.”
Lexi stared at him, her brows pulling together in confusion.
“You can do that? I thought the laws of Nature couldn’t be broken.”
Aleksander just shrugged, looking entirely unbothered.
“I’m special. Besides, I’m just bending the rules.”
He held up his empty hand.
The air above his palm shimmered with raw energy, and a smooth, dark stone materialized out of thin air.
Just for the heck of it, he willed a specific mark to carve itself into the surface—a triangle with a circle and a vertical line through the middle.
He channeled a quiet pulse of energy into it, instantly enchanting the rock with a spirit-summoning spell.
He held it out to Lexi.
“This has the power to bring back lost loved ones,” he explained gently.
“However, there is a catch. The person brought back isn’t fully alive, and the spirit can’t stay in the land of the living for a long time.”
Lexi didn’t reach for it right away.
She looked at the stone in absolute shock.
“You must be joking. No witch can do that.”
Aleksander gave her another easy shrug.
“I told you, I’m special.”
It was the truth.
As the Living Embodiment of Magic, he could easily pull her brother out of the afterlife and resurrect him completely if he just ignored a few of his own restrictions.
But he decided to keep that part to himself for now.
One impossible miracle at a time was enough.
Lexi was clearly doubtful, but the desperate hope in her eyes won out.
Her hand trembled slightly as she reached across the counter and took the cold stone from his palm.
“Just hold it tightly,” Aleksander instructed, his voice soft and reassuring.
“And call his name into the stone.”
Lexi swallowed hard.
She nodded, wrapped her fingers tightly around the smooth rock, and closed her eyes to do exactly as she was told.
As she then slowly opened her eyes.
She looked around the bright kitchen, but everything was exactly the same.
The room was quiet, empty.
Her shoulders slumped, a heavy weight of disappointment settling in her chest.
She looked up at Aleksander, ready to hand the stone back.
But Aleksander just smiled gently and raised a single finger.
He nodded toward the empty space behind her.
Then, she felt it.
The air in the room shifted.
The warm morning sunlight seemed to dim, and the temperature plummeted so fast Lexi could feel a bone-deep chill that even her vampire senses couldn’t ignore.
A layer of frost crept across the windows.
Lexi turned around slowly.
In the center of the room, the air began to shimmer and twist.
A pale, glowing mist pulled itself together from the ground up, slowly solidifying into a human shape.
Lexi’s breath hitched in her throat.
The stone slipped from her fingers, clattering loudly onto the floorboards.
Standing right in front of her was a teenage boy.
He had the same messy hair and the exact same face she had memorized centuries ago.
He was exactly as he had been on the night of the fire—sixteen years old, wearing his old tunic, looking around the strange hotel room with wide, confused eyes.
He blinked, his ghostly form glowing faintly in the dim room.
When his eyes finally landed on her, he froze.
“Lexi?” the boy whispered.
His voice sounded like an echo from a distant memory, soft but entirely real.
It was Mathew.
Lexi let out a choked gasp.
She didn’t even think.
She just rushed forward, throwing her arms wide to pull him into a tight embrace.
But she stumbled right through him.
Her arms wrapped around empty, freezing air, as if he were made of cold smoke.
She spun around, a look of pure heartbreak flashing across her face.
Aleksander stepped forward before she could fall apart.
He bent down and smoothly picked up the fallen stone from the floor.
“Don’t worry,” Aleksander said, his voice calm and reassuring.
“I’m on it.”
He closed his hand over the stone, channeling a surge of his own limitless magic straight into it.
The rock pulsed with a sudden, brilliant warmth.
Across the room, the pale, ghostly mist surrounding Mathew began to change.
The icy blue glow faded into natural color.
His clothes gained texture, and his pale skin flushed with warmth.
Mathew looked down at his own hands in pure shock as they became completely solid.
Lexi didn’t hesitate.
She crashed into him again.
This time, he caught her.
Mathew’s solid arms wrapped tightly around her waist.
Lexi buried her face in his shoulder, sobbing openly as she pressed desperate, loving kisses to his cheek and forehead.
“I missed you,” Mathew whispered, holding onto his big sister just as tight.
“I’m so sorry,” Lexi cried, her voice completely breaking.
She gripped his shirt like she was terrified he might disappear again.
“I’m so sorry for everything, Matty. It was my fault.”
Mathew gently pulled back just enough to look at her.
He shook his head, offering her a soft, forgiving smile.
He reached up, wiping a stray tear from her cheek.
“No, it wasn’t,” Mathew told her gently.
“You just wanted to protect me. I never hated you for the choice you made, Lexi. I could never hate you.”
Lexi let out a shaky breath, the heavy guilt of three centuries finally lifting from her shoulders.
She pulled him in for another tight hug, letting her tears fall freely against his shoulder.
Aleksander stood a few feet away, watching the reunion with a soft smile.
He leaned against the counter, slipping his hands into his pockets.
“You don’t have to say goodbye forever,” Aleksander said gently, breaking the quiet moment.
Lexi looked over at him, her eyes wide with disbelief.
“You can use the stone to talk to him once every day,” Aleksander explained.
He pointed to the dark rock now resting on the kitchen island.
“Just remember the rule. Don’t keep him in the mortal world for too long at a time. It’s hard on a spirit.”
Lexi nodded quickly, a look of profound gratitude washing over her face.
She turned back to her little brother and cupped his cheeks, pressing a long, loving kiss to his forehead.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Matty,” she whispered, her voice thick with emotion but finally happy.
Mathew gave her a bright, reassuring smile.
He took a step back and offered a small, familiar wave.
Slowly, the color faded from his skin, his solid form dissolving back into a gentle, glowing mist.
In the blink of an eye, he vanished completely, leaving the room quiet and warm once again.
Timeline 2007