Alternate Ending

Shaking, I reached for Michael's hand. My husband stood in front of me. His muscles tensed and he stared at the Commander real hard. All at once realization and fury dawned across his face. Michael let go of me and lunged forward, but the Commander was fast and had predicted his attack. The Commander ran, like the coward that he was. Alone in a strange land without his lackeys he was nothing but a man with a scar. I held Michael's hand for but a moment before releasing, freeing him to do what he must. My husband was still broad-shouldered and muscled, the few years of living in the after had taken little toll on his physique. In powerful, quick strides Michael flew down the alley after the Commander. Grabbing at the coward's collar Michael spun him face to face, and slammed him with all the force of his coiled muscles into the red brick walls of the restaurant. “Why are you here?!” Michael shouted, his mouth spewing flecks of spit and his breathing heavy and fast. The Commander only smiled, his dark eyes looking down, resigned to his fortune. “You will remember me, no, sweetheart?” the Commander chuckled as he turned his eyes on me. A chill I had not felt for a long time shot down my spine. I vomited. I didn't see what happened next, but God damn did I hear it. A single cringe inducing crack echoed down the alley and into my ears. Michael had shown some form of restraint I'm sure to stop from killing that man who had so thoroughly change our lives. Within seconds I felt his arms around me, but no words were spoken.

I would be told later that Laurent Charles, the man who I can only know as the Commander, had to receive twelve stitches to close the gash above his eye. I was also told that the left socket had been shattered, leaving him partially blind. This petty act of revenge did little to ease what I still harbor within me. But for Michael, it meant the world. “I'm never letting you go.” he whispered into my ear as we keeled in the alley, “not now, not ever.”