Epilogue: Demons, and...

"Oh, look at this!" exclaimed Ilinca. "This is so pretty. You will look very nice in this one."

Lilian held up the nightie. "Look, it's really not my thing, okay? I mean, don't you ever wear anything that's not lingerie? Maybe something with pants?"

"Don't be silly," replied Daciana in her no-nonsense tone. "Put it on."

"You are young!" Ilinca reassured him. "You can still wear such things."

Lilian sighed, knowing very well by now that there was no arguing with the ancient, sanity-challenged Sirens.

"This is the one, Mistress. It is perfect for you! You are very beautiful," exclaimed Ilinca after Lilian had changed. She sat Lilian at their dressing table where the two Sirens could work on him.

"Okay," replied Lilian, looking himself over in the mirror. "Um, thanks Ilinca. I know you mean that in the nicest way possible." Lilian was quiet for a moment, wondering how to ask the question that was on his mind.

"Back in the tower," he eventually managed to say, "there was a demon, in the pit. After Mirela. I saw you calling down to it. And then it, well, it looked at me. Did you... know it?"

Daciana and Ilinca looked at each other, wondering if they should answer truthfully.

"Yes, Mistress," Daciana finally replied as she brushed Lilian's hair. "We knew her. She was our sister. Her name was..." Daciana paused to collect herself, "Her name was Anna." There. For the first time in three hundred years, she had said it. Saying the name didn't drive her into madness, but the sting of her suppressed tears might have been worse.

"Oh," said Lilian, considering their answer. "So, the Count wanted me for Mirela, but you wanted me for your sister, am I right?"

"Yes," said Ilinca, her voice filled with shame. "And we are so sorry. We were wrong. We were so very, very wrong."

"What do you mean?" asked Lilian. Her answer confused him as it was not at all what he had expected.

Daciana answered, "We wanted to bring her back, to give her life once more. But that was only what we wanted for her. We couldn't give her what she wanted, what she needed. But you did."

"I don't understand," said Lilian, bewildered. "What did I give her?"

"A moment of calm," Daciana told him. "A brief moment of clarity, that is all."

"You gave her peace," Ilinca explained further. "For just one single moment; enough time to remember that there was good and beauty in the world. And that was enough. Then she died, finally and forever, but we know that she died happy."

"And that is why," explained Daciana as she wiped a tear from her cheek, "we have decided to accept you, and love you, as our Mistress."

"Oh, um, okay, thank you, but I'm not really the 'Mistress' type," explained Lilian.

"You... don't want to be our Mistress?" asked Ilinca, pausing from her work on his nails to look up at him.

"Um, no, thank you. I hope that's all right," explained Lilian.

"But that is even better!" exclaimed Daciana. "You see, we don't want you to be our Mistress either!"

"You... don't?" said Lilian, totally confused.

"No," said Ilinca, standing and helping Lilian from his chair by both hands. "Not our Mistress. But please, please tell us that you will be our sister!"

Lilian looked into their irrepressibly optimistic eyes, and knew he couldn't possibly disappoint the homicidal Harpies. "Trying to hide his reluctance he told them, "Of course. I'd love to be your... sister."

Ilinca and Daciana hugged Lilian, and he found their joy infectious. It didn't take long until he was hugging them in return, jumping with them in excitement.

"Imagine, I have a new little sister!" said Ilinca excitedly. "Oh! I can teach you all about hair and makeup, and everything you need to know about skin care for the undead!"

"Undead?" said Lilian, and he suddenly stopped jumping. He was shocked at the thought, but then saddened. "So, it's true then. I'm a vampire."

Ilinca and Daciana looked at each other. So much to explain, and maybe it was all too soon.

"Maybe not," explained Daciana. "Dodrescu believes you to be a vampire, as he sired you..."

"Sired?" interrupted Lilian.

"You know, all that blood sucking the other night," explained Ilinca. "He sucks you, then you suck him..."

"Too much," Daciana explained with an elbow to her sister. Then she turned back to Lilian, "But he does not know that, technically, Ilinca sired you as well."

"Yes, I sucked you, then..."

Another elbow made her stop. "We are not vampires; we are Sirens."

"So I might be a Siren," said Lilian as he tried to follow the conversation. "But either way I'm still undead, right?"

"Well," said Ilinca. "That is the tricky part. You are undead, but we don't understand why. There is no reason why you should be."

"You see," said Daciana, "to be undead, you have to die first. And you have never died."

"Mirela was supposed to kill you," added Ilinca, "but she never got the chance."

"So maybe I'm not undead?"

"Oh, you are," said Ilinca. "We can tell, and so can Dodrescu. If you weren't undead, he would have killed you. Permanently."

Daciana explained, "We think, maybe having Mirela's undead demon soul possess you was as good as death. Then when she was expelled you stayed undead, avoiding all the messy business of having to die first."

"Lucky me," said Lilian sarcastically.

"Definitely," Ilinca agreed.

"At least it's over, whatever happened to me," said Lilian. "It was just so humiliating, having to be the helpless damsel in distress." Then he added, "At least I never screamed."

Ilinca and Daciana looked at each other. Daciana decided to handle this one, telling him, "Yes, you were very brave."

"And now that you really are a damsel, it really is not a problem if you need to scream every once in a while," Ilinca assured him.

"No, wait," Lilian protested. "I may have agreed to be your little sister, but that doesn't mean I'm a girl. I'm still a guy!"

"Well, physically yes," Daciana said. "But that doesn't really matter. Only your inner demon matters, and she is female. Most likely because of Mirela, again."

"Well don't you think the Count might just have some problems with that?" Lilian worried. "He thinks I'm his wife!"

"Oh, don't worry about that!" laughed Daciana. "All he and Mirela ever did was wander about the castle, acting morose. Male demons can't even have sex. No blood flow, you see."

"Of course, we female demons think of almost nothing else," added Ilinca. "It can be very frustrating."

Lilian thought about his own situation. "I don't think I'm having any problems down there."

"Yes, we noticed," said Ilinca. "Another mystery for us to explore."

"We plan to take full advantage eventually," said Daciana. "But right now I feel it is time to find out exactly what you are."

"How do we do that?" asked Lilian warily.

"I know!" said Ilinca. "Female demons are always in physical harmony with each other."

Lilian just looked confused, but Daciana seemed to understand. "Yes, of course! On three..."

"One..." said Ilinca.

"Two..." said Daciana. Lilian's confusion turned to real concern as he tried to intervene in the counting...

"Three!" said the two Sirens together, as they spread their enormous, bat-like wings.

Lilian felt as if someone had punched him in the back. He staggered forward before catching his balance.

"Hey!" he yelled at the Sirens. "Give a guy some warning, will you? What did you do to me?"

Ilinca and Daciana didn't answer immediately. They simply stared at Lilian, Ilinca's mouth hanging open in wonder.

"It is an old trick," Daciana explained once she found her voice, never taking her eyes off Lilian's wings. "When one female demon opens her wings, we all do."

"So I have wings?" Lilian asked, trying to look at his own back and wondering what was the problem. "That makes me a Siren, right?"

"Not a Siren..." said Ilinca, still staring.

"And not a vampire either," said Daciana. She approached Lilian cautiously, then touched his enormous, outstretched wings. They were covered in soft, downy feathers. Each feather was white, tipped with gold. "You are... something else. Something new."

"She never died," Ilinca whispered to her sister as they marvelled at the amazing wings. "She became undead not from death, but from life. I do not think she is even a demon. And if not a demon, then an ange..."

"Ilinca!" scolded Daciana. "Shame on you! Do not even think such a thing. Whatever else she may be, she is our sister first! Forever and always."

"I was thinking," said Lilian, too amazed by amazing experiences to see that something had just amazed even the ancient Sirens. "Have you always lived here? I mean, do we have to stay here, in this dreary old castle with the Count?"

"We used to live on a beach. On a Greek island, just we three girls," said Ilinca. "That was nice."

"If we left right away we could be on a beach in California in two days, lying in the sun," Lilian told them.

"Maybe not lying in the sun," Daciana warned him.

"Hey, they have SPF up to 100 now," Lilian informed her.

"Would we fly on an airplane?" Ilinca asked excitedly.

"Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves," said Daciana, ever the pragmatist. "We just found out that Lilian has wings. I think she should learn how to use them."

"You mean fly?" asked Lilian with eager anticipation.

"Yes, let us teach her to fly!" said Ilinca excitedly.

Whether you are a sparrow, a bat, a demon, or even an angel, there is only one way to learn how to fly. Ilinca and Daciana led Lilian to the window, a thousand feet above the valley floor below, and pushed him out.

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A/N: For those who need to know, Lilian's official scream count is 14 screams, 3 shrieks, and 2 yelps. But don't be so hard on him! He got it together when it really counted.

So, maybe this wasn't resolved the way you expected. But come on – Lilian's got wings. He can fly! He's immortal, and can spend the rest of eternity lying on beaches with the two most gorgeous girls from all time who will do anything to please or protect him. It doesn't specifically say so, but believe me when I tell you he can go out in the sun. And I bet anyone blessed to be with him can go in the sun as well. No job, no boss, no clients or sales pitches.

I think things turned out pretty well for Lilian!