She was connected with Eric on some level, but it was no longer his purpose that drove her nor was it his blood in her veins. Not that it had been before. She was more now than she had been and it was because of this man holding her. This vampire. This vampire and something else?
She reached for the answer.
Fairy. Bran offered the word. Fairy. It felt like a nice word. A powerful word.
Mara cawed, wings opening with a mighty flap. Her ebony feathers had a gleam to them that skin would naturally. It was the same sheen that Eric's own cells had. She was breathing air. Her heart pumped quickly. Her voice even sounded more real. Less ethereal and at the same time just as present. She used her taloned feet to lift herself into the air.
A swoop and Mara flew a circle about the hybrid that sat curled, and another around the one that stood before landing easy on one of Macklyn's shoulders. Mara uttered a mighty caw of claim, flapped her wings and settled on her perch. A sense of home and togetherness filled her, along with a few things she didn't understand. And an insatiable hunger.
Finally Eric uncurled himself though it was slow. The tears had stopped flowing but the stains had stayed on his cheeks. Robotic, he stood and turned, moving to where the headless body lay. His feet only stopped moving when he was standing next to himself, boots surrounded by the blood. A glance from the head, to the body, and back. His whole being was blank and empty.