“Go on! Finish it!” she exclaimed. “Do what the others could not do and kill me! Isn’t that what you always wanted?”
The man was so shocked he released her hands. “Absolutely not. Forgive me, but that was the last thing on my mind.”
Something in his expression must have changed Sarah’s mind about him, because she ceased to struggle and did not try to escape even though he was giving her plenty of opportunity.
“But you denounced me!” she said. “You denounced me before all of Salem.”
The man stood, bowed his head in shame and turned away from her. “It is true. I denounced you because I hated you. Rather, I thought I hated you. I did not know my own mind.”
“A common enough affliction among men,” said Sarah, “but presumably you know your mind today.”
“Indeed I do. As I know my heart.” He turned back toward her and she read something in his eyes that changed her expression to one of awe, and of a fear more tender and vulnerable than any he had ever before witnessed. “I love you, Sarah Dinsdale. I ask for more than your forgiveness. I ask for your heart. I ask for you to be my life partner.”
“I wish I could believe you, but I am a witch. That I admit freely.”
“Granted, but I have learned that not all witches are evil, just as all preachers, I am loathe to admit, are not as good as they might imagine.”
She smiled and touched his cheek with her warm fingers. “Do not be dismayed to learn there is a bit of the devil in you. There is a bit of the devil in us all.”
“I love you, Sarah. Come away with me. Let us leave this colony and go to Philadelphia. There we can change our names and no one will know of how you were wronged in Salem and of how I was the man who wronged you.”
“You say that, knowing I cast a spell on you to make you love me?”
The man shrugged. “It made no difference. I would have come to love you in time, spell or no spell. So what is your answer? Will you come away with me? Will you marry me?”
“When you put it that way, how could I say anything but yes, John Goodman?”
And Sarah/Xander kissed John/Willow. The two souls had made their connection, and forged their future together.
* * *
Willow Rosenberg smiled. She would sleep soundly tonight.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Arthur Byron Cover was born in the Dark Ages, a few years before the invention of rock and roll. He is currently old enough to remember a time before Star Trek and Star Wars, if there is such a thing. He repairs his wheelchair himself.
As an intellect, he was profoundly influenced by the Silver Age of Comics and the Edgar Rice Burroughs “paperback boom” of the early sixties. For a week or two he thought the Dave Clark Five was a better band than the Beatles because they had a guy who played saxophone and the Beatles didn’t. After graduating from high school, he attended V.P.I., where he was a tepid antiwar protester one weekend. The rest of the time he spent reading science fiction. After graduation, he became profoundly influenced by Russian literature and more comic books. Not to mention classical music, progressive rock and electronic music.
Today Cover can safely say he’s written several novels, a few of which sprang entirely from his own forehead, a handful of comic books, a couple of animation shows, various book reviews, and many drafts of two movie scripts. He has taught writing classes and has been co-host for a radio talk show dealing with science fiction and its sister genres. He manages a SF bookstore in Sherman Oaks, CA, and shoots the breeze a lot.
Visit us at simonandschuster.com/teen
Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Arthur-Byron-Cover
Simon Pulse
Simon & Schuster, New York
Buffy the Vampire Slayer™
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (movie tie-in)
The Harvest
Halloween Rain
Coyote Moon
Night of the Living Rerun
The Angel Chronicles, Vol. 1
Blooded
The Angel Chronicles, Vol. 2
The Xander Years, Vol. 1
Visitors
Unnatural Selection
The Angel Chronicles, Vol. 3
The Power of Persuasion
Available from SIMON PULSE
Buffy the Vampire Slayer adult books
Child of the Hunt
Return to Chaos
The Gatekeeper Trilogy
Book 1: Out of the Madhouse
Book 2: Ghost Roads
Book 3: Sons of Entropy
Obsidian Fate
Immortal
Sins of the Father
Resurrecting Ravana
The Watcher’s Guide: The Official Companion to the Hit Show
The Postcards
The Essential Angel
The Sunnydale High Yearbook
Pop Quiz: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Available from SIMON PULSE
We hope you enjoyed reading this Simon & Schuster ebook.
* * *
Get a FREE ebook when you join our mailing list. Plus, get updates on new releases, deals, recommended reads, and more from Simon & Schuster. Click below to sign up and see terms and conditions.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP
Already a subscriber? Provide your email again so we can register this ebook and send you more of what you like to read. You will continue to receive exclusive offers in your inbox.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
A SIMON PULSE Original
An Archway Paperback published by
SIMON PULSE, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
™ and copyright © 1998 by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN: 0-671-01715-2
ISBN-13: 978-1-5344-2672-6 (eBook)
SIMON PULSE and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc.