She nestled into my shoulder. “The only thing I need for the perfect wedding is you. We don’t have to have all of that other stuff to make it perfect.”
“Don’t worry. Lairah and Gia will make sure that everything is the way you want it,” I promised.
“Letting someone else do all of our wedding preparations feels like cheating.”
“Trust me. It brings them joy to do it for us because they’ll never have the chance to do it for themselves.”
I felt her turn her face toward mine. “Why not?”
“Vampires don’t get married.”
She held up her left hand and pointed toward the diamond engagement ring on her finger. “Excuse me? I know you can see me pointing to this in the dark. A vampire gave it to me. Does that mean he isn’t going to marry me?”
“Let me rephrase that. Vampires without Agápes don’t marry,” I corrected.
“They could if they found someone to love and they wanted to marry them,” Chansey proposed.
“Marriage is about love and selflessness. Vampires are too selfish to love or care about anyone other than themselves.”
“That’s not true. No one in this house lacks selflessness or the ability to love,” she argued.
Chansey was good so she always saw the good in everyone else. “You’re right. Everyone in this family is loving and selfless. I hope they all find someone to make them as happy as you make me.”
“What are we going to tell my grandparents? They’re going to think we’re crazy.”
They were probably going to think she was crazy for up and marrying a man that just left her. “Well, the idea of them thinking we’re crazy in love is better than them being upset about us living together, right?”
“I guess so.”
“So, we tell them we’re crazy in love and we can’t stand to be apart for another minute. It wouldn’t be the first time that ever happened and it is the truth because I can’t bear to live without you. They’ll think we’re rushing into it, but with a little time, they’ll realize that they were wrong and we are meant to be together.”
I pulled her into the position we had grown accustomed to sleeping in. “You need a little sleep before we drive back tomorrow. I mean, today.”
“Yeah, I’m exhausted. Lairah and Gia really know how to wear a girl out.”
Only minutes later, I heard the sound of her rhythmic breathing and I knew she was asleep, so I decided to join her in slumber for a while. I closed my eyes and dosed off, but morning had not arrived when the rustling of the curtains woke me. I saw the shadow of a dark figure crossing the room toward Chansey and I reached for the wooden stake hidden under the mattress to find it gone.
I jumped from the bed and tackled the dark figure. We struggled on the floor, but I knew it wasn’t Marsala because the attacker was male. It was Elliott, one of the fledgeling vampires Sebastian was attempting to reform.
I easily subdued him on the floor. “Why are you here, Elliott? You were warned about what would happen if you tried to get to my Agápe.”
I heard Chansey stir in the bed. “What’s wrong, Curry?”
Elliott turned to look at Chansey and I recognized the hunger in his eyes. He wanted her and he wouldn’t stop until he had drank her dry if he got his hands on her. “It’s her. I can’t stay away because I want her blood so badly. It’s calling for me.”
Elliott fought to free himself from me as he lunged toward Chansey on the bed. Chansey turned on the lamp and screamed when she saw me struggling on the floor with the crazed fledgeling.
Chansey’s scream alerted the rest of the house to the chaos occurring in my bedroom and the others were instantly in my room. Sebastian saw the wild look in Elliott’s eyes and knew there would be no further attempts to reform him, so he reached for the leg of my desk. He broke it into a splintered stake and then drove it deeply through his heart.
His body jerked beneath me and he loosened his grip on me. “I was supposed to find refuge at The Coven of Landra, but you brought a Blood Jewel here because you knew I wouldn’t be able to resist. How could you do that to me?” he whispered only moments before he died.
I wished I could have shielded Chansey from this sight, but I couldn’t. I went to her and put my hands on her face to assess her. Unaware of Elliott’s blood on my hands, I inadvertently smeared it on her face where my fingers stroked her cheeks. The more I tried to wipe the blood away, the more I spread his blood across her face.
Gia went into the bathroom and brought a wet washcloth for me. I washed the blood from Chansey’s face as I asked, “Are you alright?”
She reached for my hands. “I’m fine,” she reassured me.
“I know Elliott didn’t physically harm you. I mean are you alright after what you just saw?” I questioned.
“Surprisingly, I’m okay with it,” Chansey admitted. “I thought I wouldn’t be, but I understand what he was about to do to me.”
Sebastian explained to Chansey, “You’re beginning to see things more and more through the eyes of an Agápe instead of a human. That’s why you’re able to easily process what you saw.”
Gia motioned for Chansey to come off of the bed. “Come on. You may be an Agápe and understand the actions of a vampire, but you’re coming to my room while they take care of this.”
I nodded at Gia and she understood it was my silent thanks. She nodded in return as she walked by with her arm around Chansey, showing her support for what she had just been through.
After Chansey was gone, I turned to Sebastian expecting to hear what a Blood Jewel was, but I saw from his expression that he had none. “I don’t know what it means. I have never heard of a Blood Jewel.”
We all looked to Sully to see if he had heard of it while with Zoyah’s coven. He recognized everyone’s attention being turned in his direction and said, “Don’t look at me. I don’t know either. I’ve never heard of a Blood Jewel before I heard it come out of his mouth.”
Sol spoke up from the back of the crowd as my family stood over Elliott’s body. “Lance might know. He and Elliott came about the same time. Surely, they spoke of life outside of here before they arrived. I’ll go down and question him.”
We quickly transported Elliott’s body and my bloody bedroom rug to a location at the back of the compound. Because the sun had begun to rise, I was left to finish the job alone. After I poured the gasoline, I struck the match and watched it burn for a few seconds before dropping it. I watched the flames grow larger and knew any hope of imminently solving the mystery of the Blood Jewel was currently going up in flames.
9 Genie In A Bottle
Chansey turned around and watched the compound become smaller as I drove down the long driveway toward the road. “I was so pissed off when you first brought me to the compound and now I’m crying because I don’t want to leave.”
I reached over and gently squeezed her hand. “We’ll come back one day.”
“Will we, really? Or will it always be too dangerous because of Marsala?”
I easily recognized Chansey’s anger and frustration in her voice, but I didn’t have any words to change our predicament so I didn’t attempt to persuade her into believing I did. She laid her head on my shoulder and I rested my hand on her leg after I finished shifting into the last gear.
We were several miles down the road from the compound when I noticed Chansey was asleep and I was glad because I knew she was exhausted. She slept during the entire drive from New Orleans and I had to wake her up when I pulled into the casino parking garage to get her Jeep. I reached over and lightly shook her shoulder. “Chansey, we’re back in Biloxi. I need you to wake up so you can drive your Jeep home.”
She lifted her head from my shoulder, stretched and then reached to rub the side of her neck. “Oh my gosh, my neck is killing me. I shouldn’t have slept with my head bent over like that.”
“I’m sorry, Love. I guess I should have woken you up, but I didn’t think about your neck getting a crick in it. That k
ind of thing hasn’t happened to me in a long time.”
She stretched her neck a little more. “Nah, it’s not your fault. I knew better, but I couldn’t help myself. I was exhausted from not sleeping last night.”
“Are you too tired to drive? We can come back later for your Jeep,” I offered.
“I’m awake. I rather get it now because I don’t want to have to make a trip back later. We’re going to have a crazy week and I’ll need my Jeep for all of the running around I’ll need to do for the wedding.”
She was right. It was going to be a wonderfully crazy week and she would definitely be needing wheels. “Okay. I’ll follow you.”
I watched her get into her Jeep and then I followed her toward Anna and Grady’s house. I was glad she had gotten some sleep on the ride home, but I had planned on using that time to nail down a final plan on how we were going to tell her grandparents about our marriage that would be occurring at their house in only a few days. I guess we’d talk it over when we got to the house so we could be prepared before Anna and Grady made it back.
I pulled into the drive behind Chansey where she parked behind Anna’s car and I realized that could only mean that Anna and Grady had returned early from their road trip. I got out of my truck and walked over to open Chansey’s driver’s side door for her and heard the kitchen door squeak open. Shit! “Looks like we are going to get to tell your grandparents about our reunion right now because here they come.”
She looked at Anna walking out of the backdoor and asked, “Do you want to tell them about our wedding plans now or wait?”
I wanted to shout it from the rooftops that Chansey Rose Leclaire was going to be my wife in only a few days. “Let’s go for it. It will only become more awkward if we don’t go ahead and tell them. Besides, we only have a few days. It’s not like we can put it off for very long anyway.”
She smiled and nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s go for it.”
Anna ran across the backyard. “Chansey! Where have you been? I was so worried when we got home early and there was not a trace of you. When I tried to call you, your phone went straight to voicemail. I called your workplace and they said you quit, that you just walked out after your shift and haven’t been back.” Anna hugged her tightly, then yelled toward the house, “Grady, she’s home.”
Grady came out of the backdoor and walked across the yard in our direction, appearing displeased when he saw me at Chansey’s side. “When did you come back from your fancy New York job?”
“Several days ago, sir” I answered.
He stood in front of me with his arms crossed. “I’m guessing that’s about the same time Chansey went missing, but I’m not going to ask you to explain where the two of you have been because I suspect I wouldn’t like the answer very much.”
There was no other way to do this than to jump head first. “Mr. and Mrs. Emerson, I would like to start by saying that I love Chansey with all of my heart. She is my everything.”
“If she meant everything to you, you wouldn’t have left her with a broken heart. She has been miserable,” Grady argued.
Anna scolded, “Grady, let him say his peace. He’s trying to explain, so let him.”
I reached for Chansey’s hand and she gave me a reassuring squeeze. “I was a fool to leave her and I know that now. The time we were apart was the most miserable of my life.”
Grady was unmoved by my words. “I’m not an unkind man, but I’m glad you were miserable. She may be my granddaughter, but she became my little girl when I lost her mother, so it does my heart some good to know that the pain you caused her also caused you some misery.”
This wasn’t going as I hoped, but I was going to lay it out there anyway. “I understand your anger with me, but please make no mistake...I love her and never want to be parted from her again.”
Anna broke into a huge smile, but Grady’s face remained stern as he said, “Sounds like you’re telling us you want to marry her if you don’t want to be separated from her.”
It was my job to make this easy for Chansey so I would be the one to tell them about our plans. “This wasn’t how I had planned to do this, but I have already asked Chansey to marry me. She has agreed, so it is with a humble heart that I ask for your blessing of our marriage in place of your permission.”
Grady didn’t look happy about our engagement and he was ready to interrogate me about it. “Let me get this straight. You left Chansey for a job in New York for weeks and then you show up a few days ago to propose and now you’re getting married?”
I took a breath, ready to plead the depth of my love for Chansey, but she lifted her hand to stop me and said, “I love Curry, Granddaddy. We want to be together and we’re getting married on Saturday. Are you willing to give us your blessing?”
“What is the hurry?” Grady asked. “Are you pregnant?”
“No, I am not pregnant, Granddaddy,” Chansey huffed. “Curry proposed and we were going to plan it for October, but he found out that his employer is transferring him to Savannah, Georgia and we don’t want to be separated. I know you and Granna won’t want us living together before marriage, so we decided to get married this Saturday. I want to be married here, the way I always dreamed. Do we have your blessing?”
I tensed as I waited to hear the verdict. I knew Anna was on our side, but Grady was a tougher nut to crack since he was still angry at me for hurting Chansey when I left.
“I need to speak with Curry alone for a minute,” Grady requested. Chansey and Anna didn’t make a move and he said, “Go on, now.”
I nodded at Chansey, letting her know I was fine with Grady’s request to speak to me alone. “We’ll be inside in a minute.”
When Anna and Chansey were inside the house, Grady motioned for me to sit in the same spot in the garden where I confided in him about my first argument with Chansey. He took the seat next to me and asked, “I’m Chansey’s granddaddy, but I’m responsible for taking the place of her daddy since he isn’t here and he would want me to make sure you were right for her.”
“I completely understand, sir. Please, ask me anything you feel is necessary,” I offered.
My interrogation began by Grady asking, “You really love my girl?”
He watched my face for any sign of falter and I honestly replied, “With all of my heart and soul.”
He seemed pleased by my words of affection for Chansey and asked, “How will you take care of her financially?”
“Although my truck might not give you the impression, I’m quite wealthy and I can assure you that Chansey will never want for anything I can’t give her. She’ll never have to work if she doesn’t want to, but I don’t have a problem with her finishing her degree in education and teaching if she wants to do that. It’s up to her.”
I clearly saw I was passing his test, but I could tell he had saved the best for last. “Chansey wants children. Probably several of them if she had her way. How do you feel about that?”
I swallowed hard before I answered Grady, but not because I was about to lie. It was because I knew I wouldn’t be giving Chansey any children at all. “I would love for us to have several children.”
I would give Chansey as many babies as she wanted if I were able, but it was impossible because life couldn’t originate from death. She accepted being forever childless because it was her sacrifice for being with me, but I couldn’t help myself from wondering if she would one day hate me for taking that opportunity away from her.
“I know Chansey loves you because I saw how hurt she was when you left.”
His words reminded me of the pain I had caused her and although I hated the reminder, I deserved it. “You never have to worry about me leaving Chansey again, sir. I learned my lesson the hard way.”
“I trust she would not have accepted your marriage proposal if it wasn’t what she wanted. She’s a very good judge of character, so I’m giving you my blessing.”
I breathed a sigh of relief because Grady didn’t make that
easy on me. I offered my hand and he shook it firmly as I said, “You won’t be sorry, Mr. Emerson.”
“I better not be or you’ll have Anna to answer to.”
≈ ≈ ≈
After we spent a few hours playing catch up with Anna and Grady, I returned to my former apartment in the basement and unpacked the few things I would need during my brief stay at Grady and Anna’s while Chansey spent some time with them.
In the basement, I could hear her explaining away about meeting the friends I considered family since I had none and her voice was full of love and appreciation as she told Anna about Gia and Lairah’s generous offer to help her with the wedding.
I wanted her to spend as much time as possible with them since we would be leaving for an undetermined amount of time at the end of the week. She loved Grady and Anna so much and I hated the thought of taking her away from them. I felt so guilty about it, but I would do it because it was the only way to keep all of them safe.
We didn’t belong in Savannah and I knew Chansey didn’t want to go. We belonged in New Orleans so Chansey could be close to friends and family. We had our lives worked out perfectly until Marsala ruined everything for us.
While Chansey was upstairs, I decided to get online and make other plans for our honeymoon. We didn’t have time to get passports, but the perk of being a vampire was that I could convince everyone we didn’t need them if we traveled somewhere that required them.
I couldn’t find vacancies in Tahiti, but I got lucky and was able to book last minute reservations at a luxury resort in The Bahamas. I wasn’t ready to drop the idea of spending our wedding night in a bed and breakfast, so I went in the opposite direction of New Orleans. I chose a quaint B&B in Mobile and would drive over this week and make arrangements with the owners.
I heard a light knock at the door and knew it could only be Chansey, so I closed my laptop to hide our surprise honeymoon before I let her inside. When I opened the door, she leaned against the doorframe, biting her lower lip. “What cha doin’ down here all by yourself?
“Wishing I wasn’t down here all by myself.”