Authors: C.A. Madden
Collin’s stop was first so we were in the quiet cab
to James’s house alone. He stayed quiet because it was all too much to take in.
He looked remorseful and scared.
I didn’t mention anything as he held my
hand and took me inside his house.
Before I even had a chance to sit down I
was being hugged tightly and not by James. “I thought something bad happened to
you!” Tiffany cried.
I hugged her back but cringed from my
painful body. Tamas must have thrown me around while I was knocked out. He
wasn’t exactly
not
throwing me around while I was conscious either.
She stepped back and looked at me, “I
can’t believe you’re standing here in front of me. I was so worried. I was
thinking the worst.” She cried.
I hugged her again keeping her eyesight
away from my neck. David’s eyes fell straight to it though and he looked at
James who was looking at the floor shamefully.
David cleared his throat, “Maybe we
should leave the love birds to reconnect. I’m sure they’ve been through hel1.”
“David is right…”Daniel agreed pulling
Tiffany off of me. Tiffany hesitated as she let me go.
I went to James’s side and realized this
was the first time Tiffany had seen James with this look. But she didn’t look
surprised. “I’ll be fine Tiff. I’ll call you tomorrow okay.”
She nodded hesitantly and went out with Daniel.
David stopped in front of us, “I’ll visit tomorrow. You both have a lot of
explaining to do.” He said looking at my neck again before he left.
Without even talking we both of us
headed to the shower. He helped me wash my body since I could barely move. He
held me like I was thin glass that could break at the slightest wrong movement.
He remained quiet and his personality was distant from me.
“James…” I said touching his hand as it
went up to the wound. I turned to face him and he brought his eyes away from
mine.
They went straight to my neck. He
brought up his hand and touched the wound, “It’s almost gone…”
“It wasn’t that bad…”I mumbled.
He glared at me, “I can’t believe I lost
control…”
“I made you do it. You had to do it…” I
said, ‘If you didn’t do it we would all be dead by now.”
He looked at me in disbelief.
“You wouldn’t have been able to attack
Tamas when he came back to check if his work was finished. Which subsequently
led us to Collin, who because of the smell of blood woke up and finished
Tamas and saved us. This then led us to escape the building… if we had to do it
again… I would have made you do it earlier.”
James hesitated but then pulled me into
his embrace wet embrace. “I’m sorry…” he mumbled and kissed the wound making me
giggle.
After a long moment of cuddling under
the warm water, it soon became unbearably cold. We both yawned as well feeling
exhausted. Even under the cold water.
All the adventure catching up to us. He
yawned too, “I have never been so exhausted.” He said, “I feel kind of sick
too…”
I kissed his forehead and he had a
slight fever, “We should get you dry and into bed. You need rest.”
He nodded pulled me with him out of the
shower after shutting off the water. I dried him as he dried me and we slipped
into our sleepwear before cuddling in bed. “I’m not letting go of you though.”
He mumbled and fell asleep with our limbs tangled together.
*
*
*
I woke up early the next morning. It was
still dark but I felt James’s embrace practically squeeze the life out of me.
“James you’re squeezing me too tight.” I
whispered but I heard him whimper.
I escaped his grip and sat up to look at
him. Not believing my eyes I turned on the side lamp.
His hair is back to it’s not as black
dark color and style. I gently ran my fingers in his hair calming him down a
little. “James…” I whispered quietly.
“Mmm…” he mumbled.
“Can you wake up for a minute…?” I
whispered.
He shot his eyes open to look at me and
sat up when he saw that I was sitting. “Are you okay baby?” he asked scared,
“Did I hurt you again?”
I looked at his eyes as he looked at me
shocked, they’re blue. The same grey blue I knew before.
“Talk to me!” he said giving me a view
of his teeth. They didn’t look fangy.
“James…I think something’s different.” I
said making him only more confused. “I think…you’ve changed.”
He looked at me confused for a moment longer
then realized that I was talking about the curse. He jumped up to go look in
the mirror in the bathroom.
He ran back out and leaped onto the bed
and kissed me all over my face, “The curse is gone!” he exclaimed and kissed me
again before pulling away and looking at me in my eyes.
I sighed; I’d never get tired of seeing
those silver blue eyes looking into mine.
He rested his forehead on mine and
closed his eyes tight before opening them again. He smiled as if he thought he
was dreaming before, “I love you so much…” he whispered.
“I love you too.” I whispered before his
lips took over mine.
Everything
was normal after that night. As horrible as that day was… it saved James from
his curse. We talked to his dad and uncle about it and they think that because
I risked my life giving him my blood and he was strong enough to control
himself to not kill me by taking all of it, we proved our love. I personally
think a lot more went into proving our love than that moment alone. But I
didn’t care as long as he was back to the James he wanted to be.
We bought a home in the mountains giving
us privacy and an escape from the city but still being close enough for work.
The family talk is still being avoided… but I’m content and thankful for just
being with him.
Collin was also normal after that
incident. Apparently his selflessness of giving up his chance of a cure for us
and being able to resist biting me and saving us by taking Tamas instead proved
that he had a good heart.
“How do I look?” Sunny asked twirling in
her red ruffled dress. She was partnered up with David for the wedding and
they’ve been dating for five months. David is still hesitant about telling her
about the curse but I know once he does he’ll be cured. Her pure love for him
is obvious to us all except for him. She’s the answer to his prayers.
“You look beautiful Sunny. David won’t
be able to take his eyes off of you.” I answered while the stylist curled
my hair.
I felt restricted in my dress. Why do
wedding dresses restrict you from breathing? My wedding dress was amazing. Strapless
silk and lace with a corset built in top and mermaid bottom.
The train, which is my favorite part of
the dress, was long, pretty, lacey and way too heavy. The dress stayed up by
pure miracle.
My hair, which was longer than ever
because James won’t let me cut it, was set in loose curls with a diamond headpiece
that was connected to my long lace veil that mixed in with my dress. I had
simple diamond studs that James got for me for jewelry keeping things simple
accessory wise and it was also keeping James with me at the moment.
Moments like this I wish I could still
feel how he was feeling. Is he excited? Is he nervous? Is he regretting this?
Jenny came rushing in, “It’s at the
perfect level of darkness out! Time to get the show on the road!” She jumped u
and down. Tiffany, Jenny, Sunny and Ellie were my bridesmaids.
There was a slight knock on the door and
I felt my smile practically take over my face. It was James.
Jenny opened the door and James glanced
around the room, stopping immediately when he saw me. His mouth wide open he
walked to me, “You look absolutely beautiful.” He said and was about to kiss me
when Jenny stopped him.
“You’re lucky we’re letting you two see
each other before the wedding, kissing is where we draw the line.” She yelled
at James making me laugh. “I still can’t believe you’re letting him see you
before the wedding.” Tiffany mumbled. “It’s bad luck you know… it’s like a
curse on your marriage!”
“I think we’ve proven that not even a
little curse can break us apart.” I smiled not being able to take my eyes off
of James. He looked so handsome. A tux is said to be equivalent to lingerie on
men for women. I agreed. His hair was back to its model status and his facial
scruff was back to its manly sexiness rather than out of control.
Jenny cleared her throat, “Time for
bridesmaids and groomsmen to make their way out!” She ordered. I didn’t
even notice that the groomsmen were inside. “And you two follow. You aren’t
married yet so no staying behind!”
I looked at her wide eyed as James
laughed. “Man she’s bossy.” I mumbled.
Tiffany with Daniel, Jenny with the
current guy she’s seeing, Sunny and David, and Ellie with her major crush
and co-worker of James’s, Mark.
They made their way into the glass wall and
ceiling church. We chose this church because the walls and ceiling were gave
the perfect view of the night sky. It being just outside of the city, we
actually saw the gorgeous stars and the full moon. It also was surrounded by
trees, a nearby lake and a rose garden we were going to use as the reception.
The decorations of small white lights and roses were everywhere making the
entire wedding enchanting.
“Ready?” James said linking our arms
together showing off the diamond cufflinks I had bought him for his birthday.
“Always.” I smiled as we headed out. I
wanted us to walk together rather than walk alone down the aisle, because
something we’ve both learned is that we’re best at doing things when we’re
together. We promised each other never to do anything without the other from
that night on.
It was symbolic.
Our reception was in the vintage rose
garden next to the church. An imaginary wall of white Christmas lights and
sheer white laced fabric surrounded the entire garden making a tent of lights
and lace.
Roses have become significant in our
lives too. It’s how he admitted his curse to me, it’s how we reunited and got
engaged the first time, and it’s what saved our lives. This was the perfect
place for us.
I suddenly realized we didn’t set up our
first dance song, “James! We don’t have our first dance prepared!” I half
whispered half panicked. It’s said that every wedding had a disaster. Usually
involving the cake falling or food sucking. Not the first dance.
He smiled, “I have something prepared.”
“You do?”
He nodded and took me to the middle of
the makeshift dance floor that was created in the middle of the garden.
He got us ready for our first dance and
I looked at him confused, “I don’t hear music?” I whispered. He smiled as 12AM’s
lead singer Devin’s voice filled the reception area singing our song. He pulled
me closer with his arms around my waist and mine around his shoulders.
I felt teary eyed as I got on my tiptoes
to give him a quick kiss him and almost being blinded by the wedding
photographers.
“How did you get them here?”
“They work for me remember?” He smiled
as we swayed. “Plus…it’s our song.” He said shyly.
“I can’t believe we’re finally married.”
I sighed as we continued to dance. Everything felt perfect. The curse as
gone…well not completely. But it was off of him.
Whether we like it or not it will always
be
with
us though.
When… I mean
if
… we ever do
decide to have children, will they have the curse? Will their children have the
curse? We still have unanswered questions. But we will deal with whatever comes
our way like we always have. One step at a time.
“In my mind… we’ve always been married.”
he said, “I think I fell in love with you the day I met you at the restaurant.
And I knew I didn’t want to live a moment without you the day I saved you from
the parking lot. You saw that I was a monster and not once referred to me as
one…”
“That’s because you weren’t one. And you
got to stop calling yourself one ‘cause since we’re married, aren’t we like one
or something? Calling yourself a monster is calling me one too.” I gave him a
warning look.
He smiled, “We’ve been one long before
this marriage…”
Feeling myself get teary eyed, I
completely ignored the people staring at us and wrapped my arms around his neck
pulling him down for a passionate kiss.
He pulled back and smiled at me, “You
know…I know we already said the traditional vows. But…I have my own for you.”
I looked at him confused, “You do?”
“Yeah…they’re written in our wedding
bands.” He smiled, “But you’re not allowed to take it off ever so I’ll just
tell you my personal vow to you…”
“Okay.” I said excitedly.
“I vow…. to keep you safe from all harm,
to always keep you smiling and give you only tears of joy,” he leaned in closer
to whisper in my ear, his lips brushing against my skin, “to only bite you if
you give me permission,”
I giggled as he continued, “my arms to
keep you warm and safe, my shoulder for you to lean on when you need strength, and
my heart to be your shelter. I promise to love you unconditionally for
eternity.”
I found myself crying even more, “All
that is on the rings?”
He smirked, “Just the unconditionally
for eternity part.” he smiled as he gently wiped a tear away.
“For all of eternity. I love you James.”
“Longer if it was possible. I love you
too.” He replied gently kissing me as we continued to sway to the music and
forget about everything else.