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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.”
