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“Th
anks, Ky,” he said and took my left hand. “Wow,” he breathed, “So you’re really marrying him.”
“Yes,” I whispered looking away from his penetrating ice blue gaze.
He took a deep breath and said, “I thought I knew what it felt like to have my heart broken but I was wrong. This is what it feels like,” he looked mournfully at my ring finger.
“There never was any choice, Isaac. You are my friend. Jonathon is my soul mate.”
He laughed a harsh laugh and shook his head. “Don’t you see? He’s supposed to be dead! He isn’t even supposed to exist. If he wasn’t here, if he wasn’t the abomination that they all are, you would be with me! You would have chosen me.”
I sighed and shook my head, “That may be true but Jonathon does exist,” I looked down at my sneakers, “and Isaac even if he wasn’t my soul mate I would still choose him. I love him and I can’t live without him. I love you too, Isaac, but not in the same way. Not in the way that you want. I can’t help the way I feel and I’m sorry to have to hurt you. I want us to be friends. I want to see you find your own happiness. I’ve found mine,” I said and looked at Jonathon. Jonathon came over and took my hand.
Isaac sighed, “I told you I would always be your friend. From now on I’ll keep my mouth shut,” he smiled and hugged me. He turned to Jonathon, “I’m sorry for being such a jerk. I may have grown up learning to kill vampires but I know now that you all aren’t murderers. You’re a good guy. I may hate your guts but you are a good guy. You both deserve to be happy,” he said rather mournfully.
“Isaac,” said Jonathon, “Kylie and I are it for each other. One day you’ll find that for yourself. Everyone deserves to find happiness.”
Isaac smiled and looked at us both, “I promise that from now on I’ll be on my best behavior,” he chuckled, “And Ky, I’ll even be one of your brides maids, but I am not wearing one of those frilly dresses,” he stuck his tongue out.
I laughed. “I think the term is Man of Honor.”
He smiled, “Well, whatever it is I’ll be it if you want me to.”
“I’d like that,” I said.
“We have to go now,” said Jonathon pulling me away.
I gave Isaac a quick hug and then followed Jonathon away from the mass of people prepping for battle. Jonathon grabbed both of my hands and said, “I want you to stay here, in the house, I have place made up for you.”
“No,” I said shaking my head, “I’m going out there with you. You are not going out there without me. I have to go, Jonathon. I can’t just sit here and wait for you like some housewife from the fifties. I can’t and I won’t. I am just as much a part of this, more even, than the rest of these people. I won’t let everyone risk their lives for me if I’m not willing to risk my own.”
Jonathon shook his head exasperated, “Kylie, I just want you to be safe.”
“I’ll be safest with you and everyone else. If I stay in here I’ll be unprotected. Plus, if you leave me in here I’ll only find a way out there,” I said trying to be logical. But I didn’t really care what I said as long as it got me out of the house and onto the battle field.
“You have a point there,” he said. “Fine, you can be there, as long as you stay behind the front lines.”
“Deal,” I said and kissed him.
He smiled, “You play dirty.”
“I never said that I would play fair. It was wrong for you to assume that I would,” I teased him.
He took my hand and we joined the large group. The Coven members had all their weapons assembled and the vampires were ready with their strength and mind games. It was time for this all to end. I felt like this moment had been coming for so long and for it to be finally here it didn’t seem real. My heart began to race and my palms began to sweat in anticipation. This was it. The time had come. We were ready.
* * *
The night sky was dark. Pitch black. I could see the faint sparkle of stars in the distance, but here, where we stood in the large yard was nothing but blackness. It was all so eerily familiar. It was August but there was a faint nippy chill to the air. A slight wind ruffled the leaves of the trees and plants and the ends of my hair. The air smelled stale and sparkled with unseen electricity as if it too knew what was coming and was preparing itself against the onslaught. The ground crunched under all of our footsteps as if it was sighing under our weight. Everyone was looking around as if waiting for her to jump out from behind a tree or fall from the sky. Didn’t they know she had a flare for the dramatics? She would make her presence known in the most surprising way. That was Selena. She wanted to put on a show. I held tighter to Jonathon’s hand. I wanted to wait until the last second to let go of his hand. He squeezed my hand reassuringly before pulling away. I gripped at the air and stumbled as my hand clenched thin air. I regained my footing and stood my ground. I was not weak. I was human but that didn’t mean I was weak. I thought of everyone I loved. All of their faces flashing across my mind’s eye. My mom. My dad. My brothers. Childhood friends. Patrick. Amelia. Joseph. Danny. Mason. Diana. Isaac. And of course Jonathon. Jonathon, the love of my life, the man I was going to marry. I still couldn’t believe we were getting married. I felt a deep sense of regret that we had been torn away from our bliss. But I didn’t regret what we did. I was a grown woman now and I could make my own decisions and I didn’t need anyone’s judgment. I was free to live my life and make my own decisions. After all, I was going to be getting married. Even in the midst of all this pain and sadness I had that one thing to keep me together. Selena could fight us, and try to kill us, but she couldn’t stop us from getting married. She couldn’t take away our happiness.
I watched Jonathon as he sidled through the crowd to join the front lines. I saw him lift his head and look around. Then I saw the subtle twitching of his nose as he sniffed the air for Selena’s scent. I moved forward to join the ranks of vampire and Coven members.
“Kylie, stay back,” said Jonathon in a voice I had rarely heard. It was harsh and fiercely protective. I moved back a couple of steps. The Coven members removed their weapons and stood at the ready surrounding me. I was immensely sad that they all felt the need to risk their lives for me. I was one person and it worried me that everyone thought it would take this many people to kill only one vampire. I realized sickeningly that things must have been far worse than I thought they were.
I kept my eye on Jonathon and saw the blue flames erupt from his hands and spread to cover his whole arms. The light illuminated everyone in a sickly blue color. Jonathon looked around savagely. He opened his mouth and unleashed a purely animal sound that made the hairs on my back stand on end. His sharply pointed incisors glimmered a pearly white despite the blue gleam of his flames. “Come out, come out wherever you are! I know you’re here!” growled Jonathon into the night.
I gasped as a cold hand came around my neck.
“Tsk, tsk, Jonathon. I thought you were better than that,” she said as the line of vampires and Coven members turned, frozen in place, “You left the girl waiting for me. How nice of you. Are you ready to watch her die?” Her voice whispered into the night.
