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I can finally see a light turn on and feel someone coming to open the door. I know it's not Katie; I can smell a human.
When Marie opens the door, wearing nothing but pajamas and a bathrobe, I realize that it's not the time or place that I wanted to meet her. But it doesn't matter anymore.
"May I help you?" she asks, her face expressing concern. She's so thin and tiny, even though she's wearing those massive clothes. She doesn't look like a seventeen-year-old girl, more like a preteen. That disease must be really hard on her.
"Is Katie home?" I take a step closer, but Marie doesn't move. She has to invite me in. Vampires can't enter people's houses without permission.
"No," Marie says sternly, her lips tight. She doesn't blush or lower her gaze, but I know she's lying.
"May I come in?" I ask, unable to wait any longer. Now that Katie is a vampire, I can't feel or smell her and don't know for sure if she's here. Her car is, but she could've walked somewhere.
"No," Marie retorts, and that's when I realize that she's probably mad at me. She knows everything; Katie told her. She hates me for turning her sister into a monster like me.
"Marie, listen, I never wanted this to happen like...this," I realize that I'm being ridiculous, but I don't know what else to say. "I wanted to wait for us to get to know each other better, but..."
"But you're too horny to stop yourself from sleeping with other women?" She interrupts me, crossing her arms over her chest.
"What? I never..."
"Stop it." She extends her palm. "Katie saw you. You slept with her and then told this bullshit about soul mates to another girl, didn’t you?"
So she's not mad that I turned her sister into a vampire. She's mad because I lied that Katie is my mate and slept with someone else.
"Marie, I don't know where this is coming from, but..."
"Are you deaf?" She interrupts me again, raising her voice. She's pretty loud for such a tiny person. "I said Katie saw you! She knows everything!"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" I raise my voice too, which I never usually do unless I'm angry. But now I'm not mad, at least not at Marie. I'm mad at myself for not talking to Katie since the morning. I simply was so busy with all this Beatrice stuff that I...
"I saw you." I hear my soul mate's voice, and then she appears from the hallway.
I look at Katie. Her eyes are red, her face pale, and she’s squeezing her fists. She's turning into a vampire out of anger. She's furious with me.
"You were carrying a woman in your arms, just like you carried me yesterday," she says through clenched teeth, and little fires glitter in her eyes as she comes closer.
"It was Beatrice," I say, unable to believe she was at my house and didn't come inside.
"Don't lie to me; she's out of town. You said so." When she speaks, I can see fangs in her mouth.
"She came back early," I explain, calmer this time.
I know what's going on. When a human turns into a vampire, the first few days are the worst, especially if no one prepared you for this. At first, you feel joy for how strong and powerful you are now. And then you start feeling angry because you want to crush everything around you, and you can't. Katie is now like a teen, full of hormones, unable to cope with her feelings.
"I love you," I say, and I see Marie's jaw drop in surprise. "I’ve loved you since the moment I saw you, Katie. You're my soul mate, my woman, the reason I waited for so many years. I would never cheat on you, and I never lied to you."
I reach for my jacket pocket and get the small dark blue velvet box out of it. When I get down on one knee and open it, Marie gasps and covers her mouth with her hand.
Katie's eyes turn to human again, and they round into two big balls of blue, even brighter than they used to be.
"Will you marry me?" I ask. My voice is trembling, even though I’ve repeated this sentence a thousand times in my head.
Our gazes stick, and for a couple of long, torturous moments, she simply stares at me with her mouth slightly open, and I hold my breath, waiting for her answer.
"You may come inside, Raphael," she says finally, coming closer. "And I will be happy to become your wife one day because I love you, too."
I stand up without waiting for her to come closer and rush to grab her in my arms. As I spin her around the room, she smiles at me while Marie screams with joy. This girl seems happier than we are.
I press my lips to Katie's, and I feel happy for the first time in my life. Because if my woman is by my side, nothing else matters.
