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  “Well, I feel awful about that,” I admitted.

  “It’s only logical that you’re a bit skeptical about Maia right now. I’m sure Kalia will calm down,” Fiore assured me. I smiled in thanks.

  “I say we finish this upstairs,” Christian said. I nodded and got up, gathering my pile of folders.

  “After the bridal shop, would you mind picking up some clothes for Christian, just the essentials? I’ll make you a list of his sizes,” I asked, hoping Fiore wouldn’t take offense at having to shop for my soon-to-be husband.

  “No problem. Anything for you,” she said and winked at Christian.

  We carried all the wedding folders upstairs and settled on the bed to look through them.

  “So, Mrs. Rexer, what kind of music would you like for your first dance with your husband?”

  The sound of it made me laugh nervously. Christian’s expression changed.

  “I’m sorry. Please don’t take it the wrong way, but you called me Mrs. Rexer.”

  “It is going to be your name, unless of course, if you want to keep yours…”

  “No. Lily Rexer is great. I love it. It just caught me by surprise, that’s all,” I explained taking his hand. “As far as music, I’m most partial to the ’30s and ’40s. Maybe even some ’20s. But hey, don’t you like Frank Sinatra?”

  “I do. I also like Louis Armstrong and Dean Martin, though he’s later, why?”

  “See how easy we can compromise? I like them too. Pick a band willing to play a variety. Remember, our guests will be vampires and they are very old.”

  He looked over the lists while I lay on my stomach and pretended to look too. The truth was, my mind was on the wedding gown. I wanted a fancy and classy gown but not too full. I was too short to pull off a large, round dress and I did not want to look like a cake topper. I wanted one capable of making his knees go weak when he saw me at the end of the aisle.

  “If you keep picturing stuff like that we’re not going to get any work done.”

  “UGH!” I hit him in the face with a pillow. “Stay out of my head, especially now. How am I going to pick out a gown? You’re not supposed to see it.”

  “I can solve that,” he said with a wide grin.

  “How?”

  “Don’t wear one.”

  “What do you expect me to wear, nothing?” His smile grew even wider and his eyes glowed.

  “UGH! You are incorrigible!” Whack! The pillow again.

  He was on top of me in seconds and as the clothes came off, the lists of bands and folders of caterers and florists ended up, one by one, on the floor. He kissed me so passionately I had forgotten what we had come up here to do in the first place. The fire of his mouth awakened every part of me. I couldn’t get enough of his smell, his hair, his face, his tongue, his soul.

  He pulled away. “I can’t believe you’re going to be my wife. Thank you, Lily. You’ve made me the happiest man…er, vampire alive.” I pulled his face back to mine and as our bodies became one, I sank my teeth into his throat to fill myself with his existence.

  “Come on, Lily! We have to get going or we’ll be late!” Fiore called from the bottom of the stairs.

  “I have to go. I don’t want to but I have to,” I pleaded with him to unwrap his arms from around me so I could get dressed.

  “No. Not yet,” he whined.

  “Haven’t you had enough?” I teased, still trying to squirm my way out of his arms.

  “With you, never. But okay. It is for a good reason. You’re going with the girls to pick out a wedding dress. It’s a big deal. Do me one favor?”

  “What?”

  “Pick one with the least amount of material. You know, a sexy one.”

  I hit him with the pillow again before I ran to the closet, ducking as the pillow flew over my head.

  “Here I am,” I announced as I reached the bottom of the stairs. Fiore and Kalia were already in the living room, purses and car keys in hand.

  “Can’t you two wait until after the wedding to make that kind of racket?” Fiore teased. If I could blush, now would been the perfect time. Kalia smiled and, with her arm around my shoulder, led me out to her car.

  Three women helped us in the bridal shop. After several attempts at offering us coffee and us declining, they finally gave up and started showing us dresses. Everything they showed me seemed all wrong. I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted but I knew it was none of those. They were too fluffy, or covered way too much, or not the right shade of white. I guess I did know one thing: I wanted something form-fitting that would not make me look shorter than I already was. My height, or lack of, had always been kind of an issue with me.

  “I can show you some others. If you’ll please follow me,” the woman said and the three of us obeyed.

  “What is it you want?” Fiore whispered.

  “That! That’s it!” I said and pointed to a mannequin. “I want that one.”

  “This one?” the woman asked.

  “Yes. Is something wrong with it?” I asked.

  “Nothing’s wrong with it. It’s lovely, but it’s way below your budget.”

  “Oh. I don’t care about that. I love it! Kalia, what do you think?”

  “It would be lovely on you, Lily. Can we see this one, please?”

  The woman hurried out of the room with the mannequin under her arm. The gown was white, sleek, with a champagne-colored sash at the waist offset with rhinestones.

  “If you please, in this dressing room? If you need help I’ll be right outside the door,” she said and led me to an open room. The gown was already hanging on a hook.

  “Thank you.” I entered the dressing room and stripped off my clothes. The silky gown felt like heaven sliding over my body. I looked at my image in the mirror and realized for the first time that not only was it very low-cut, with a mesh panel between the breasts, also accented with rhinestones, but that it was backless too. Christian was getting his wish granted after all.

  “What do you think?” I asked when I stepped out. Kalia and Fiore turned from looking at veils and Kalia’s hand flew to her mouth. Fiore’s face froze. “No?”

  “I’ll leave you alone for a bit,” the woman said and left us.

  “Are you kidding? You’re the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen!” Kalia said. Fiore just kept nodding.

  “Oh, here, try this veil,” Fiore came over with the veil and placed it expertly on my head. “Wow! You have your gown and on the first try. It just needs to be hemmed a bit.” I spun for their benefit.

  “Kalia, what’s wrong?” I jumped off the platform in front of the mirror and rushed over to her. “Why won’t you look at me?” She stood facing away from me. I put a hand on her shoulder.

  “I don’t want you to see me crying,” she said as her face streaked in red.

  I looked around to make sure none of the sales ladies had returned. “Don’t. You’re going to make me cry.” Too late. I felt the tears rolling down my face. Fiore rushed to get a tissue out of her purse so I wouldn’t ruin the white dress.

  “You’re perfect.” Kalia had gotten her tears under control but for me it was like turning on a waterfall. Fiore kept handing me tissue after tissue as Kalia nervously eyed the door to the sales floor. “Um, Lily?”

  “Yeah?” I blubbered.

  “Were you crying like this the day Christian, you know, died?” Fiore looked at her with a wide-eyed expression.

  “Worse, I think. Why?” I couldn’t imagine why she would ask such a question now.

  “Were you bent over his face by any chance?” Fiore seemed to come to a conclusion to Kalia’s question.

  “I tried CPR for a while but I finally gave up. I laid over him, kissed him, and cried. Why? What made you think of that now?” I looked at both of them hoping they would enlighten me.

  Fiore nodded at Kalia.

  “I think I know how Christian became one of us,” Kalia said in a hushed voice.

  “I don’t understand what my crying has to do
with anything.”

  “If you say you cried worse then, that’s a lot of blood, blood pouring into his mouth as you grieved.” She backed up to a chair and fell into it. I didn’t know what to think, let alone what to say.

  “Lily? Say something.” Fiore had a hold of my hands but her voice sounded far away. I could picture Christian’s lifeless body on the floor and the anguish and desperation I felt when I couldn’t bring him back.

  “I did do it,” I pulled out of Fiore’s grasp. “I made him what he is. I did this to him. I did exactly what Aaron forbade.”

  “You didn’t do it on purpose. Don’t you see? It was an accident. You were trying to revive him. Not trying to make him into a vampire. No one can blame you for this. Aaron will understand.” Kalia was on her feet again and trying to calm me.

  “Everything okay in here?” the woman asked. “Have we decided?”

  I snapped my mind back to the present situation so I could get it over with and get back to Christian.

  “This is the one I want. Is there any way to change the color of the sash?” Kalia and Fiore looked relieved. I was back to dealing with the dress.

  “Absolutely. We can change the rhinestones too to match whatever color you choose,” the woman beamed at her sale. “Do you have a color in mind?”

  “Burgundy,” I said.

  “It’ll be lovely, Lily. Christian can wear that color too.” Kalia smiled ear to ear again.

  All the way home Kalia and Fiore tried, in vain, to assure me I did nothing wrong. I couldn’t be held accountable if what happened had been an accident. I hadn’t intentionally made Christian a vampire, they insisted. They also reminded me I couldn’t think about my wedding gown at all since Christian was so in tune with my thoughts. It would be easy to do since it was out of my mind already considering the most recent development.

  I ran past Aaron and up the stairs as soon as the car stopped in front of the house. I would let Kalia explain her theory to Aaron. I needed to face Christian and get the inevitable resentment over with.

  “Did you have any luck?” I found him packing a suitcase. The look on my face made him drop what he was doing and come over to me.

  “Yeah.” I pulled out of his embrace. “We need to talk.”

  “You’re not changing your mind, are you?” He looked scared.

  “No…I don’t know…” I shook my head. “This is hard.”

  “You know you can talk to me about anything, right?” He led me to the edge of the bed.

  “Okay. This is Kalia’s theory and I think she might have it exactly right.” I swallowed hard. “When you died and I tried to revive you, I couldn’t. I finally gave up and held you and cried.”

  “You did everything you could,” he assured me. I put up a hand to stop him.

  “It gets worse. Apparently, I cried so hard over you that all the blood tears pouring down my face ended up going in your mouth.” I stopped, letting it sink in for a moment. His expression didn’t change. “Don’t you see?”

  “Not really,” he said.

  “I made you what you are. Ian took your blood and I gave you mine.” I stood and looked at him. He was quiet, still waiting. “I did this to you!”

  “Do you think that’s really how it happened?”

  “What else could it be? No one else was there. When Maia came in, I ran after her. I left you alone. No one could have gotten past me, or Aaron and Kalia.”

  “It does make sense. How did you two come to that conclusion today?”

  “Kalia started crying when Fiore put a veil on me and then of course, I started. Once I start, apparently, it’s like a dam lets loose.” He laughed.

  “Do you have any idea how happy this makes me?” He stood and took my hands.

  “What are you talking about?” I couldn’t believe my ears. Happy was not what I expected.

  “I’m here because of you. Your blood made me what I am and because of it, I get to be with you forever.” He leaned to look in my eyes.

  “You mean you’re not mad at me?”

  “Of course I’m not. This is what I wanted. I thought you knew.”

  “I did know but the reality is a little different. It’s confirmed now that I did this. I made you an immortal, frozen as you are for eternity. You still want to marry me?”

  “I will never change my mind. Don’t you see? You’re an even bigger part of me than we thought. I’d love to be frozen with you.” His face lit up with excitement. A knock on the door interrupted my response.

  “Come in,” I yelled.

  “Sorry to interrupt, Lily, Christian,” Aaron said walking into the room and pulling me away from Christian. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head.

  “What’s this for?” I asked but didn’t pull away. I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed.

  “I’m sorry I ever doubted you,” he whispered into my hair. “Will you please forgive me?”

  “There’s nothing to forgive. How could you have known? I didn’t even know. But does this mean you’re okay with it?”

  “You didn’t do it on purpose, but that doesn’t matter. I could never deny you this happiness anyway. I think sooner or later, had things turned out differently, I would have relented,” he laughed.

  “Thank you, Aaron. You have no idea how much this has bothered Lily. She thought she was disappointing you.” Christian put his hand on Aaron’s back as Kalia watched from the doorway.

  “I can’t hold it against you, can I? Especially when you didn’t know.” He went back to stand by Kalia. “Besides, had this one not already been a vampire, I don’t know if I could have stopped myself.” He squeezed her to his side as her face glowed.

  Kalia and Aaron drove us to the airport. Fiore had come home before it was time to leave and we finished packing Christian’s suitcase with some of the clothing she had gotten him. With Fiore’s sense of style, Christian was going to look great. We said our goodbyes and boarded the plane to Pennsylvania, to the Lehigh Valley, where Christian was born and raised. After an eight hour commute, we were more than ready to get off the plane. We rented a car, and since this was his town, he happily did the driving.

  The weather happened to be cloudy in Pennsylvania and the temperature, though not uncomfortable to us, was noticeably lower. At least it was dry. We did, however, remember to bring jackets so we could blend in.

  “Do you want me to show you around?” he asked as we drove down a crowded highway. Though the speed limit was fifty-five, everyone was going much slower, and as hard as I tried, I couldn’t find the reason. I kept expecting to pass an accident scene or a disabled vehicle but we didn’t. The highway was just too small for the population growth in the area, I guess.

  “Why don’t we get your stuff done first? Then we can take our time.” I grabbed the door handle as he switched to the outside lane, way too close to the car in front of him.

  “The bank first then. The storage place isn’t far from there. Am I making you nervous?”

  “I’m not used to this closeness on the road.” I couldn’t help but laugh with him. I trusted him and I knew his reflexes were much faster now than ever.

  “I used to live right behind the highway. The mall’s back there too.” He pointed as we crossed an intersection. “My bank’s straight ahead.”

  He parked the car in a small lot between the bank and a pharmacy. As we walked in the door, all the tellers were busy with customers so we took a seat in the waiting area. The man who had been talking on the telephone as we passed two desks finished his conversation and headed to the waiting area. As soon as he looked at us he froze and his jaw dropped. I looked at Christian.

  “What’s wrong, Nate?” Christian asked, suddenly fidgeting. I tried to remember if we’d remembered to cover our skin.

  “Mr. Rexer?” he asked but still wouldn’t approach.

  “Of course. What’s wrong Nate?”

  “But how?” he asked. Everyone in the bank stared in our direction. The tellers were
on their tiptoes trying to see over the counter.

  “How? I don’t understand…Is something wrong? Are you feeling alright?”

  “Uhh…Right this way, please.” All the color had drained from Nate’s cheeks.

  We followed him and sat down in front of his desk. He remained standing, still staring at us.

  “I know it’s been a while, but I don’t understand. You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Christian said reaching for my hand.

  Nate laughed nervously. “Excuse me for saying, but I thought you died.”

  Christian laughed. “Well, as you can see, here I am. Where did you get such an idea?”

  “From your wife, sir.”

  I looked at Christian and automatically dropped his hand.

  “I don’t have a wife. Well, not yet,” he said and looked at me, reaching for my hand again.

  “Your wife was here. She closed your accounts, about a month ago.” He finally sat down and started typing on his computer keyboard.

  “You let someone close my accounts?” His voice showed his anger. The man, Nate, dropped his hands from the keyboard.

  “She had all the proper documents. She showed me a marriage certificate, ID, death certificate.” He stood again and started pacing by his desk.

  “Did she happen to tell you her name?” Christian yelled.

  “Of course. One moment, I’ll look.” Nate sat back down and started typing.

  “Never mind!” Christian grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the bank and into the car before Nate even had a chance to protest.

  ~ Nine ~

  The tires screeched as Christian tore out of the parking lot. Luckily, no other cars were coming since he did not even bother to look. I had questions but it didn’t seem like the time so I kept my mouth closed. Even his mind was completely blank as his grip tightened on the steering wheel. After a while he finally pulled over on a dead-end street and turned off the motor.

  “What are you thinking?” I finally asked.

  “I don’t know. What am I supposed to think?” His tone was harsh but I knew it wasn’t directed at me.

  “There has to be some logical explanation for this. Maybe we should go back to the bank, ask more questions. Maybe we should go to the police,” I said trying to read his blank expression.