42nd & Lex (41 page)

“Ah, no, that’s not until Friday,” I shoot
back. “I'm going to be out the rest of the week though. Can you give my files a
look-see and transfer anything that’s hot to Lindsey? I'm in the building if
she can’t take care of it. Oh, and can you draft a dismissal for the Ainsworth
case too?”

“Sure,” he replies. “But you are coming
back, right? You’re not running off with him are you?”

I’m not sure how to answer the first
question, but I am fairly certain that I’m not leaving Manhattan anytime soon.
“I’ll be back, Max. I just need to lay low for a while until I'm safe.”

As soon as I say it, I regret it. It sounds
so cryptic. There is so much Max knows by virtue of being a Patron, but so much
he doesn’t know about me and Lucan, or me and Serge. There is no way he’s
letting me off the hook easy on this.

“Abri…” His tone is one of warning and
concern.

“Do you know what a Sodalis is?” I ask,
cutting him off before he can read me his vampire riot act.

“Holy Shit. Really?”

He is excited. Holy shit. He’s excited.
“You’re not going to lecture me?”

“No. I'm ecstatic. This means I can stop
worrying about you. When is the ceremony?”

“Friday,” I reply skeptically. “Why aren’t
you mad anymore?”

“Well, unless they’ve changed the rules, it
means you will be protected from that asshole that’s after you and a whole lot
of other cool benefits too. He’s explained all that to you right?”

“Yeah, I know what all it means. I'm just
shocked you’re okay with it. You haven’t seemed too on board with the whole
dating a vampire thing. I would classify this as a little more permanent than
dating, or at least a little more serious.”

Max laughs at me. “Hun, I'm glad you’re
happy. You found someone, he’s hot, he’s rich, and he can protect you forever. I'm
just unhappy he’s a vampire and you’re mixed up in that mess. But only because
it can be a mess, not necessarily because he’s a vampire. As I said before,
he’s a good guy. He just happens to be part of a very jacked up breed of
unpredictable, violent people.” Max is rambling, but I know what he means.

“You’ll do my hair and makeup then?” I ask.
“For the ceremony.”

“Of course! Now, get off this phone and let
me work, woman. My boss is out this week and I have a million things to do.”

We say our goodbyes and hang up. It makes me
feel good that I will have another friend present at the ceremony, especially
one that isn’t a vampire or married to a vampire. Sarah looks hopeful having
heard my side of the conversation.

“So your friend Max is okay with this?” she
asks. “And he’s coming to the ceremony?”

“Yup.” I can’t hide my smile. Things are
beginning to feel okay.

The week comes and goes without incident and Jonathan makes
his way back to the Enclave. I have never been so happy to see a Friday. While
I fretted about being cooped up, Amelia and Sarah were hard at work preparing
for the ceremony. Anytime I tried to help, Sarah and Amelia shooed me away.

Zaid has alternated between tracking Serge and being
Amelia’s escort on ceremony preparation errands. Lucan and Mark have continued
on with their day jobs and helped Zaid with his quest in the evenings. Other
than sharing the same bed and a couple of meals, I haven’t seen much of Lucan
this week.

All this alone time has given me time think about what
my life is becoming. In fact, I’m still thinking about it as I wait for my
style team to arrive at the Enclave. 

Lucan and I have known each other for a little over a
month, not nearly long enough in the human world for a marriage or an
engagement—but we’ve gone ahead and done that, haven’t we. It probably isn’t
even long enough to commit to a Sodalis ceremony, if I really think about it. So
I don’t.

I imagine telling my mom about my life over the past few
weeks.
“Hey mom, I’m dating a vampire and in order to mend his broken soul
and keep a psychopathic killer off my ass we have to become soul-bound in some
cryptic ceremony. Oh, and we are engaged too. You know, just to keep it all
human and stuff.”
Yeah, she’d be on the first plane to New York to stash me
in a mental ward. 

Timing and family unawareness aside, I am stoked about
the ceremony. Helping Lucan is, of course, the number one reason. Becoming
Serge-proof is a close second and gives rise to a secret hope that I’ll be the
one to take him down. I am not particularly violent by any means, but he’s
really pissed me off.

A knock on the door takes me out of my inner monologue.
It’s Max and Sarah. Max is laden with his stylist’s bag and Sarah is struggling
under the weight of my borrowed ceremony dress. 

The dress is long with a deep plunging neck and an open
back in the deepest shade of red I’ve ever seen. It is beautiful in an
Elvira/Morticia Addams kind of way, but not something I would have picked out for
myself in a million years. Not even for Halloween. Amelia is not as well
endowed as me and I am going to need a miracle to keep the girls in this thing.

I wanted to refuse the whole dress business. What’s
wrong with jeans and a t-shirt, maybe even a nice sundress? Unfortunately,
Sophie has dictated that we stick to tradition since they don’t often get the
opportunity to perform a Sodalis ceremony. Apparently, the dress is very
traditional even if it is a gothic nightmare.   

“Hey girl.” Max puts his bag down and reaches over to
help Sarah. “You ready?”

 “I don’t know what’s scarier, the dress or what I’m about
to do.”

“I’m not sure you want me to answer that,” he teases.

“You better be joking Max or I will throw you out and
walk down that aisle looking just like I do right now.” I am only half kidding.

 “You wouldn’t dare!” I scoffs and then throws up his
hands in surrender. “I’m just kidding. You know I’m on board with this. I just
don’t want you to get lost in their world so fast, and believe me you will.”

Sarah looks like she wants to step in, but she doesn’t.
I figure it’s only because her opinions would be the same as mine on the
subject of loving who you love and doing whatever it takes to be with them.

“I won’t get lost. I promise,” I reply. “Now do your
worst.”

 “So what look are we going for? Goth babe, Lady Dracula?
Oh, I know, Bride of Frankenstein?”

Max sets to work curling my hair into soft spirals that
hang down my back. My makeup is soft and yet dramatic. When he is finished,
they help me into the ridiculous dress.

There is no way I can wear a bra or panties without them
showing so I’m going commando. It is a good thing that Max is totally uninterested
in my nakedness because we test a few new boundaries of our friendship getting
me strapped in.

After a few precarious moments of Max poking and
prodding me in places I’m sure he never anticipated when he became my assistant,
Sarah produces a roll of double sided tape from her purse. 

“I always keep this on hand for emergencies,” she
laughs. “Not that I have anything to keep in a dress but it works on hem lines
too.”

“Thank God! If I take a deep breath, the Council is
going to get more than they bargained for with this thing. Amelia, bless her,
did not account for the differences in our cup size when she volunteered this.”

Max gives up and lets Sarah work her magic with the
tape. I am secured and likely to remain decent with a few well-placed strips.

At least I don’t have to complicate the situation further
by wearing high heels—tradition dictated no shoes for anyone. Now that is one
tradition I can get behind.

Someone is knocking on the door. Sarah answers it to a
young vampire dressed in a steward’s uniform. She stands in front of the
doorway, mouth open, her fascination with him obvious. Max gives a little cough
and nudges Sarah out of the way.

“Sorry,” he offers. “Come in.”

“Thank you, sire,” he says to Max and their eyes lock
briefly. “My name is Cyrian. I am to be your valet this evening. Mr. O’Reilly
sends this for you, ma’am.” Cyrian holds out a black velvet pillow with the
most exquisite necklace I have ever seen perched on top. It is so heavily
encrusted with diamonds that it’s almost blinding. Each stone is cut like a
tiny leaf and attached to what looks like golden intertwined branches. “It is
the tree of life,” he adds, as if he feels I need the explanation to appreciate
its beauty fully.  

“Wow. Tell him thank you. Is he here already?”

“Yes, and may I say that you look very beautiful, ma’am.
I have never seen a Sodalis look so lovely."

“Thank you and please call me Abri. These are my friends,
Sarah and Max.”

“Abri,” he affirms with a low bow. “It’s nice to meet
you, Sarah and Max.” The way he lingers on the word Max is palatable. They are
looking at each other again. “Shall I go to tell Mr. O’Reilly you’re ready?”

“Ah, yeah, I think so.” I look to Max for confirmation.

Max nods slowly. For the first time ever, he is speechless.

“Very well. I will be back to escort you to the chambers
in a minute.” With that, he glides out of the room as only a vampire can.

Max wears an expression of interest and defeat. I image
it’s due to an internal conflict over his interest in Cyrian and his desire to
remain outside of this world. Sarah fastens heavy the necklace around my neck.
Even if I never have a place to wear this again, I will enjoy just trying it on
repeatedly in front of our bathroom mirror. 

Cyrian returns just a Max finishes fussing with the
train of my dress and we head down the stone hallway towards the Council chambers.
I can hear the murmuring of voices inside and what sounds like the tuning of
violin strings. 

“Max and Sarah, you may go in and find your places. Abri
and I must stay out here until her cue.” Cyrian pulls me into the same alcove I
waited in with Lucan during my first trip to the Enclave. It's where he
shuffled his feet and looked at the ground, trying to find a way to tell me I
was his. After Max and Sarah are inside, we move back in front of the chamber
doors. I want to say something to Cyrian about Max but the abrupt silence on
the other side of the doors steals my train of thought. This is it.

“When I open the doors, you will walk in and go down to
stand with Mr. O’Reilly. Just relax and don’t worry. The ceremony lasts about thirty
minutes and then we party!” The smile on his face reaches his eyes, making him
look younger than his no doubt hundreds of years. “Trust me, that’s the best
part.”

“You make it seem so easy.”

“I try. It’s my job,” he whispers as he opens the doors.
“Good luck, Abri.”

The halogen lights are off and hundreds of flickering
candles light the room. They hang from the walls and sit on every available
surface. The smell of melting wax hangs thick in the air. The Council’s bench
has been removed and a much smaller stone alter stands in its place. The Council
is standing behind it wearing long black robes. I can almost make out their faces
under the hoods. Lucan kneels before them with his hands clasped behind his
back.

I blanch. No one said anything about kneeling for the
service. I’m not sure Sarah’s tape job will hold up to that. As if on cue, Lucan
rises to his feet in one fluid motion putting my fears to rest.

A string quartet begins playing a soft melody, something
I have never heard before. Following Cyrian’s instructions, I start walking
down the aisle towards Lucan. The candlelight is bouncing off his shirtless back,
illuminating and highlighting every angle. He turns to face me and his mouth falls
open. I don’t need to touch him to know his thoughts about how I look.

The aisle to the front of the chamber is longer than in
trips past now that I’m dragging this monster dress behind me. It gives me time
to survey the room. Max, Sarah, and Mark are near the front on what I guess to
be the ‘bride’s’ side of the aisle. About fifty vampires and a few of their
human guests occupy the rest of the gallery. My stomach gurgles and flips as a
wave of nerves overtakes me. I try to swallow it back and focus my attention on
Lucan. 

Lucan reaches out to take my hand as I approach him and
the Council. “You look so amazing!” he whispers to me. As he slips his hand
around mine, he thinks to me with a sly smile,
“I want to rip that dress off
of you right now.”
  

 “
It wouldn’t take much to rip it off me, but I fear
Amelia might want it back in one piece. By the way, you shirtless is something
I have missed seeing as of late.”

Hands joined, we turn to face the Council. There is a
very large, very sharp knife lying on the altar that I didn’t notice on my way
in. My eyes go wide and I feel heat rush to my face. My overly exposed chest
and neck are undoubtedly a deep shade of purple too. I suck back a gasp just in
time. 

“Abri, don’t worry. It’s for me, not you,”
he thinks,
squeezing my hand.

“For you? What the hell am I doing to have to do,
stab you?”
 I am trying hard to keep my side of the conversation
telepathic.

“No, not exactly,”
he stalls.

“What exactly?”
I urge back, tightening my grip
on his hand.

“It’s for the blood exchange. The knife is necessary
since you don’t have fangs.”

So technically the definition of exchange requires both
parties to take and receive, but for some reason this little detail has never
come up before. I am going to have to drink blood. “
And you’re going to bite
me?”
I ask.

“Yes.”
The response vibrates in my head like a
seductive purr, quelling all of the overwrought nonsense in my brain. “
I
know it’s a bit graphic, but it’s not like you haven’t wanted me to try.”
He
pushes an image of us in the wine cellar into my mind. 

“
True.
” I had tried to force him to taste my
blood before I knew it would ruin the chance at repairing his soul.
“But
it’s not as romantic as I pictured it with this giant knife. And all these
people.”