VA 2 - Blood Jewel (14 page)

Her long, dark waves spilled over
her shoulders down her back and she wore a simple crystal headband
without a veil. Her simple white dress was strapless and she wore
the butterfly pendant given to her by her mother. The skirt of her
dress flowed loosely to her toes and moved gracefully with each
step she took. Her arm was looped through Grady’s for support and
she carried a small bouquet of white calla lilies in her free
hand.

I couldn’t take my eyes off Chansey
as every step she took brought her closer to being my wife. When
she and Grady reached the porch, he kissed Chansey’s cheek and
whispered, “I love you, Baby Girl,” in her ear before placing her
hand in mine.

Our eyes met and Chansey gave my
hands a reassuring squeeze. I stroked my thumbs across the tops of
her hands and I thought I would melt into a puddle on the porch as
she smiled at me.

The pastor briefly spoke about
love, faithfulness, marriage and the duties of a husband before he
asked me to recite the vows I had written for Chansey.

“Chansey Rose Leclaire. I once
asked for my misplaced heart to no longer wander and I was
miraculously led to you. When I saw you for the first time, I found
what I didn’t know I had searched for. Until I met you, I only
existed in this world and now I live. I live for you because you
are the love of my life, the beat of my heart and the air in my
lungs. You know the depths of my heart and you love me in spite of
what you know and see. I have been entrusted with your life as a
gift I don’t deserve and I would freely give my life in place of
yours. It is with a happy heart that I choose to take you as my
wife for the rest of my days. I love you forever times
infinity.”

The pastor turned to Chansey and
briefly spoke about the duties of a wife and then asked her to
recite the vows she has written for me.

“James Curry Brennan. I see your
heart when I look into your eyes and it is the most beautiful sight
I’ve ever seen. There is no better find than when we found one
another and my heart dances inside my chest for you. You are my
intended because I was born to be yours forever. I choose you to be
my husband until the end of time because nothing short of eternity
will ever do. You are my everything and I love you forever times
infinity.”

The pastor prompted us for the ring
ceremony and I reached for the ring Sol handed to me. I slid it
onto Chansey’s finger next to her engagement ring as I said, “As
this ring has no end, neither shall my love for you. I choose you
to be my wife this day and forevermore.”

Chansey turned to Shelby and
reached for the ring she chose for me. She slid it onto my finger
and said, “This ring I give to you as a token of my love and
devotion. I pledge to you all that I am and all that I will ever be
as your wife. With this ring, I gladly marry you and join my life
to yours forevermore.

I felt all of the things a human
husband felt when he looked at his human wife, but the pull I felt
toward her was nonhuman and supernatural. We were soul mates and I
felt my soul call out to hers, begging it to unite as one. I stared
into her eyes and I didn’t question if she felt the aching to
unite. The answer was on her face and I heard it in the
acceleration of her beating heart and rapid increase in her
breathing.

What we were feeling in this moment
was a gift from Anteros. It was for a vampire to share with his
Agápe and I couldn’t be in more awe of the woman I loved. I was so
lost in Chansey and the desperate need I felt to connect with her,
I almost didn’t hear the pastor announce, “I now pronounce you
husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.”

I licked my lips and leaned in to
place a feather light kiss on Chansey’s scarlet stained lips
because I didn’t think I could take anything more than that, but
she surprised me by grabbing the back of my neck and pulling me in
for a deep passionate kiss like weren’t standing before a small
crowd of friends and family.

As I feared, our deep kiss
intensified the yearning of our souls and they were increasingly
restless for one another. Sebastian failed to tell me about this
part of the Agápe link, but I understood why. He wanted us to
experience this connection without prior knowledge because it was
so utterly amazing.

I thought of how he told me he
didn’t want to place expectations on either of us and I wondered
what other kind of information he was withholding. I guess I would
find out that answer later tonight.

11 An Old Friend Returns

“It gives me great pleasure to
present to you, Mr. and Mrs. James Curry Brennan.”

Our friends and family clapped as
we turned around and descended the staircase toward the garden
behind Anna and Grady’s house. We would have happily skipped the
reception part of the wedding, but Anna insisted we couldn’t
because we would regret it one day, so we did the traditional
wedding things with a photographer and wedding cake to please
her.

Chansey lifted her champagne glass
to her lips without taking a drink. She was preoccupied by
something in the direction of the front lawn and I asked her, “What
has captured your attention so intently?”

Chansey furrowed her brow. “It’s
that man over by the trees. I’m trying to decide what he is doing.
At first, I thought he was a tourist looking at the house, but I
don’t think that’s it. It’s clear he is watching us and he isn’t
trying to be the least bit inconspicuous. Do you know
him?”

I turned in the direction of her
concern and saw Madon standing under the trees. If it were
possible, I would have had a heart attack right then and
there.

“Curry, do you know him?” Chansey
whispered when she saw the stunned look on my face.

“Yes, I do. He is an old friend of
mine and I’m sure he is just here to wish us his best,” I lied.
“Just give me a minute to visit with him and I’ll be right
back.”

“I would love to meet him if he’s
a friend of yours,” Chansey said as she lowered her glass to the
table.

“No, we shouldn’t both leave our
guests,” I argued and left without giving her the opportunity to
try to persuade me differently.

I walked over to where Sebastian
and Solomon were standing and whispered, “I need you to stay with
Chansey. Madon is here.”

I walked out to the line of huge
live oak trees along the drive expecting to see Marsala at any
moment. I watched Madon for any signal of an attack, but he calmly
stood and waited for me to reach him.

“She said that you were alive. I
didn’t want to believe her, but I obviously see that it’s true,”
Madon said.

“Is she here?” I
questioned.

“No, she and Wythe are in New
Orleans looking for you and your Agápe. She sent me here so we
could cover more ground and find the two of you quicker,” Madon
explained. “She’s anxious to kill the girl so she can have you
back.”

I looked toward Chansey and she
waved to me from where she stood next to her protective
guards.

I returned her wave and said, “The
vampire in you won’t allow you to understand this, but it doesn’t
matter that she’s human. I love her with every fiber of my being.
My family loves her, too. She is one of us without being like
us.”

I turned back to Madon. “You love
Marsala, so I know you are going to understand what I’m about to
tell you on some kind of level. I will never allow anyone to harm
Chansey. She is my everything. If you bring Marsala here, my family
and I will kill all of you.”

He laughed caustically and said, “I
won’t tell her you are here, but it’s not because I’m afraid of you
or those you call family. I don’t want you back in our coven.
Things have been good since you left and I want to keep it that
way.”

It made little difference to me
what his reasoning was; I didn’t trust him to keep his word.
Marsala could be very convincing and he was weak when it came to
her, so Chansey and I needed to leave quickly.

“I don’t trust you to keep your
word, Madon,” I said.

“It makes no difference to me if
you trust me or not, but you know I don’t want you back. That alone
should give you some reassurance.”

I wanted to ask him about the witch
helping Marsala reach me through magic, but I wasn’t sure it was a
good idea to show my cards, so I chose to not mention it.
“Regardless of why you’re doing it, thank you for not leading
Marsala to us.”

“Yeah, whatever. I think we’re
done here,” he said and streaked away into the dark.

I walked toward the garden and
Chansey met me before I made it to where our friends and family
were in the garden. “Why didn’t you introduce me to your
friend?”

“He was in a big hurry. He just
wanted to stop by and wish me his best as he traveled to New
Orleans,” I lied.

Gia sensed the trouble brewing and
rescued me. “Chansey, let’s go inside and I’ll help you change out
of this dress and get you into what you’re wearing when you leave
so you and Curry can get a move on. It’s getting late.”

Chansey’s thoughts immediately
switched in the direction Gia intended and she agreed, “You’re
right. It is getting late.”

I placed a light kiss on Chansey’s
lips and said, “I’ll meet you on the front porch when you ready,
Mrs. Brennan.”

“I’ll be there, Mr.
Brennan.”

Sebastian and Sol were immediately
by my side for an explanation. “Madon was alone. Marsala and Wythe
are still in New Orleans looking for us and he was sent here to
rule it out. He says that he isn’t going to tell Marsala about us
because he doesn’t want me back in the coven. That part I believe,
but I don’t trust him. Marsala can be very persuasive and if he
thinks he can please her or score points with her by telling her he
found us, he will do it.”

“It’s a good thing you’re getting
ready to leave. You’ll be gone for two weeks and then you’ll be at
the new compound. Essentially, she shouldn’t be able to track you,
but we’ll stay here for the next couple of weeks to protect
Chansey’s grandparent just in the event Madon goes soft and
confesses everything to Marsala.”

“Thank you. I can’t tell you how
much that means to me and Chansey.”

“You’re family and families stick
together.”

Lairah gathered all of the guests
and told them to move to the front lawn since we were about to
leave and I waited on the porch for Chansey. After several minutes,
she stepped out of the front door in a cream fitted linen dress and
held up a small bouquet. “Gia says that I have to throw this to the
unmarried women before we can leave.”

I laughed and said, “Gia wants to
catch it so she can pretend she is getting married next. It will
only be her, Lairah and Shelby vying for the thing and she knows
she can take Shelby.”

“Let her have her fun, Curry. It’s
not every day she gets to do this kind of thing.”

I nodded and said, “You’re right.
Throw it in her direction and let’s get out of here.”

We looked down over the lawn and
saw Gia, Lairah and Shelby gathered at the bottom of the staircase
waiting to fight for the bouquet. Chansey turned her back to them
and said, “Here goes nothing.”

I watched the fuchsia bouquet fly
over Chansey’s head and land directly in Gia’s hands. The small
crowd clapped for her and we made our escape down the staircase as
birdseed was thrown from every direction.

The black luxury rental car was
waiting for us in the drive and Chansey stopped to say goodbye to
Anna and Grady as we made our way through the crowd to the
car.

Anna pulled me close for a hug and
said, “Curry, tonight is a lunar eclipse. You know eclipses bring
on strange things sometimes, so take care of my girl. ”

She let go of me and moved on to
Chansey. She grabbed each side of her face and whispered, “Don’t
forget how babies are made. You may think it won’t happen to you,
but it only takes one time.”

“Granna, I’ve known where babies
come from for a long time and I promise you that you don’t have
anything to worry about,” Chansey whispered.

Anna kissed Chansey’s forehead and
said, “I’m not worried, Baby. I’m just reminding you so you don’t
have an “oops” because you didn’t think it could happen to you.
You’re not the exception to the rule,” she warned.

Chansey looked at me and then back
at her grandmother. “Okay, Granna. We’ve got it covered and that’s
all I’m going to say about that.”

We got in the car and Chansey waved
as I pulled away from the house onto the road ahead of us. When we
were out of the drive, she looked at me and asked, “What in the
hell was that all about? Granna acts like she knows, but then says
something totally off the wall to make you think she doesn’t
know.”

I was relieved to hear Chansey’s
surprise at Anna’s words because it reassured me that she had not
told her about us. “Sol and I thought the same thing earlier today.
Before the wedding, she came down to help us with our boutonnieres.
She told me that you were born especially for me and she knew that
I would never allow you to be harmed. It was a little
weird.”