Always the Vampire

Bells didn’t chime on Maggie’s wedding day, but they might as well have.

The perfect fall day was mild and cloudless. Every delivery and setup I’d scheduled was made precisely on time. Neil’s parents arrived at high noon. Maggie, Sherry, and I were dressed and ready for the photographer at four thirty. I wore a Victorian-style dress of rich burgundy, and Sherry wore the same dress in a deep rose color.

Best of all, Saber and I were alive and well. Okay, in my case, underdead, but we were healthy and together.

And—ta-da!—even my hair cooperated. With a little help from a smoother Maggie had found, I flatironed my hair until it was straight enough to be manageable but just wavy enough to have bounce.

The other guests attending the ceremony showed up promptly, and so did Neil’s harpist. She played so beautifully, I got teary as a radiant Maggie joined Neil at the podium in the parlor.

With the reception winding down, candles in white Victorian-birdcage lanterns on the tables bathed the backyard in romance, and the light of the nearly full moon added to the ambiance. The toasts and speeches had been given, and the cake had been cut. Neil had engaged a string quartet to play classical music during the first forty-five minutes of the reception and had swept Maggie to the floor for their first dance as a married couple. They’d had the traditional exchange of dances with their parents, too, before a second band took over. This band played more popular music, especially from the years Neil and Maggie had been dating.

The bride and groom circulated among their guests, and Neil even shook hands with Jo-Jo. A while later, I caught Maggie’s high sign that it was nearly time to toss the garter and bouquet. I mouthed “fifteen minutes.” She nodded.

Saber tapped me on the shoulder, and my breath caught as I turned to him. He looked so handsome in his tux, so sinfully hot. I sent yet another silent prayer of thanks that he’d not only survived, but was also completely healed.

“Hey,” he whispered in my ear, “we have visitors.”

I raised a brow, and he jerked his head toward my tiki bar. Among the guests near the secondary beverage station, there stood Lia and Cosmil, Triton and Lynn. All four wore clothing dressy enough to blend into the crowd—the guys in dark slacks and white button-up shirts, Lynn in a sundress, and Lia in a linen pants suit—but they hung back, off at the corner of my cottage.

Each of them looked well enough. In fact, Lynn’s expression was downright giddy. Still, I couldn’t help a twinge of worry as Saber and I worked our way across the yard through the milling guests. The memories were just too fresh.

When Saber could stand more or less on his own last night, Cosmil and Lia had transported us through the Veil to the shack and to Cosmil’s sacred circle. I didn’t remember the details of my own treatment, and I suspected an anesthesia spell accounted for that. I did recall my part in treating first Saber, then Triton, just to be certain every last smidgen of the Void was eradicated from their bodies. Both physically and metaphysically.

After the healings were completed, Cosmil had done his wizardly wellness scan before he transported us through the Veil again, back to our trucks at the parking garage. From there, Triton had raced to pick up Lynn at the beach house. I’d driven Saber to his home where we’d collapsed in his bed, quietly holding each other until sleep finally came.

I didn’t know for certain what had happened to Legrand’s ring, but I hoped Cosmil had locked the sucker up tight until he could return it to the COA.

“Is everything okay?” I asked when we reached the foursome.

“Everything is wonderful,” Lynn said as she threw her arms around me, then withdrew, still grinning hard enough to strain her cheek muscles. “I know you all didn’t trust me at first, but if things hadn’t happened as they did, I’d never know about my mermaid family.”

I blinked. “You’re a mermaid descendant?”

Triton put an arm around Lynn’s shoulder. “Lia got the scoop from the merfolk on the Council just today.”

“That’s right,” Lynn bubbled. “I guess I shouldn’t be so excited because the whole story involves inbreeding and a gene mutation in the royal mer line, but between having met Triton and getting this news, I feel like I really belong.”

“Your mer relatives kept the human adoption from going through, didn’t they?” Saber said.

“They did,” Cosmil confirmed.

Now my grin was as wide as Lynn’s. “This is wonderful, Lynn. Will you meet your other family soon?”

She nodded. “I think so, but there are a lot of details to work out. Lia’s helping with those, but for now, I just wanted to thank you both.”