“I’m, well, I’m a vampire, and I’ve been here a terribly long time, so before you release me, may I ask for three things? Please?”
“What do you need?” she’d asked.
“Blood, a new frock, and a hairbrush.”
“Give me a few hours,” she’d declared, and she was as good as her word.
She’d come back with Neil, who grumbled that Maggie was insane, but she’d prevailed. She put Neil to work cutting the silverlaced chains fastened to the coffin while she drilled a hole in the side of the coffin near my head. After centuries of using vampire hearing to eavesdrop on the distant, changing world, so much noise from power tools right outside my box was deafening. When the hole was drilled clear through, a small beam of filtered light let me see with my physical eyes. Excited, elated, exuberant. Words couldn’t touch the myriad emotions rioting in my heart in that moment. I would’ve cried if I’d been hydrated enough to make tears. Clever Maggie soon fixed that.
She stuck an extra long straw through the hole, explained how to use it, then put the other end of the straw in bottle after bottle of blood. I sucked them dry without feeling the least bit queasy from the smell, and then Maggie fed me water chasers through a clean straw.
When the chains lay on the basement floor, Maggie and Neil took tire tools to each end of the coffin and gently pried the lid loose. I pushed from inside, and, with a whoosh of fresh air, I was free.
Neil took one look at me and brandished the tire iron. Maggie? She asked me my name.
“Francesca Melisenda Alejandra Marinelli,” I’d told the petite yellow-haired angel. She’d stepped closer, put out her hand to take mine, and said, “I’m Maggie O’Halloran. Welcome to the world.”
That sealed it. Maggie became my best friend forever.
The baggy blue nylon shorts, equally baggy T-shirt, and rubber flip-flops she brought for me to change into seemed indecent at first. Of course, that was before I saw my first bikini. I thought the bikini bra was a fabric sample. Now the hairbrush Maggie gave me?
That was the Holy Grail.
What a long way I had come. Correction, we had all come. Thanks to Maggie, I had a new lease on afterlife. Thanks to Saber, I had a sex life. Above all, I had a family of my heart, friends, and a future.
And I’d better get moving if I wanted to enjoy what was left of the day.
I went to the kitchen to snag my Starbloods, expecting to see Saber hunched over his laptop, but he wasn’t in the house. Neither was Snowball, and I wondered if Saber had taken her to PetSmart. If he came back with one of those huge scratching post hotels, I was arranging an intervention.
A long, leisurely shower and hair washing later, I was in a short, silky robe, flatironing my wild hair as straight as I could get it. I was just about finished, when a huge bouquet of flowers appeared, reflected in the mirror with Saber peering through the foliage.
“Happy anniversary, Princesca.”
My eyes swam with tears, and I dropped the flatiron on the counter as I turned.
“Oh, Saber.”
I touched one of the red roses mixed with white calla lilies and ferns. Then I noticed the art deco-style vase he held with his good hand, and steadied with the hand in the sling.
“Is this the vase we saw at Tuesday Morning in Ormond Beach?”
He grinned. “I found it at the store here, and took it to the florist to fill. These are the flowers you like, right?”
Dear man. “They’re perfect. Thank you.”
I took the flowers from him and leaned in for a kiss, when a white, whiskered face peeked out of Saber’s sling.
“Meow?” the kitten squeaked.
Saber pulled me the rest of the way into his body. “Never mind her. Kiss me.”
I did until I felt little claws dig into my robe. Then I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Mood spoiler,” Saber said to Snowball, before swatting my butt. “Go get dressed. I have a full schedule planned.”
When I finished my hair and makeup, I slipped into my favorite denim Capris, an icy blue bra top camisole, and sandals. The outfit was dressy enough for nearly anything Saber had planned, and with the mermaid charm tucked into my cleavage and a spray of the gardenia perfume Saber had given me for my birthday, I was ready.
My steps faltered when I entered the living room. On the coffee table were a bouquet of daises, a gallon of Publix sweet tea, a package of Fig Newtons, and three gift cards.
“The flowers,” Saber said, “are from Millie and the Jag Queens. The bookstore gift card and tea are from your tour guide friends, Janie and Mick.”