Faith Maria Winter

The next year was exactly like that. Marcus and Isaac barely spoke to me or Blake. When I woke up at night, they’d be gone and it would be just me and Blake. We’d hunt together and when we’d get back, Isaac and Marcus would be there ahead of us. They’d ignore us, but Blake and I didn’t really mind. We had each other, and no interruptions, which was nice.

I woke up to the smiling face of Blake. Isaac and Marcus were gone already, and I was ready for some vampire fun with the one person that made me feel calm.

“Hello, sleepy head,” Blake greeted me with an unexpected kiss on the cheek. I felt my cheeks warm as I blushed. Blake laughed, “I have a surprise for you,”

“Oh?” I was suddenly feeling excited, “I like surprises,”

Blake took my hand and led me out of the crypt. It was a warm spring night, very unusual for this time of year. The leaves hadn’t begun to grow yet, nor the flowers. There was no moon or wind. It was a bit disturbing to me. This night was too unreal.

“I felt that the mausoleum was too depressing to do this,” he told me.

“Do what?” I asked.

Blake fell to one knee, keeping hold of my hand. My eyes widened as he took a gold ring from his pocket. He slipped the ring onto my finger on my left hand, his smile wide and excited. He looked up, into my scared black eyes. His calm silver eyes brought me no comfort.

“Faith,” he started, “Something about you...I loved you the moment I saw you,”

I felt my heart in my chest. It was getting heavy, like it might begin to beat again. I was so frightened. My stomach fluttered, and without even thinking, my hand was covering my mouth, holding in my gasps.

“You are too wonderful, even for me, but I’m hoping that I’m good enough for you…” Blake stared at me, waiting for an answer.

“Blake...I…” I couldn’t breathe. I wasn’t sure what to say. Even though we’d been together so long, I had never thought about marriage. Never. The incident with Logan still hurt everyday. I loved Blake, but if I ever saw Logan again, I knew I’d throw myself onto him. Leaving anything behind, even Blake, “Blake, you don’t want me,” I said, my voice cracking. I felt tears in my eyes.

“Yes, I do,” he stood up and wiped a tear off my cheek, “Faith, you’re not as broken as you think,”

I smiled. It wasn’t large, or very noticeable. Blake saw it and his own smile widened. That’s how I knew he truly did want me, no matter how crazy I was. He noticed that tiny smile, before my own brain had even processed it.

“Then...yes,” I said, my smile growing and more tears forming, “I will marry you!”

Blake’s face lit up. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my lips against his. At first, I was hesitant, fearful. I knew how fragile I was, especially when it came to my heart. Blake understood this, and seemed glad enough to have gotten this small kiss. It was enough.

A memory came to mind, a memory that I had avoided for 40 years. It was Logan telling me that he loved me. Telling me to kill Blake. As lovers, we must share a common enemy.

This would mean that Blake and I share enemies. Logan is my enemy and Isaac is his…

I pulled back, and looked into Blake’s happy face.

“I love you,” he told me.

“And I you,”

He kissed my forehead, and I sighed.

“Something wrong?” he asked, a sudden look of pain on his face.

“People who love each other must share everything,” I told him, “Thoughts, dreams, hopes, enemies…”

“Oh…” Blake understood what I meant, “That’s fine with me,”

“Pardon me? You’re okay with...your friends being your enemies?”

“I love you,”

“I know, I mean-” I started, but Blake put his finger on my mouth, chuckling.

“All I want is to be with you until the end of time. I don’t care what I have to do to get my wish,”

My face lit up, “You mean it?”

“Of course,”

The rest of the night felt like a dream. We held hands and we kissed over and over. Even while we were drinking the blood of two frightened men, the air around us was romantic. For the first time in my life, I couldn’t take my eyes off Blake. It was as if he had opened my heart by asking for my hand. It took him 40 years, but Blake fixed me. If I could feel any stronger for him than I did that night, I knew that my heart would explode from my chest. Never did I think I could feel this. Such passion. When we ran side by side, our hands would sometimes gently touch for just the slightest moment, and it made it so incredibly hard for me to breathe. I couldn’t stop smiling, even with the gruesome deaths at our feet from our victims. I’d enjoyed my time with Blake before, but never like this. Words cannot describe what I felt. No one can even understand it until they’ve felt love like I have.

Blake and I decided it’d be best if we got married as soon as possible. We had to leave without telling Isaac or Marcus, which would be hard for Blake. I felt slightly bad. I was so selfish, taking Blake away from his friends like this. I could try to get along with Isaac and Marcus, but I didn’t want to. I wanted Blake all to myself, I wouldn’t settle for any less.

We would elope, though I strongly hated the idea. The idea of having a secret wedding was so scandalous for someone from my world. If my father were still alive, he would surely disapprove this wedding. He’d probably disown me, but as vampires, what else can we do? Especially because we are going to leave right after. We have to be sneaky.

Tomorrow, we’d elope. Blake knew where to go, apparently he’d already looked into this. So tonight, we went looking for the perfect wedding dress. Of course, all stores were closed, but that didn’t stop us. Blake and I knew that he wasn’t supposed to see me in the dress before the wedding, but we decided that those rules don’t apply to us, vampires.

I found the perfect dress. The colour was off-white, made of silk. It hugged my body, and flared out slightly toward the ground. The arms of the dress had a ruffle at the end of them. The top of the dress, the corset, had one tiny rose etched in with red fabric. The dress was unique and simple, and so elegant in my eyes I just had to take it. I tried it on, it was slightly big, but that was an easy fix. I took the dress to the back room, where the dresses were actually made, and hemmed it myself. I was grateful to my parents for teaching me sewing, grateful for the first time. I’d always thought of sewing as a peasant hobby.

“There,” I mumbled to myself, trying the dress back on. Blake admired it on me, as did I. I looked myself over in the mirror, shocked at how beautiful the dress was.

“You look absolutely stunning,” Blake told me.

“It is a nice gown,”

“I think it’s you that makes it so wonderful,” Blake laughed, “You are too modest. I don’t think you realize just how lovely you truly are,”

“I’m a vampire. I can’t help but be beautiful,”

Blake sighed, chuckling a bit. He turned around and left me to change out of the dress.

I smiled to myself, turning to face the mirror once more. It was an odd thing, my reflection. Such a pale statue. I had scars on my neck and wrist, from where Blake and Logan had bitten me. Sometimes I look at my reflection and gawk, still in awe of my body, even though I’d had it for many years.

I took off the wedding gown, my wedding gown, and put on my black dress. It wasn’t anything fancy. It was just black. It had no sleeves and was slim at my top while it flowed out at the bottom. The dress went right past my knees. I didn’t bother to wear shoes anymore. My outfit didn’t look very sophisticated, but something about the black contrasting my white skin made the simple piece of fabric seem like a gown for a queen.

Blake is right, I thought, walking out of the back room. I smiled at Blake and we walked out together.

We arrived at the crypt like any other night. Blake made me take off the wedding ring before we entered. He would hide it in his pocket until the next night, when I would become his bride. I felt glum that I couldn’t wear it now, but Isaac and Marcus couldn’t know anything about our wedding. Tomorrow, Blake and I would leave like any other night, and we’d never come back.

The next night I practically jumped out of my coffin. Blake was waiting for me, seeming calmer than I’d have expected.

“Hello,” he said simply. I walked over to kiss him, but he stopped me, “Act like yourself, please,”

“Excuse me?” I stared at him, shocked and hurt.

“If Isaac or Marcus came back suddenly and you were acting like this, you would seem suspicious of something,”

“Oh...well...you better start acting like yourself then. You are far too calm,” I told Blake. We looked at each other in silence for a few seconds before bursting into laughter.

We left the crypt, both giddy. Isaac and Marcus were nowhere to be found, so we were free to be excited. Blake took me back to the store with my dress. I had been nervous that something happened to it. Like the owner of the dress had her wedding that day, and it was gone. Or the tailor noticed it was smaller and she fixed it. I was relieved to see that it still fit.

I quickly put it on, and hid my black dress in a corner of the room. I’d get it back before anyone came in.

I had always expected that getting eloped would be frightfully difficult. I almost laughed when Blake took me to the chapel.

“You’re going to just have the priest do it?” I asked, “I always expected that there would be a place for eloping,”

“I came at dawn and asked him. I gave him a story like Romeo and Juliet. He accepted it and agreed to marry us,”

“It’s that easy?”

“It can be,”

I smiled and took his arm. We walked into the holy building. The empty rows still smelled like humans. The colourful windows shinning streaks of moonlight in colourful patterns against the floor. The priest was ready when we entered. He had a book in his hand and had candles already lit around him.

“Welcome, children,” the priest said with a powerful voice. Blake and I approached him, Blake seeming calmer than I.

“We thank you, Father,” Blake said, taking from his pocket two rings.

“Indeed, we do,” I thanked, smiling as the priest took the rings from Blake and readied the ceremony.

It was a fast wedding, and not at all like the wedding I had pictured in my head. We had no vows, and there was no mass to accompany the ceremony. Basically, the priest asked us if “we do?” and then allowed us to put the rings back on. We kissed and thanked the priest, and then left.

Blake and I walked slowly as we started back to the shop. Blake’s arm was around my waist and I clung to him lovingly. He guided me, for my eyes were closed. I kept watching my wedding over in my head, smiling wildly.

Just as I had expected, my dress was where it should’ve been. I changed clothes and Blake and I left. For our amusement, we decided to drink the priest’s blood that night. We laughed and giggled as we imagined his face when we killed him.

We walked into the church to see the priest still putting out candles. He turned to us and smiled as we walked over to him.

“We wanted to thank you again,” I said, opening my arms. I gave the priest a grand hug. Blake’s laughter gave me the okay to kill him. Before the priest could ask Blake what was so amusing, I bit into his neck. He cried out in pain, and started accusing us of being the devil. I let him go. He staggered a bit, then held up his cross to me. I laughed and pushed him into Blake.

“Demons!” he shouted as Blake took hold of his arms, biting into his neck, “You will suffer...for...this…” his eyes started to close as Blake took his life, “...Hell…”

Blake dropped the priest. I bent down over him and made the sign of the cross.

“May you have peace in Heaven,” I said, standing up, “I may you see us when we wave to you from hell,”

Blake laughed with me as we walked out of the small chapel. I had barely stepped out the door before I felt a power kick to my side. I fell onto Blake, knocking him over from the force. I landed on him, wondering what had just happened. It didn’t take me long to figure it out. I felt Isaac’s grip on my ankle and my eyes shot open. He dragged me away from Blake, and Marcus kicked Blake back to the ground as he tried to help me.