Love is a Pretty Tragedy

I never pictured myself this way on my wedding day. Unlike most girls, I really didn't have much planned for the big day. I remember Aly was always begging me to watch the newest episode of Say Yes to the Dress with her, or maybe just step into the small local wedding dress shop, just for fun. I always refused with a slight giggle, but now it was serious. This was never how I had believed it might go even when I gave a small thought to it. For one, I intended on being much older, maybe mid-20's not 18. I never wanted a big wedding, but maybe a few friends and family. I always wanted a wedding by the beach, a destination wedding, anything to get away from my hometown. Most importantly, it would be about me and my future husband, not about the dress or the floral decorations. The groom was still the same; Henry was always in my plan.

As I was gazing at myself in the mirror in the white dress with tights that I wore for senior convocation, I barely noticed Henry walk up behind me in his tux and put his hands around me. It made me jump at the surprise guest. He must have snuck in, as my parents were still clueless that I even had spoken to Henry. He instantly took his hands away and whispered, "Didn't mean to scare you." His warm breath in my ear sent a shiver down my back.

"Just a little jumpy today, you know." I gave a half smile. Henry grabbed my chin and gave me a soft kiss, just the one I needed. He returned my half smile.

"You look so beautiful," those were the only words that he needed to say. He pulled me in for a tight embrace as I tried not to cry on his suit. Just as we did so, I knew it was time to go. I didn't know where we were going. I felt the ground leave from under my feet, and then suddenly land in a field full of high grass that covered in snow. I opened my eyes to find that the location was gloomy as the clouds covered the sky, the sun could barely be seen setting in the background. It would be just a few moments before twilight, right on time. You could look around for miles in every direction without see anything but flat land.

"Where are we?" I had to ask, but Henry just shook his head. He was focused now. Out of nowhere appeared Shawn and another man that I had never seen before.

"Let's hurry this." Shawn was incredibly impatient. This was only the second time that I had seen him; however, he looked thinner and his eyes were more sunken in than I remembered. This wedding planning and clan takeover must really be taking a toll on him. Next to Henry he appeared smaller, as Henry had only become more broad shouldered since the last time I had seen the two together. As Shawn’s shoulders had completely filled the small backseat of Henry’s pickup truck the first day I saw him, I wasn’t sure if it would be the same today.

The other man seemed to dislike Shawn's attitude. "Yes, sir," was his only reply. I wasn't sure if he was on our side or not, or if he even knew what was about to happen. The man had glasses and looked quite elderly. I assumed that he had to be certified for vampire weddings; however, nothing seemed to be around from what I had seen from pictures of my parent's wedding. It seemed like the normal weddings that vampires could have in their human lives. However, this wedding was different than most.

We settled into our respective spots making footprints in the snow. Shawn stood beside the officiant, as Henry and I held hands and stood in front of them. There was a swift wind that swept through that made me wish that I had invested in a jacket. The tights were not enough to keep me warm; however, this should be a very quick ceremony. The officiant opened his book and began to read. I could tell Henry was going through the plan in his mind as his eyes were no longer focused on me. This was a plan that I wasn’t really informed of; my only instructions were to get out of the way and let Henry do what he had been training for. He was going to stab Shawn, while he was off guard, and that would be the end of it. It sounded simple enough, but unfortunately almost too simple. The officiant continued to drone on and I had lost what he was trying to say. I was becoming more nervous by the second. Henry's warm eyes were no longer meeting mine to give me any comfort. I was left to hope for the best; it was in Henry’s hands now.

"Do you Estelle Gray take this man to be your husband?" The priest-like man asked as I realized he was asking me, and that now was my time to respond.

"I do." I stared at Henry, as he smiled. He knew I truly meant it, that I would marry him anytime. The day that I proposed after my brother’s funeral; I meant it then and that feeling never truly left. Hopefully one day we would be married for the right reasons, and how we plan it.

"Do you Henry Owens take this woman to be your wife?"

"I do." Henry's eyes were glazed over, as I realized I was about to cry as well. We both knew it was coming, and all I could think about was that I finally had the last name that I had always scribbled on all my notebooks. The pages flashed in my mind, all the hearts and squiggles.

"I therefore pronounce you..." The officiant was cut off as his eyes widened as the dagger left Henry's jacket pocket. With as much force and anger that I had ever seen, Henry thrust the dagger into Shawn's heart. Henry’s face was so dark and filled with hatred that I didn’t recognize him. The motion happened so fast that my human eyes barely caught it. However, Shawn yanked Henry's hand from the knife in the same instant before withdrawing it from his own heart. You could tell he was severely damaged, but the pills that he was taking must have made it for him to survive past a one hit kill. It seemed Henry’s advisor hadn’t warned him about that as his eyes instantly went wide. He sure didn’t warn me that this might be the outcome. The officiant, or whoever he was, quickly disappeared as I turned to my right. It was better for him to leave. No innocent deserved to be hurt.

Shawn sped to Henry before he could even respond to what happened and stabbed him in the leg with the dagger. Henry cried in agony as he fell to the ground. His body made a loud thumb on the packed snow as his body sank all the way through to the bottom. The shriek that I let out must have been heard around for miles. "I told you not to betray me! And above everything you talked with my father. You aren't dying yet. I want you to watch." Shawn pulled the dagger out of Henry’s leg gradually as more and more of the poison seeped into Henry’s skin. I let out another scream, and my immediate urge was to go over and help him.

However, Shawn was slowly walking over to me, the poison or whatever was on the dagger obviously getting to him with every second. There was a hole where the dagger had been as I saw his skin around it beginning to decay. He was staggering with his mouth wide open, appearing as though he was now rabid. It seemed that at any moment foam would begin to pour out of his mouth. Soon his expression turned into a snarl, I began to back up but I knew I had nowhere to run especially in this snow. He could easily track my footsteps even if I was anywhere near fast enough. I knew my human self was nowhere near as fast I knew he could be, injured or not. As Shawn grabbed me and put the dagger to my throat. He turned me around so Henry could see. Henry’s eyes were in such pain as he was shaking his head profusely. "You waited too long, Henry." Shawn dragged the dagger across my throat just so I could feel the cold blade on my neck. My breath speed up to the point that I felt I was hyperventilating.

"Please don't." Henry begged as he flinched with pain. He had tried to wrap his leg with his jacket to apply some pressure. I saw the blade spin around and around as Shawn maneuvered it between his fingers. Each turn of the blade, my eyes followed closely.

"You are officially married. I don't even need her anymore." The last thing I saw was Henry's pleading emerald eyes before I saw another emerald jewel flash in their reflection.

Henry's POV

Estelle's body gracefully fell into the snow with blood instantly flowing everywhere. All feeling left my own body. The pain from my lower leg was completely gone. I was numb. I felt as though I had lost the desire to live. Sure, Shawn was slowly dying, but it wasn't worth it. Losing her was not an option, never an option. I was sure that I would die first. We should have thought it out better was all that was running through my mind. I put too much trust into Edmund. "Henry I thought you were smarter than this. I mean that is why I picked you.” Shawn shook his head. “She was a pretty one; it’s a shame." Shawn pursed his lips as he faked an expression of condolence.

I was no longer listening for the words that Shawn was saying. I was just waiting for my time to die. It was coming all along; I was dreading it before. Now I couldn’t wait for it to happen soon enough. The death by poison was much too slow. "Please just kill me."

"I told you it wasn't going to be that easy." Shawn taunted. "Hmm...I really wasn't expecting this, you know? I thought you were loyal, especially after I found you out. You were so diligent these past few months. I didn’t even realize that you had spoken to my father until I noticed the dagger was gone from my father’s possessions.” Shawn took a deep breath – he felt like he had outsmarted everyone.

“Of course, I had to keep a close eye on it as I knew it was the only thing that could kill me. He thought I didn’t even know where he kept it. That poor old man, so delusional.” Shawn paused, and began pacing even though he was grasping his chest. I could tell it was spreading throughout his whole body. Pacing would forever be his favorite activity, even as he was slowly dying. Shawn was always one for a monologue.

“It would have really been a favorable life for you two; well at least until I killed you both. You two would have had several weeks of bliss, but I guess you were always very stubborn and more than ready to ruin my plans. It would have been a less painful death." Shawn began to cough; he then seemed to realize that his long speeches needed to end here otherwise he would not make it back to heal himself. "You did some damage, I suppose."

Shawn turned around to find the dagger that he had left in Estelle’s heart, and just then was the first time I had even dared to look at Estelle's body again. To both of our surprises, she was gone. "Where did she go?" Shawn glared at me, as if I had any idea. "Where DID SHE GO?" He screamed now, as he came over to me and squeezed my neck. "I'm still stronger than you." His grip got tighter as it felt he was about to twist my head off. "I always will --" His grip instantly loosened let go. I looked up to find Estelle jabbing him several times in the back. The shrieks, screams and grunts that she let out made her seem like a girl that I didn’t recognize. A girl that was getting the revenged she deserved. More than anything her eyes were changed, they had such hate in them.

Shawn’s dark eyes were filled with astonishment more than anything. There was not even a scream. He had finally believed that he had won, only to be bested one last time. I wasn’t sure if our plan would work. I knew we had to have a back-up plan. She needed to have vampire blood in her system – my blood. Not exactly our type of kink, but it worked. It was still in her system when she died, and now she was a vampire. When she didn’t get up I was worried, the dagger would prevent that.

Shawn fell down with his hands still around my neck. I slowly removed them then raised my eyes to Estelle. She has a look of confusion and hunger as dropped the dagger. She panted loudly, and I finally got a good look at her and her new fangs.

She seemed lost and gone; however, her kind brown eyes were still there as I felt mine were fading. Estelle bent down at me and looked at me in a new awe. Her glance instantly flashed to my decaying leg as the poison was completely engulfing it. My vision began to become blurry as I could feel toxin crawling up my throat, eventually to hit my brain. If it wasn’t for the pills, I knew I would be long gone. Her face scrunched up, “How can I heal you?” She had heard Shawn say those words. I could barely speak the words that I knew couldn’t happen. “Edmund is the only one that could.”

There was a panic look in her eyes as she realized the same as I did. There was no way for us to get to him; this was the end for me. I closed my eyes as the pain was now coming back even stronger than before as it was now my whole body; the numbness had disappeared. I barely heard the snow crunch as Estelle walked over to Shawn’s limp body. I was sure I was no longer seeing straight as it appeared that she had found a little white bottle in his coat pocket, a little white bottle I recognized too clearly. I tried to focus, but instead the pain overtook all of my senses. I screamed in agony before my breathing slowed. I didn’t know where she had gone, but these were the words I wanted her to remember me by. I barely had the energy to say it, as it seemed it might have come out softer than a whisper, but I managed to say my four favorite words, “I love you babe,” before everything went black.