My Guardian Vampire

Eventually I got the dress on, and Tonya and Amber began to do my hair and make up. Though I had already washed my hair, Tonya made me go to the sink and let her do it again. She put a strong lemon-smelling soap into my hair, and the dye began to finally wash out. When she was done, my hair was basically the same color as it had been before New York—possibly even a little lighter than before.

I got my tiara with attached veil on, and sighed as I was finally done. I had picked out my dress long before; it wasn’t a huge formal gown, but wasn’t totally informal either. I felt had just the right amount of poof and design so it was simple, yet pretty. I wasn’t big on the over-elegant designs.

I looked around and saw my friends had dressed up. The colors they were wearing were the same to match the theme: white, red, and black, but their designs were all different.

“How the hell did they get clothed?” I asked, looking around.

“Tonya can sew really, really fast. And I’m not so bad myself.”

Brittany had on a Helena-like dress; the main difference I could tell out of memory was a flower on the right side of her chest that was white but with the petals bleeding into red and white, totally beautiful.

“I made the flower,” Brittany said, smiling as she saw me looking at hers.

Katy's dress was white and red satin, random designs of black flowers falling thrown into the mix. Casey’s was a similar red and white base design, but instead of flowers had a black and red silk trimming, making it look shiny and impressive.

Grace and Jenn did not have dresses at all; instead, they had gone with the pants option. Grace’s outfit was almost purely black satin, the only exceptions being red buttons for the sleeveless shit, making it look like an almost Chinese outfit. Jenn had a red and white outfit with black trimming.

They obviously did not have shoes to match, but I figured shoes would have been much harder to make. I laughed as I saw the collection of sneakers, boots, and converses on my friends’ feet.

"This is amazing Moms," I said, stunned.

"Thank you hun," Tonya said as she and Amber appeared next to me. I hadn't realized they had left, but in a matter of moments they had gotten themselves dressed. Amber was in a very classic punk dress, complete with plaid and chains. Tonya had a "Punk's not dead" dress on.

"Moms?" Casey asked, confused. I laughed, and we walked out of the room with the bodyguards following us now we were finished getting ready.

The panic as we left suddenly hit me, giving me a sucker-punch in the stomach. I tried to breathe through it as we walked through the halls, all of us suddenly silent. My heart began to pound very fast, and I had a sudden extreme urge to flee, right now, while I still had a chance. The panic started to become so strong-

"Ugh..." I moaned, bending over while grabbing my stomach. Tonya and Amber bent over with me, pulling the hair out of my face.

"What's a matter?"

"I don't feel very well..."

"Should we get someone?" Bobby asked. Eric held up his hand.

"No, this could be a trick," he said, and after this I just moaned louder.

"I can't do this, I can't be married, I think I'm gonna puke," I said, then moaned again, going to the floor. "I think I might need a bucket."

Eric seemed to still not believe my pain.

"Fine. Bobby, get a bucket, quickly."

"But where the hell am I going to get a bucket?"

I moaned again.

"Just hurry!" Eric said.

Bobby took off, and I let my body rest on the floor, still grabbing my stomach. Eric seemed to stare at me.

"Well, just don't stare, help us!" Tonya said as she grabbed my arm to help me up in a sitting position. Eric went over, and leaned down to grab my arm.

At that moment, I punched him in the balls.

Hard.

From a short range.

"Loser," I laughed as I stood up.

Playing sick had worked on Gerard and Frankie, back so very very long ago after I first met them.

'It seems to work on all vampires,' I thought, laughing inside my head. 'They all think we're so feeble."

Tonya and Amber sprung into action, Tonya holding him down as Amber kicked him in the stomach.

"Run!" Amber yelled in between kicks.

I didn't need to be told twice.

We all ran fast out the door, my stupid wedding dress weighing me down. I was extremely thankful I hadn't gone with the heavier dress.

I had only made it out a few feet before I slammed into something.

It was a guy, most likely a vampire.

Damn.

"Back inside. Nice try, I might add."

A guard.

Double Damn.

"Uhm, oh god, my stomach hurts?" I complained in a questioning matter, praying that he would be stupid enough to buy it. He shook his head.

No buy.

He ushered my group inside.

"Tonya? Amber? Stop playing with Eric."

"Aww," Amber sighed, breathing heavily. She was getting a real workout. "Ya take away all the fun."

"It's my job. Now stop kicking him and help him up, will you?"

"Yessir Damien sir..." Amber and Tonya muttered, sitting Eric up. He looked unconscious.

"Now, I believe since everyone is ready, the wedding can begin?" Damien asked. Most of my friends nodded, being totally silent and wide-eyed in front of Damien. For some reason he gave off the authority-parent vibe. If everything went according to plan, all was good, but if you stepped out of line-

"I'm not ready for this," I said, the misbehaving child in the group. I was never too fond of parental authority.

"My dear, you're the bride, of course you're not ready," Damien said. "And from what I hear, you're a human too. No one is quite ever ready to give up their mortality. But rest assured, Billie is one of the best of the best, and a very worthy husband."

"Don't you know I don't want to marry him?" I said, throwing my arms about, playing up the stubborn child role. He chuckled as if this was an everyday thing. I would not be beaten by some stupid guy! "I've been kidnapped, almost killed on numerous occasions, endangered the lives of my friends and the ones I love, and been torn away from the guy I truly love. This is insane!"

Damien laughed again, rolling his eyes.

"Love is quite insane my dear. Billie has never steered wrong before, and you'll see soon."

"Bullshit!" I yelled, and then heard Tonya and Amber let out a small gasp. They were suddenly on either side of me, pulling at my arms.

"Ali!" Amber whispered, "This guy is big, seriously big. Don't get him angry. He's worse than you can imagine, worse than Billie."

"I don't give a fuck!" I yelled, shaking them off my arms. "If he's worse than Billie Joe, why the hell should I care? I'm not getting married to him." I moved closer to the guy, glaring and getting up in his face. "Give me one reason my foot shouldn't be up your ass right now. And don't say because you could kill me, because that's not a fucking different ultimatum."

"I don't have a reason," he said, smiling. "My, you have some spirit. I see what Billie was talking about."

"My spirit is none of your business. It's not polite to talk behind people's backs, and since you seem so goddamn uptight, I'm sure you couldn't get that pole out of your ass long enough to betray your superior status with such a low, human like crime, right?"

"Crime? What crime is it to talk about a friend's dearly beloved?"

"I'm not his goddamn dearly beloved! I hate the fucking bastard, and I swear if I ever get the chance I'll-"

"Okay, that's enough," he said. He said it so simply, as if I would follow. I looked at him like he was crazy.

"Enough? I'll tell you what's enough-"

"Ali..." Tonya whispered, tugging at my dress.

"Don't 'Ali' me. We should be allowed to speak whenever the hell we want to, not when some stupid vampire-"

"Ali," Tonya said, tugging harder at my dress.

"-dictates us to. If he wanted to kill me, he'd do it right now, but it would be pointless. And still, we fear him just because of a threat. How can anyone live under fear like-"

"Ali!" Tonya yelled.

Damien suddenly put up his hand.

"No Tonya, don't worry. I will not hurt her, though eventually, if she wants to survive her second life, she will learn control. But now, it is time for the wedding." Damien walked away, and Tonya and Amber started to pull me towards the direction he was walking.

"What are you guys doing?" I asked, panicked.

"Ali, at the moment following him isn't a choice," Tonya said. Amber nodded.

"It's true. Even I know when it's time ta follow the big kahuna. There's no point in being dead while you still had another chance to live."

"Who was he?" Casey asked. I had never really asked myself that question.

"He's the priest."

"The priest?" Brittany asked, looking at Tonya and Amber like they were crazy. "Why the hell should we be afraid of a priest?"

"Not your kind of priest," Tonya said, looking straight ahead while keeping an even distance between us and Damien. "It's not even a priest at all. We just use that term so it's easier to understand the basics of it. Really, to be a priest and "wed" vampires, or a vampire and a human I guess, you have to be extremely powerful. Like one of the powerful vampires there are."

"Oh, so that's why you were pulling at my sleeve," I said. "Billie said he was a priest also."

"You bet your ass he is," Amber said. "The second most powerful out there."

"Second?" Katy asked. "Let me guess, Damien is number one?"

"Yes indeed," Tonya said, nodding. Damien had stopped in front of a series of huge double doors, the carvings on them both detailed and large. Our group stopped behind him.

"Once the music starts, you're on," Damien said, and opened the doors, walking through them. All I could see was that the doors led to a small room, with what looked like even bigger doors leading to another room.

The doors closed, and I sighed.

"This is it," I said, lowering my head and taking a couple of deep breaths.

"Ali, nothing changes," Katy said. "No matter what happens, we will love you the same."

"But... But what if I change?" I asked, tearing up.

"Then we'll wait 'till you're our Gytha again," she said, and hugged me. I hugged each of my friends individually, as if I were saying goodbye for a long vacation. I got to Tonya last, as she had stayed away during the hugging.

"Ali... I wasn't supposed to tell you to make you not afraid, but I think you should know..."

"Tonya..." Amber warned. Tonya looked at Amber a moment, and proceeded.

"A human and vampire wedding... Well, it's never been really successfully done before."