Bella Vita (20 page)

I struggled to do what he asked. It took
considerable effort to get my eyelids up, but I managed partway.
“What's wrong?”

“
I think you're blood
drunk.” He laughed.

“
I'm not drunk.” But as
soon as the words were out, I felt they were false.

“
You've never consumed so
much blood, or had any taken from you. I'm sorry. I think we need
to stop for now.” He pulled me back and rolled me onto my
back.

“
Huh?” I was confused and
felt slightly rejected. I pouted.

“
Aw,
mia bella
. It isn't you. I want you
to enjoy this, but I want you to remember it as well. If we
continue you won't remember and you'll be very sick in the
morning.” He kissed my forehead and moved the hair out of my
face.

My heart sank, but I suddenly felt overcome
by sleepiness.

“
Kay.” I said as I snuggled
up against him.

“
That's my girl.” His voice
was soothing and calm.

I slowly drifted off into a dark sleep.

When I woke up in the morning I felt worse
than I had ever felt in my entire life. I vaguely remembered the
night before, and how Dom had told me I would feel bad. I couldn't
imagine feeling any worse. I rolled over, and my hand hit Dom's
chest.

“
Morning beautiful.” He
smiled at me.

“
Uh, I wouldn't say that.”
I cringed as I moved.

“
So I didn't stop soon
enough. I'm sorry, my love.” His eyes were like shining
emeralds.

“
Ugh.” I threw the pillow
over my head.

“
I'd suggest that you stay
in bed today.” He slowly got out of bed- his entire body seemed to
glow.

“
I think that is a good
idea.” I mumbled under the pillow.

“
You'll probably be
nauseous if you get up, you should stay here as long as possible.
I'll be back soon, my love.” He kissed my forehead
lightly.

The mere thought of getting out of bed made
me want to crawl under the bed and die. But my bladder didn't agree
with me. I slowly moved out of my bed and my stomach dropped into
my toes and churned violently. I lurched toward the bathroom-
fumbling with the button on the wall to get it open. I barely made
it to the toilet before I hurled everything up.

Once my stomach had calmed down enough for
me to move, I washed my face, peed, and crawled back in bed. I went
back to sleep within moments.

Dominic came in later with a glass of water
and crackers. I didn't even want to think of putting something else
in my stomach for fear that it might come back up. I sipped the
water and waited a minute. I was okay. I bit into the cracker and
my stomach rolled.

“
Mia bella,
I have a solution, but I'm not sure if you would
want to.” He held my hand as I broke out in another round of
sweating.

“
Why wouldn't I want to
stop feeling like this?” I was trying hard not to whine.

“
The way you treat this is
similar to a hangover. Just a small amount of blood will help it
pass.” He gently brushed the hair from my face.

“
Will it create a cycle?” I
really didn't want to create a dependence on Dom's
blood.

“
No,
mia bella
. It will merely help you
heal, especially after the amount of blood you've lost and thrown
up.” He smiled as he made a small cut on his wrist.

The smell instantly had my stomach growling.
A desire whipped through my body that physically shocked my system.
I needed his blood, I craved it more than I had needed to breathe
as a human. My fangs descended into my bottom lip. I knew I
couldn't fight the need or want any longer. He placed his wrist to
my lips and I latched on. The relief was instant. My head cleared
and my body stopped shaking. Once I felt more like myself I was
able to let go- even if it took great effort.

“
Thank you.” I took his
wrist and healed the wound.

“
As I told you before, for
you the moon.” He smiled again.

“
Now we need to go eat
dinner. Tomorrow you have your fitting.” He took my hand and helped
me from the bed.

“
No, we. We have our
fitting.” I corrected him. I was reluctant to get out of the bed or
to fill myself with food.

“
You'll be fine.” I smiled
at his words.

“
I know.” I felt much
better and I knew that tonight as well as tomorrow would pass
easily.

When we got to the kitchen, there was a
small dinner set out for us. I knew that the bottle on the table
was full of blood wine. I hoped that it wouldn't create more
problems for me.

I ate slowly and made sure
that everything was staying down as it went. The blood wine was the
perfect balance for my shocked system.
Leave it to Dominic to set up the perfect dinner for me after
such a rough day
. I smiled at
him.

“
We should go to bed early
tonight.” He smiled back.

“
I totally agree.” I still
felt really drained.

“
You should feel fine
tomorrow. Your body is trying to replace the blood you lost last
night. Just so you know, your sheets have been changed.” He sipped
on his wine.

“
Thank you. I hadn't even
thought to change them.” It was so nice to have him with
me.

“
There was some staining
last night. I think we will need to replace them. I'm sorry.” Dom's
eyes held guilt.

“
Oh, that's fine. I'm sure
I have another set like them somewhere.” I smiled at
him.

He laughed. “I love you, Emma.”

“
I love you too, Dominic.”
I felt full and tired.

“
Let's go to bed.” He
helped me back up the stairs and into my room. I pulled on a fresh
pair of jammies and crawled into the bed.

“
You can stay if you want.”
I patted the bed next to me.

“
I think I would like to.”
He pulled off his shirt, jeans, and climbed in beside me in just
his boxers.

“
Goodnight, Dom.” I kissed
his lips gently.

“
Goodnight,
mia bell
a.” He kissed me
back softly.

His deeper breaths reached me before I fell
into consciousness- he was asleep. It was nice to fall asleep next
to him. I soon joined him in deep slumber.

My alarm blared away next to me. I silently
thought of throwing it against the floor, but decided it wasn't
such a good idea. Dom got out of bed and turned it off. He kissed
my forehead.

“
Time to face the day, Em.”
He said as I reached up to pull him back into the bed.

“
Five more minutes.” I
kissed him hard.

“
Ah, I doubt that would
take five more minutes.” He pulled away gently.

“
Aw, fine.” I pouted and
threw back the blanket.

I got out of bed as he left the room. I
pulled out some black yoga pants and a black tank top and headed to
the bathroom.

The shower was just enough to wake me up. I
didn't style my hair or put on makeup. I knew today I would be
standing like a living doll as the baseline to my dress was fitted
to me. I pulled on my well worn black Chucks and went
downstairs.

Dom was sitting at the kitchen table with a
cup of coffee in his hand as he read the paper.

“
Hey Professor, anything
important going on in the world?” I teased him as I made a quick
cup of cocoa.

“
Our engagement has been
announced. As well as the date we're to be married.” He sighed and
handed me the section.

“Joy, oh, joy.” I made a
face at the paper. I really didn't understand the point of
newspaper announcements, everyone that needed to know would get
their invitation.

“Don't look so sad, it's
only our wedding.” He laughed.

“Oh, I'm not sad, I just
think these things are stupid and a waste of space.” I tossed the
paper down onto the table and grabbed a bagel.

“Well, our families went to
a lot of trouble to get it in with these announcements. They were
trying to get it sooner, but the paper only releases one every
week.” He sighed and shook his head.

I glanced at the clock and realized it was
time to go.

“Okay sunshine, it's time
to go- otherwise we'll be late.” I got up and went for my
keys.

“I would like to drive if
you don't mind.” He smiled at me.

“Okay, but can we take your
bike then.” I batted my lashes at him.

“Would I deny you
anything?” He laughed.

“Maybe if it would hurt
me... no, probably not.” I giggled at him.

“Let's go.” He led the way
out to his bike.

The drive was pleasant. The morning overcast
allowed for a nice freshness to cling to the air. We arrived on
time, but it took a good five minutes to get Dominic into the
building.

“I don't know what the
devil is wrong with you, but if you don't get fitted then we're not
getting married.” I finally resorted to saying.

“Fine.” He was pouting as
he walked up the narrow staircase.

I laughed at him.

The room we stepped out into was a
workspace. It was the place of a seamstress. There were racks of
material and clothing everywhere. The woman had several sewing
machines set up all over the west wall. The east wall was all
windows. In the middle of the room was a mannequin with my dress
on. Whereas I thought it would have been just the base of the
dress, it was the entire thing. It looked like my drawing. It was a
strapped corset bodice on a long trained dress. The material was a
black satin, except for the centers of the bodice and center of the
front and train of the dress- those were a rich deep red.

“Dom, don't look.” I
blurted out.

“What?” He looked at
me.

“You can't see my dress
before the wedding, it's bad luck.” I pleaded with him with my
eyes.

“Okay, I'll just look at
you.” He turned his body so he was standing looking at me and the
east wall.

“Thank you.” I
sighed.

“So you're here now.” A
British woman stepped out from behind one of the many rows of
material.

“Yes, ma'am.” Dom tried to
turn to follow the voice, but I stopped him and shook my head at
him.

“Oh, let me move that so he
doesn't see it.” The woman said as she pushed my dress behind a
curtained off area, I was very thankful for what she
did.

“Thank you.” I smiled at
her and let go of Dom's arm.

“Don't you fret. It is a
common belief. I'm seamstress Amelia.” She shook my hand first and
then Dom's.

“I'm Emma and this is
Dominic.” I smiled at the woman with purple hair and violet
eyes.

“The pleasure is all mine.
Now to get to work. Dominic, you won't be in this room with us
womenfolk- you'll be through that door right there working with
Javier. He's a sweetie, so don't you worry your pretty little
head.” She patted Dom on the arm and shooed him away.

“Wow, you handled that
really well.” I laughed.

“Well, you two are not the
first rushed vamp couple to come through here. On to our business,
let's make you a bride.” She smiled at me and I realized that her
fangs were jeweled.

“I, um, didn't realize that
you would have so much done already.” I stammered at
her.

“Yes, well, the vamp
weddings take priority over the everyday work I do. So since I was
brought onto the project I've only worked on the bridal party's
attire.” She led me to the curtained area.

“Wow.” I said as I saw the
fine detail on the dress of sparkly beaded spiderwebs.

“Yep. Made-to-order.
Halloween-wedding inspired. I'm glad you like it. Now strip down so
I can make sure I was accurate.” She disappeared through part of
the curtain and left me standing there.

I pulled off my clothes and stood there in
my black bra and bright green boy shorts. The area was warm enough
to stand around half-naked, but I still felt self conscious.

“No room for modesty here,
sweetheart.” Amelia bustled back in with pincushions on both her
wrists and marking pencil behind her ear.

I blushed.

“Now, let's get started.
When I hold this down I want you just to step into the middle and
stand there. I'll help you get it on. The seams are only temporary
and need to be reinforced. I just wanted to make sure that it fit
properly.” She took the dress off the mannequin and laid it on the
floor with a perfect circle for me to step into.

I did as I was told. She pulled the delicate
garment up slowly. It fit like a glove. She turned for a second and
came back around with the train of the dress. The beautiful crimson
color was going to be held onto the back by a large black bow. She
attached the piece after zipping me into the gown. It was
beautiful.

“One more thing. I just
need you to look over the veil.” There was a large black box she
pulled closer to me and lifted the lid off. Inside was a long black
veil that had more sewn-on beading that created a magnificent
spiderweb design all over it. It was perfect.