Bella Vita (41 page)

Are you sure?
I wasn't sure how he knew what was going
on.

Yep. I know she won't
tell.
His voice was confident, I wasn't
sure if I would hear from him today.

“
Okay, Mike said I could
tell you. He's a werewolf.” I sighed.

“
Wait, what? How did Mike
say anything? Werewolf?” She swallowed.

“
Yep. And him and I are
blood bonded.” I smiled at her.

“
I'm not even going to
ask.” She shook her head.

“
It's kinda hard to
explain, I think... maybe it's easy and I just don't realize it.” I
shrugged.

“
I really don't wanna know,
I swear.” Kelly looked like she might burst if I told her anything
else.

“
So, eh, when did you
figure out you were a witch?” I was generally curious about her
ability.

“
Oh, I've always known,
it's passed down in my family.” She beamed.

“
Wow, that's kinda freaky,
but cool too, ya know?” I didn't exactly know how I felt about my
friend having a lifelong secret and knowing about it, when I had
one without knowing for so long.

“
Okay, so like, enough
chitchat, we've got to get you into some sorta clothes and out the
door!” Kelly's squeal was of excitement, but I didn't feel the same
way.

“
I know, I know. I'm
moving. Jeesh, you guys are worse than the army.” I rolled my eyes
as I rolled out of bed.
Why do we have to
start already?

“
Come on... I wanna see
what happens next! You've gotta cheer up too. I mean, seriously,
it's your wedding day! HELLO!” Kelly gently shook my shoulders-
like it would snap me out of whatever funk I was in, I merely tried
to smile in return- the world just wasn't sitting right
today.

Mike?
I sent the message to him before I even realized what I was
doing.

Sup?
I felt my lips pull back into a familiar smile.

I'm feeling funky. Am I,
you know, doing the right thing?
I felt so
completely and utterly lost on the day that was supposed to be what
all girls dream of.

No one can really answer
that question but you, Em. You know that. But you also know that
you'll always have me- even if I end up married to a
she-Bitch..
I could feel him rolling his
eyes.

She's still pissed?
I laughed slightly.

That is an understatement.
And before you even ask, yes, we're still going to get
married.
I could feel that he was having
the same thoughts that I was- the maybes and what ifs.

I'm sorry, that she is, you
know...
I didn't really know how to phrase
what was going on with Acacia- I only had one side of the
story.

It will pass. She is one of
those people who rage until they have spent themselves and then
they're right as rain.
I could picture his
shrug as he said this.

Okay, but know that you
always have a sanctuary from her- always.
It was the best I could do.

Now, how about you go and
get your beautiful arse ready for your freaking awesome wedding and
stop spending time in your mind- I'm sure that you're totally
ignoring Kel, you know she flew in from here.
Mike was forcing me to face these fears of mine and to do it
the way I should- with composure.

Really? I thought it was
somewhere else. Hmm. Okay, I love you.
I
didn't know what else to say.

I love you, Mrs.
DeDominico.
I could hear the slight
annoyance in his tone and I let the connect slide back into the
recesses of my mind.

“
So, what were you doing in
Ireland?” I asked now curious.

“
I was, eh, learning some
of the punk culture in England and popped over to see Mike.” Her
answer was honest enough, but it wasn't entirely truthful- I let it
drop.

“
Okay, so where are we
supposed to be going?” I blinked slowly- feeling every fiber of my
being yearning to head back to my bed.

“
Well, now that your lazy
ass is dressed, we're heading down to the car that is waiting for
us.” She practically squealed again.

I let her led me out of my room and down to
the car. Dom was nowhere to be seen, so I sent him a silent
bye.

As soon as we were out of the house, my
world was thrown into a whirlwind of activity. My mind felt numb,
while my body was being molded into what was originally agreed on.
I'm secretly glad that I had the forethought to make all of these
arrangements in advance. I don't think that I would've been much
help to anyone if anything serious needed to be addressed.

“
Okay, Earth to Emma?”
Kelly said as she snapped her jungle red nail polish at
me.

“
Huh?” I felt like I was
walking in Jell-o.

“
Where are you? What's
going on in that mind of yours?” Her bright eyes were shaded with
concern.

“
I don't know. I'm just
still outta sorts. I'll be fine.” My voice was balanced and
completely wrong.

“
Yeah, right. What the hell
is really wrong? Are you having second thoughts?” She looked over
both her shoulders before she whispered the last question to
me.

“
I don't even know how or
where to begin...” I suddenly felt lost and so confused.

“
Okay, we will handle
this.” Kelly told the women working on us that we needed a moment
and had some strong coffee brought in, “okay, talk to
me.”

I looked at the face of my best friend, the
only person that knew my secrets besides the other vampires, and
burst into tears.

“
Oh, honey... you'll ruin
your makeup.” She cooed at me as she stroked my hair.

“
I... just... don't know...
what the... hell... I am... doing... any... more.” I wailed at
her.

“
No one does. But this is a
big step if you don't think it's the right one.” She tilted my head
to look in my eyes.

“
I know I'm doing the right
thing. It's just that I'm like a split person. I love Mike and I
love Dom... just as I love my people, and this stupid prophecy is
fucking ruling my life!” I grumbled in exasperation.

“
What prophecy?” Kelly
confusion bunched up her brows.

“
Just this stupid thing
that says that even though Mike and I love each other, we will wed
our respective partners, but through our love we will eventually
reunite our people and stop the feuding.” I decided that it was
best to leave out the dying part.

“
Well, do what you want...
not what you think you
have
to do.” She seemed pleased with this
answer.

“
It isn't that easy. Once
Dom and I get married, we're moving to a damn palace. We will be
the
royals
of the
vampire world.” I didn't know how to explain it all to
her.

“
Okay, so there are some
layers I'm missing to this thing and its complexity. Nonetheless,
you have to be happy in the end.” I could tell that for Kelly it
was all black and white.

“
Yep. But I'm settling
down... Let's get back to getting ready.” I shined her my brightest
smile.

“
Hmm, I'm sure that works
on... like... everyone, but I know its bullshit. But since this is
your wedding, it's your show. But know I'm here, even down to the
last minute.” She winked at me as she walked off to get the
staff.

I gratefully took a sip of my coffee and
prayed that I would make it through the rest of the day.

I was placed in a fluffy robe and shoved
into a chair as the next part of the “get-Emma-ready” plan
progressed. My face was covered in an ugly green mask and two women
attacked my hair. As I sat there, I wasn't actually sure what the
hell they were doing, but I can honestly say that it hurt like
hell. They pulled, yanked, and pinned my hair all over my head.
Water was sprayed, a smelly mist was spritzed, and then they were
twisting my hair in ways I'm sure it never wants to be done again-
EVER! Finally they placed the giant space helmet of a dryer over my
head and told me to relax- like that was going to happen in this
place of torture.

Once my hair was to their liking, they
turned me away from the mirror- informing me that I had to wait to
see the finished picture- and began doing my makeup. I felt the
foundation powder go on thick. A part of me wanted to take their
little makeup pad and smear the foundation across their faces, but
I realized that I probably shouldn't do such things on this day of
all. I closed my eyes and drifted to Mike's point of view.

He was out running again- alone, as usual
these days. I didn't know where his pack was or Acacia for that
matter, but I felt for him. I wanted him to have people by his side
that would make him feel happy. The lush fields gave way to thick
trees and suddenly he stopped. He morphed back into his human form
and walked to a small clearing. I could feel the magic crackling in
him before he even threw the first spell.

So, he's out practicing
magic?
I felt confused by this.

I watched as he threw several different
spells, both for good things and bad. It was mesmerizing and
intense.

Click, click, click.

What is that sound?
I felt myself being pulled out of my connection
to Mike and back into the real world around me.

“
Um, hello, Emma?” A
woman's voice called before she began snapping in front of my
face.

I reached up at lightning speed and caught
her hand. Her face paled and she looked startled.

“
Firstly, it's Miss
Hutchinson. Secondly, it's
very
rude to
SNAP
at one's clients. Thirdly, I don't care if I was
asleep and drooling on myself, you need to learn some serious
manners about the way you interact with people.” I snarled at the
woman- applying just a little more pressure with each of my
words.

“
Yes, I'm so sorry, Miss
Hutchinson. It will not happen again. Please excuse me.” The woman
bowed to me as she backed away and hurried out of the
room.

I shifted in my chair and looked at the
other woman that was attending to me. “Was there something you two
needed?” I said as icy as I could.

“
Um... no... yes... Miss
Hutchinson. She was only trying to get your attention to see the
final production, is all.” The poor creature stumbled over every
word.

“
Well? Are you going to
show me?” I purred at the frightened thing.

“
Yes.” She turned my chair
to show me what I looked like.

My hair was side-parted on top, but pulled
back into a pile of tight curls. When the woman turned the chair I
could see that the back had been crisscrossed, kinda like when
you're doing a French braid. In front of the pile of curls sat my
tiara of black onyx and red ruby. The centerpiece of it was a bat,
surrounded on either side by small red roses in full bloom. The
woman explained that my spiderweb veil would attach to this piece.
I absolutely loved it.

As my face lit up, I looked at how my face
had turned out. My lips had been painted a deep cherry red. My
cheeks were slightly highlighted with blush- I think it was meant
to ensure the blushing bride look. My eyes were lined with black,
and shadowed in the colors of my dress- black with red highlights.
My face was beautiful! I beamed at the women.

“
You have outdone
yourselves. I'm very pleased.” My voice was like honey and the
woman was lapping it up.

“
Thank you, Miss
Hutchinson. It was a pleasure.” She bowed and walked
away.

I turned to look at Kelly and saw the
frustration on her attendees faces. It was apparent that they were
not enjoying the short hair to work with.

“
Um, I'm not a
professional, but perhaps you could just spike it into small
curls?” I suggested.

“
We will try, Miss
Hutchinson.” I saw a sense of relief flood the poor man's
face.

Kelly's makeup was done, it was done dark
and dramatic- very stereotypical vampiress makeup, but she pulled
it off.

“
I'm sooo sorry. I
shouldn't have cut my hair before this.” Kelly was on the verge of
tears.

“
Hey, none of that. You'll
ruin your makeup.” I smiled, “besides, you'll look killer with the
way I told them to do it.”

She was turned away from the mirror, so she
just nodded in hopes that I was right.

As they quickly did the style I asked for, I
realized that Kelly's new cut was very becoming for her. It
sharpened her features and made her into more of a model. Once the
last sparkly hairpin was in place, I knew it was perfect- even the
stylists seemed pleased. They turned Kelly's chair and she
gasped.

“
What's wrong?” I was
instantly worried.

“
Nothing! It's so
BEAUTIFUL!” She squealed again.

“
I'm glad you like it. You
know, the maid of honor shouldn't outshine the bride, but I would
let you quite happily... you look so gorgeous.” I smiled at
her.