VA 2 - Blood Jewel (11 page)

“Letting someone else do all of
our wedding preparations feels like cheating.”

“Trust me. It brings them joy to
do it for us because they’ll never have the chance to do it for
themselves.”

I felt her turn her face toward
mine. “Why not?”

“Vampires don’t get
married.”

She held up her left hand and
pointed toward the diamond engagement ring on her finger. “Excuse
me? I know you can see me pointing to this in the dark. A vampire
gave it to me. Does that mean he isn’t going to marry
me?”

“Let me rephrase that. Vampires
without Agápes don’t marry,” I corrected.

“They could if they found someone
to love and they wanted to marry them,” Chansey
proposed.

“Marriage is about love and
selflessness. Vampires are too selfish to love or care about anyone
other than themselves.”

“That’s not true. No one in this
house lacks selflessness or the ability to love,” she
argued.

Chansey was good so she always saw
the good in everyone else. “You’re right. Everyone in this family
is loving and selfless. I hope they all find someone to make them
as happy as you make me.”

“What are we going to tell my
grandparents? They’re going to think we’re crazy.”

They were probably going to think
she was crazy for up and marrying a man that just left her. “Well,
the idea of them thinking we’re crazy in love is better than them
being upset about us living together, right?”

“I guess so.”

“So, we tell them we’re crazy in
love and we can’t stand to be apart for another minute. It wouldn’t
be the first time that ever happened and it is the truth because I
can’t bear to live without you. They’ll think we’re rushing into
it, but with a little time, they’ll realize that they were wrong
and we are meant to be together.”

I pulled her into the position we
had grown accustomed to sleeping in. “You need a little sleep
before we drive back tomorrow. I mean, today.”

“Yeah, I’m exhausted. Lairah and
Gia really know how to wear a girl out.”

Only minutes later, I heard the
sound of her rhythmic breathing and I knew she was asleep, so I
decided to join her in slumber for a while. I closed my eyes and
dosed off, but morning had not arrived when the rustling of the
curtains woke me. I saw the shadow of a dark figure crossing the
room toward Chansey and I reached for the wooden stake hidden under
the mattress to find it gone.

I jumped from the bed and tackled
the dark figure. We struggled on the floor, but I knew it wasn’t
Marsala because the attacker was male. It was Elliott, one of the
fledgeling vampires Sebastian was attempting to reform.

I easily subdued him on the floor.
“Why are you here, Elliott? You were warned about what would happen
if you tried to get to my Agápe.”

I heard Chansey stir in the bed.
“What’s wrong, Curry?”

Elliott turned to look at Chansey
and I recognized the hunger in his eyes. He wanted her and he
wouldn’t stop until he had drank her dry if he got his hands on
her. “It’s her. I can’t stay away because I want her blood so
badly. It’s calling for me.”

Elliott fought to free himself from
me as he lunged toward Chansey on the bed. Chansey turned on the
lamp and screamed when she saw me struggling on the floor with the
crazed fledgeling.

Chansey’s scream alerted the rest
of the house to the chaos occurring in my bedroom and the others
were instantly in my room. Sebastian saw the wild look in Elliott’s
eyes and knew there would be no further attempts to reform him, so
he reached for the leg of my desk. He broke it into a splintered
stake and then drove it deeply through his heart.

His body jerked beneath me and he
loosened his grip on me. “I was supposed to find refuge at The
Coven of Landra, but you brought a Blood Jewel here because you
knew I wouldn’t be able to resist. How could you do that to me?” he
whispered only moments before he died.

I wished I could have shielded
Chansey from this sight, but I couldn’t. I went to her and put my
hands on her face to assess her. Unaware of Elliott’s blood on my
hands, I inadvertently smeared it on her face where my fingers
stroked her cheeks. The more I tried to wipe the blood away, the
more I spread his blood across her face.

Gia went into the bathroom and
brought a wet washcloth for me. I washed the blood from Chansey’s
face as I asked, “Are you alright?”

She reached for my hands. “I’m
fine,” she reassured me.

“I know Elliott didn’t physically
harm you. I mean are you alright after what you just saw?” I
questioned.

“Surprisingly, I’m okay with it,”
Chansey admitted. “I thought I wouldn’t be, but I understand what
he was about to do to me.”

Sebastian explained to Chansey,
“You’re beginning to see things more and more through the eyes of
an Agápe instead of a human. That’s why you’re able to easily
process what you saw.”

Gia motioned for Chansey to come
off of the bed. “Come on. You may be an Agápe and understand the
actions of a vampire, but you’re coming to my room while they take
care of this.”

I nodded at Gia and she understood
it was my silent thanks. She nodded in return as she walked by with
her arm around Chansey, showing her support for what she had just
been through.

After Chansey was gone, I turned to
Sebastian expecting to hear what a Blood Jewel was, but I saw from
his expression that he had none. “I don’t know what it means. I
have never heard of a Blood Jewel.”

We all looked to Sully to see if he
had heard of it while with Zoyah’s coven. He recognized everyone’s
attention being turned in his direction and said, “Don’t look at
me. I don’t know either. I’ve never heard of a Blood Jewel before I
heard it come out of his mouth.”

Sol spoke up from the back of the
crowd as my family stood over Elliott’s body. “Lance might know. He
and Elliott came about the same time. Surely, they spoke of life
outside of here before they arrived. I’ll go down and question
him.”

We quickly transported Elliott’s
body and my bloody bedroom rug to a location at the back of the
compound. Because the sun had begun to rise, I was left to finish
the job alone. After I poured the gasoline, I struck the match and
watched it burn for a few seconds before dropping it. I watched the
flames grow larger and knew any hope of imminently solving the
mystery of the Blood Jewel was currently going up in
flames.

9
Genie In A Bottle

Chansey turned around and watched
the compound become smaller as I drove down the long driveway
toward the road. “I was so pissed off when you first brought me to
the compound and now I’m crying because I don’t want to
leave.”

I reached over and gently squeezed
her hand. “We’ll come back one day.”

“Will we, really? Or will it
always be too dangerous because of Marsala?”

I easily recognized Chansey’s anger
and frustration in her voice, but I didn’t have any words to change
our predicament so I didn’t attempt to persuade her into believing
I did. She laid her head on my shoulder and I rested my hand on her
leg after I finished shifting into the last gear.

We were several miles down the road
from the compound when I noticed Chansey was asleep and I was glad
because I knew she was exhausted. She slept during the entire drive
from New Orleans and I had to wake her up when I pulled into the
casino parking garage to get her Jeep. I reached over and lightly
shook her shoulder. “Chansey, we’re back in Biloxi. I need you to
wake up so you can drive your Jeep home.”

She lifted her head from my
shoulder, stretched and then reached to rub the side of her neck.
“Oh my gosh, my neck is killing me. I shouldn’t have slept with my
head bent over like that.”

“I’m sorry, Love. I guess I should
have woken you up, but I didn’t think about your neck getting a
crick in it. That kind of thing hasn’t happened to me in a long
time.”

She stretched her neck a little
more. “Nah, it’s not your fault. I knew better, but I couldn’t help
myself. I was exhausted from not sleeping last night.”

“Are you too tired to drive? We
can come back later for your Jeep,” I offered.

“I’m awake. I rather get it now
because I don’t want to have to make a trip back later. We’re going
to have a crazy week and I’ll need my Jeep for all of the running
around I’ll need to do for the wedding.”

She was right. It was going to be a
wonderfully crazy week and she would definitely be needing wheels.
“Okay. I’ll follow you.”

I watched her get into her Jeep and
then I followed her toward Anna and Grady’s house. I was glad she
had gotten some sleep on the ride home, but I had planned on using
that time to nail down a final plan on how we were going to tell
her grandparents about our marriage that would be occurring at
their house in only a few days. I guess we’d talk it over when we
got to the house so we could be prepared before Anna and Grady made
it back.

I
pulled into the drive behind Chansey where she parked behind Anna’s
car and I realized that could only mean that Anna and Grady had
returned early from their road trip. I got out of my truck and
walked over to open Chansey’s driver’s side door for her and heard
the kitchen door squeak open.
Shit!
“Looks like we
are going to get to tell your grandparents about our reunion right
now because here they come.”

She looked at Anna walking out of
the backdoor and asked, “Do you want to tell them about our wedding
plans now or wait?”

I wanted to shout it from the
rooftops that Chansey Rose Leclaire was going to be my wife in only
a few days. “Let’s go for it. It will only become more awkward if
we don’t go ahead and tell them. Besides, we only have a few days.
It’s not like we can put it off for very long anyway.”

She smiled and nodded. “Yeah,
you’re right. Let’s go for it.”

Anna ran across the backyard.
“Chansey! Where have you been? I was so worried when we got home
early and there was not a trace of you. When I tried to call you,
your phone went straight to voicemail. I called your workplace and
they said you quit, that you just walked out after your shift and
haven’t been back.” Anna hugged her tightly, then yelled toward the
house, “Grady, she’s home.”

Grady came out of the backdoor and
walked across the yard in our direction, appearing displeased when
he saw me at Chansey’s side. “When did you come back from your
fancy New York job?”

“Several days ago, sir” I
answered.

He stood in front of me with his
arms crossed. “I’m guessing that’s about the same time Chansey went
missing, but I’m not going to ask you to explain where the two of
you have been because I suspect I wouldn’t like the answer very
much.”

There was no other way to do this
than to jump head first. “Mr. and Mrs. Emerson, I would like to
start by saying that I love Chansey with all of my heart. She is my
everything.”

“If she meant everything to you,
you wouldn’t have left her with a broken heart. She has been
miserable,” Grady argued.

Anna scolded, “Grady, let him say
his peace. He’s trying to explain, so let him.”

I reached for Chansey’s hand and
she gave me a reassuring squeeze. “I was a fool to leave her and I
know that now. The time we were apart was the most miserable of my
life.”

Grady was unmoved by my words. “I’m
not an unkind man, but I’m glad you were miserable. She may be my
granddaughter, but she became my little girl when I lost her
mother, so it does my heart some good to know that the pain you
caused her also caused you some misery.”

This wasn’t going as I hoped, but I
was going to lay it out there anyway. “I understand your anger with
me, but please make no mistake...I love her and never want to be
parted from her again.”

Anna broke into a huge smile, but
Grady’s face remained stern as he said, “Sounds like you’re telling
us you want to marry her if you don’t want to be separated from
her.”

It was my job to make this easy for
Chansey so I would be the one to tell them about our plans. “This
wasn’t how I had planned to do this, but I have already asked
Chansey to marry me. She has agreed, so it is with a humble heart
that I ask for your blessing of our marriage in place of your
permission.”

Grady didn’t look happy about our
engagement and he was ready to interrogate me about it. “Let me get
this straight. You left Chansey for a job in New York for weeks and
then you show up a few days ago to propose and now you’re getting
married?”

I took a breath, ready to plead the
depth of my love for Chansey, but she lifted her hand to stop me
and said, “I love Curry, Granddaddy. We want to be together and
we’re getting married on Saturday. Are you willing to give us your
blessing?”

“What is the hurry?” Grady asked.
“Are you pregnant?”

“No, I am not pregnant,
Granddaddy,” Chansey huffed. “Curry proposed and we were going to
plan it for October, but he found out that his employer is
transferring him to Savannah, Georgia and we don’t want to be
separated. I know you and Granna won’t want us living together
before marriage, so we decided to get married this Saturday. I want
to be married here, the way I always dreamed. Do we have your
blessing?”