A young Elvis came out of the chapel with a camera and as Oracle Joe opened the passenger door, he started taking some pictures. “You are getting the full package,” Joe said. “Wedding pictures included.”
Two teenage Gothed-up flower girls had also exited and stood on either side of the door. As we approached, they showered us in black rose petals from their baskets, the camera taking pictures the whole time.
They opened the double doors for us and we saw the vamp preacher, an older Elvis at the podium down the center aisle ahead, talking to the Angel of Death.
“I can assure you the paperwork is completely in order,” he was saying nervously. “I have trained for the vamp ceremony and have done it successfully on several occasions.”
They both turned to us as the doors opened completely, Death having what could only be described as Death’s grin on his face and the Elvis vamp with a big but obviously somewhat fake smile.
“Wait here until I give you the word,” Joe said excitedly. “I love weddings!”
Joe and the Elvis cameraman scooted in ahead of us, as we would be entering down the aisle arm in arm. Death had taken position to our left. He would be the one to give Jade away. Oracle Joe took up position on the right, as he would have that duty for me.
The preacher nodded to his right where yet another young Elvis was seated in front of an electric keyboard. The music began, Joe gave us a nod and we started to make our way down the aisle as one Elvis took pictures and the other began singing Only Fools Rush In.
How appropriate, I thought and I could not help smiling. Jade had a pretty silly grin on her face as well. Tears had started down both our cheeks at this point and the two Goth girls rushed forward with a pair of black lace handkerchiefs for us. The music stopped as we reached the front, Death taking Jade’s arm and Joe taking mine, separating us slightly from each other.
Turning to Jade, the Elvis preacher began the ceremony.
“Jade Smith, vampire,” he began and Jade let her fangs show. “Who gives you to be wed both for life and death as is the vampire way?”
“I give her to be wed,” Death said. “By right of family, do I release her to this union.”
“London Jane, vampire,” he continued, looking at me. “Who gives you to be wed both for life and death as is the vampire way?”
“I give her to be wed,” Oracle Joe said. “By right as the voice of God in this matter, do I release her to this union.”
Jade and I were released and stood shoulders touching in front of the vampire preacher.
“The rings,” he asked and one of the Goth girls approached with an old leather pouch covered in arcane symbols. I saw Jade eying it curiously.
“A wedding gift from Catherine’s coven,” Joe said.
Taking the pouch, the preacher removed the two rings. They were two blood red rings made of some type of metal or gemstone inscribed in an old language. They were absolutely beautiful.
“What do they say Jade?” I asked as he handed one each to us.
“Two hearts on one and never apart on the other. I will tell you what I know of them later. Just know that they represent the love two people have for each other.”
The preacher continued, “As you place the ring on each other’s finger you will say, With this ring I bind thee to me in life and in death.”
Jade went first, tears still streaming down her cheeks. She looked me square in the eyes and said the words as she pushed the ring on my finger. It was a little big but then contracted itself to form a perfect fit. “With this ring I bind thee to me in life and in death.”
My turn. As I looked into her eyes I knew I had a silly grin on my face. I was beyond tears at this point, for me it was a dream come true, something I had only wished for, to be married to my soul mate. “With this ring I bind thee to me in life and in death.” It had looked a little big as well but shrank slightly to form a perfect fit on her finger.
The vamp preacher then withdrew a vial of liquid from his jacket. “This vial is said to contain a drop of blood from the original vampire, the mother of our race. With this a marriage bond between vampires is forged, never to be broken even in death.”
He took a dropper out and placed a single drop of blood on each of our tongues.
“With this blood, two become one,” he said and he drew us together face to face. “You must now exchange blood until you can drink no more.” I felt his vampire magic rising, enveloping us in a vamp blood hunger.
To my eyes everything was drenched in red and I saw the beat of Jade’s pulse in her neck. We struck each other on opposite sides of the neck at the same moment and began to drink deeply on pace with each other. It seemed to go on and on forever as we drank, my blood becoming hers and hers mine. I started to fade out and we collapsed to the floor still with arms around each other each with head resting on the other’s shoulder, completely satiated but at the same time totally exhausted. The preacher withdrew and Death and Joe helped us to again stand facing him.
“By the power invested in me by the Vampire Council I now pronounce you bound completely to each other in marriage and in death.”
The organ began playing again and Joe proceeded up the aisle to open the doors for us. Turning to Death we each gave him a kiss on the cheek, and I detected a salty taste. Death had been crying.
“You old softie,” Jade whispered to him.
“I am not God,” he replied. “Still, I know HE is pleased.”
“Love Me Tender,” Elvis sang, as we made our way up the aisle to the waiting limo.
CHAPTER NINETEEN: WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS...
THERE WAS A PACKAGE in the back seat with my name on it. It was a long and heavy box wrapped in black wrapping paper and a red bow, from Oracle Joe.
“Had that one in the trunk,” Joe said. “Glad you decided to go through with it.”
“No present for me?” Jade asked.
“You got the girl,” he replied. “Maybe later something else.”
Jade helped me unwrap it. I was excited. Vamps don’t really exchange gifts often. It turned out to be a metal baseball bat, solid steel unlike the hollow aluminum bat I borrowed in Seattle. It must have weighed close to one hundred pounds but with my strength I knew I could easily swing it around like a fly swatter. Now this thing was positively dangerous. My name was engraved half way up the barrel of the bat, with a little bat logo underneath.
“Oh this is too cool,” I said. “Thank you so much for this!”
“Where are we heading?” Jade asked.
“Where else do newlyweds go but Paris?” Joe said. “Paris, Las Vegas to be exact.”
We could already see the Eiffel tower lit up in the distance.
“This is going to be some serious fun,” I said as Jade and I tried to get a better look out the window.
The cell phone Jewel had given us went off and it was Mom on the line.
“The wedding is all over the news,” she said. “Why was I not invited? Such beautiful gowns.” I could tell she had been crying.
“They already have pictures?” I asked. “We just left ten minutes ago!”
“Pictures and video,” she replied. “It’s the digital age.”
I was betting one of the Goth girls had taken the video as we walked down the aisle.
“It was a spur of the moment thing, Mom,” I said. “We will have a nice party when we get back to London. We can invite all of our friends and have a huge party.”
“I’m already working on it,” she said. “We stopped to refuel and drop Jill off in Winston before heading back but now something tells me I should stick around.”
“There is something going on, but I don’t have any idea what it is,” I said. “When I know you will know.”
“Just know that I am happy for both of you,” she said. “Now let me talk to my new daughter in law.”
As they talked I noticed Jade’s scar had completely disappeared. She had told me it would stay with her for the rest of her life, that it would
fade but never go completely away. I mouthed it to her as she talked to Mom and she tried to get a look at it in the reflection of the limo windows, finally looking at me in bewilderment and shrugging. Mom was talking her head off, something about the party and who she wanted to invite.
I had still been limping slightly as I had made my way down that aisle but now I could not even tell which leg I had broken. It had to be something with the vamp bond we had formed.
As Jade ended the call with Mom, the limo pulled up to the front of the hotel. There was a crowd waiting for us. News had spread faster than we could drive over here. Photographers, news reporters with video cameras, and a big crowd of people cheered as we came to a stop.
“Celebrities you are,” said Joe, adjusting the hat on his head before he exited the car. Opening our door we were greeted with the flash of cameras and questions hurled at us from all corners. Some hotel security had set up a pathway for us with the two sides roped off so we could enter the hotel without stepping on and shoving our way through the crowd. Joe carried the box with my bat in it and opened the trunk of the limo. A porter grabbed a large suitcase from the trunk. I was eager to get out of the gown by now and was certainly not going to wear the sundresses and flip flops we had left in the back seat. I bet we made a great looking couple as we walked arm in arm into the hotel, the security not letting the reporters follow us inside.
At the check in counter a lone shifter waited on us. Tall and lanky I sensed his shifter nature easily, a detective I saw, noticing the badge hooked to his belt. He was dangerous as well, as my predator nature recognized the predator he was.
“You are already checked in,” said another man approaching with the shifter. He was the hotel manager by his name tag, trying to direct us towards the elevators.
“Just a minute and pardon the interruption,” the detective said. “My name is Detective Adam Thomas of the Las Vegas Police Department. We need to talk about many things. I know this is not a great time but I wondered if I could pick you up and take you down to the station in the morning.”
“Not a problem,” Jade said, shaking his hand and introducing us. Jill had told us to be expecting this. We would have to call her because she said to make sure she was told in advance so she could have a lawyer present for our interview. “I have a feeling we are going to be up late. Will eleven in the morning work for you?”
“I will meet you here in the lobby at that time,” he responded and headed towards the door. I had a suspicion the reporters were going to try and grill him as he left.
The manager rode up the elevator with us, giving us our keys and telling us we were booked and paid for a week’s stay. Near the top, our room was one of their one bedroom red room suites and it was just gorgeous as we opened the door to our room and explored within.
A king size bed had a basket full of various red wines in the mini style. There must have been dozens of them. A beautiful built- for- two whirlpool tub was something we both needed and we took advantage of as soon as we were alone, taking that basket of wines with us. I was completely healed from my wounds but I still had some lingering dried blood in several locations that Jade got some pleasure out of scrubbing clean.
Opening that suitcase Joe had left for us we found several changes of clothes in duplicate. Joe knew how we liked to go around in matching outfits. I’m not sure how he found out but there were even twin sets of the outfit we had worn to the chess tournament not too long ago, the one that Jade had fretted over picking out that had pleased me as well as my mother. That’s the one we decided to wear tonight as we headed down to the casino. Jade had never been gambling before and was eager to give it a try. Mom had told her on the phone to make good use of her card and spend however much we wanted.
We took ten grand each in chips, a drop in the bucket for Mom, but still I smiled, thinking of what she would say when she saw that one. Jade was attracted to the table games and outside they had tables set up for poker, blackjack, craps, and roulette.
Witches had changed things for casinos and they had taken to hiring witches to keep an eye out for other witches that might try a spell or three to influence the games. Roulette was one of those games they watched pretty closely and each witch had a seat next a table keeping an eye out for such things. Jade was still in vamp mode and I had a feeling that would be her normal mode rather than shifter now we had a deeper bond. Still, she was no longer shielding her witch nature and her power must have been pretty obvious because the witch at the table we went to immediately called for backup. People were already staring at us and with my vamp hearing I knew many recognized us from the news of our wedding and previous exploits around the world. I heard the hum of people saying things to each other about us as we moved around the casino.
Two other witches pulled up chairs at our table as we joined a small group already there. A couple of businessmen with their dates and a threesome of shifters were already laying bets. They had felt our vamp nature as we approached but I could tell they were not clued in on who we were. Probably they were local pack members from pack territory in the area who did not follow the news often. I knew we looked good and I saw some interest on their part. So could Jade evidently as she gave me a quick kiss on the lips as we stood by. I sensed two of the shifters were disappointed and we smiled at them, showing a bit of fang. It was pretty funny in a strange way. Jade was new to this type of thing and was somewhat possessive and territorial at this point in our relationship. The other shifter didn’t mind our already taken status and greeted us warmly.
“Former shifter?” he asked Jade curiously.
Jade had told me alphas can sense her shifter nature easily. He must be an alpha then, if not the leader of the pack. Former shifters being vamp turned are rare but it does happen.
“Still a shifter on occasion,” she replied.
She must have let some of her shifter magic show through because he almost took a step back, sensing another alpha. He held her eyes for a minute then nodded and she returned the slight nod, acknowledging each other as equals with neither showing their submission. He had a somewhat surprised and curious look in his eyes. The other two had taken notice of the exchange and were curious as well.
“My name is John,” he said. “I am the local Pack alpha. These are two members of my pack, Leo and Bill. They are being rewarded for their efforts on behalf of our pack with a night out on the town.”
“I’m Jane,” I said, shaking his hand firmly. “This is Jade. We just got married and are on our honeymoon.”
This pack must keep pretty much to itself because he still didn’t recognize us even with the names. It was actually pretty nice for a change as parts of the crowd had edged closer to us, curious about what we were doing.
“Ah, congratulations then,” he said and the other two added their congratulations as well. “Jade, can I ask you the nature of your beast? It is something I have not sensed before.”
“Thirty ton, fire breathing, flying dragon,” she replied.
The other two clearly thought she was kidding, but not John. “Well that’s a great beast to be now, is it not?”
“Can you explain this game to us?” I asked. “Neither one of us knows how to play.” I knew the basics but I thought it would be good for us to watch as he explained. A cocktail waitress came up and I ordered a couple of glasses of the house red, surprising John again as he was explaining how to place bets and the odds of winning or losing.
“I need to get out more often,” John said. “Vamps drinking wine instead of blood. When did this happen? Are you as different from the norm as Jade?” he asked.
“Day-walker,” I replied, taking Jade’s route as well. If she went to be honest and open, so was I.
“Okay, clearly I am out of touch,” he said. “We are pretty much self-reliant in our pack and don’t use much in the way of modern technology or communication. It’s rare that we even leave the pack territory unless it’s for supplies or to celebrate something as we are doing tonight.�
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“Yeah, steaks,” Bill said. “Don’t forget our steaks. I can smell them already.”
I saw Jade’s head perk up at the mention of steaks and saw her nostrils dilating as she smelled the air. I guessed we were going to have steaks pretty soon as well.
“Jane is special,” Jade said. “The only day-walking vamp in existence.” She likes to brag on me, making me feel good.
“Do you eat steaks as well?” John asked. “They have a great steak house here and that will be our next stop after gambling for a while. Maybe you can join us?”
“I don’t eat steak.” I laughed. “Jade does and we would be pleased to join you.”
The waitress came back with our wine and we watched for a while as Bill and Leo steadily lost some of John’s money. Clearly they were having fun, winning just enough to give each other some high fives. John clearly had them on a budget and would only let them place small bets.
“Okay, okay,” John said as they both won a small bet. “Make room for the ladies and let them try their luck.”
As they stood to the side so we could have our chance to play I noticed the witches staring at Jade. Clearly they were concerned.
Even I felt their magic ramping up as we prepared to place our bets.
“I am not particularly fond of witches right now,” Jade said, loud enough to be heard.
“The one on the left has a nice neck,” I replied and showed some fang as I smiled at them.
“They don’t seem to be real happy you are here,” John observed from behind us.
“Jade is a powerful witch,” I answered out of the side of my mouth. “They think we might be planning to cheat.”
“No cheating here,” Jade said as she won a nice stack of chips after placing a small bet on the number three.
“For the three J’Amigos it is,” I said and placed my next bet also on the number three, and of course, won. Jade had let her stack ride and we now had a significant pile of chips. Those poor witches were sweating. I could not sense any magic coming from Jade but with her present feelings about witches, it wouldn’t surprise me if she was sticking it in their face with a little subtle magic. Jade’s magic is a bit different from the normal witch magic, as it is simply a part of her and she doesn’t need a spell or gesture to invoke it.
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