Chapter Twenty-one
Benny
The Second Saturday in June
Mama and Mary sure knew how to put on a wedding. The sun was down. My hair and makeup were done. My dress fit perfectly. Everything was going so smoothly, my whole side of the wedding party was running way ahead of schedule. I stood patiently, letting Mama and Ginger fuss over me as we ran down the clock. It was hard to imagine, but in less than an hour I would marry the most important person in my life.
Cleo and I officially belonged to Daddy’s nest. He’d accepted her, begrudgingly, unbinding her from her pledge to serve Alpha Beta Omega. Now she served Daddy solely, and worked side by side with Mary to help keep the existence of their kind a secret. I wore her charm around my neck, a princess-cut ruby. Unfortunately, a dark cloud, gray and black with its ominous truth, seemed to follow us no matter how much we tried to ignore it.
I’d learned to live with Paeno’s mark. Every day, it had grown darker, the color and texture sharpening little by little. Every day. The swirls and lines were black now, raised off my skin in sharp relief. I’d stopped asking Daddy when it would go away, fade, or just disappear. His answers were cryptic, but Mama kept telling me not to worry. We had a wedding to plan. When Daddy didn’t try to hold up the process, I figured Mama was right. Still, I wanted the mark gone. I belonged to Cleo. After we made things as official as possible, I didn’t want the slightest hint of another demon touching our bond, or our marriage.
“Flowers!” Mama lightly thumped herself on the forehead. She looked lovely in her black dress. “Your flowers are down in the kitchen. Let me just go grab them.”
“I can go,” Ginger said.
“No, sweetheart. Let me go. I need to burn some of this energy. I’ll be right back.” As Mama nearly ran from her bedroom, I turned to look at myself in the mirror. Mama had pitched me all sorts of gowns. Dresses to enhance my shape, some to tone it down. There had been so many veils. Even a few tiaras fit for a princess. In the end, the decision was mine. I skipped the veils and the tiaras.
“I still can’t believe you’re wearing blue,” Ginger said. She playfully fluffed out the skirt of my gown. The lightly ruffled fabric below the empire waist floated back toward the ground. I felt like a princess.
“It didn’t make much sense for me to wear white.”
“You are a dirty slut, aren’t you?”
“The dirtiest,” I said. Then I admitted the truth. “It’s Cleo favorite color.”
“You look so beautiful.”
“Thank you, Ginger. You don’t look so bad yourself.” As my only bridesmaid, I put her in a black dress that nearly matched my own. Mama was a little shocked by my chosen color scheme, until I reminded her that with our guest list composed mostly of the undead, there would be no pictures.
“I’m gonna cry,” Ginger said. She fixed my necklace. She couldn’t stop the fussing.
“What’s wrong?”
“Not now, but when you come down the aisle. Buckets, I swear.”
“Well, good thing you’re not wearing white.”
Her eyebrows went up suddenly. “Oh, the master approaches.” I turned just as Daddy walked into the room. He’d toned his demon down, only letting his horns and fangs show. He looked extremely handsome in his tux.
“We’re almost ready,” I said. “Mama is just grabbing my flowers. How is everything downstairs?”
“Your guests are arriving and your Cleo has not tried to escape.”
I rolled my eyes. “Thanks, Daddy.”
“My Ginger, a moment alone. Please.”
“Sure. Of course. I’ll go help your mom,” she replied, then vanished from the room.
Daddy stepped closer and took my hands. “What’s going on?” I asked.
“Paeno would like to speak with you.”
I’d been calm all day. Trying my hardest to relax, breathing deep when Mama started getting a little overexcited. But now my heart took off, pounding frantically. “But, Daddy, I thought—”
“She only wishes to confirm your final decision in person.”
I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing again. This was not the time to pass out. Or throw up. I wanted to believe that she would come all this way just to speak to me. But I couldn’t help but think that she’d planned to murder me on my wedding just to prove some point. It appeared I didn’t have much of a choice. “Okay. Where is she now?”
“She is here.”
Paeno appeared near Mama’s chaise, nude in her full demon form. Her horns almost touched the high ceiling. She nodded once to Daddy, who dropped my hands. He slowly backed away from me. He almost walked into Mama as she came back into the room. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her hands tighten around the bouquets. She wasn’t expecting Paeno to drop in either.
Paeno turned to me then, and got right to the point. “You wish to dishonor our tu’lah.”
“I—things changed with the person I was in love with all along. We’re getting married tonight.”
“She is here.”
“Yes.”
“You will bring her to me.”
I all but silently screamed for Cleo.
“B, what’s wrong—oh.” Cleo appeared in such a rush, her dress shoes slid a few inches across the carpet. She swallowed when she saw our new guest, eyes wide, and stepped closer to me. “You’re Paeno.”
“She wanted to meet you,” I said.
Paeno looked at Cleo very carefully. I could feel that she was reading her, gathering every bit of information she could from Cleo’s mind, her demon, even the scents she carried with her. She read our bond too. It angered her somehow. “You have taken from me.”
“Technically, yes. But Benny was mine to begin with. And now she chooses to be with me.”
“I do.”
Paeno seemed to ignore my words. She was focused on Cleo. I looked up at her and could tell that they were doing some sort of mental tango. Perhaps Paeno was threatening her, or simply probing her mind in a way Cleo didn’t like. I couldn’t break their connection, but I grabbed Cleo’s hand. She had to know I was with her.
Paeno turned to Daddy. “You will fulfill your tu’lah.”
“Yes, kri’ah. Blood for blood. Body for body.”
Paeno nodded, dipping her heavy head in a slow motion. “She will be unmarked.” She held out her talons for me. Reluctantly, I let go of Cleo’s hand and crossed the room. I took hold of Paeno’s outstretched claw and turned my forearm upward. Our eyes locked, and for one moment, the impossible happened. She overtook my bond to Cleo. My whole body flooded with heat. My tongue grew thick in my mouth and my pussy ached. I could hear Cleo growling somewhere behind me, but I couldn’t look away from Paeno’s face. She smiled, a slight parting of her lips that showed off the tips of her fangs. The words came in her human voice, sweet and pleasing. “You would have been happy with me.”
And then, as if she’d poured a whole bottle of acid on my arm, her mark melted away, taking a few layers of my skin with it. I crumpled to the floor, crying out and sucking air through my teeth as my mind tried to process the agonizing pain. There was no blood, but my skin had peeled back on itself, leaving a large chunk of my forearm raw and exposed. Paeno vanished as Cleo rushed to my side. She gently took my hand to check out the damage.
“Motherfuck—” Cleo shoved her suit sleeve up her arm and scored her wrist. “Here. Drink.” I took what she offered, sucking down her blood as fast as my throat could manage. My skin started to heal instantly, returning to normal in seconds, but I still felt the pain. Paeno wanted me to remember what it felt like to cross her.
“Are you okay?” Cleo asked. She was checking me all over, looking for more invisible scars.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” I was still shaking. “It’s fine.”
Cleo turned to Daddy. “Get out,” she said. He didn’t argue.
I let her help me off the floor and we sat together on the settee. There were a few flecks of her blood on my dress, but the tiny stai
ns were further proof of how much she loved me and what we were both willing to do for each other. I scooted closer as she wrapped her arm around my waist. Her scent and her breath helped.
“We don’t have to do this tonight,” she whispered against my temple before she kissed me.
“No. I want to. She’s out of our lives for good now. I want to marry you tonight.”
“Okay, baby. Can I just hold you a few minutes longer?” I wiggled as close as I could get, resting my hand in Cleo’s lap and my head on her shoulder. I wouldn’t let Paeno ruin our night. I wouldn’t let my anger with Daddy ruin it either.
“Okay. I think I’m good.” I looked up at Cleo and gave her my most convincing smile.
“You’re sure?”
“Just give me a few minutes. I’ll meet you downstairs.” Cleo kissed me one more time, then walked, not vanished from Mama’s bedroom.
Mama handed me a glass of water. She checked my arm, gently stroking my skin, and then set about checking my hair. More fussing. “I might kill your daddy.”
“Can it wait?”
She smiled and touched my cheek. “Yes, angel. It can. Let’s get you hitched.”
Cleo
Omi and Mary found me in the driveway. I had to catch my breath. I couldn’t stop seeing the way Benny’s skin had rotted away. I couldn’t unhear the sound of her screams. Omi wanted to know what had happened, why I was suddenly panicking, but I couldn’t put what had just gone down into words. So I showed them both. I showed Omi and Mary how Paeno had stripped my mind bare. She’d probed my whole life, torn through all my memories, things I’d forgotten or chose to ignore. She set off little bombs, reminding me of every moment I’d wanted to open up to Mama but couldn’t.
She dug through every second Benny and I had been apart. She showed me all the things she could do to me if she wanted. She told me that it was her mercy that would get me through the night, not the begging and pleading of her brother. She was letting Benny marry me and she wanted me to be grateful. And when I wasn’t, she burned my baby. Lord Jesus, the look of her arm. I knew I would never forget it.
I couldn’t fathom how the hell Dalhem could send Benny off to be bound to such a creature. “How could he—”
“Listen to me.” Omi placed her fingers under my chin and urged me to look at her. “You must never think of our master as one of us. Do you hear me?”
“I know. I don’t. I just—he loves Benny. He loves Leanne. Why would he want that for her?”
“He is not human. He is real. He has a heart and a very strong mind. He loves, but hate is his nature. He was born of nothing but evil. You have to remember that. Their whole world is bargains and rituals and deals. Even his love for Leanne grew out of revenge, out of his hatred for her ex-husband. His hatred for you is not paternal; it’s his nature.”
Maybe with time I would fully understand, but I knew that Omi was telling the truth. Dalhem and Paeno were not some predictable beings who played by human rules. They made their own rules, existed by their own code, and all I could do was stay out of their way. The look on Benny’s face flashed through my mind again. I wanted to be sick.
“You will always be safe with him because the consequences for him are too dire, but never forget what he is. Accept that you cannot understand their ways,” Omi said.
Mary laid her hand on my shoulder. “Benita is your focus now. Paeno can’t touch her any more. She has released her to you for good. Benita’s part of the tu’lah is broken.” I wasn’t so sure about that, but I nodded anyway.
“Are you ready?” Omi asked.
“Yeah. Yeah. Let’s do this.” I took another deep breath, and as Mary and Omi turned for the backyard, I vanished to the kitchen where Andrew was waiting for me. I’d left him with my other feeders, his new boyfriend, Bruno, and Nancy, but they had gone to take their seats. Andrew didn’t get a chance to ask if Benny or I was all right. I saw the fear in his eyes.
“I’ll explain tomorrow. Okay?”
“Yeah. Okay.”
I fixed his boutonniere and he straightened my tie. “You look good,” he said, that dreamy smile of his reminding me again what I was living for.
“Thanks, baby boy. You’re looking pretty sharp as well. Let’s go.”
Having no other choice but to force Paeno from my mind, Andrew and I made our way out to the backyard. Less than thirty chairs split the lawn. We walked around our guests to the preacher standing at the front. Of course Leanne had a Baptist preacher who was also a feeder on speed dial. Reverend Masey offered me a wink and a nod. Then he cued the violinist.
There was not a single young female relative among any of our friends or sister-queens, so we let Jill act as our flower girl. She handled the position with pride, strolling down the aisle in her black dress, her big smile showing off her braces.
Ginger followed, her eyes on Camila nearly the whole time. Then I saw my baby, my bunny, and I felt like I was seeing her for the first time. I’d already seen her flowing blue gown, twice, but knowing that she was walking toward me to finally be my wife, everything about her was new, head to toe. Inside and out.
She walked arm in arm with her mama. There was no ceremony in giving her away. Leanne had already told me she was gaining a daughter, not losing one. She placed Benny’s hand in mine. Then she kissed both of our cheeks. She told us both that she loved us and took her seat beside Dalhem. I was doing my best to ignore that he was even there.
Reverend Masey kept things brief. He talked about the special nature of our love and the uniqueness of our blood bond. He talked about our separation and how it was God that had brought us back together. I held on to that idea as I wiped a few tears from Benny’s face. Paeno might have thrown us a few curves, but she still had to answer to a higher power. She did not have the final say in our love or in our lives.
Samantha read a beautiful poem, by the end of which tears were streaming down Benny’s face. Ginger was sobbing so loud Andrew offered her his handkerchief.
It wasn’t much of a question, more of an obvious statement of fact. I said my I do. I promised Benny everything within my power. My heart, my body, and my love. She did the same. Then the rings and my lips on her perfect lips. There was clapping and hoots and whistles, but for me there was only Benny’s smile and the soft scent of her skin.
We danced all night. When the first hint of sunrise sent that telltale tingle up my back, our friends vanished back to their homes. We sent Nancy off to get some sleep. Andrew and Bruno headed back to Bruno’s place, assuring me that they’d be available for me to feed as soon as I could pull myself away from Benny. I estimated it would be a few days. We’d fly out the following evening for our honeymoon, but in the meantime, I led my bride across the street to our new home, down to our bedroom. I made love to Benny all day long.
Chapter Twenty-two
Cleo
Thirteen Months Later
The memory was easy to find, but not as easy to fix. This young girl had seen a lot. Her name was Sierra. Her mom had been letting a vampire named Julian feed from her on and off for a few months now. Sierra had walked in on one of their feedings. I had to alter Julian in her mind. It was a multi-step process. First, the sight. I had to change the way Julian appeared to her. Not completely, but little things like his hair color, the shape of his nose and the appearance of his fangs.
I sat on Sierra’s bed, holding her lightly by the shoulders. Mary stood by the door.
“Good,” she said. “Now run it back.” I replayed the entire encounter, through every blink and stored image. His new look was consistent. “Good. Keep going.”
Mary waited patiently as I altered the smells in the room that night, and then the sounds. Blood has a very distinct smell, and Julian was a sloppy eater. Noisy too. I had to make Sierra forget the sounds of his snarls and growls.
I finished with the memory, then erased any sense that Mary and I had been in her room. She went back to sleep without a problem. When I finished, Mary did a final check. S
he gave me an A+ and then we vanished back to my front steps.
“Okay. Finish your story.” Mary leaned against the iron banister.
“It wasn’t much of a story. She just rolled over. Man, you should have seen it. B and I were freaking out and Jillian had the biggest smile on her little face. I’m sorry. Let me shut up.”
“No. It’s so cute. You can gush about her any time you like. You know I want to hear it.”
“Thanks. Just eighteen more years and I swear I’ll shut up.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, darling.”
“True. Let me get inside. Give the other mama a little break.”
“I’m sure she’d appreciate that.” Mary kissed me on the cheek, then vanished. I headed inside. Straight for my girls.
I found Benny in our bedroom, sound asleep on our bed. She hadn’t even tried to get under the covers. I didn’t hear a peep from the nursery, but I had to go take a look.
Our daughter, Jillian Joy Jones, was born on Easter Sunday. She came early in the morning, way before the dawn. She was kind enough to give our midwife enough time to get over to the house before she executed her speedy arrival. She was perfect. Squishy and purple, with the shape and color of Benny’s eyes and her wide lips. She had a full head of curly black hair. Her little nose, we decided, had to come from her father, a man whose identity we decided we didn’t want to know. I had to applaud Dalhem for his connections when it came to finding a donor. Jillian was perfect.
At the moment, she was wide-awake in her crib.
I whispered my, “Hey,” and gave in to my need to scoop her up. Benny’s pregnancy had been difficult on us both. Her health was fine, but I couldn’t feed from her, and if she was ever injured, I was afraid to give her my blood. Ginger had been born with vampire blood in her system, but we didn’t know how it would affect our own kid.
But we pushed through. No incidents. No injuries, and now we had this amazing four-month-old. Benny was fucking fantastic. Leanne helped when she could, but Benny was the rock star. I’d found my place in our family routine. I’d learned not to breathe through my mouth during diaper time and I learned that I could also do this mother thing.
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