I’d thought about being married, but I didn’t dream about it all my life like some girls. I hadn’t been saving ideas for my eventual wedding in scrapbooks or shoeboxes or storing online images.
But I knew that this moment, and my reflection in the mirror, was far better than anything I could have dreamed. I was going to be a bride. The certainty of that was like sunlight beneath my skin. I couldn’t stop smiling.
“It really is perfect,” I said, wonder caught in my voice.
“Finally,” Jean cooed. “You can see how gorgeous you are. Ryder is going to forget the world exists when you walk down the aisle.”
I nodded in the mirror, hoping so, believing so. “Thank you. This is more than I ever hoped for. Cheryl, you made it perfect.” I swallowed back all the emotion that threatened to turn happiness into happy tears. “I don’t want to ruin it before the wedding. Can I take it off before I spill coffee on it or something?”
Cheryl chuckled and cupped my shoulders. “Yes. But you are fine. If you did any damage, we’d find a way to fix it. Relax, Delaney. It’s all on rails now. Tomorrow’s the wedding rehearsal, then next week the bachelorette party, and then,” she patted my shoulders, “then you’ll be married.”
“And that’s going to be perfect too,” Jean said.
I nodded, believing her. Believing both of them. Because the bride in the mirror was smiling, and there were stars in her eyes.
“Have you decided who’s officiating?”Old Rossi, the head of the vampire family in town, asked me.
It was Friday morning, and clouds had rolled in. Patrick was still in town, and so was his ever-growing crowd of fans. I hadn’t invited him to our wedding rehearsal and didn’t plan to.
One would think the town being so crowded would deter even more people from flooding in. One would be wrong.
I felt a little guilty stealing a few minutes for my morning jog with how busy I knew today was going to be, but only a little guilty.
“Not yet,” I said keeping my pace easy. Rossi’s limp was almost gone now. His injured eye hadn’t regenerated. I wasn’t sure it ever would. But he was strong, healthy, and that made me happy.
“Ryder’s going to decide,” I continued. “Crow thinks he has a shot at it. But Crow thinks he has a shot at everything. Nice peace sign.” I pointed toward his bright yellow eyepatch with the iconic symbol in red. “You going back to hippie life again?”
“Who said I ever gave up hippie life? But yes. I’ve relaunched the yoga studio. Seemed like the right time to do it. Peace, love, and breathe into the pain.”
“Is that your vision statement?”
“That is my life advice.”
“You should put it on a T-shirt.”
“I might. With all the attention we’re getting from Baum, I think I could sell a shirt or two…” Rossi’s head jerked up, eyes facing the land. “Demons.”
He ran. I was right beside him, but as soon as he reached the edge of where the beach met the rise of the cliff, he simply disappeared.
Vampires are fast. When they want to be, they were faster than the eye could track.
“Shit.” I plowed up the stairs, crested the top, and glanced at the three-car parking space where four cars were currently parked.
No demons.
This parking spot was at the end of a residential street. Most of the houses were single-story types, with the occasional A-frame.
No sounds of struggle coming from the houses. No signs of demons.
I didn’t even know where Rossi had gone. At the speed he could move, he could be miles away.
“Shit.” I dug my phone out of my pocket just as it rang.
“Myra,” I answered. “Rossi said there are demons in town. Where are you?”
“At my house,” her voice was shaking with anger or fear. “You need to be here. You need to be here, Delaney. Bathin killed them.”
I was running through the neighborhood, headed toward the main street where I could flag down a car. Before I got even half a block, Jame Wolfe, who was a werewolf, firefighter, and the boyfriend to Rossi’s son, Ben, pulled up in his truck. “Get in. Rossi told me I needed to get you.”
