“Come in if you’re not Luka!” Liv yelled.
I grinned. “It’s Sage and Demi. I can smell them.”
The door burst open and Sage rushed forward, arms above her head. “It’s wedding time, bitches!”
We all laughed, and Demi stepped in behind her carrying a medium sized box. “Got you a prezzie,” she said, handing it to me.
“Aww. You didn’t have to do that.” I cracked the lid, expecting to see a custom t-shirt or something, but when my eyes fell on the jeweled tiara I had tried on and liked in the vault room, I gasped.
“Demi … I can’t.” I stroked the jewels with my fingers.
She smiled. “You totally can! I cleared it with Sawyer and his mom. It’s yours, as a symbol of our friendship with Vampire City.”
Liv reached over my shoulder and pulled it out. “Okay, don’t expect this nice of a gift from me,” she joked, causing us all to chuckle.
I tilted my chin down and she placed the tiara on my head. When I raised my head to look at my three closest friends, they all had tears in their eyes.
“You look like a queen.”
Queen of the vampires. Who would have thought?
“Come on, let’s get you to the chapel!” Demi whooped.
I chuckled. “Vampire City doesn’t have a chapel.”
Sage, Liv, and Demi all shared a look. “Right. Totally right,” Demi agreed.
I tossed her a glare. “What are you hiding?”
Demi chewed her lip. “Nothing! Come on.”
With that, they pulled me up and out to my wedding.
* * *
We walkedthe short distance to the castle garden, which was where Luka and I had decided to get married. It was pretty and carried better memories than the main hall, where I’d watched him kill so many people. When we reached the main entrance that would lead to the garden, Liv took a right turn, away from it, in the directionbehindthe castle.
“This isn’t the way,” I told Liv, but Sage and Demi just pushed me in the direction Liv was leading.
“Hey. I don’t like surprises on my wedding day!” I pouted.
They just shushed me, and as we wound around the castle gates, a faint music started to prickle my ear. I grinned.
‘What did you do?’I asked Luka through our bond.
I could almost feel him smiling.‘Just wanted to make my new wife comfortable in her new home and give her the wedding of her dreams.’
A grin tugged at my lips. I had no idea what to expect, but I knew it would be wonderful, just like he had been since the day I met him. The odds had been stacked against us and yet we prevailed. We grew stronger, we fell in love.
When we turned the corner so that we were directly behind the castle, a gasp flew from my lips. Tears immediately filled my eyes. I had to rapidly blink to clear my vision.
He’d built me a church. The man whom I’d once called a demon because my false religious upbringing had poisoned me had built me a church.
“Don’t cry!” Demi hissed, patting my cheeks.
“Mascara running!” Sage started to dab under my eyes and I laughed.
I didn’t know where I stood with God now that I survived off of blood and had killed a lot of people without cause—but I did know that God was forgiving, just like Luka had been to me.
