“Hey, Sly,” she called out when she saw him. “Want to join us?”
He chuckled. “No, I was actually hoping you’d join me, Morgaine. We have something important to take care of.”
Gwyneth continued squashing grapes with her feet. “More important than making all your curative wine?”
Sly cleared his throat. “It’s something we ought to do before the hand-fasting. You’ll have to forgive me for borrowing your cousin, Gwyneth.”
He moved to the side of the vat so fast he created a blur. Then he lifted Morgaine out of it and carried her toward the stairs. She clasped him around the neck.
“Sorry for deserting you, Gwyneth. We’ll see you later.”
“Aw, don’t pay it no nevermind.” She waved them away. “I can finish this up without y’all.”
“Thanks, cousin,” Sly said and winked.
That seemed to please Gwyneth immensely. It pleased Morgaine too and she kissed him on the cheek.
Sly carried her up the stairs into his apartment and set her gently standing up in the bathtub. “Let’s wash off those feet of yours, then we’ll take care of that little matter I mentioned.”
“Yeah, what is it we need to do that’s so important?” She turned on the water and waited for it to warm up.
“Since it’s going to be a late night, I thought you might prefer to go through the conversion first.”
Her eyes rounded. “You’re going to make me a vampire? Now?”
“Would you rather wait?”
She lowered herself to sit on the edge of the tub. “No. I guess I just thought we’d do it after or around the same time as the hand-fasting. There’s two weeks to go.”
Sly shrugged. “We can do it either way…or not at all. It’s up to you.”
“I still want to go through with it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely, positively.”
He smiled. “Okay, then. I guess we just need to decide when that should happen.”
“Does it take some getting used to?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Like how?”
“You’ll have to learn to hold things gently. Anything you grip hard you could crush.”
“Oh, dear. Is that why you’ve always been so gentle with me?”
“Exactly. When we’re both Vampires and I know I won’t hurt you, we can play a little rougher, if you want.”
Morgaine laughed. “Let’s see how it goes. Maybe we should let the mood decide.”
“Agreed.”
He twirled a lock of her hair around his finger and leaned down to kiss her.
After a long, sweet kiss, Morgaine said, “I think we should do this well before our celebration. I’d hate to give someone an enthusiastic hug and crush them.”
