Vampire Bride

Chapter Nine - Part Two

Maxwell

"Maxwell, relax. She'll be here. I'm paying her, so you better be grateful. I know why she resents you, though, bringing her into a trap. Think about your actions, there has to be another way."

"There's no other way, Grace. The presentation is next week, six days from now, to be exact. I have no more time to waste. If she wishes to remain a human until she's ready, then this has to happen and it has to happen tonight." I thought many times about what I have to do and how exactly I should go about doing it. No matter how many different ways I think of, I know Charlie and she won't take it lightly.

Grace leaves me to my thoughts as she speaks with the other guests. When I see her walk inside with a tight nod of her head in my direction, I know that my bride has finally arrived. As a way to blend into the crowd, I mingle with others by holding useless conversations with various individuals I don't even know. All my attention is on the back porch where I hear Grace compliment Charlie.

"You're as beautiful as Maxwell describes you to be," Grace says kindly, putting herself on thin ice.

Charlie's body immediately goes stiff with the mention of my name. "You...you know Maxwell?" she stutters out.

Grace nods and points in my direction. I drop my head before Charlie's eyes connect with mine. Boy, Grace doesn't waste time in calling me out. Within seconds, I stand before the two women. "I see you're wearing the dress I gave you."

"You broke into my business, so I won't thank you. You had something to do with this whole party?" The vindictiveness in her voice causes me to cringe. Maybe now that Grace gets to see a glimpse of how overbearing Charlie is, she'll finally understand why things are so complicated between us.

I bow my head with regret. "Yes, you were hired on false pretenses."

"You tricked me into coming to a vampire party. This event was scheduled ten months ago,

ten months, Maxwell." Her voice rises with anger.

"I think I'm going to leave you two alone," Grace interrupts.

"Maybe we should go somewhere and talk about this without drawing in everyone's attention. There're a lot of capable ears here; our differences shouldn't be their entertainment." Grabbing her arm very gently, I lead her back inside the house. She doesn't detest the gesture, so I don't release her or say a word as we go up a flight of stairs and walk toward the room I asked for.

I wasn't expecting one door to be open on our way to the end of the hall and knowing what's taking place inside, I try to rush past it. However, Charlie stops in her tracks. Tug after tug on her elbow to urge her to follow proves to be pointless. The damage is already done.

I step alongside her and peer into the room. Two fully unclothed bodies in a very private activity can be seen clear as day. The girl, pinned down, is covered in her own blood since the vampire that I don't know very well has bitten her several times in many locations. The sheets are stained red and small puddles accumulate on the floor. Screams of pain escape the girl's mouth as nothing but moans of pleasure escape the vampire's blood filled one.

In a rush, I slam the door shut. With my arm wrapped tightly around Charlie's waist, I pull her fighting body to the last room and lock the door behind me. "We have to talk," I say.

Her shaking body refuses to look at me makes me regret the actions that I am about to take.