Bleeding Hurts

Well Earned

After finally catching his breath, Bloody put a hand over Maria's and squeezed it gently, "Are you alright?"

Maria fought to clear his head, "For now, yeah. I'll need to get myself fixed up soon but first I need to tell you what one of the vampires told me."

"Is it about why we were attacked?"

"Yeah," Maria nodded. "Apparently you're too much of a threat when you're with me. And now that they know I'm a proper exorcist, they'll probably mark me as a threat too. So we should look forward to more of this happening."

Bloody frowned, "And what do we do about that?"

"We stay on the move," Maria said simply, "We can't very well put anybody else in danger. So we'll travel, kill vampires when they're attacking humans and stay out of trouble."

He paused and raised a hand to run it through Bloody's hair, "If that's okay with you of course."

"Where you go, I go," Bloody told Maria, "That much won't change."

Maria smiled, "good," and then promptly passed out.

Once word had reached the wedding guests that the danger had passed, Shinobu came back to check on Bloody and Maria. He rushed Maria to the hospital to check on his wounds and helped Bloody get home so he could heal too.

The three held their breaths as Maria was hospital bound for several days, hoping for no more vampire attacks. And to their relief it was an eventless few days.

That is until the day Maria was set to leave the hospital, and set off on his journey with Bloody. Ichirou went to pick him up and he found himself escorted, not to his home where his bags should have already been packed, but to the church nearby.

"What's going on?" Maria asked, as he was ushered into the church.

Ichirou gave him a sly smile, "You'll see."

Maria was about to object when he spotted Bloody, waiting for him at the altar. "Bloody?"

"Surprise!" Takumi and Hasegawa stepped out from behind a column as Ichirou moved up to join them.

Bloody waved a little awkwardly and spoke as well, a little more quietly, "Surprise."

"What is this?" Maria asked, his voice barely above a whisper as he moved closer to Bloody and took both his hands.

"Well," Bloody explained slowly, "It was mostly Ichirou's idea. We never got our wedding, and I know this isn't exactly what you had in mind but-"

"It's perfect," Maria interrupted and kissed Bloody.

The others gathered around clapped for the couple before pulling out food that had been prepared for the occasion and stepped away to give them some privacy.

Maria cupped Bloody's face in his hands with a smile, "You know, when I died, I saw my family. They told me that it wasn't my time yet and... I think this is why. I had to keep living. For you."