Pulling himself together, Anthony hurried to catch up with everyone. He didn't have time to get lost in what-if scenarios. Real life was happening and he didn't want to miss his siblings teasing Knox over the course of the day for a second.
The day was all about rehearsal and Anthony spent the entire day obsessed with watching Knox interact with his family. The way Bianca needled him with questions about the people he did or didn't know while awkwardly talking to Mathew about the weather when they found out they had nothing in common. Nino even caught up with Knox, who also asked Ben about his novels. He also mistakenly called Ben Nino's husband, which sparked the marriage debate again and even Johanna put in her two cents.
"Aren't you worried he's going to be bitten by someone else? There's lots of ways to marry an immortal being without becoming a vampire," she said.
"Dante won't let me tell my friends," Ben said.
"Why?" Johanna asked. "In a century, his friends won't even be around."
Gabriel had never laughed harder. Quietly, Evie would pop random questions to Knox about his favorite things that Anthony filed away for later, like green being favorite color, and how he like black and white movies. That night in Anthony's room was all about the gossip, with everyone piled into the same bed, except Ben and Nino on the pullout couch.
"Have you had sex?" Bianca immediately asked.
"Gross," Nino said and covered his ears. "I don't wanna know this."
"I think the question you ask first is if Anthony likes Knox or not," Mathew said.
Bianca rolled her eyes. "You don't have to like someone to have sex with them."
Anthony ruffled Mathew's hair and pulled him in, patting his shoulder as Mathew pouted, resting against his chest. "I'll answer both. Yes, we've done it and yes." Anthony couldn't help but smile. "I do like him."
"I knew you would," Nino said, and Anthony had it. He chucked a pillow at Nino.
"Don't try to take credit."
Easily, Nino caught the pillow and threw it back. He laughed. "I can't. Unfortunately, you'll have to thank Dante."
The room groaned into laughter, but Anthony was exhausted talking about himself. He wanted to know everything going on with them, any changes he had missed, any updates he could remember for later when he missed them so much, he couldn't stand it anymore and had to think about them. Slowly, they all sank into their bed as sleep picked them off one by one until Anthony and Mathew were the only people left.
Curled up next to each other, Anthony and Mathew were face-to-face. Mathew whispered, "I can't believe you're getting married."
Anthony nodded. "I'm not sure I believe it either. It might not hit me until I'm walking down the aisle."
"Is Knox who you imagined marrying?" Mathew asked.
Anthony shook his head. "No. I didn't think I'd get married. Especially not anytime soon. We live a long time."
Mathew's eyes flitted down. "I guess.... but I am going to miss you. The house is getting emptier and emptier."
"You'll have to visit me when I move into my new house."
"I will. You'll have to bring Knox home, too."
"I will," Anthony promised. "Don't worry, Matty. Everything's going to be alright."
Mathew nodded and pulled back from Anthony, settling into the bed, face down on his pillow. "Okay. You can go now."
"Go where?" Anthony raised to his elbow, looking down at him in confusion.
"You've been looking at the door all night. Just go to your fiancé, you whipped loser," Mathew said with a smirk. Anthony thought about arguing, but Anthony was already caught. Pushing down a smile, Anthony quickly got out of bed and then, threw himself back on the bed to press a quick kiss on his little brother's head and hurried out of the room.
Keeping his feet light, Anthony's plan was to avoid Dante's room for dear life, knowing he'd send him right back to his room, but it was too late. Just as Anthony was thinking no one could possibly be awake, Anthony heard a pair of voices and one man raising his voice, "That is not a vampire anymore. That's a monster. It shouldn't be marrying into our coven. It should be eliminated."
No one had seriously said they wanted to kill Anthony. People have said they wanted to kill him before, but that was usually the heat of the moment in a fit of anger. Famously, this sentiment was often paired with "I could throttle you" and "I've never been so mad in life".
But when Maurice said, "it should be eliminated."
That man meant it.
"This is hardly the time to bring it up, Maurice," Johanna hissed. They were whispering, but every word had enough venom to sour the air around them. "The wedding is in two days."
Maurice swung back. "I've just had to catch up. You both hid this from me on purpose because you know I'm the only rational one here and you knew I'd put an end to it." He slammed his hands on the desk and Anthony jumped, pressing his hand against his chest to keep his heart from popping out. "I can't believe you're agreeing to this union when the other party is ruined."
"Things have changed. We have decided on what's necessary, Knox and I who are reigning over this coven. The Ventura are good for this family. End of story."
"You're not talking about Andre and Giovanna—" Maurice said and Anthony hearing his parent's names come out of this man's mouth made his skin crawl. Maurice took their names in vain while threatening their family. "You're dealing with Dante. I don't know Dante. You're letting him hand over all these vampires. All these strangers are filling our home, and you think that's good?" He laughed incredulously.
"We've lost too many vampires, Maurice, to keep going."
"Which is why I explained to Knox we have to sire more."
"And I imagine he turned you down. I will also turn you down. Not everyone can handle the change. We'll lose more people than we can even make vampires. Ventura has vampires ready to join us because of Anthony. Without Anthony those vampires have no loyalty to us."
"Imagine what they'll do when they find out their prince is a monster," he hissed, and Anthony wished he could pull away as if a car was driving right for him on the highway and his legs were cemented to the ground.
"Joanna hushes him. That's being taken care of—"
"The change is already happening! I saw his eyes. That boy is a monster and he's going to kill someone. I imagine it'll be Knox with how much that boy has gone stupid over him. He's far too infatuated with someone he just met."
"Like I said, things have changed. I loved your brother very much and I think about my decisions and if I didn't make a political move would my husband still be here. But I don't think about it long. We all did what's best for the coven. Knox will do what's best for the coven as well."
"Beatrix is making the cure, isn't she?" Maurice asked and didn't wait for an answer. "Don't you ever worry about what else she can do?"
That perked Anthony's ears. He almost turned around when someone taped his shoulders. His yelp was concealed by Beatrix's hand. Silently, she hushed him with a single finger over her lips. She whispered, "Don't you know it's bad to snoop?"
Anthony removed her hand. "Well, they're talking about you, too."
She smiled. "Good. It's how I get my power."
Rolling his eyes, Anthony muttered, "Ridiculous." He glanced back at the office, debating checking it out, but thought his luck had already run out. Motioning Beatrix to follow, Anthony sneaked through the hallway. She shuffled beside him in her bunny slippers and fuzzy pink robe. "Your wrinkles have doubled," Beatrix said. "What are you so worried about? You should be excited for your wedding."
Anthony shook his head. "I can't truly feel excited about anything. Not while I'm living with this ticking time bomb inside of me. At any moment, this mutation could just take over and I don't even want to imagine what I can do..." He said, but Anthony knew Maurice was right. He'd kill Knox given the chance, if he had fully turned and was enchanted by the smell of his blood. No one would be able to stop him.
"That's what I don't understand," Anthony said. "How can Knox feel so strongly about me, when I'm becoming the thing always trying to kill him? I would be afraid of me if I was him."
"Monster or not, you're still Anthony," Beatrix said. "Knox loves you. Even monsters deserve love."
"Why are you working here?"
"I told you I was married to a vampire. He suffered from the mutation. But he was the first, so unlike you and Knox and the others, we weren't able to treat it. My Adam went mad and tried to kill me."
"I'm sorry... I thought you were with your husband on your vacation."
"Oh yes, I have him locked up at home. I visit him and try to remind him who loves him. Then one day when this all gets figured out, I'll have him again but just because he's a monster doesn't mean I love him any less."
"So, you're doing it for him."
"I'm doing it for love," she said like her words carried a great weight and any lesser person wouldn't be able to hold them up. "Everything I do Anthony is for love. I think you and I are more similar than you think."
Anthony made a face. "I hate that."
This tickled Beatrix and she patted his arm. "Here. I'll drop you off here," she said and Anthony blinked. He hadn't realized they arrived in front of Knox's new bedroom.
"Rest up," she warned. "The next few days will be very hard for you."
"What does that mean?"
She didn't say anything. Just took her mysterious words with her to her grave and just laughed at Anthony's expense all the way down the hall. Anthony needed to give up on taking her seriously. It always backfired in his face.
Anthony quietly opened Knox's door and slipped inside. He slowly joined Knox on the bed, putting his arms around Knox from behind and burying his face into his fiancé's back... his fiancé for tonight's back. Soon, this would be his husband's back.
***