"It was for his own good!" Rolf tried to explain and it took everything in Eddward not to rip the farmer's barn apart.

"He helped me! Why would I hurt him?!"

"Because he's human," Rolf retorted and Eddward rolled his eyes.

"For now."

"Does he know that?"

"I…I don't know…"

"Then take him some more of this and do try not to kill him," Rolf shuddered as the image of a massive hickey on Kevin's collarbone that appeared the day after Eddward's birthday popped in his head again.

"Yeah, yeah."


"Rolf gave you this," Eddward grinned as he waved the bottle of a protection elixir in Kevin's face and a grateful smile crossed his face as he snatched it way.

"Thanks, Old Man."

"You weren't saying that last night."

Kevin dramatically fell to the floor and Eddward snorted.

"Told ya I wasn't that old!"


Eddward sat at the edge of the lake and waited.

"Had to scare some kids to sleep," Marie said as she ran up to him and gave him a hug.

"Ah, Christmas Eve," he snorted and she groaned.

"You smell like him," she said as she wrinkled her nose up at him.

"I kinda live with him, soooooo…"

"Yeah, yeah. How goes it?"

He looked into violet eyes and grinned.

"Ew, you're in love again!"

"Stop it! I am not!"

"What's his favorite cookie?"

"Dark chocolate chip."

"What's mine?!"

"Uhhh…"

"Son of a bitch, Eddward!" She laughed.

"My mother wasn't a bitch, good madam," he intoned.

"And I'm not good nor a madam."

"Shut up, Marie."

"I'll shut up at the next no moon."

He had one week…


"Eddward, I know when you're blocking me."

Eddward looked over at his brother and caught a cocked brow and worried blue eye from behind a sea of black.

"You need a haircut."

"And you need to spill it, Buster."

Kev sat back from the table a bit, ready to pin the two brothers to the wall if he needed to, but hoped he didn't.


It was Christmas Day and while they had spent most of the early evening with their friends, Eddward had been dourer than usual considering the holiday.

Edd knew immediately that something was on his mind, but played it off as the darkness of winter seeping into the coldest parts of him and told everyone to wait him out til spring.

He held Kevin's hand when the redhead offered it, but didn't even offer a snarky comment to Eddy's gag gift of matching "I'm With Stupid" tshirts he had made for the eldest vampire and Kevin.

Rolf was ready to call forth an exorcism at that point, but Edd distracted them all with a game Never Have I Ever, which meant he and his brother spent a good two hours trying to one up each other's shenanigans.

His brooding grew after all the humans went to sleep and their cryptid friends snuck outside for some winter wonderland fun.


As was Rockwell-Vincent tradition, the brothers had dinner together, but since Kev was now Edd's husband, he got to come to dinner, too.

Most family dinners were spent discussing business, telling Kev stories, and making new plans with their friends.

But Kev knew that with Eddward's more thoughtful than normal disposition lately that something of great importance had to be discussed.

"I want to ask the Prince a favor at the dinner next week," he finally said and Edd shot him an exasperated look.

"Is that all?" He asked incredulously as he spread a pate of jellied pig's blood on a warm biscuit.

"I want…I want Kevin to be mine," he said quietly and a knowing grin shot across Edd's face as he gave his husband a wink.

"Such a sourpuss over love," Edd snickered but Eddward shook his head.

"Not like that…"

"Then whatOHMIGOD, EDDWARD!"

Stunned cyan met sheepish baby blue and when Edd paled, Kev looked at the taller brother to tell him to explain himself but only felt empathy as he saw him crawl in on himself.

"I know…"

"DOES HE!?"

"WHY DOES EVERYONE KEEP ASKING ME THAT?!" Eddward retorted as he ran a hand through his own long hair, ebony bangs flopping in front of his eyes like his defeated spirit.

"Oh, my God, he doesn't," Edd whispered as Eddward stood up from the table and started pacing. "Eddward, look at me."

The wound up man turned to his younger brother and was met with acceptance, but also caution.

"You have my blessing. Our blessing, really. But you kinda need to talk to the guy about this."

"Wha?" Kev uttered and Edd giggled.

"He wants to marry your cousin," he smiled and Kev shrugged.

"Ok."

"He wants to marry your cousin, Dear."

As the words hung in the air, Eddward wanted to scream.

"Oh, shit."

"Yep," the raven growled as he looked at the window at the waning moon. "Do you think the Prince will agree?"

"I know a guy who can take care of him if he doesn't."

"Edd."

"Yes, Eddward?"

"Just make sure Jimmy can clean up the mess," he sighed as he collapsed back into his chair and picked at Nazz's blueberry pie.


On New Year's Eve, Prince Marion of France came to Cherry Pines, West Virginia for the annual family reunion.

Marion's came down from Quebec to join their American Rockwell and Vincent cousins for a meeting where family business was shared, plans were made, favors asked for and accepted or declined.

Edd had been let off the hook for acquiring a ghoul without permission because of the circumstances he found himself in.

Considering the fact that he loved the man before his change and Kev's sacrifice was a purely selfless one, when Edd announced that he was marrying him, the Prince sent his congratulations and a bottle of his finest catch.

But Eddward's situation required a bit more finesse.


He had found love, though neither spoke of it.

Their interactions were closer in public, the intimacy in private rivaled that of any pair of lovers you'd ever meet.

But Kevin was no hapless ghoul.

He was a human who had been caught up between Heaven and Hell simply because his cousin and Eddward's brother decided to take a shortcut through the unincorporated part of the Peach County to get Kev back home to Lemon Brook after the car show at the Halloween festival.

There were no more shortcuts to be taken after that.

Every step was as thought out as possible. Even if so many were driven by their hearts that yearned to find something with someone that brought them joy.

In order to keep the little bit of happiness Kevin had brought him, he'd need his founding father's permission.

At nearly 1500 years old, Prince Marion had damn near seen it all.

Literally.

So to say he was a hard sell was like saying water was wet and film for newscasts would be at 11PM.


As Eddward paced in his study and contemplated his private meeting with the head of his family, Kevin stood on the wall taking in Nazz's patrols.

There'd be no moon for the next two nights, making it easy for all the vampires to slip in undetected, but hunters would be out as well trying to quell the numbers of those that they thought didn't deserve to live.

"She has it under control," Rolf said as he walked up to the turret Kevin was leaning on.

"She's good, that's for sure. I'm just making sure, sure, ya know?"

Rolf shrugged but gave his friend a look that Kevin made a point to ignore.

"You take your medicine today?" The shaman asked as swarms of bats descended upon the castle.

"You know I did."

"Then you'll be good."