Chapter 20- Binding
Bent over chemicals, I worked diligently on the anecdote to copy precisely what Singe had produced. My mind was reeling with the possibilities of what Maya had planned, but I came up with nothing. She had a very mischievous look on her face, so I knew it wasn't something dangerous, but I wondered what she would need an indefinite amount of money for. She had been gone for two hours now, and as I finished up month five of the anecdote I began to pace before returning to the final month's worth, only able to think of where she could be. I had already reserved our hotel room, and I was anxious to know that Maya was safe so we could retire for the evening. The thought of recluse away from the world with Maya again was so inviting and comforting, and I had grown more impatient with each vial to be reunited with her. Even since she'd walked out of the laboratory I had already grown weary in her absence. Restlessly I continued to pace, my eyes fixed on the door.
Suddenly Maya burst through the door, her face aglow. She was grinning, her eyes were wide and sparkling even in the harsh fluorescent light and her cheeks were rosy pink against her light peach skin. Behind her back were two garment bags and a small boutique paper bag, as well as the briefcase. I looked at her quizzically.
"You'd better not be doing anything at ten A.M. tomorrow," she commanded good-naturedly, her face flushed with excitement.
"What else would I be doing besides spending my time with you?" I asked, smiling. My curiosity threatened to get the best of me. "Come on; let's get you a nice shower back at the hotel."
Back at the hotel, after we had both had scrubbed off days' worth of the grime of not showering, we changed into clean clothing and collapsed into bed, exhausted from walking most places. Finally the effects of intense battle and our intimacy thereafter had worn our bodies out. As my eyelids closed, I breathed in her scent, taking it in for a moment. Her soft, even breaths soothed me, and I stroked her hair and cheeks. I had memorized her every curve, and I needed not to open my eyes. Despite my exhaustion, my curiosity pulled me to get up and see what was in Maya's garment bags. I dared not pull the zippers down, but I felt their weight and what little of the textures I could ascertain. The one on the left felt slightly stiff as though it had two parts and leggings. It seemed to be a suit. The other was light and bent easily to drape over my hand. It seemed to be one piece and quite long, but not to the floor when worn. It was most likely a dress. What could she have planned that required formal wear for the morning? Most formal events I had ever heard of, even being uninformed of the rituals and norms of the human world as a Lycan, took place in the evening. I sighed. I'd best not ruin the surprise. Whatever it was, the mere thought made Maya light up as much as whenever she saw me. I smiled. It was something grossly important to her, then. Maya had gone to bed with strange bubble-like rolls in her hair, and they were very large. She said they were curlers, and these particular large ones were to simply make her hair look wavy. She wanted to look beautiful for tomorrow. I thought she always looked breath-taking, but I did not argue. Rather, I would let her enjoy whatever she'd planned for us to the fullest.
I slept serenely that night for the first time in a while, as my guilt for abandoning my brethren was lifted, Maya knew my identity and had accepted it, and loved me, and she had survived the deadliest battle and transformation ever to a mortal. I'd overcome the worst obstacles I'd been facing as of late. My heart felt light as I realized the most beautiful truth of all- I had overcome eight hundred years' worth of grief and managed to find the truest love with this wonderful woman next to me.
I awoke with the sun in my eyes, and sat up, realizing Maya wasn't next to me. From the bathroom, I caught sight of her taking her curlers out gingerly, one by one. She was wearing a light pink silk slip, and the sight of her long, chestnut waves cascading down her back coupled with her tantalizing attire aroused me immediately. I longed to touch her so deeply. She caught me staring in the mirror and turned around, smiling. She sauntered over to the garment bag on the left, zipping it down and proving me right; it was a suit.
"This is for you," she said grinning. "Wear it for this morning."
"Can you tell me what's going on?" I asked, thoroughly amused.
"No. Just trust me. If you don't want to, uh, participate when you get there, then I won't hold you to it," she said, suddenly serious. "I would never force you into something you don't want to do."
"I'm sure whatever you've planned I will happily oblige to participate in." I smiled and kissed her; confident and anticipating the wildest adventure, and then I undressed and put the suit on. A look I couldn't quite read crossed her face; it looked like a mix between pride, love, and I wasn't sure what else. I felt like I'd seen that kind of look before, but I couldn't place it. She straightened my collar tenderly.
"I hope this isn't bad luck," she whispered, a twinkle in her eye.
"You hope what isn't bad luck?"
"Seeing you in your suit."
"Why would that be bad luck?" I asked, confused. She ran a comb through my hair quickly but deftly.
"I guess it's just if the guy sees the girl in the dress." She shrugged, not answering my question. "Meet me back at the forest. I promise all of your questions will be answered." She kissed me, and then ushered me out the door so that she could finish dressing herself.
I hitched a ride with a mortal, against my better judgment- I preferred not to interact with mortals for the most part- to a closer walking point to the forest, avoiding his curious stares and his question if I was going to a wedding. And then as I was walking to the clearing near the forest, it dawned on me. Had she arranged a wedding ceremony for us? It would explain her fear of my non-willingness to comply; she wanted me to be ready for this, which I was. In fact, my eyes welled with tears when I realized that she was this enthusiastic and anxious to bind our lives together that she wouldn't even wait. And then I was able to place that look in her eyes as she'd straightened my collar. I'd seen that same look eight centuries ago- it was the look of a bride; the look for which there were no adequate words to describe the emotions her face displayed. In every sense of the word I was hers. Just then, I spotted a priest making his way toward me.
"Are you Lucian?" he inquired.
"Yes, I am."
"Do you know what is happening?"
"I'm beginning to comprehend, yes," I replied, smiling.
The priest smiled, too. "How grand weddings are. And the surprise hasn't deterred you. That says a lot. I can tell that you two are meant for each other and will last through the trials of time."
I wiped a tear away. "Yes. Yes, we are meant to be together." My voice was thick with emotion. "A marriage to this woman is an honor that one doesn't walk away from."
"Come over here, my son. Maya has instructed us to wait under this cove under the trees for her to process toward you."
Her taste was sublime. Under the thick canopy of deciduous trees came a small clearing overhead just big enough to cast a stream of golden sunlight through. It lit the ground where the priest and I stood, poking through in various spots. The illumination upon me was almost surreal as I awaited my bride.
"She apologizes that everything was so spur of the moment, but she has instructed me that she purposely arranged for you to have enough time to think over your vows before she arrives. She says there is no paper or memorization necessary. Just give it good thought first and speak from the heart."
I nodded, struggling again with tender tears of unfamiliar joy. I hadn't been able to feel like this in a long, long time, and it was truly a gift that I'd found someone to experience love with once again. I stood there in reverent, humbled silence at this woman's complete and whole trust in me, and contemplated what I would vow to her for an eternity of love. I closed my eyes, feeling the sunshine's warmth as soothing as the warmth of Maya's heart, and the words came to me. Several moments later when I opened my eyes, she was there a distance away, waiting for me- waiting for an indication that it was time for her to close that small gap of space between us.
She looked like an angel, dressed not in white but in a light cerulean blue, the color of the morning's radiant sky. Her neckline was a simple straight one, the bodice had vertical gather lines, and it reached down to three inches past her knees, but not to the floor. The edges were in layers of jagged flaps all the way around, and similar jagged flaps of the same gauzy material the dress was made of draped around her shoulders. In her hair she wore a simple wreath of tiny pale purple, yellow and orange flowers. Around her neck she wore a choker two inches wide made of a gossamer material with a simple silver medallion fastened in the front of it. Upon her left ring finger she still wore her engagement ring. On her feet were dainty, light blue slippers of a silken material. Her beauty was ethereal, with long waves of brown hair down her back. The sunlight in the large open clearing where she stood, away from where the forest began, caught her hair like it had the first day I saw her through my kitchen window. My heart palpitated, and I felt utterly unworthy of her.
I nodded earnestly, my eyes wide with anticipation. She smiled, and processed slowly toward me, her dress billowing slightly, but not dramatically, with her every step. Out of seemingly nowhere, Michael had appeared, presumably to serve as our witness. I nodded at him, and he did, too. We both smiled.
Maya stopped and stood on the priest's right side, facing me. I shook my head, grinning, and trying to fight the overwhelming tears so I could speak.
"You were afraid I wouldn't want to marry you?"
She grinned back sheepishly. "I planned it so fast and without your knowledge. I wasn't sure if you'd need time. We just got engaged. I was so excited though when the idea came to me. I just couldn't wait to be your wife."
"Yes. Engaged to be married. I couldn't be more ready for that."
"Oh, Lucian!" she cried.
"So let's get married," I urged earnestly, smiling.
"Yes, let's get married," she echoed euphorically.
The priest did all of the standard wedding ceremony practices, and then it was time for us to say our individually-written vows. Maya spoke first.
"Lucian, from day one when we met, we were both in a lot of pain. We both also selflessly recognized that pain in one another. We both accepted each other when we weren't feeling our best and did all that we could to comfort each other; and it worked, because it was out of love, and the desire to see the other whole. A few things happened that caused me to not trust you, but you proved me wrong, and yourself to be trustworthy ever since, and I chose to trust you wholly. The only time I ever doubted you was because of a misunderstanding early on, and I know full well now how trustworthy you are. I vow to you today to trust you always with my life, my pain, and everything. I vow to always do my best to comfort your pain and help you to feel whole. I vow to stand by your side when you're in the fight of, or for, your life. I vow to always be faithful to you, and I vow that you are the only one I will ever love this much. I vow to do good by your side and with you in this world. And I vow that we will live a good and beautiful life together, for as long as we do live."
It was effortless to vow all I was about to vow to her; I felt like she was infinitely deserving of anything I could give her for the long remainder of our lives.
"Maya, my darling, my life, my love, my reason; I have much to vow to you, for no other is as deserving of all that I have to give. Though you are quite capable of protecting me when you're needed to, and I trust you completely to, I vow that I will protect you the majority of the time as a husband should. I vow that if you need anything from me, you only need but ask. I vow to trust you as you trust me. I vow to help you through your darkest hours, so that you needn't shoulder them alone. I cannot even begin to describe to you how happy you make me, so I vow to try to make you just as happy, so that you know how I feel, and so that you need not feel pain all too often throughout this life. I don't know how long we shall live," I eyed her meaningfully, and she silently acknowledged what I meant, "but I do know that however long or short time endures for us, that I will be the best man and husband to you that I can be. Though I was alone well before, I have forsaken all women the moment I saw you, and I vow that I will never desire anyone but you for all of time."
The priest pronounced us married, and we let our kiss linger as he and Michael faded into the background. I let the tears free fall now, and I stroked Maya's cheeks that were streaked with her own tears as our tongues grazed each other's lightly. I was hungry for more of her; all of her, and I struggled to pull away, remembering once again that we had a small audience.
"Congratulations to the both of you. I will mail your marriage document to the specified address if you'll both and your witness sign the certificate."
We all signed, and the priest and Michael made their way back to the city after Michael said his congratulations. Maya turned to me, and my heart burned with the ache to take her where we stood. I couldn't make myself do it though, as she looked so sublime in her wedding dress. I wanted to stare at her like this forever, and I also wanted to see her immaculate body unclothed and trace every curve once over with my fingers and twice over with my tongue. The sight of one's beloved bride makes them both want to patiently wait and impatiently give way to the strongest urge all at the same time; the feelings were overpowering. Logic, if there were any in love and arousal, won over as I took in her beauty before me. I memorized every detail of her dress, her eyes, her hair, her face, and her figure. I memorized the wreath of flowers in her hair, her shoes, and her necklace. I memorized her engagement ring and I memorized the forest. I memorized her and I memorized this day. With arms outstretched we held hands, staring into one another's eyes.
"Thank you for choosing me, I breathed.
"Thank you for loving me," she returned.
Just then the sound of fast-paced footsteps approached, and we turned to see Michael and Selene running toward us.
"We need your help," Selene announced in a slightly panicked tone.
My face dropped. "What is it?"
"It's the wife of Alexander Corvinus, Évike. She stormed in and broke up one of the first meetings of the new council with an army of pure-bred werewolves and vampires, most likely whom she turned herself. She wants to avenge Alexander, Markus and William's deaths. The statuses of the other ten council members are currently unknown."
NO, I whispered to myself. "So you two were elected." I smiled for a moment. "Alright, you'll have to fill us in on everything, down to the last detail."
Just then, Maya began to undo the clasps of her dress at the sound of snarling and many heavy approaching footsteps.
"They're not ruining my damn wedding dress," she hissed. "Lucian, you've seen me naked dozens of times. Selene, you're a woman, too. Michael, sorry."
There was no time for modesty. She threw the dress up into a tree and her undergarments onto the ground, and let the rage take hold as she transformed before our very eyes. I followed her example with urgency and removed my suit in preparation to morph. In the middle of the sunlit morning, the fierce snarls of the Lycan warrior princess ripped through the forest, reverberating off of every available tree. Évike's army approached, but the four of us were ready, and Maya was bloodthirsty. To anger a lovesick Lycan bride and threaten her groom was to open a threshold of hellfire in defense of all she held dear. And I would surely pay for my critical mistakes from centuries ago in an exchange that had clearly gone wrong as they charged full force towards my friends and my bride …
A/N: They seem to have surprisingly easy access to this forest. Oh well, lol. :) I'm all for wearing a wedding dress that isn't white. It's not my thing, but there are so many people who can pull it off and it looks AWESOME. Évike is a Hungarian name for "life." Considering that she wants to avenge her family's lives, it's a bit of an oxymoron to name her that, but it'll make more sense in my sequel. ;) Read on, loyal readers.
Also this is your LAST CHANCE to give any input on whether you'd like to see my prequel or my sequel next; otherwise I'm just going to decide. So without further adieu, here is my playlist for this fanfic. I thought these had very appropriate and fitting lyrics.
Chapter 1- Billy Joel- "River of Dreams"
Chapter 2- Foo Fighters- "Best of You," Linkin Park- "Numb," Three Days Grace- "Just Like You," Staind- "Mudshovel," Systematic- "They Say (My Soul Was Lost)," Stone Sour- "Bother," Alice in Chains- "Man in the Box"
Chapter 3- Goo Goo Dolls- "Name"
Chapter 4- The Eagles- "Desperado," P.O.D. - "Alive"
Chapter 5- The Black Crowes- "Hard to Handle," Foo Fighters- "Everlong"
Chapter 6- Buckcherry- "Don't Go Away," The Animals- "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"
Chapter 7- Kendall Payne- "Scratch"
Chapter 8- Dave Matthews Band- "American Baby," Ozzy Osbourne- "Bark at the Moon"
Chapter 9- Gavin McGraw- "Follow Through"
Chapter 10- Coldplay- "Trouble"
Chapter 11- Shinedown- "Devour"
Chapter 12- The Black Crowes- "She Talks to Angels"
Chapter 13- Soundgarden- "Pretty Noose"
Chapter 14- The Damning Well- "Awakening"
Chapter 15- Jem- "24"
Chapter 16- Shinedown- "Cry for Help," Soil- "Deny Me," Systematic- "Breakable"
Chapter 17- Soil- "Pride," Finch- "Bitemarks and Bloodstains," Shinedown- "Cyanide Sweet Tooth Suicide," 3 Doors Down- "It's Not My Time," Systematic- "Infected"
Chapter 18- Bad Religion- "Sorrow" (Acoustic Version), Blaqk Audio- "Stiff Kittens," AFI- "Miss Murder"
Chapter 19- Metallica- "Nothing Else Matters"
Chapter 20- Death Cab for Cutie- "I Will Follow You into the Dark"
As irony would have it, it turns out the Blaqk Audio and the AFI songs are both on the "Rise of the Lycans" soundtrack! Weird! Some of these songs could kind of apply to more than one chapter, too. This is all subjective anyway, just songs that came to mind as I read chapters.