Bill's author Note: We wanted to wish our friends a wonderful Valentine's Day and sharing this chapter with you presented itself as the perfect gift for this Day when Love and Friendships are celebrated moreso than normal... Always remember to Love each other (unconditionally) each day as if it was the very first day you had together. True love is a Love that reaches Beyond Death.
Bill and Eric kept up their plotting and planning spending a lot of time together at Fangtasia; Eric trying to figure out what the King was up to, Bill keeping what he knew to himself. We had a couple of plotting and planning sessions of our own; Bill's plan was to keep his enemies closer than his friends, something Eric was not while keeping me protected.
Bill gave me instructions on what to do if anything should happen; how to gain access to the restricted files on his vamp data base and who to reach out to if he was not able to get to me or if the worst were to happen (I shuddered at that thought but he wanted to be prepared for everything). He opened his data files and showed me pictures of those that had pledged alliance to him for his protection of their secrets, particularly their identity and whereabouts. He said the older vampires preferred to remain hidden even from each other; as some possessed wealth and magical gifts others would want to usurp (my new word of the day) by deadly force.
Immediately I recognized some as being present at the restaurant the night of our engagement; the female vamp that reminded Bill about the ring, the two couples off at the corner that kept smiling our way and the one I thought was manager of the restaurant. I wrapped my mind around the understanding that Bill had essentially introduced me to those he expected to protect me in case anything should ever happen to him. They were all very old and very powerful but apparently none was as powerful or as old as the elusive Octavious. Octavious was the vampire Bill had set out to interview when he was kidnapped, which led to us almost dying, which led to us getting back together again; which brings us to this day…, our wedding day.
I'd not seen Bill since the week before the wedding since I'd to be refitted for my dress having lost five more pounds; stress slowly taking its course. Eric had arranged for us to have sometime together so that I could feed from Bill without us seeing each other (which he and Pam thought was a ridiculous agreement). Eric brought in some sort of room divider as those used in old time hospitals, both of us sitting on opposite sides; Pam on my side and Eric on Bill's to prevent us from ripping the divider and rushing each other.
It worked and I was never happier that Pam was stronger than me as I was the first one to want to break through and jump on Bill. She quickly flew me out of the room and into my dressing area, Bill's blood flowing through me giving me extra strength along with an intense arousal.
I readied myself not quite believing what I was about to do, not the marrying Bill part but that it actually was MY Wedding I was participating in. My dress was an old Ivory A-line gown with detachable cap sleeves; chiffon split front overlay, and metallic embroidery with a chapel train. My veil was also chapel length and was attached to my loose and curled hair where it had been pinned back away from my face. Pam did my hair and make-up.
The church was full of humans, vampires, demons, weres' and shifters, some we knew others at the invitation of the King. I heard the music start signaling the wedding was about to start, my heart pounding in my chest as I fiddled with my ring wondering what Bill was doing and thinking. Pam and Amelia joined me and helped me with my veil, Pam handed me a handkerchief she said had belonged to her mother (my something borrowed), Octavia had pinned a blue satchel under my dress for good luck (my something blue), Bill had gifted me pearl earrings (my something new) and I wore gran's pearl necklace (my something old). I touched my necklace feeling gran's love radiate from them and wished that she could've been here for this day.
While I waited fidgeting, Niall, Claudine and Claude blipped into the room, they all gasped when they saw me. Niall hugged me but my cousins maintained their distance as not to infuse me with their scent. Niall would be attending the wedding and I made a rash decision to ask Bill and Eric if I should ask Niall to walk me down the aisle. I asked Pam to go to them and forward my message. Eric was the one to return with the answer.
Pam had warned him to ready himself for the sight but he hadn't heed her warning; he "was a Viking warrior after all, what could shake him?" he'd thought. He almost fell back when he saw me in my dress, veil pulled over my face.
"Sookie, you look… beautiful and radiant. Would it be wrong of me to ask you to marry me instead?"
"Funny Eric. So what do you think, should I ask him? What did Bill say?"
"We both think it is your decision, you don't have to tell anyone how you are related but most would assume that there is a connection between you and the Prince. You can always ask him and see what he says."
"Is Niall here yet?"
"Yes I am, why Northman?" Niall responded
"My Lord, Sookie has something she wants to ask of you."
"Grandfather, would you give me away? I mean would you like to walk me down the aisle?" I asked nervously.
"I am honored that you would ask me my child. Northman, what have you advised her and Bill. I take it the King has placed protection on this event?" He stated before consenting.
"Bill and I have advised that it is her decision only, she doesn't have to tell anyone of your relations. She can always say that you volunteered so that she didn't walk down the aisle alone. As for protection, I have ensured that the witches cast protection spells over those of the King both here and at the palace." I was shocked, Eric had the witches cast protection spell over those of the King and for us.
"Then I shall do it but I will also add my own magik to tonight's events. You may leave us Northman."
"As you wish. My Lord, Sookie" He bowed and left us.
We made our way out of my waiting room and headed towards the altar. Niall stretched his hand out to me. Amelia was shocked to see who was with me; I figured she was the first in a long line to see who was accompanying me and be shocked.
The music started again and from my vantage point I could see where Bill would be standing. Pam and Amelia made their way down the altar and once they arrived Bill, Eric and the King took their places, my heart skipped a beat, he was breathlessly gorgeous and I felt him swimming inside my heart.
His eyes were scanning the room to see from which direction I would be coming (he'd missed that rehearsal and I didn't tell him nor did anyone else). The wedding march started and everyone stood as Niall and I appeared at the entrance of the aisle, we heard gasps and I could see Bill swallow hard as he got his first look at me, my face covered by the veil. Niall patted my hand as the impulse to run to Bill flowed out from my skin.
I watched as the eyes of the vampires and other supes' widened when they saw Niall leading me down the aisle, each bowing as we passed them; the King was looking from Niall to me and then to Bill.
We made it to the altar and the Prince and King bowed to each other; when the ministers asked 'who give these two to each other?' both the King and Niall answered "we do." Niall raised my veil and kissed my forehead before handing me to Bill. Everyone let out a slight gasp as my veil was raised; Bill's eyes were already brimming red as mine were flooded with tears. He kept drawing circles on my palm as the ministers spoke, never removing our gaze from each other.
I was glad the entire thing was video taped as I knew neither one of us was paying attention to what the ministers were saying; by the time the vows came along they had to be repeated as we were lost to each other at that moment.
I remember Bill saying "I will forever" and I remember me saying "I will forever," I remember the ring exchange and nothing before or in between until they said we could kiss. We'd been instructed to make it a chaste kiss but we forgot that part and the ministers had to "uhum" a couple of times, finally tapping us on the shoulders to get our attention before introducing us as Mr. & Mrs. William Thomas Compton" to all present. I noticed that the vamps all had their fangs descended including the King (thanks to our passionate kiss) and I blushed beet red which Bill found extremely amusing.
We made our way down the aisle and got into our awaiting limo on our way to the palace for the second ceremony. Pam sat between us keeping us off each other and she took her job seriously, even as Bill snarled at her and I begged her to move reminding her we were already married.
"You're not married until this next ceremony is over. You decided this not me, so stay on your side and Bill, don't make me hurt you on your wedding day. You're the fools that agreed to abstain for two months." Pam laughed while daring us to try her patience.
We made it to the palace and had our pictures taken. We'd pictures with Pam and Eric, Amelia and Tray, King De Castro, Alcide and Calvin, Niall, Jason, Tara and JB, Sam, and almost everyone else we've ever met. Almost two hours later I went to change into my other dress as Bill went to change too. We managed to sneak in another kiss before Pam pulled me from Bill almost dragging me down the hall.
My second gown was a red halter top, trumpet skirt with (almost transparent) light gold crystal appliqués and a detachable watteau train; the train descended from mid-back and dragged behind me perfectly accentuating the open back of the dress. I pulled my hair up off my shoulders leaving a few tendrils cascading over my face and changed my jewelry to the ruby set Bill had gifted me (even though I'd complained) when he returned from France. It matched perfectly with my dress; Bill had not seen this dress either, I was looking forward to surprising him again not considering what my surprises were doing to his libido.
As the ceremony started, Eric made his way to the podium and the room became as quiet as a morgue (ha, ha, ha), he was followed by Bill and then I made my entrance led by the King who handed me over to Bill.
Both Bill and Eric flinched when they saw me, momentarily looking at each other and the fangs that had descended both of their mouths. I felt a lump in my throat hoping that cooler heads would prevail and the ceremony begin. They nodded to each other and bowed to the King and then to me, I let out a sigh and smiled as I was flanked by the two most beautiful vampires I knew and loved.
Eric in a black ceremonial cloak started, "We are here to witness the joining of these two; normally a ceremony made by Kings and Queens granted. A human and a vampire joining in this tradition is not one before witnessed in this grand palace and certain exceptions had to be afforded them; three kings that have offered her their protection have consented to these exceptions: King De Castro of Nevada and Lousiana, King Edgington of Mississippi and King Stanley of Texas. The consent has been seconded by King Longhorne of South Dakota, King Louissant of Wyoming, and King Bartholomew of North Dakota.
William and Sookie have agreed both verbally and by written covenant to ally each other and all they own for a hundred years. For a hundred years, they may not marry another. For a hundred years they may not form an alliance with another, unless that alliance is mutually agreed and witnessed. We will leave the conjugal visits to their desired tastes and needs (murmured laughter is heard).
As a mere human, the welfare of Sookie and her estate should come before his own in William's sight; at said that she is turned then the welfare of Sookie's estate alone should come only second to his own in William's sight, and the welfare of William's estate should come only second to her own in Sookie's sight whether she be human or vampire."
"William Thomas Compton, do you agree to this covenant?
"Yes, I do," Bill said.
"Sookie Stackhouse, do you agree to this covenant?" I turned to look at my protecting Kings, all three nodding their consent; not being a vampire my consent could only be accepted if my vampire protectors gave it.
"Yes, I do," I said.
Pam knelt in front of us holding a gold goblet as Eric pulled out the gold ceremonial knife he'd used to cut himself during our bonding, and quickly cut our wrists, making sure not to cut to deep into me. We bled into the goblet as one of my tears streaked down my face (Pam made sure to catch it in the goblet) and handed it to me, I took a drink and passed it to Bill who drained it. We kissed and then Bill brought my wrist to his mouth and licked at my wound before dripping a drop of his blood over it to help it heal before kissing me again.
Then we moved to sign the contract we had agreed upon as well as our human marriage certificates, it was witnessed and signed by Eric, all three Kings (as I couldn't sign being a human and all), Bill and our lawyers. King Edgington had assigned one of his vampire lawyers to represent me as Bill had his own vamp lawyer representing him during the contract negotiations. Once everyone had signed, Eric said, "The marriage is sacred for one hundred years!" The crowd cheered as we kissed again.
We made our way through the congratulating crowd for our first dance. Bill held me to him so tight I had to remind him I needed to breathe. Eric had made himself scarce and did not return until after we'd been joined by others on the dance floor. I'd finished dancing with King Edgington who handed me back to Bill after kissing me on the forehead; for some reason I thought he was seeing me as his daughter, pride oozing out of him.
As I danced with Bill, Eric stepped forward and asked for permission to dance with me; I was happy that Bill agreed but was concerned as to what to expect from Eric. We danced mostly not saying a word, his eyes brimming red and tears spilling from my own eyes; last time we danced, we'd just been bonded and now I was married to someone else.
Finally he spoke; "In a millennia, I had never known I could love another other than myself and be so happy in such a short amount of time. I am happy for you because of the happiness you brought to my existence and it would only be prudent to wish the same for you. I will love you forever and I pledge my fealty to you and to your heart, should you ever chose me again, I will leave it all behind; my position, my King, my wealth. I will always protect you Sookie, you and those you love but I can not promise to be anything more than what I am; I am a vampire moreover I am me and I will always try to bring you to me specially if I sense that is what you may want also. For now, please accept my congratulations and best wishes." He led me back to Bill and bowed to him.
We danced, ate and drank, cautiously mingling with our guests for the rest of the evening. Royalty Blend was served to the vampires as freely as the champagne was served to the others.
Once the cake was brought out and cut, the Kings were all served Royalty Blue (the finest, purest, and most expensive quality of royalty blood). When the cake was served all the other vampires were then served their Royalty Blue; it had been a gift for Bill from the King of France. He had impressed the French King enough to earn himself such an expensive gift and Bill had decided to purchase a few more cases himself for the wedding.
De Castro made sure to point out Bill's skill at gaining new alliances for the his Kingdom; what he didn't know was that Bill had gained that alliance for himself and not the kingdom. I informed the king of all I had gained from my telepathic investigation of the humans he wanted information from and he seemed pleased; thanking me for my service and releasing me from them for the rest of the night.
Bill and I still hadn't had the opportunity to be alone as the night wore on and when I brushed myself against him while we danced I felt his straining erection. We decided there and then to find a private area to "consummate our marriage," after all it had been two months and we'd implode if we had to wait another day. We decided on the room where Bill had changed as it was the closest one, it didn't have a bed but it did have a large couch; hell it had four walls and that was all we needed.
I walked out first excusing myself to tend to my human needs, Pam noticed I was leaving and was gearing to follow when she saw Bill make his way in the same direction; she quickly sat down and let us be, smiling to herself and nodding in Bill's direction to Amelia.
I was practically sprinting down the corridor when I felt a cool hand grab my arm pulling me into a room; apparently I had missed the room and was heading the wrong way. We had enough time to close the door behind us before turning into each other's mouths. I was pulling Bill's belt open trying to free him of his pants and he was pulling up my dress as it had too many buttons and I didn't want it torn to shreds, yet.
He opened his pants freeing himself and I undid the clasp on the halter of my dress releasing my breasts from their confine. Bill's mouth found its way to my breast as his hand found my nub to stroke it before he dropped to his knees, tearing my lace underwear with his mouth before plunging his tongue and fingers into me. As he lapped at me I found myself wanting him further in me, each lap sending me closer over the edge, when I finally exploded I let out a scream I was certain could be heard on the dance hall but I didn't care. Bill growled his approval and with vampire speed was on his feet picking me up as I wrapped my legs around his waist. He entered with such force that we both grunted and moaned; each thrust blinding us with sheer pleasure as our climaxes were almost taking us over, faster than ever before. Each of Bill's thrust pushed me against the wall and I wrapped myself tighter around his neck.
Bill bent his head to bite me on my breast but I begged him to bite my neck instead; as his fangs broke my skin I felt myself reaching my peak and tightening myself around his shaft. It only took three more thrusts before we met our simultaneous release; I screamed Bill's name told him I was His and he let out a growl that seemed to make the room shake. We stood there kissing and panting for almost five minutes before Bill set me down and we readied ourselves to join the others at our party again.
By the time we made it back to the hall we'd been gone almost an hour; all eyes turned to us as we entered and I watched as the vampires had descended fangs all sniffing the air and the others were smiling at us. I was embarrassed hoping no one knew what we'd been up to as Pam flew to our side an evil smile gracing her face.
"Sookie never knew you to be such a wanton woman; just couldn't wait until you were alone huh? By the way, everyone heard the two of you." She left laughing after patting Bill on the back. I wanted to dig a hole and fall in but Bill just smiled and pulled me to him. "You are my wife now and I don't care who knows what we just did."
For the rest of the night I tried to avoid being near supes' and their supersensitive sense of smell, which was very difficult.
Bill finally took pity on me and informed the King, Niall and Eric that we would be leaving as soon as Bill gave his little speech. Eric took over the band's podium and quieted our guests informing them "the happy couple will be departing soon and they want to thank you for joining them on their special night and wish that you continue celebrating." Bill led me up to the dais and he thanked everyone for coming and for their well wishes and gifts. I threw my bouquet but Pam and I had arranged for it to be given to Amelia as I knew Tray was going to pop the question later that night, I'd read his mind.
We had a very wonderful sexual reacquainting that night and for the rest of the two weeks of our honeymoon in New York City (and of course it continued after that). We met the King of New York when Bill stopped by to announce our presence in the city. The King seemed amused that Bill had not turned me yet, but pretty much all the vampires already knew of my "new status" and seemed to be respectful and accepting as if I were a vampire also.
We had a wonderful time and spent a lot of money buying gifts for our friends back in Bon Temps and clothing. We'd received jewelry, a new BMW for me from both King Edgington and his mate King Bart and about $580,000 total as wedding gifts. I told Bill I'd never seen so much money in my life and now half was mine but he informed me all of it was mine; even after I protested. He also joked he wasn't going to show me 'our' bank account for a while so I wouldn't change my mind about marrying him.
On our last night in New York City, we went on a carriage ride through Central Park, before settling back in our hotel room to watch the video of our wedding. So much had happened since the day Bill first walked into Merlotte's that it all felt like an eternity ago, and for the first time, I wasn't hurt, staked, stabbed or nearly raped.
For the first time we had the opportunity to just be, to just be in love and be husband and wife and think about all that had led us here without the fear of an impending attack standing just outside our bedroom door. Whatever waited for us in Bon Temps was going to have to wait because tonight, tonight it was just about us.