AxidentlGoddess, thank you so much for giving me some reviews! You're the only one who is bolstering my confidence in posting/writing this story at present! I hope a few more of you out there reading this follow her lead. It is important to me :)
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Pam's POV
Through the chaos of trying to find phone numbers for a registrar, witnessing Eric now shouting orders at a nervous looking Mai Ling who he yelled to 'get your overly tattooed ass down here this minute' as he worded it, and him pacing as he makes phone call after phone call, I notice something that he hasn't.
"Eric," I say to him as soon as Mai Ling has scuttled off after being made to call Timpson & Blyth jewellers, to organise a representative bring over a selection of platinum wedding bands. He doesn't answer.
"Eric!" I say again, moving to right in front of him.
"Not now!" he replies, moving away from me.
"Yes now! Have you even stopped to register that your 'fiancée' has fled?" I tell him forcefully, pointing with my index finger at the space Tyra was occupying up until just three minutes ago. "No, I don't suppose you have. I don't suppose in all of this that you've even noticed how confused and upset she is either?" I then charge him with.
"I have no time! We have no time! Tyra needs to just get on with this and ask questions later," he says hastily.
"You have enough time to go after your woman right this second and ask her properly to marry you, Eric. It's the decent thing to do, because right now I can wager a hefty sum that Tyra is pissed at you because you haven't so much as asked her properly. You've decided you need to be married, and the hell to whatever she thinks!" I exclaim.
"That's not how it is, I just, we have to be married, Pam! He can all too easily take her if we're not, and I've told him we already are betrothed too, so it has to happen fast," he flusters at me. Holy motherfucking shit. I have never, ever seen my maker so panicked before. If I didn't already know how much he does, this would prove loud and clear to me how deeply he loves Tyra.
"I think she knows that now, after the risk you presented to her. I don't think she'd mind being married to you at all, I have to say, but Eric for fucks sake, you didn't even let her speak! You didn't ask her properly, you just stonewalled her and that is not doing as you said you would and treating her as your equal," I protest, knowing that I have to get this through his thick head, and fast. If I don't, there will be no bride tonight. I know what my friend is like and so should he. Tyra Boden does not take kindly to having decisions made for her. Finally, what I have said seems to have sunk into his head a little, and I see him begin to calm down a smidgen. He then does something else very unlike his usual form, and rubs his creased forehead and sighs heavily through his nose.
"You're right, you're absolutely right. I just ran at this like a bull at a red cape, I admit that. All because I was propelled by the blinding fear that in the blink of an eye I'd lose her. I can't go through that again, Pam. I have to do everything I can to prevent anything sinister happening to her at all costs. That is what made me act in the way that I did, but I should have at least sat her down and spoken to her about this more fairly," he laments, knowing he's wrong.
"Then you need to go find her, and then bring her back to do just that. Until you do, I'm not calling any more registrars, or vampire versions of them either," I reply, folding my arms and giving him an 'I'm serious' look. I'm a good child and I do not defy my maker's word easily, but now I will. This is me standing up for my gal, his gal, who I do believe he should make his wife. After asking her properly, that is.
"I want to leave her to cool off for a little bit. I'll go to her soon, she hasn't gone far. I can still feel her close by. She's above ground somewhere," he tells me.
"Well I'm going to make sure she's okay, while you do whatever." I tell him before striding out of the subterranean apartment and heading upstairs to find Tyra.
"Up." says our quiet and aloof DJ Rob, pointing at the roof when I ask if he's seen her. Heading towards the rear entrance of the club, I climb up the back staircase that leads to the doorway heading out onto the roof, and then suddenly stop and fly back to the bar to fetch something before returning.
"Here," I tell Tyra as I sit down next to her on the edge of the roof and pass her the glass of brandy I thought to bring with me.
"Thank you, I think I need it," she tells me before taking a sip and shivering as the Courvoisier slips down her throat.
"I just chastised Eric on your behalf darlin', he's coming up to speak to you in a little while. He wants to let you cool off first, which is the first wise decision he's had in the past hour if I'm honest. Apart from wanting to marry you, I think that's a good idea even though he hashed up the way he went about asking, or not as is the case," I say to her, watching her nodding as she looks down at the contents of her glass.
"Can I be truthful with you, Pam?" she asks.
"You know you always can," I reply softly, putting my hand on her shoulder to enforce my point. Even though I'm not maternal and never was (even as a human), this girl has become almost like a child to me. I have a very genuine affection for her.
"When we were in Morocco, because it's a Muslim country we masqueraded as husband and wife so sharing a hotel room wouldn't be frowned upon. Most places refuse to book you unless it's in separate bedrooms if you're unmarried out there, but I digress. Pam, I loved hearing people call me Mrs Northman, I loved it way more than I should have. But this, this is just not the way I envisaged it, if we were to marry. This is just...chaos. Chaos where what I think and feel are overridden by Eric's word, which I honestly thought was a thing of the past," she explains lengthily to me.
"I explained to him in a similar way that he'd taken the choice completely out of your hands and that was wrong, and he sees this now. He was just scared, Tyra, so very scared that once again he was on the verge of losing you. That in itself speaks volumes for the love he has for you, but the way he went about it doesn't and I know that's why you're as pissed as you are right now," I reply.
"I'll appreciate it more when he comes to apologise for how he spoke to me," she tells me with some bitterness to her voice. I can't say I blame her. She expects more of Eric, and a year ago I would have told her whatever the situation to never expect much from him. That was a year ago though, and now she can and damn well deserves to expect much more from him.
He lost his head for a few moments back there though, so in turn Tyra shouldn't be too much of a bitch to him because of it. Eric never loses his cool, and I'll give him all due credit, I had no idea of what he was supressing as he talked with the king. It should show her loud and clear how much he loves her, but in turn he should have least asked her to marry him, rather than telling her she would be.
To be honest, I really do not know if he'd ever choose to wed Tyra completely off his own back. I don't think he feels the need to be married to her, their bond is enough. I think that perhaps he'd only ever marry her if it was something that would make her feel more secure. Actually, I'm merely speculating here, because usually I would never peg these two for marriage.
I don't believe they need it because of their bond, but crazily, the ultimate decision isn't theirs I suppose. They have to marry to secure and ensure Tyra's safety. If Matsukata took a legal wife from another vampire, he'd lose his respect within our community on the whole, and his title. It's a serious business, wife knapping. He just couldn't do it; it is a code that vampires cannot break. Suddenly, I think I fully understand Tyra's reaction. It isn't her decision, and for a moment the only person who wanted to make it theirs was Eric.
"Pam, if I could have time with Tyra alone." Eric asks of me as he comes walking over to where we're sat. I turn and kiss her cheek before getting up and leaving them to it, wondering what the outcome of this is going to be as I head back downstairs.
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Tyra's POV
"Tyra I'm sorry, and if you would allow me to I'd like to talk with you properly, and recompose what I said to you earlier," Eric tells me, coming to stand at my side. I pat the concrete ledge of the roof next to me as I look up at him, and as soon as I move my hand he's sat right in that spot.
"Go on," I reply, lifting the glass containing the large measure of what I believe to be Courvoisier to my lips and taking a sip.
"A vampire cannot take another vampire's legal husband or wife, so if we were married it would guarantee your safety from a vampire who would claim you as his before delivering you to his master, who without your permission would probably turn you too to keep you with him as his blood source forever. I would never see you again, for definite. He would never release you from his command. We would exist on this planet forever apart. If San Lu got hold of you, I'd never be able to get you back. I do not like to be weaker than any vampire, but to him I am because of his guards. He's the most impregnable king in the world, not even Agnes could get you back from him. He is guarded by a huge team, near two hundred vampires inside of and surrounding his residence.
"He is never alone, even though both Agnes and I at our ages could of course kill him. There would never be a chance though. He also makes his own rules, and breaks the ones he doesn't like. He's ruthless, powerful, and the closest thing to pure evil this world will ever see. By all accounts you're lucky I'm not currently selling the bar and telling you we're moving back to Sweden. I will not run from anyone though, lest of all him. I do however want to make it impossible for him to do what I know he will do should he find out what you are. I will try my hardest to keep you from literal arm's length and further from the king at all times, because if he touches you, he will want to know just as I did what you are. Then he will take you, as I have said many times.
"But I do realise I was wrong in the way I went about all this, to not discuss it with you. So Tyra, I've stated my case. I think the best option for your safety is to become my wife." he tells me at length (for a usually very concise vampire) while I look out into the night sky and take a few moments to digest his words. There is silence for a long time.
"You're sad inside, I can feel it. I can tell you're scared over the threat as well, but the sadness is what I can feel the most," Eric tells me, breaking the silence.
"It's like you're asking me to marry you because you have to, not because you want to. Oh hold up, that's right. You haven't even asked me yet," I reply with a touch of sarcasm, but mostly disappointment.
"I think I can sense the underlying issue here, from your point of view. I think right now, you think that my love is not great enough to prompt me to ask for your hand in marriage purely out of love and devotion to you. Tyra that simply is not the case, and I can prove it," he says in reply to my little outburst. I look at him quizzically, and he stands and helps me do the same before leading back into the club and straight back into his apartment.
"That wasn't it Eric, it really wasn't because I've never thought you would ask me to marry you. I thought it was perhaps the last thing you wanted, I really did. I just completely objected to the way you steamrollered the idea to me rather than asked me, and discussed the whole thing properly. I just felt like I was lost in the eye of a huge storm going on around me, and you wouldn't listen," I explain to him as I sit on the couch. I notice that rather than come and sit with me he goes over the place where he safe is located, classically behind a large picture (a genuine H.R Giger airbrushed canvass) over on the far wall. He retrieves something from inside before closing it up and rehanging the painting again.
"Then in that case, this should come as a pleasant surprise to you," Eric tells me as he sits down next to me on the couch, and presents me with a small dark red velvet lined box. From what he just said, it doesn't take a genius to work out what's inside. My jaw hits the floor all the same when I see the ring though.
"Oh my…is that hope diamond?" I exclaim, turning to face him.
"It's the 'I hope you'll say yes' diamond. I've had it since the New Year when I originally went to replace the one taken from you, and when I decided that I didn't like calling you my girlfriend any longer. It sounds childish. Also, you deserve to be my wife; you're the only thing I've ever truly loved as a vampire. You're only the second woman in my entire existence I've ever been in love with too. So before I manage to do the impossible and make myself retch, Tyra will you do me the honour of being my wife?" He asks me. He takes the ring from the box and easily slides it onto my finger, where its weight is registered by my finger muscles tensing a little to adjust to it being there. It's a huge, oval cut diamond surrounded by little sparkly baguettes and set on a platinum band.
"So far, I haven't found the right moment. To be honest, this isn't the right moment either. Instead, this is the right thing to do at this particular moment, but only if you say yes. That's only fair," he tells me, while I nod and begin to smile. There it is in his words, and in the ring on my finger. There is the evidence that from his point of view, this was on the cards anyway.
"Yes, yes I will. On one condition though, and that is that you chill out on the whole finding someone to marry us tonight idea. There's always tomorrow," I reply. He gives me a very big kiss before he answers me.
"You see my beautiful one; it is there that the urgency lies. I know Matsukata, and I know he will check up on that as soon as he can. So therefore the marriage needs to be quick," Eric replies, while I suddenly think of something. Sadly that something is a pitfall.
"Eric that won't work, because if he's looking for a record of a marriage license then it'll show the date it was issued, and know you lied to him when he sees that when we met we weren't already married," I point out, watching him look something close to startled. He isn't hugely expressive in a calmer state like now.
"Oh…fuck," he eventually spits out quietly, and there it is ladies and gentlemen. This is the first time I've ever seen Eric stumped. Luckily, the blockage that is 'what do we do now?' is quickly shifted when Fabien suddenly strides in after knocking the door.
"Now I've arrived I must ask, why the rush for a marriage so suddenly? You haven't got her pregnant have you, Eric?" he says as he walks closer to us. I almost laugh.
"Fabien, this is not the time or the place for comedy," Eric replies dryly, before asking 'have you come up with anything?' as he comes to a stop and then seats himself on the couch opposite us.
"No need to. As usual, Northman, you'll never let me explain something to you. From the fiasco with the servant girls in Florence to the debacle in the Casino in Atlantic City, you never let me explain," Fabien replies, while I feel my mind twitch in wonder over what those situations he mentioned entailed.
"So explain, and quickly," Eric replies tersely.
"In short, I'm an ordained minister. I can marry you and I can bury you, only five hundred bucks for the online course and certificate proving as much. Also, it's in my other alias, so I can help you with the problem I overheard on the way down here as well. Once again using that genius little tool called the internet, I can hack into the marriage and death licence office computers of whatever city you visited while you were away, and procure you a valid certificate. All that happens then is the three of us and two witnesses sign it and bingo, you're married officially. I'll cover both a vampire and a human style ceremony.
"The human style one, the legally binding one at least of course will be backdated to appear like it happened in say, Australia, and have the security of the fact a marriage did happen here tonight with the vampire ceremony. I can get my hands on a ceremonial knife very easily, since I know someone exactly three streets away from here that has one, conveniently enough," he explains simply, grinning proudly at the end and flashing his fangs in his triumph. He's sure covered every base he could cover.
"Remember I told you I had a computer hacker friend?" Eric says, smiling at Fabien and looking both impressed and relieved.
"I do," I reply.
"You're sitting opposite him," he replies, gesturing at Fabien with an outstretched hand. The dark haired vampire reins in his smile and gives a nod in acknowledgement, before gesturing to my laptop.
"If you don't mind?" he asks.
"The one up in the office is hooked up to a printer," I reply, pointing at the door and watching him nod and then get up and move quicker than I can see from the room.
"Well, that gigantic and scary mess just got sorted remarkably swiftly. Where's the catch?" I ask Eric.
"We deserve this; you will not question it or speak of catches. In case you do though…," he says, before his words come to a stop when his lips do the same against mine. So, it looks like I'm about to become a married lady then. Never, when I sat there on the balcony in Morocco and thought to myself how much I liked being called Mrs Northman, did I expect it this soon, or at all if I'm honest. It's as I think about it, that my mind begins to wander and ponder.
"Eric, are you sure this isn't all too hasty? I'm not trying to back out, but honestly, is it?" I ask him, my question interrupting our kiss a little abruptly.
"You know me, Tyra. Do you honestly think I would rush into something like this, commit myself to you in such a way, if I wasn't totally sure it was the only solution and in turn what I really did want? Especially after all I just said to you? You've no reason to be nervous." he tells me, putting both arms around me and hoisting me onto his lap. He's right of course. I do feel a little nervous. I feel how a heavy OCD sufferer must feel when they have their routine disturbed. I do want this, absolutely. It's just all so damn sudden though. This is a big change for me, having considered our bond a big enough commitment to each other, one bigger and greater than marriage in some respects.
So, what's the harm? What is different other than the fact that what we already are is going to be official, and we'll have the titles husband and wife? Nothing, nothing will be different, I'll be protected from spending my life and beyond as a blood slave (at the very worst) and Eric and I will still fundamentally be the same. All this when I was just beginning to enjoy normality, who'd have thought?
"Eric?"
"Yes?"
"I don't think we're destined to have normality in our world for long, are we?" I ask, stroking his chest with my fingernails.
"Perhaps not, but it could be exciting if it shifts from you ultimately being in danger at every occurrence though," he replies with a slight hint of laughter.
"I can't argue with that." I concur, leaning back against him and just wanting to get used to the idea for a bit longer, before either of us do anything else. Suffice to say, this has been one hell of an evening.