Blade (Ch. 27)

Blade (Ch. 27)

27
“Love,” she replied, her voice short and sweet. Her thoughts didn’t waver, and not once did she utter an ‘I don’t know’.

“How do you know?” I prodded, lost in how she presumed things and stayed so confident about them.

“I know because the things he really likes about you don’t relate to lust.”

“Like?”

“Frederick likes the way you talk, he likes the sound of your voice, he likes the pride in your personality, he loves your laugh, and all in all, he loves the feeling he gets when he’s near you. He told me once that it was like taking instant relief Motrin for a horrible migraine, or having the scent of Vicks in your nose to soothe a bad cough. I took away from it that you’re an escape from his pain of this life in a sense; the pain of remembrance.”

“Considering how little actual love means to a wide majority of people nowadays, that’s pretty amazing. Flattering, too.”

“How little love means?”

“You know, how many people these days consider love a mere sensation of hormones. How many people think with their…” I paused and made a motion with my hand that suggested Riley should have known what I was about to say. “Instead of their hearts.”

She let out a sigh of a laugh, and continued with my hair. “It’s passed down from parent to child. Over the years, that degrading attitude toward love in people collects. It is hard to find many people that haven’t fallen under the influence of their peers or taken bad morals from their parents these days. It’s sad to say that that’s just what the world has become. Mean and conceited…constantly taking things for granted, the like.”

“You get a pretty ominous perspective on etiquette from high school, that’s for sure. I saw every guy acting rude and rash at one point or another, making jokes and sassing teachers and classmates. That’s why I went on solo until you all popped into my life and enlightened me in the little percentage of people who could be nice and did it purely because they were raised to know that that’s what was right.”

“Oh, I know, I know. High school is torture. I thought maybe as a sophomore it would get a tiny bit better, and then improve more as a junior and senior, but for someone like me…that’s not true. It was the same all throughout my sophomore year, and the torment from others is annoying, like a constant babble in my ear, sometimes depressing, too. I never let it get to me personally, though, because I knew they were only making themselves look stupider.”

“So true. You’re not alone; I was treated the same just because I was shy. Sometimes because I was short and tiny as a freshman and sophomore.”

“You’re short and tiny now,” she giggled jokingly.

“I filled in a bit, at least. Got my hips around the summertime of my sophomore year,” I laughed in return.

She shook her head with a smile, and focused more on preening. “He truly loves you, and that’s all there is to it.”

Without question I believed her. And much to my relief, before she decided to take out the curling iron and make ringlets in my hair, people started arriving early, and Richard felt it necessary to introduce me to a select few of them right as soon as they came.

“Dad!” Riley whined as he led me from the bathroom with haste.

“I’ll give her back in a few, promise,” he called back to her, already pulling me down the stairs. I was astonished that people came so early, but maybe Richard had asked them to show up at a time a couple hours before the actual ceremony. A few of Riley’s school pals were asked to come, too, or so I found out from her in the previous chatter. They weren’t going to be here until the actual time it started, though.

“Jenna, I’d like you to meet Mr. Abrahm Williams, the person who will be reciting the sermon today,” Richard told me, pulling me straight up to an earnest-looking man with small, oval glasses at his eyes. He, like all the others that came in, was dressed pristinely, waiting for the ceremony to come. I shook his hand with a timid resonance.

“Good day, miss,” Abrahm acknowledged, his shake firm and sure.

“We’ve especially picked Abrahm here because he’s like you, my dear. He knows about us by authorization of Mr. Caillou Jacks over there, or C.J., as we call him,” Richard explained, directing my vision to a middle-aged, very red-haired man in an all black tux and undershirt. “Both C.J. and he have been around a very long time. And because Abrahm knows about us and our damned existence, he knows what to leave out of the sermon on purpose that might directly relate to a higher power and all that. We’re keeping it simple.”

“That’s fine,” I said, completely aloof to whether they decided to make a religious sermon or not. Either way, it made no difference to me, just as long as the wedding was a legal bonding and also enjoyable for everyone there.

“Miss, if I might say, you are quite the lovely dear. Our young Frederick is lucky to have you, as are we glad to still have you about,” Abrahm complimented. I smiled bashfully. Richard strappingly clapped a hand on my shoulder.

“She’s a sweetheart,” Richard agreed with Abrahm. “Sometimes it’s difficult to protect her because of that, but it’s all worth having her around.”

“This truly is a rare and wondrous case,” Abrahm said, his eyes glistening with the reflections of nighttime stars that were not yet set in the evening sky. “Most often, I see lonely young demons looking for an escape with women who have potential to fight back with the strength of a demon as if they were one. Demons tend to think that better protects them, but…” The stars vanished. “Not many human women I have wed to men demons or vice versa still live in this world today.”

“That’s terrible,” I grieved with him. I could have been one of them at any of my earlier endangerments, though, and so in a way, I knew the feeling. Betrayal, pain…to you both when the other came to their senses…a hurt so vile that it numbed your senses and sent your mind wondering why you came into such a mess in the first place. “If it wasn’t for Richard, Riley, Seth, and even Frederick himself at certain times, I probably wouldn’t be here, either.”

“This gracious family looks after you now, do they not?” Abrahm mused.

I nodded. “I saw my father earlier and he tried taking me in, but I wasn’t safe, and I wasn’t happy, either. So I returned, and here I am.”

“Not safe?” Abrahm fixed his glasses farther up on his nose. I shuddered, dreading recollecting the incident which would haunt my dreams forever.

“Return to Riley, Jenna, or else she might throw a fit. You’ll meet the others at a later date,” Richard told me, and I made my departure for the bathroom. Before I was out of earshot, he whispered, “Mauve.”

To have been able to block my hearing at that minute would have been ideal. My ignorant frame of mind, however, didn’t come when asked, only when it was least beneficial for me. I made for Riley with haste, all of a sudden paranoid and fearful of being in the hall alone. She accepted me with open arms, and pulled me into the bedroom first.

“Before I curl your hair a little, I need you to get into the dress so it doesn’t muss your hair after it looks pretty,” she elaborated in response to my confused face. That only made sense; why hadn’t I thought of that before?

I did as asked, and she fixed the short sleeves so the see-through material draped over my shoulders in a lovely manner. She put me before the mirror to preen, and it was then my lungs started to tighten in my chest.

“Nervous?” she guessed from my short, erratic breaths.

“Yeah,” I admitted with a deep breath.

“You’ll be fine. Trust me.”

“If I forget my lines?”

“Frederick and Abrahm will guide you.”

“If I trip?”

“Papa will catch you and write the wrong. If you mess up, do what I always do, Jen. Laugh at yourself, and then it doesn’t seem so bad, because you’re not being laughed at, but laughing with. No one’s going to judge you out there or anything; they’re not expecting you to be perfect.”

“If I…if he…”

“Frederick will be fine, sis.”

There were other fears, but I locked them within me. She would have an extraordinary counter for every one of them, and so protesting my failure would be pointless.

About the time Riley finished curling my hair and making other minor adjustments (yes, it took that long), things were put on tables, decorations were set, Richard was waiting for me, Riley had a basket of flowers in hand and her hair and dress done, too, people were taking seats, and Frederick was waiting at the stand. Seth, of course, was his best man, and Riley was a flower girl along with Chuck and Prudence. I hadn’t seen my New Yorker friends’ dresses yet, but guessing by Chuck, I’d have to say she probably picked red or green, something that went with her hair. Prudence most likely wore purple or black, and both flattered her features.

Riley skipped along first, joined by Chuck and Prudence at the dining room slider, where the carpet started. Unlike my guesses, they both wore a soft shade of blue that matched my dress, so it was somewhat themed. Richard wore a white tux and bowtie, and so I imagined Frederick and Seth did, too. The audience, though, judging by C.J., was not intended to be color coded, and that was fine. I kind of liked a mix of colors, anyway.

“Ready?” Richard asked. I looked at him so suddenly that my neck cracked a little. He didn’t seem to notice.

I took a deep breath. “Ready.” He put his elbow out to me, and I placed my hand in the crook of his arm. Here we go…

My lungs constricted, and I rejected the first breath of the outside evening air. My first steps were clumsy, and my feel pulled down to the earth like lead in the heels of doom. Richard looked down at me and smiled, and a heavenly, light music began to play. I remembered all at once some of the moments I cherished…the moments that made my feet light again and allowed me to breathe. I was able to grin back, and completely ignore the possibilities of something going wrong. While I reflected, I seemed as if nothing could.

Richard led me down the aisle between the chairs, and then I noticed Frederick, gorgeous in his white tux with his hair combed back neatly. I imagined that the first thing I would do after the sermon was muss it again.

His eyes gleamed an autumn-brown, and his smile could light a room in darkness. Riley said I looked beautiful, but I never believed her simply because that was just my way. I half-believed it now by the way he found it hard to jerk his eyes away from me to Abrahm, and Seth who stood behind him. Riley took her spot on the base behind where I was to stand, as did Chuck and Prudence while I walked in between the flower petals they dropped, admiring the décor of, well, everything.

Richard stopped before the stairs of the base, bowed with my hand still in his, and then gave it to Frederick. He was right there…both of them were, and in that moment, it didn’t seem quite so hard. The steps flew by under the heels, and in a second or two, we stood before each other, right hand in left, left hand in right.

“We are gathered here today…” Abrahm started. I listened for my cues to say something, but besides that, everything else melted to a soft babble. All I really focused on were his eyes; his sparkling, beautiful eyes. He gazed into mine as well, and squeezed my hands reassuringly, as a gesture of excitement. It was as if he wanted to say ‘you did it’, because I had. I squeezed his hands in return as if to say ‘we did it’.

On purpose, we picked vows that were simple, because I personally failed at memorizing anything too complicated or long. Picking vows that were easy to remember prevented screw-ups. And, as expected, neither of us forgot or stalled. Everything flowed so perfectly, from one line to the next, and before I knew what was happening, Seth had the rings for us. Frederick removed my engagement ring, and slipped the new one on. I did the same for him, beaming with an encouraging jubilance.

“I now pronounce you man and wife,” Abrahm announced, “you may kiss the bride.”

Frederick froze up when I put my hands on his shoulders, and touched my lips to his. When he wrapped his arms around my waist, they were tense. That unnerved me, for I couldn’t fathom a reason for it. I paused a moment in the cheering of the crowd with our noses still touching to see for myself. What I saw sent shivers down my spine.

His eyes were a drunken, sticky burgundy, and bled from the irises to the white. Immediately, I feared he might hurt me, but I wished not to alarm anyone, especially not Abrahm or Riley who might’ve done something rash. Out of range of anyone’s ears, I talked to him.

“Whatever else you’re seeing, leave it,” I commanded him with a gentle fizz to my voice. “Look at me.”

The sticky appeal to the pools of blood in his eyes slowly vanished, leaving a simple red like I’d seen before. He took my lips aggressively, and when I could pull away, I did, and put my hands on either side of his face. “Look at me, Frederick.”

It took him a few minutes to decipher my meaning through his clouded mind. If he were normal, he would have taken in my meaning at once. Slowly but surely, the red came to black, then deep brown, and finally, autumn again. I grinned hopefully, and kissed him again. His arms released so they were light and tender again, and the aggressive disposition subsided. Before he let me breathe again, he lifted me up, and carried me back down the aisle. Everyone sitting rose and wandered to the tables to talk with their friends, and Seth, Riley, Chuck, Prudence, and Richard followed us inside momentarily.

Frederick set me down to talk before he let Riley tackle me into a hug. “How did you do that?” he questioned, as if I’d created a miracle before his eyes.

“Do what?” How was I so clueless sometimes?

“I thought for sure I was gone,” he said, hands on my shoulders. “Something just…snapped, and all I remember thinking was ‘I’m going to hurt her…damn it, I’m going to hurt her…’ It only took five minutes for you to conquer the monster and bring me back again.”

“I saw something going on,” Seth added to the conversation. “But I didn’t want to stop something that might not have been happening. What do you know, I didn’t even have to.”

“I’m proud of you, son,” Richard told Frederick in a rich tone of voice. I broke off to hug Riley, afraid he was going to pull another father-to-son talk on the groom.

“I’m so happy for you two,” Riley chirped cheerily. “It finally happened, and without any interruptions this time!” To my horror, she held up a camera. “I already took a few from the angle where I was standing, but didn’t you say you were going to send a lot of them to your dad?”

“I did,” I groaned.

“Then I’m going to have to take more,” she insisted with a false evil-chuckle.

“Joyous day,” I said sarcastically. “I’ll be blind by dusk if you have the flash on, so don’t take any inside, okay?”

“Deal.”

Frederick unexpectedly took my chin and turned it to him, to kiss me again. The flash of the camera went off.

“Riley!” I moaned, rubbing my eyes.

“Sorry! Sorry! It was a good photo-op; won’t happen again,” she pledged. Spots speckled the dining room in my vision. I turned to embrace Richard and Seth, avoiding any more photos for the moment, and watched what Riley did when left with her brother. My heart practically swelled to its limits when she pecked him on the cheek and hugged him for the longest time. Frederick’s brows drew together and slanted, like he would cry if he could, and buried his nose in Riley’s hair like everybody did when it was down. She stroked his hair, and tears did fall down to her chin.

Seth hugged me close to him and submerged his nose in my dark locks, or what was left of them since Mauve. I looked up at him in total awkwardness.

“I don’t think it’s working,” I informed him, laughing. “Their family-love syndrome doesn’t appear to be contagious here.”

“So in other words, this is just totally gauche and makes no sense to you at all,” he chuckled in return.

“Yeah…could you…” I murmured, trying to assert my bubble-space. He refused to budge.

“Sister-in-law,” he teased lamely, hitting pressure points on my neck with his chin. I squealed and wriggled away from him, set into a playful, Tag mood. He smiled his dad’s smile and let me go; perhaps he wasn’t in a playing mood. There wouldn’t be a competition anyways, because I couldn’t run from him in a dress and heels.

I remained in the limiting wear for the party to follow, even though I highly protested it. Frederick told me the party could stretch into the deep night hours, but I would probably change before then, despite whatever Riley thought. The camera maniac I recognized as my own sibling took several snapshots outside while we set the tables with refreshments and slow danced for small periods of time to the music that flowed out the speakers that were set up. In the split second when Frederick took the responsibility of filling a bowl of chips, I thought I would be alone, and would be able to refresh my mind. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case, and I was confronted by one of the people I least wished to see.

Upon turning from the table with a bottle of soda in search for help because, damn it, I couldn’t open it, I clashed into Dezeret. I hadn’t even known that he’d been here the entire time…I saw him once in the audience for the reception, but I guess I thought he’d left after that.

He took the bottle from my hands and broke the lid off, so the soda inside barely had time to react to the oxygen that hit it. He murmured a ‘whoops’ to himself, which I found only very slightly funny underneath my fears and concerns of him being so near me. My heart fluttered, and my mind scolded it to shut up.

When he looked at me again, his eyes were understanding, with a soft green reflection. “You look astounding.”

“Thanks,” I said unsurely, taking the fizzing bottle from him again to put it back on the table. “And thanks for coming, too.”

He nodded, and put his hands in the pockets of the crisp suit he wore.

“I’ve never seen you in a suit. It’s different,” I stated, trying to prevent soda sticking to my hands and creating a residue. “In…a good way, of course.”

Once again, he bobbed his head. “Nice reception. Lots of people.”

“Lots of demons,” I sighed. “Sometimes I feel like the only living being, but then I remember there’s Chuck, Prudence, Dylan, Eli, and Abrahm. Oh, how boring my life would be now if I hadn’t gotten involved in all this.” To that, he didn’t answer or even slightly respond. Perhaps I had thought of the wrong things to say?

Dezeret seemed anxious. I didn’t ready myself for abduction; there were too many lurking demons about that would put him down before he even spurred the thought. Instead, I turned to the table, and assorted things. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him glare to his and my right.

“I should take my leave,” he told me. “I came over to tell you goodbye for awhile.”

“Leave? You don’t have to—

But it was then I saw Seth, perched at the sliding glass door to the house. Along with him the whole group of demon invites watched. I didn’t mind it, because they were simply protecting me, but I sometimes wished they wouldn’t stand in for my defenselessness when, obviously, nothing would happen to me.

“It appears as if I’m not welcome here,” Dezeret muttered. And he turned to leave.

“Thanks again,” I stuttered. “It means a lot that you came.” He looked back to smile, and, like a bolt of lightning, he was off. I stared after for a second or two, and the tension of the crowd eased.

“What in the Sam Hell are you doing?” Seth roared. I flinched away, expecting an onslaught. The eyes of Richard’s companions watched again, and tension stormed to an angry rage.

“I was just—

“You’re trying to get yourself killed, is that it? If ever he talks to you, you are to come to one of us!” he argued.

The hot blood in my veins boiled, but I tried keeping it cool. “Excuse me?”

“Who are you friends with? Him or us? Doesn’t it matter to you that we’re working our asses off to keep you in this house and alive?” I couldn’t answer before he came on again. “Apparently not, if you consciously go to him anyways!”

“He came to me, Seth,” I reasoned, for it was the whole truth.

“And you didn’t alert us,” he fumed.

“I didn’t think I had to. He wasn’t about to run off with me in the middle of a crowd of eagle-eyed demons. Cool off, Seth,” I insisted calmly. His eyes blazed red; I instantly thought to call for Frederick.

“Don’t tell me that,” he spat venomously. In a split second, he had one hand around my timid neck, and I panicked. This wasn’t Seth…how could it be? What had happened to him?! Could this possibly all have come from Dezeret’s casual interaction with me?

I choked and struggled for air, backing against the table. Delicate glasses fell from it, and hot the grass with a pop. My vision clouded in and out from terror, because in him, I saw Mauve. I felt Mauve lifting me from the ground with my neck. I experienced all over again how he had hurt me. But this time it was different. This time, I had demons that would help me, and I already saw dozens of hands restraining Seth; pulling him from me. With two of those hands came loving touch and a cursing, spitting voice that I loved, but not in the fashion he was utilizing it.

I felt myself on the ground, fully aware of everything that was going on around me in a few minutes. Just dazed…that’s all I was. Seth hadn’t gotten far enough before someone apprehended him.

The thought crossed my mind again. The name came into focus.

Seth. Seth attacked me.

I hadn’t though that was true. I thought Dezeret had me, but my delusions showed me Seth, when it was the other way around in reality. I simply could not believe it.

Seth! My own family? How could that be?

“Jenna, you’re alright, aren’t you?” Frederick asked frantically, his kind hands pulling me to a stand. This had to be a nightmare. But the fact that I knew it wasn’t frightened me.

“No,” I whispered hoarsely, feeling my neck. Frederick held my face and forced me to look at him when my eyes drifted to Seth.

“Has he injured you? I could’ve sworn he didn’t have enough time to—

“No! NO!” I yelped, kicking the heels off so I could go somewhere—heck only knows where—without falling on myself. Seth seemed to react with remorse. Though he had several restraints pinning him to the ground, he heard my cries, and his lips uttered soundless apologies, over and over again.

I split. I wanted to run from the nightmare, with hopes that I could reach the end and fall off, then wake up at the beginning of this day again. Frederick pled to me from behind, and his calls gradually got closer until I lost my breath and will to run to nowhere. I turned to go back, and he ambushed me in an embrace so tight, that it encouraged tears to flow; spawned by my failure to comprehend what had happened. He reassured me I was alright, and brushed my cheek with his thumb.

“Accidents happen, love, I’m sure it wasn’t intentional. Something set him off, that’s all, but everything’s alright now. Your friends are in the house with Richard; they didn’t hear any of it going on. Seth’s coming back. It’s okay now.”

“It’s not okay,” I wailed, choking on my tears. “It’s not okay. He yelled at me…he assaulted me…”

“On accident,” Frederick kept vowing. “He didn’t intend to, I promise you, it wasn’t personal. He could never do that to you on purpose.”

But I had my suspicions now. Seth almost seemed completely aware of what he was doing to me at the time. My chest swelled with another sob.

“How about if we just go? Would you like that instead of staying into the night?” he inquired.

“Go?” I croaked. “Go where?”

“On our honeymoon. It would give both of you some time to cool down. I would recommend we leave early, because who knows what could happen if he’s still around and recovering from unpredictability.” I pushed away.

“I told you no to the honeymoon thing.”

“Do I ever take into consideration what you’re thinking with Carpe Diem in mind? You’ll regret not going if you don’t now. So we’re leaving for Palm Springs in the car.”

I dried my face. “I think that’ll make things worse.”

“You never know. Come on,” he urged, taking me back to the house. Richard had already packed my bags and Frederick’s when we returned, with the help of my New Yorker friends, so as to distract them from the commotion that occurred without warning. I avoided Seth with Frederick’s guidance as he loaded the back of the car, and I then thought of what my leaving early would mean.

“I won’t get to see you all off at the airport,” I whined to Chuck as she gave me jeans and a regular blouse to change into.

“That’s okay,” she chirped. “We want you to go to the fullest. Carpe Diem.”

“Enough with the Carpe Diem deal,” I moaned, changing into them. “I want to say goodbye when you all leave for New York.”

“When or where makes no difference, Jen,” she chuckled. “You can hug us all goodbye now, and we’ll be fine. It means just as much.”

I heaved a sigh in defeat, and moseyed back down the hall and out to the car. The lot of them embraced me there, and stood in the driveway while I was helped into the raised Chevy truck. Frederick’s promise to install steps still hadn’t happened, though he kept telling me it would. I though he just liked lifting me in, and so he prolonged it.

“Ready?” he said when the cab provided us with silence from the outside. I managed a nod and rubbed my eyes, tired and depressed in the slightest, which wasn’t a good way to start the trip. As we drove, everyone waved goodbye, even Seth, who hung his head as I hung mine.