“I don’t want this,” I whispered, reaching to cover her hand with mine.
She just shrugged. “I can’t be much use to you tonight, Liam, I know that. I’m not a Shield, or a vampire, I’m not strong or fast. But I can do this for you, so let me.”
Sarah must have cleared the building, because my fangs were receding as well. I sucked in a lung full of fresh air, and tried to smile at her.
“Thank you.”
We sat in silence for a few moments, simply enjoying each other’s company.
And then Amy spoke, “What’s the first thing you are going to do when the curse is broken?”
“Geez.” I had been so focused on getting the show off the ground and seeing Selene’s dead body in front of me that it hadn’t actually occurred to me to consider the after effects. But it was true. Tonight, if all went as planned, then I would draw breath until the end of my natural life and no longer fear the sunset or be a slave to the dawn. One thought darted into my brain like an arrow. “Spend the night with you. Hold you in my arms all night and never let you go. Is that what you had in mind?”
She gave me a sly smile. “I was thinking a prelude. Candlelit dinner, sunset walk along the beach. And then we could get to that stuff.”
I brought her hand to my mouth, kissing the now clotted wound. A prop ring that I had on my hand caught the light and I knew that this was as good as time as any. I wanted her to know that no matter what happened, human or vampire, I would always love her.#p#分页标题#e#
I slipped it off my hand and held it up to her.
“Amy.” A thousand thoughts slipped through my head. That she would say no, that she wasn’t that serious, that we were both too young. That I might ruin the show if she said no. That she didn’t want to do that to me because of her shortened life expectancy. But I didn’t really care. And I didn’t want to be fancy and elegant about it. I wanted to get straight to the point. “Amy, will you marry me?”
I thought something was wrong in the way her eyes bugged out and she started choking. I actually dropped the ring in my alarm, reaching to take her in my arms.
“Are you alright?”
She choked a few times and then nodded, but she was trembling as she met my eyes.
“Are you serious?”
“Amy.” I tried to steady her. “Don’t feel pressured. If you think this isn’t right, or you’re not ready or… whatever reason, you don’t have to explain yourself to me. If you say no now, it’s not going to change anything between us. I’m not going to stop loving you, and I’m certainly not going to stop asking. I love you, more than anything, more than I ever thought possible. I didn’t believe in love until I met you, Amy, and you changed everything. I thought my world had been turned upside down when I was made into this monster, but the day you walked into the audition room was the real day my life changed. And I wanted to do this now, before everything went down, because I wanted you to know that no matter what I am, I will always love you. Even if you walk away now. And I’m sorry I’m not prepared, and that this isn’t a diamond, but I’ll get you a diamond and…”
“Liam.” She brought a finger to my lips, hushing me. “I will.”
Now it was my turn to choke in shock. “You will?”
“I will. Yes. Yes!”
She threw her arms around me, and I could now feel her trembling from happiness. Keeping one arm around her, I reached to the ground to pick up the ring I had dropped. It wouldn’t make any sense for her character, but I really didn’t care. With my own hands shaking, I slipped it on her ring finger and squeezed so it tightened around her small finger.
She met my eyes and our lips locked, a slow passionate kiss that I never wanted to break away from.
“We don’t have to rush into it,” I told her. “We can do it when life is settled down, when you’re ready. When you know the outcome of tonight.”
“If you got a priest in here now, I’d do it,” she whispered. “You know none of that matters to me.”
I kissed her again, biting her lips and pressing her close. I wanted her as close to me as possible, to make us one and never be separate.
“Amy, if tonight doesn’t work… if I remain a vampire… you know, eventually, I’m going to have to disappear.”
“Liam, you always worry about what could happen, what might happen. Whether or not you’re a vampire or human won’t change the fact that I’ll be dead before our tenth wedding anniversary. If you’re prepared to deal with that, I’m sure I can deal with an eternally hot husband.” She squeezed my hand, trying to make light of the situation.