Last Bitten(15)

“I do,” said Johnny.

“Nia, do you take Johnny to be your wedded husband, to flourish together after His ordinance in unholy matrimony? Do you promise to love him, to honor and cherish him, in joy and in sorrow, under the night and in death, and to be to him in all things a good wife as long as you both shall exist?”

“I do,” said Nia.

“Father in hell, You ordained marriage for Your fallen angels. We present to You Johnny and Nia, who come this day to be married. May the covenant of the love they make be blessed with true devotion.”

Lifting Nia’s hand and placing a single kiss upon it, Johnny slipped the large, emerald heart upon her left ring finger. He finally spoke, “Nia, my Nia, I love you, I always have—in eternity we dance.”

Emelle passed Nia Johnny’s band to do the same. It was a perfectly smooth platinum band with a one carat round emerald in the center, large fang prongs holding it in place.

Taking Johnny’s hand, Nia closed her eyes, and as she slid the ring on his finger, he allowed her one single memory.



It was another place, another time.

The crescent moon lowly lit the plush, humid garden. Nia and Johnny sat on the edge of an extravagant fountain with a naked statue of Amphitrite at the center, water springing forth from all around her.

“We will never drink of these waters again,” said Johnny, dressed all in black as always, slowly sliding his hand under the glow of the blue current.

“I will,” said Nia. “I want to be human again. I want to feel all there is to feel. I want to taste . . . a grape, a juicy piece of chocolate, bread upon butter, salt upon my tongue.” She felt the dawn of time weighing upon her lifeless body. There was more to eternity than this, and she knew it. “I will find a way. I will.”

“As long as you find your way back to me,” said Johnny.



Flashing back to the current moment, Nia focused in on her husband, the man she once knew. She pulled her hand back and away, tucked it tight in against her chest. “You brought me back to this? You brought me back to this world of death and pain and suffering? Why would you do this to me? You knew I didn’t want this life again.”

“I love you,” Johnny said. “I can’t bear to be without you another day.”

“You should have left me . . . you should have left me alone in my measly human existence!”

“You agreed twenty years. The twenty years is now over, and we are to be united.” Johnny moved toward her, but she backed away, searching the room for a way out.

As the lights spun, so did her mind. “It is too late. This is it. That was my twenty years; there is no going back now. I do love you, Johnny. I do. I’m just not ready for this life again.”

Voices whispered amongst the crowd, making plans, speaking of things to come. A few stood, preparing for the fight.

“You cannot go.” Johnny nodded to Bruce. “You are Queen. You can never leave.”

“And you can’t hold me hostage. I am Last Bitten. I have the power. I have the say.”

The crowd closed in as did Bruce, with Bruce at the lead. Emelle watched . . . she had waited years for this moment that was about to happen. Everything had been perfectly calculated. She waited for Johnny’s signal, anything to tell her that she was going to be his one-and-only.

“Last Bitten.” Johnny lowered his head, ran a hand through his spiky, black hair. “State your terms then. You only have twenty-four hours and then you’re mine. You will belong to me, to all of us.” Johnny’s words dowsed the crowd, which cheered and clapped under his statement. All except one—one bitter, purple-eyed female, who’d hoped for a chance to kill.

“I want away from here, to be alone, to say goodbye to the ones I have come to know.”

“Who? Who would that be? You despise your human mother; your father has been absent; your friend is dead or will be. Who could you possibly say goodbye to? What did they offer you? Nothing! That is all they had to give. We can offer you more. I ask you not to leave on our wedding night. I have waited so long for this, my Nia. I love you, can’t you see that? I let you be on your own for all that time. You agreed to come back to us. Awful things were done to give you the human life you wanted, and now it’s time to return the city to its normal state.”

Nia fell to her knees crying. “I know, Johnny. I know. You let me be. You did give me that. Everything is a blur from before. I just don’t remember. I know that I was sad. That is what I feel. How could it be any different a second time around? Just kill me, then, if I have nothing to go back to. It’s too late anyway. I am just a vampire.”