Must I Be Your Bride? - Chapter Eight

Four horror movies later, the cookies making their way to extinction, I was clutching William's arm and concealing my view with his shoulder when it was necessary. It was mostly the disturbing parts - where kissing scenes almost went out of proportion - that made me close my eyes; but I'll admit the suspense had me going too - when people were running away with no chance of escaping.

When the fourth movie, My Bloody Valentine, went to its credits, we sat there for a moment, listening to the creepy music that came with it. Each movie being about two hours, I knew that it was almost time for us to go to dinner, something we weren't exactly looking forward to. I'd rather sit here and horrify my heart out.

"Only proves that Valentine's Day is also a time to be thankful for your life", I mutter into William's shoulder.

Knocks on the door made us move, and we looked at each other a bit exasperated.

"I guess since they didn't find you in your room, the only other place to check would be mine", he said. He helped me to my feet, switched off the TV, led me out of his living room, and opened the door. Sure enough, the three maids were there with sincere smiles. They greeted William with a curtsy.

"We're here to fix the young lady up", the maid, that seemed to always be the one to speak, said.

"I don't think that will be necessary", I said, but their eyes told me otherwise.

"Well, let us at least deal with those messy curls of yours, and straighten out your dress", she insisted.

Right, I've been lying on my head, William has clutched my hair, I'm sure they were in messy knots. I met William's gaze, not quite ready to leave yet. He smiled.

"It's ok; I'll come by to get you later." He placed his lips on the top of my hand before letting me go.

As I was led back to my room, I tried to make out the distinctions between the hallways that led to William's room and the hallways that didn't, since all of them looked like duplicates. I did make out a few rare-looking doors, small and large. This hallway was only a staircase away. All I needed to remember was that I couldn't let myself get confused, in case I had the need to return to his room.

Once we made it to my room, my hair and face were washed and dried. They slipped on my silver headband, and one maid did my hair as the other two did my makeup. They had to remove my dress, and wrap me up in a robe, as they ironed it, getting rid of all the fabric I had crumpled. Almost forty minutes later, I was as sharp as I was in the morning.

When they sat me on my bed, the maids took out a few white gowns from the dresser. It wasn't until they placed them beside me that I realized they were wedding gowns. They were excited about it; I felt sick, and the cookies I had eaten earlier didn't make it any easier.

"If you do decide to go with the wedding, I'm sure it would be the most grand of them all. After all, you would be the first human to ever agree to marry the prince, considering that we have so few that even have that magnificent choice", the maid said with a smile.

I swallowed hard, restraining my rave. "How many humans have had this opportunity?" I said, a bit curious.

"In all, about three; and we've been a part of this world as long as humans have."

"And none of them agreed to marry a prince?"

"No, you'd be the first."

I was actually shocked to hear that. I mean, surely, one girl in the world would dream to marry such an amazing prince. Maybe the prince's weren't given a chance like William is, and that mostly has to do with his powers controlling me in the first place. Was it that may be all of this related too much to a horror movie? A movie that was just too scary to make reality? With all the blood-drinking and the ways they'll always be killing our first kind - that is if they had been willing to go with the transformation?

The knock on my door saved me from torturing moments where the maids would introduce me a wedding dress, not missing any distinctive detail. They were the ones to be disappointed.

I hopped to my feet and got to the door before they could. I opened it, stepped outside, and closed the door behind me, relieved. I made sure not to accidentally lock them in, though. William lifted one of his light eyebrows.

"Dresses", I explained. I took his hand and ushered him to lead me away from my room, afraid the maids might say something to make us stay a bit longer.

When we made it to the sharp turn, I realized that I was going a little too fast, so I slowed down. I wasn't anxious to make it to dinner.

"Your father doesn't like me", I mutter.

"I forgot to apologize for his behavior. He can be a bit strict."

"No, I guess I can understand why he's like that." I shook my head, regretting I brought it up.

Dinner was almost as bad as breakfast, maybe worse, since the king found it necessary to bring up the fact that William and I were in his room most of the day.

"Did you two have some fun up there?" the king had asked, in a way that implied that he didn't think we were only up there watching movies. I couldn't help my curt answer.

"Horrifying", I said.

Everyone pretty much smiled as the king's face went solemn.

It was a long night, and I was glad when it was finally over. William and I were out of there once we had the chance.

"You seem to be getting along with my father quite well," William says as we near my room. I couldn't help but smile.

"I lost my temper."

"Which is why he's starting to like you. It wasn't hard to tell that he found what you said amusing."

"I saw the contrary."

We walked into my room, and he silently closed the door behind him. I was plagued to find out that the wedding dresses were neatly spread over my bed. William stood by my side for a moment, as I stared frozenly at the white gowns, before he went ahead and quickly assembled them into a pile; one by one. There were about three, in counting, but they were a little massive for a dress. He then folded them in half, opened the door to the hallway, and threw them out. Once he closed the door, he leaned against it and gave me a reassuring smile. "We're not there yet", he said. He has never said anything more surprising to make me feel at ease.

I stumbled onto the bed and sat there silently for a moment, expecting William to take a seat beside me. But he didn't. Instead, he tangled his fingers in my hair, placed a kiss on my forehead, and walked out. I wanted to tell him to stop, to stay a while longer, but I knew that would only make this moment harder, where I'm vacillating between turning into a vampire to be with William and staying human and going back home, to the life I was born in.