The Bartender's Vampire [COMPLETED]

Chapter Seven - Always

**Almost 2,000 words. Enjoy :) **

The more time Clawd spends with Draculaura, the more he wants to be around her. This is why their dates became more frequent. This is why their dates went on for hours, sometimes far past midnight.

Time seems to pass incredibly quickly when he's with the vampire. Time never drags. There's never a dull moment between them. He loves her, but he can't tell her. Not yet. He can't do anything until he knows she feels the same way.

On their twenty-second date, Draculaura looks down at her cup of coffee, using the straw to stir it aimlessly.

"Laura?" Clawd asks, his voice deep with concern as he speaks the vampire's nickname.

"We need to talk," Draculaura says quietly.

The wolf's heart skips a beat. "About what?" he asks.

"My dad found out that my boyfriend and I aren't together any more." She holds up both hands quickly, locking eyes with Clawd. "I haven't been with him the entire time I've known you. He broke up with me the night that I met you in your father's bar. I swear," she says.

"He dumped you?" Clawd asks. "What kind of crazy does a monster have to be to do that?" he asks.

Draculaura smiles softly. "Anyway, I had been dating him for ten years. He had been cheating on me and lying to me about it. When I found out and confronted him, he told me he never loved me. That's why I went to the bar," she says. "But he was my... arranged husband. We were supposed to get engaged and get married.

"That's tradition. That's how the vampires do it. Your father picks a mate for you and you stick with them and get married. My dad spent a lot of time choosing him. We were almost in the same social class, his father is a good guy and a close friend of my dad's... Dad didn't see how it could go wrong.

"Now that my dad knows that it ended, he's mad, to say the least. I'm supposed to go home to have supper tonight, to explain what happened," she says. She draws in a deep breath. "I want to break tradition, and I want you to come with me. I know we don't have an official title for whatever we are, but I want to introduce you as my boyfriend."

"Oh, my... Seriously?" he asks breathlessly. Nervously, Draculaura nods. "Of course I'll go with you."

"You will?" she asks, her face lighting up.

Clawd reaches across the table and places his hand over hers. His own hands are rough and callused from years of hard work, both at the bar and helping his father build their house. Her hands, however, are small and delicate, soft and smooth. He likes the contrast. It reminds him that opposites attract.

"Always," he says simply. "I will always go anywhere with you. I promise."

***

Supper is a daunting meal to have with your vampire girlfriend's scary vampire father, Clawd had discovered. They haven't even gone to the house yet. Actually, they were at Clawd's house so that she could tell him what he could and couldn't wear, what he could and couldn't do.

Draculaura pulled his cap off his head. "You can't wear this, even though it's cute. Sorry," she says.

He shrugs as he pulls a suit out of the back of his closet. "This?" he asks.

She nods. "Do you have a tie? Pink or black, preferably, show Daddy that we can be coordinated and match."

His gaze scans over the sleeveless pink dress she's wearing. The bust is a shiny, sequenced black with a sweetheart neckline. A thick, satin belt in dark pink covered her torso. From there, the same dark pink falls down. The back of the dress almost touches the floor, while the front stops just above her knees. God, she's beautiful, Clawd thinks.