The Ties That Bind Us (on hold)

Chapter 9: Ties of Preparation

Chapter 9: Ties of Preparation

Dani

As I slowly opened my eyes, I felt the emptiness on the bed next to me. Gabe was gone. I turned over and was shocked to see Tarah sitting in the chair next to my nightstand. She seemed to be lost in thought, and what an angry thought it was. Her brow was furrowed, and her lips turned in a frown.

I began to sit up, and she snapped out of her thoughts to turn towards me. "Good morning, how are you doing?" she asked, and I knew from the mix of worry and anger, that Gabe had told her what happened. "I'm fine T. I don't need everyone worrying about me. I'm all healed up and I'm seriously fine." She shook her head as I spoke, "Dani, you healed after Gabe gave you blood. That means you were seriously injured. Because if you had been fine then your wolf side should have been able to heal you, without the help of your vampire side's blood intake."

I groaned and flopped back down on my bed, pulling my covers over my face. "I know how it works Tarah. It is, after all, my biology. Besides, I didn't ask for Gabe to give me his blood. He gave me no other choice. I would have healed eventually." The sudden sound of the door clicking shut, was the only tell of Liz walking into the room. Tarah, however, continued the conversation, "You had inhaled the silver. It was in your lungs and it was going to burn through all of your internal organs. So no, you would not have healed."

"Now Tarah," Liz interrupted softly, "Don't talk about her almost death on her Birthday. It defeats the whole purpose." I smiled as I remembered what day it was. "Today's the day." I practically sang. "Can you believe that today, I'm older than Bilbo Baggins was in Fellowship of the Ring? 111 is nothing. Pfft, please." Tarah looked at me like I deserved a straight-jacket, while Liz just laughed along. "Calm down, you're only ten years older than that. When you reach Ayric's age, then you can brag."

I noticed a strange emotion flash across my friends face, as she talked about her husband. I knew she had never loved him, but instead she had been forced to marry him by her entire village. Ayric had been a member of the vampire council longer than my father had been King. He was old. He had long ago bought the land that the village stood on in order to collect payments. When the town hit a rough spot, Ayric had said that he would not come back to collect any more money for 15 years, if he got to marry Liz.That was 99 years ago, and Liz claimed that she loved him. Tarah and I knew better, because we both saw the way she acted around Leo, one of the cooks. It was also obvious that he loved Liz back, but there was still Ayric.

For Liz's sake I decided to change the subject. "Tarah, where's my brother?" I asked, thinking I could talk to him about everything that happened with Gabe, and he could help me. Tarah froze as she and Liz had been moving around gathering our gowns and make-up. "Why in the world would you ask me?" she said turning around to face me. Liz laughed and I smiled, "You are his sworn Guardian. More importantly, you are his secret, lover, girlfriend. If you don't know where Jay is, than I have no one else to ask." Tarah's face flushed a slight red at the mention of her relationship. My smile widened as she huffed out a breath, "He's in his room with the other guys. They are all getting ready there, but I don't even know why they are starting as early as we are. They're guys."

I have her a pointed look, "Tarah please. You know how Jay is about his hair. Ayric is likely going to take the longest out of all of them, and Gabe is most likely there because he feels like he should be, or so that the others can keep him from going after Lance." She nodded her head to show she agreed with me, and Liz continued to arrange everything. "Hurry up and go talk to him while we set stuff up, because once the preparation starts you are not leaving this room until it's time for the party." she said, and I groaned at the thought of soon becoming a vampire barbie.

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Gabe

I sat in a chair, watching as Ayric and Jay put huge globs of gel in their hair. It was kind of disgusting, and the smell was repulsive. Next to me, Leo laughed as I scrunched up my nose once again. "If you don't like it, then why don't you go outside?" he said and I could hear more laughter behind his Australian accent. "I don't want to go outside. Why is it you two are getting ready now? The party doesn't start for another six hours. We have time."

Jay turned around and rolled his eyes at me. "We have been over this multiple times Gabe. This gel works best if given one entire hour to set. That means after this, we are going to sit down for at least an hour and not do anything. Then in approximately three hours, the girls will call down to make sure we aren't going to be late, which we won't. They will however, so we will get ready when they call, giving us two entire hours to finish whatever it is they are undoubtably going to ask us to do. Now have you got it, or must I go over it again?"

Suddenly a knock on the door cut off my inappropriate response. Seeing as Jay and Ayric had gel covered hands and Leo technically wasn't supposed to be in here, I rose from my seat to open the door. On my way there I reached over Jay's head and ran my fingers through his strategically styled hair, successfully messing it up. "You rat bastard!" he yelled and I sped away towards the door, laughing as more explicit insults were shouted behind me. I opened the door without looking, and when I turned to see who it was I was shocked.

"Dani. What's wrong? Are you okay?" I asked quickly, unable to help myself. Ever since the night before, my protective instincts were in overdrive. Lance had crossed a serious line when he hurt her, and somehow, he was gonna pay. Dani looked at me just as shocked as I had been. "What? Oh, no Gabe, everything is fine you don't have to worry." Then she started smirking, "And do you really think that Tarah would have let me just walk down here, all so I could tell you 'Something's wrong'? C'mon Gabriel, you know better than that." My shoulders relaxed as I thought about the truth of what she said.

"Okay, okay. So what's up then?" I asked, leaning against the door frame. She glanced behind me and took a step closer as she said, "I actually wanted to talk to my brother. Where is he?" I simply chuckled and waved her inside, "He is, otherwise occupied." her gaze flicked to me, confusion in her eyes "What do you mean?" Suddenly Jay's voice echoed through the suite, "Gabriel, so help me, if you run your fingers through my hair one more time, I'll bite your damn hand off."