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37: Closure

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Closure

Marshall Lee watched the tearful raven-haired girl through eyes hooded with desire as he brought his hand up. Pushing the weight of her hair off her shoulder, his hand lifted to cup the side of her neck. His thumb stroked her cheek, wiping the tears away as he leaned, slowly closing the distance between them before he brushed his lips across hers. They shared a tender kiss; albeit a short and sweet one, it mattered a lot to the both of them.

"I'm sorry I never told you about me from the start." he spoke as his hands went around the small of her back, pulling her closely against him.

Marceline gazed longingly into his eyes before allowing her voice to work. "It's okay. I'm sorry for being so paranoid, and for ever doubting you," she apologized, pressing her forehead against his. "I just...don't want to get hurt again."

"Marcy, I would never hurt you." he said in all his seriousness.

"Promise?"

Marshall sat bolt upright, one hand drawing an imaginary cross on his chest whilst holding up the other. "Cross my heart and hope to die."

Marceline found herself smiling at him. "You can't die; you're not even alive," a bubble of laughter escaped her lips. "Unless you get staked or thrown under the sun."

He chuckled. "I think a wooden stake to the heart would kill just about anything, sweetheart. And I'm only vulnerable to direct sunlight, so I can still go out on a bright day, provided I shield myself."

Huh. That explained the year supply of sunblock hidden in the compartment of his closet.

"Well, okay," Marceline shrugged, wiping her face with the back of her hand. "For the record, you don't have to be human around me anymore. Just be yourself and do whatever the heck you do." she granted him the freedom he so rightfully deserved, because if there's one thing she didn't want him to feel, it's oppression.

"You sure?" Marshall asked, unsure if this was a good idea, because the previous time he acted upon it, it didn't exactly go well.

She nodded to subdue his apprehension. "Yeah."

Without hesitation, he gave up on his human form and transformed into his true vampiric/demonic form. With all that greyish skin, pointy ears, bite marks, fangs and of course, he just had to show his demon eyes. She felt like those eyes of his felt could burn right through her if she stared at them a second too long.

"I think I'm gonna need some time to get used to your, uh, demon eyes." Marceline admitted.

"Oh," Marshall changed his eyes back to normal but his irises remained red, kind of like he was wearing red contact lenses, but this one's the real deal. "Better?"

"Yeah."

He neared her and held both her hands, interlacing his cold fingers with hers. She stared into his scarlet eyes, and mustered up the courage to ask him, "So...do you drink blood, since you're a vampire and all?"

"Sometimes I do, but it's not the blood that I like. It's the color," he tried to explain, earning a confused look from her. "I eat shades of red."

Then and there, Marshall flew downstairs and came back up with an apple in his hand. As a demonstration, he sunk his teeth, his fangs, into the fruit and sucked out all the red coloration from it, turning it into nothing but a dried up, greyish pulp. Now, Marceline had heard of vampires sucking blood from people many times before, but this was just plain unusual to her.

"I've stopped feeding on humans for a really long time now," he confessed, tossing the fruit out the window. "I just...don't like the feeling of doing that sort of thing."

"Was that one of the "bad things" you've done in your life?" she inquired, rubbing her arm as she began to imagine him preying upon innocent people and their blood-curling screams that haunted his nights.

Marceline shuddered at that thought, but Marshall didn't seem to notice as he let out a weak 'yeah' to answer her question. That's all in the past, and he's not like that anymore, she assured herself. He told her that when he first turned into a vampire, he didn't know he could consume the color red. So he had to...kill people and drain their blood in order to survive.

"Hey, it's okay," she cheered him up, resting a hand on his shoulder. "I don't blame you. It's all in the past, right? It doesn't change the way I look at you."

Marshall smiled widely, his fangs protruding. He held and kissed the back of Marceline's hand like the "gentlemen" that he was without taking his eyes off her, and she blushed at how he's making her feel like some lovestruck teenage girl. He chuckled in amusement and rose in the air, his feet lifting above the floor.

Watching him float around on his back amused her endlessly. She reckoned having a vampire-demon as a boyfriend was pretty cool. He looked so badass with all his piercings and tattoos. This was kind of new for her, since he's a completely different species from her and all, and she needed to get used to this. But more importantly, she loved him for who he was. Not what he was born as.

"Who else knows?" Marceline asked, the thought of someone else knowing his true identity crossing her mind.

Marshall was upside down now, his hair hanging down from his handsome face which was right in front of her. "Just you." he asserted then flipped back in the air to his normal upright position.

"I'm so glad we opened up to each other." she said, feeling like she was on cloud nine, and stood up from the bed.

"So, you still my girl?" he asked, floating slightly above the floor in front of her and taking a strand of her hair in his hand.

"Of course I am," Marceline replied, smiling. "Who else am I gonna jam with or kick butt at video games and basketball?"

Marshall grinned from ear to ear, his fangs on display, and surprised her with a hug. "Thanks for not leavin' me." he spoke against her neck, his cool breath making her shiver a little.

"Hahaha, okay okay. You're kinda squeezin' me right now."

"Oh sorry, babe," he let go of her, and she could breathe easier. He gave her a peck, the cool velvety touch of his lips on her. "I'm gonna be the most awesome boyfriend for you."

She beamed. "You already are."

"Oh, and Marcy?"

"Yeah?"

Marshall smirked. "I'm also the Vampire King."