The Ties of Darkness (Book Two of the Hidden Secrets Trilogy)

Chapter Fifteen

I sat on Liam's bed in his room twisting my wedding ring around my ring finger. I kept thinking of Erebus.

"He's probably pacing in his chambers trying to think of a way to get me back," I thought. My thoughts were broke as Liam entered the room with a smile on his face. Following him into the room was my one and only friend, Shanaya.

"I came to help you pick out your wedding dress," she said.

"Really?" I asked surprised. She nodded and I got up and hugged her.

"Thank you, Shay. This means a lot to me," I said. I turned to Liam and hugged him too, thanking him as well.

"You two should get going then," Liam said ushering is out the door. I took Shay's hand and used the ring to get us to a bridal store. Excitement course through me as I opened the door and we went in.

"Hello, girls! Welcome to the Bridal Boutique. Who's the lucky gal?" the clerk asked us.

"I am," I answered, politely with a smile.

"Wonderful! Is this a friend you've brought?" she asked me. Shay and I both nodded.

"Ok well, I'm Rosaline and you two are?" she said.

"I'm Anna, and this is my friend Shanaya," I answered.

"Alright, Anna you come to the dressing rooms with me and Shanaya can sit in the chairs over there," Rosaline said, pointing to the white lounge chairs. Rosaline led me to the back.

"So, what kind of wedding dress are you looking for today?" she asked.

"A ballgown. I want it to fit me at the waist and if it can be off the shoulder that'd be great," I said, as I entered the dressing room.

"Ok hon, I'll see what I can find," Rosaline said and left to go find my dress. A few minutes later a knock came to the door and Rosaline came in with four dresses. She put them on the rack and gave one of them to me. She helped me into the dress and I found that it did fit my waist well. I looked into the mirror and stared, speechless.

"I...I love it," I said shocked.

"Let's go see what Shanaya thinks," she said taking me out to the waiting room.

"Oooh! I like that one," Shay said in awe. The dress had puffy off the shoulder sleeves, a fitted waist, lowered neck, and the bottom was big and poofy. I continued to gaze at myself in the full-length mirror thinking. The dress looked beautiful, but it wasn't me.

"Can I try on the next dress?" I asked and Rosaline nodded, leading me back to the fitting rooms. I tried on the second dress, another ball gown fitted at the waist. I went out again for Shay's inspection.

"That one;s nice," she said. This dress had a higher neck, slim waist and the bottom had light layers of fabric. Again, I liked it, but it wasn't the one for me. I went back to try on the third dress. "Third lucks a charm!" Shay called to me and I laughed. I got into the third dress and looked at it in the dressing room mirror. It looked like the other two dresses and I sighed.

"Do you have anything a little more unique?" I asked.

"Hm, I'll see if there's something," Rosaline said and went off. Five minutes later she came back smiling."I found this one, it was the last one in stock," she said happily. She helped me into it and I looked in the mirror and gasped. This dress was the one. It had a slightly low neck, lace off the shoulder sleeves, and the bottom had just the perfect amount of poof.

"Let's go show her," I said eagerly. We went out and Shay's eyes bulged.

"That's it! That's the one!" she exclaimed. I saw her quickly wipe her eyes.

"Are you crying?" I asked her with a small laugh.

"You just look so perfect in that dress," she said fighting back happy tears.

"I'll take it," I said, turning to Rosaline.

"Perfect!" she said hugging me. Once I was dressed again, I paid for the dress. $1,537 seemed cheap to me, but it was enough to make me look beautiful on my wedding day. Shay and I left the store after.

"So how's your pack doing?" I asked her.

"We've all been well, not much going on," she answered. I nodded and we walked down the street aways.

"How's your life with Liam?" she asked. I went silent.

"Um, it's been great... the best thing of my new vampire life," I lied putting on a fake smile.

"Really? Anna, what happened?" Shay asked worry laced her voice. I knew I wouldn't be able to lie through this, so I spilled everything that had happened with Erebus. When I finished, I looked to Shay who's face was constricted in anger. "Anna! You're a freaking vampire! You should've been able to kill Erebus with the snap of your fingers!" Shay yelled.

"Shhh! Erebus is stronger than me, that's why it's been difficult trying to get rid of him," I hissed. Shay let out a low growl.

We left the conversation at that and came to a small corner and used my ring, taking us back to Liam's house.

"There she is," Liam said smiling as he came down the stair to us, once we'd entered the house. I handed the bagged dress to Shay and went to Liam. He pulled me into his strong arms and planted a soft kiss on my mouth.

"So, you found a dress?" Liam asked, rubbing the small of my back.

"Yep. I know you're going to love it once you see me walk down that aisle," I said happily.

"Oh, I know I will," he answered.

After Shay left, I managed to get my dress past Liam and Jacob and up to my room, having grown tired of them trying to sneak peeks at it.

I hung the dress up in my closet out of sight and closed the doors. I walked over to my big window and looked out. My mind kept drifting back to Erebus and wondered, "Why was he really after me?" I thought. Reasons I came up with were, my looks, my personality, what I am, or possibly my powers.

I laughed softly and shook my head. Who was I kidding? There wasn't a thing about me that Erebus didn't like. I turned away from the window and headed downstairs. I went down to the kitchen and to the refrigerator and grabbed a blood bag. I opened it up and drank, sighing once I'd finished.

"Hungry?" a voice asked from behind me. I swiveled and saw Jacob leaning against the kitchen counter, watching me with dark eyes. I nodded, throwing the empty blood bag in the trash. He pursed his lips. "I worry about you sometimes," he said. I crossed my arms.

"And why is that? Honestly, the only person you should worry about is Erebus. I mean, what happens if he shows up at the wedding?" I asked.

"He won't," he said flatly.

"But what if he does?" I said, going to him my anger starting to rise.

"He won't Anna! No demon like him would be dumb enough to enter a wedding with it full of vampires and werewolves!" Jacob roared, his eyes blazing. I was about to answer him when footsteps came and Liam entered.

"What's going on?" he asked looking from Jacob to me.

"Nothing," Jacob said with a rough sigh, leaving me and Liam alone.

"What's wrong with him?" Liam asked coming to me.

"It's just Jacob being Jacob," I answered. Liam looked me over.

"You're worried about him, Erebus, aren't you?" Liam said. I bit my lower lip and shook my head not meeting Liam's eyes. He tilted my chin up and I looked at him. "I swear to you Anna, he isn't going to hurt you on our wedding day," he said gently before he pulled me into his arms and I closed my eyes and saw black.