March 27, 2004 – noon
Coralis sat on the table, her elbows on her knees, her hands holding her forehead. Her head was spinning and her mind was numb. She hadn't slept all night and was still hammered from a night of drinking. Victoria, Stephanie, Maribel, Eva and Veronica took her out for drinks the previous night after her flyball game, arguing that if she was to blend in and pass for a human, she needed to go through a bachelorette party.
She could hear her friends snoring across her bridal suite, repeatedly hitting the snooze button on their alarm. The wedding was scheduled for 16:00, so they still had some time. She considered going for another shower, even if she still had her towel wrapped around her, but a loud knock on the door startled her.
She jumped off the table, tied the towel again around her and headed to the door. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Eva and Veronica sitting up.
"Good morning!" said Molly as she walked in, followed by Lizzy.
Lizzy was carrying a large plastic box, which she deposited on the table.
"I was going to apologize for being late, but I see it is a moot point," said Lizzy, looking behind Coralis.
"Clearly, you had fun last night," said Molly.
"Three witches, a wolf, a vampire and a human walked into a human bar. What can possibly go wrong?" said Veronica, still sitting in her sleeping bag.
Lizzy and Molly erupted in laughter.
"I can think about many things that could have gone wrong. Right, Eva? I can't feel my brain anymore, but it's a good thing. I don't want to be doing anything I'm going to regret," said Coralis.
"No comment," said Eva.
"Mom? Aunt Lizzy? What are you doing here that early?" said Stephanie, waking up.
"Early? It's noon and Lizzy needs to fix Blue's hair," said Molly.
"Holy gods from above! It's past noon already!" said Stephanie, crawling out of her sleeping bag.
"And that's how you know that a human has been sleeping with an elemental for too long; when hearing our expressions coming out of their mouth," said Maribel, watching Stephanie running to the bathroom.
"She's one of us, isn't she? Sebastian Larameer taught her well," said Victoria.
Coralis sat on the desk chair, her back facing Lizzy.
"Unlike your friends, you look like you haven't slept all night," said Lizzy as she passed a brush through Coralis's hair.
"I couldn't. I tried, but I couldn't. I wasn't kidding earlier, my brain is so numb, I can't even feel it."
"You aren't having cold feet, are you?" said Lizzy.
"No, I'm not. It does scare me more than I dare to admit, but no, I'm not having second thoughts."
"Just to make sure that you will not intentionally forget about today, you can count on me to send you tomorrow the paperwork you need to file to have your name changed to Coralis G. McNally. Wait, no, I'll do one better. I'll file it out and you'll only have to sign. I'll even mail it for you," said Stephanie, casually walking out of the bathroom. "You're one of us now, sister."
"I like you. I need to come more often to hang out," said Maribel, walking into the bathroom to shower.
"Explain me this. You're this deadly kick-ass girl. I have never seen you afraid when confronting a foe and I will never forget how you fearlessly picked a fight against four men, and how confident you were the night you confronted Dwayne. How can you be so scared now?"
Coralis glanced at Molly.
"I don't know how to explain it. I am not afraid of committing my life to Frank. I do love him and I want to commit to him. I'm not regretting my answer to him. I wasn't raised in a loving family, so love is an emotion I struggle to understand and today is all about that specific emotion. It puts me in the spotlight for something I can barely understand, so I don't know how to react to it, or what to do about it. The only regret I have, is toward a person I wish would be here today… but can't be here, no matter how I wished she'd be here… does that make sense?"
"That was deep," said Eva.
Molly and Lizzy looked at each other with a sad expression.
"From a girl who has known many loves, know that love is the most beautiful emotion there is. I went through a couple of heartbreaks over the 2 centuries I've been alive and will continue to love again. You may not fully understand why, but deep down, you know I'm right," said Veronica, fetching her dress and a blood bag, so she'd be ready when Maribel would walk out of the bathroom.
"Which is also why I'm glad my brain feels numb right now. I'm scared out of my mind, yes, but I don't want to act on it. I always faced my fears before, and today won't be any different," said Coralis.
"Before I forget to ask. You know how my family considers you as family, right?" said Veronica.
Coralis wanted to turn her head to look at her friend, but Lizzy stopped her from doing so.
"Yeah, I'm aware of that. It's not like your dad and your brothers would let me forget. Frank has grown pretty attached to the cherub your family sent me after the last vampire war I fought with you."
Stephanie and Victoria laughed at that comment.
"He does love it, doesn't he?" said Victoria.
"For the last few weeks, Charlie and Hendrick have searched through everything that has been said about you in the media since the night Frank proposed to you, and you know how public it was. Even among the vampires, your name isn't small. They wanted to make sure that no rogue vampires could put their filthy fangs on your man. The only name they found was M. Blue, so we want to know who's been scrubbing the press clean and blurring trails for you, in case we ever need such services."
Coralis smirked.
"M. Blue? I think I've heard Stephanie calling Frank like that a few times," said Molly.
"You've met Gus, Erik and Henry, right?" said Coralis as Maribel walked out of the bathroom.
"Now I remember why I liked them," said Veronica as she ran to the bathroom.
A few hours later, she found herself alone in her bridal suite. She didn't want to look at the time. Once again, she sat on the table, elbows leaning on her knees. She wanted to rest her face on her hands but didn't want to ruin the makeup work Molly had done on her. She only had to put on her shoes, and she'd be ready, but she didn't want to think about anything.
She heard a knock on the door. Barefoot, she ran to open the door. Kief stood on the other side of it, sporting a wide smile.
"It's time," he said, offering her his elbow.