Forever is not long enough (Daniel and Ever wedding Invite)

[Daniel Theron (DELETED 3334)]

Today was THE day, for some reason he was more nervous than he had been for their binding. Perhaps, because the binding had been merely solidifying what he had always knew to be true. Since that night she fell into his arms in the library, then their time together on the rooftop. When in the wilderness he bound her to him by blood to show her she was not alone, that she would never be alone because she had him and would always have him. The binding merely amplified this, made it more concrete, though he did not think it was possible. Even now, he could feel her as she got ready in the other apartment, could feel her soul hum to the ever present hum of his own soul.

Think it was the fact that today he would be professing his love before a crowd, people who had been in their lives and others who were of their blood, their “family”. His blood sire would be there, a woman who he owed this moment to for her taking of his human life. Her sire would be there, a man whom he had barely met and who had caused Ever enough heartache to make Daniel dislike him, but they had talked and it seemed promising.

There were others that would be there, to watch them join in what is regarded as a mostly human tradition now. Though that never mattered to Daniel. All he wanted was to be joined to Ever in every conceivable way. To have her legally take his name and be his wife under the law as much as it was by the “blessing” of the fae. Daniel's only true fear was that he would mess up this moment, that he would embarrass Ever and ruin this moment for her. So many things could go wrong and Daniel had the unfortunate mind of being able to think of every single one.

“Stop that,” Athan said from across the room where he sat the newspaper in hand.

“Stop what?”

“The thinking. I can practically feel your thoughts in my own, not to mention how nervous you feel,” the paper lowered and his azure orbs caught Daniel's and held them. “Relax and just focus on your love for her, this nervousness is not good for you or her, she can feel it now too, remember?”

“Oh...but...I...crap....I...did not....,” Daniel groaned as he rambled. Why did Athan have to remind him that Ever felt everything that he felt? Now he worried he would panic her, that he would make her not want to do this, to back out.

“Daniel....” the calm tone broke through the mini panic attack. “Do you love her?”

“Do I love her? What kind of question is that? She is my breath, my soul, my everything, without her I am nothing. She makes me feels better, invincible and handsome. Without her I would have gone insane my first night and just ended my life to dwell in the shadow realm. She is my...” Daniel rambled on but was stop by Athan as he cut him.

“So, then you love her?”

“To put it simply, yes,” a slightly irritated tone.

“Then there is nothing else to be concerned with. Now, go shower, Dom still needs to do your hair and give you a bit of a shave. Then we need to get dressed and head over to wait for the others. We have about,” he glanced at his watch. “An hour before we need to walk out the door. Nothing worse than being late to your own wedding.”

Daniel rolled his eyes but did not say another word to the man, instead he merely disappeared into the bathroom for a shower.

Today was his wedding day. He could not have been happier.

[Azraeth]

“Tell me, what do you know about love?” Superbia asked of herself in the mirror. Normally, she didn’t allow any reflective surfaces to remain intact in her presence – her issues with them were numerous, and could be summed up in the rage of a blond Russian she had inhabited after death once. Indeed, that reflection still haunted her, but she had discovered one day (quite by accident) that there was a new figure which beat back the dark. She had been working with a ritual, when she’d fumbled with broken pieces of a mirror. Normally, she kept them covered at all times, but she’d managed to see herself in the fragments scattered on the floor.

And so now she had relaxed some of her vendetta against the house of glass and silver.

“I know that love is hard and easy at the same time. I know that it hits you when you least expect it, and once it’s there, it’s almost impossible to get rid of. Love is difficult to understand because everyone feels it, but everyone experiences it a different way.” The reflection answered Superbia’s question, even as the woman carefully began to push an earring into place, only to assess her appearance. She tipped her head some so that she could tap on her chin gently, and then reach for her bag to draw out a tube of lipstick. The figure in the mirror did exactly as she did, though around the golden curves forming the edges, she could see shadows thickening. The Russian (she didn’t know her real name), was going to try and make an appearance.

“You make it sound so elusive in understanding.” She murmured. Superbia was about to attend a wedding, and so even though she didn’t allow herself to normally think about things like love or romance, she figured she could get away with it. Her own life had taken its own turn recently. “Damn men.” She muttered, because clearly it was their fault that the whole thing was so complicated. What with them making things all odd with their…man-ness. She put the finishing touches on her make-up, using her thumb to carefully wipe away some that had spilled over the edge.

In truth, she hadn’t been sure she’d be able to make it back in time for the wedding, but once she’d seen it on CrowNet, she’d known she had to attend. Technically she was still on vacation, but she’d told Wolfgang she was going to the Library to do some research on the indigenous cultures. Hopefully he wouldn’t be offended by a tiny little white lie. She would be in and out, then back before he ever knew. Hopefully. The entire point of the deception was to not burden him with anything going on in Harper Rock. They were very much meant to be relaxing. And she knew if she went back, then he was going to find a way to come with her, and she’d be damned if she was going to be responsible for an early end to the trip.

Besides. She would have wanted him to attend the wedding with her, and that would have raised all sorts of questions.

She gave herself another once over in the mirror, decidedly pushing thoughts of men and romance out of her head. Celestine (her reflection) waved back at her as she moved to cover the circular, wall-mounted surface up. She then disappeared. She would turn up at the wedding.

[Attire]

[Wolfgang]

Wolfgang, the man was many things, but he was not one to break a promise; he, however, had double booked himself. A holiday and a wedding in two separate countries, how was one to pull such a thing off? Superbia was going to library; he hadn’t given the wedding a second thought until now. If she was at the library, well, surely a wedding couldn’t take too long and knowing Superbia she would probably quickly lose herself to her research and lose track of time.

The tall Vampire walked into the bedroom and flipped open his suitcase, rummaging through the contents until he found the invitation; he couldn’t miss it now, he had said he would attend and it wasn’t like he would be missed. Wolfgang went to the dresser and pulled out a ‘skinny’ suit. It was black and fit him perfectly. He wore a black long-sleeved shirt under the jacket and a dark purple tie. Ever hadn’t set a dress code or theme for colours, so he figured he could blend in with the rest of the crowd if he didn’t wear anything that stood out too much.

Fifteen minutes had passed and Wolfgang could sense that he was alone in the large villa. He slipped into a pair of black wing-tips and checked the time before calling his contact; one that would summon him just across town from the venue the wedding was to be held at. From there he could travel by shadow to reach his destination without too much trouble. He made the call and held the phone to his ear. “When you are ready,” he smiled and closed the phone and moment later felt the familiar pull of ‘summoning’.

He summoned his friend some spirits before darting out of the building. As he travelled down the second dark alley, Wolfgang stopped a drunken beggar who had a sign around his neck that said ‘will work for food or pay.’ “Perfect,” the Vampire said to himself and backtracked to the nearest sandwich shop, he brought the man a steak sandwich before returning to the alley-way and without being seen; fed from the hypnotised man. Wolfgang set the sandwich in the guy’s lap after gently setting him down on a pile of crushed cardboard boxes and continued on to the venue.

After a quick detour to the Penthouse at West towels and a light spray of ‘Boss’ to rid his suit of the musky smell of the drunken man, Wolfgang came to stand outside the venue for the wedding; hand tucked in the pockets of his pants. He would wait for one or two more guests to show and hopefully go on inside with Lyonel and Eva or any other of the West members that happened to show before them.

[Cagey Lane]

She pulled her hair up in a messy bun at the back of her head. Soft red ringlets encircled her face and some down her back. Her dark green eyes reflected nicely off the green dress she wore for the wedding. She wore no jewlery and just a pair of soft sandles.

Grabbing her coat she left her room at the Noble estate and made her way to the place Daniel had given. She saw a few lingering , smiling softly she moved past them and into the building . Quietly finding a place to sit , she placed her coat over her lap waiting for more to show.

She really did not know Daniel well. The family needed something like this to lighten their moods. Crossing her slender legs at the knee, she leaned back in her chair , her foot slowly moving back and forth.

[Sirene (DELETED 4465)]

Delicate hands fussed over the outfit she had chosen for this event. The dress wasn't probably even suited for a wedding where she wouldn't know anyone except one person. But she needed something to boost her confidence. Sure she had ambitions to become a New York powerhouse in some career she would have decided on eventually, but now that she was ..what she was, it seemed her ambitions would have to aim higher. After all, it seemed some myths of that whole undead powerful types rang true now that she was in this world.

Probably she shouldn't go, but Daniel had been nice enough to welcome her and the invitation was open to all the Wests.

"West" The word came out haltingly. Instead of Cedric Voss who she was sure she had a finger pegged on, she had found herself with Wolfgang West, just as rich but even more mysterious. He insisted she was one now, but there hadn't been any initiations or trials by fire yet. And she wasn't the easy type to think that something that came so easy would be without a few flames.

A daring smile quirked her lips. If she was going to boost her confidence with the hot dress, she should probably add the blinged out guns she had bought on his credit card. After all, one could never have too much confidence and being a southern girl from a small town, guns were par for the course. Not to mention, these guns would simply look like decoration for the dress. The purse she had was something unique she had picked up with the gun. It looked like a gun halter and indeed held the blinged out gun, but it also could hold usual purse items.

For a moment the mirror reflected a sly grin, star struck guns with the gun shaped purse and a dress that dared some guy to try and fondle her. Then it was broken apart by her laugh at herself. She felt a bit silly, but the nerves that had been trickling under her skin had faded thanks to that silly moment.

Snagging a cab, she made what she thought was good time for this event and managed to get past the panicked moment of realizing she had no gift or anything. Well perhaps later she'd pick something up once she knew the couple to be better.


Stepping out of the cab, she almost shook her head with a laugh again, of course the first person she'd see would be him. Well hopefully he approved of the outfit. Walking towards him, the gun purse with the diamond handle of a gun sticking out, she gave him her shy smile. "I hope I'm not late?"

[Wolfgang]

Wolfgang run his finger and thumb over the length of the purple tie he wore, making sure it lay flat against the shirt he wore beneath. He tucked it back into his jacket and re fastened the button; he hadn’t been standing around long when a woman Wolfgang recognised as ‘Cagey' or at least he thought that was what Elizabeth had called her, walked by. He offer a curt nod and looked back to the road, she must have been one of Daniel’s friends or family; he remember Shamus talking about her once.

A few more minutes passed before a cab pulled up and the man’s newest childe stood up and walked towards him. She was wearing a dress one was more likely to come across as a fancy night club or cocktail party; it was an easy way to tell Vampire from Human if you knew what to look for. She was born to die, a woman that suited death more than she had life. Wolfgang smiled warmly and straightened up a bit, slipping his hands in to the pockets of his black trousers.

She had asked if she was late.

“Not at all,” the tall Vampire replied. “Not even fashionably so.”

He noticed the gun holster that doubled as a handbag then and smirked somewhat wickedly; it seemed the woman hadn’t wasted any time making the most of her new visa. There wasn’t a limit to the amount of spending she was permitted to do, but the man knew Julianna would keep tabs on things while he was away and if Sirene got too carried away or tried to skip town he would know before she hit the airport.

When Wolfgang saw the gun he wondered if it was real or not; of course he never travelled with weapons, he relied on his skill in combat alone for circumstances like these which called to leave weapons out of sight, but he couldn’t blame his newest addition for wanting to feel stylishly protected. “I’m glad you’ve been making the most of things,” Wolfgang teased with one of those ‘good on you’ smiles followed by the usual cheeky wink.

“Shall we go inside?” He asked as he extended his hand to the woman.

[Cupcake (DELETED 180)]

Why was she attending this wedding?

She hated weddings. The false speeches and the declarations of "I'll love you forever!" sounded like nails on a chalk board whenever she attended said ceremonies. Love was fake to her. Love was just a pretend emotion men came up to explain why they wanted to shack up with a woman and not have to share her company or body with another man...or perhaps woman. Whatever. Weddings were extravagant parties where people drink too much because the bar is free and it's not coming out of their pockets. Weddings were the time people pretended to actually give a damn about each other outside of Christmas and Easter; where families came together to celebrate a holy union. A union that was suppose to last forever. And it some cases, they lasted forever in the times of how long the love was destined to last. Oh, Decklyn Finnigan hated weddings with every fiber of her being, yet.....

Yet, here the vampire stood, dressed up in black, ready to enter and witness a wedding. She barely knew the couple but only knew they were apart of the West lineage somehow. Decklyn wasn't sure why she was particularly going still, though apart of the West lineage, she had not spent time with anyone until recently. Recently being perhaps a week ago when she met Wolfgang on his boat, but even then it had been some time since she spent time with the man who took her in long ago. So why was she at the wedding? A part of her...a decent part of her craved...company. Familiar company. She didn't go to the wedding with the hope that someone would sit down and talk to her. Nor did she go to the wedding expecting to meet a man she could take home with her and pretend to care about just for the evening. Those two things she wouldn't mind to be honest, but shh...she wasn't going to admit that.

Decklyn came to be a fly on the wall the invited yet not really invited guest to the wedding. Every wedding had one of those people. She was simply going to keep her mouth shut, enjoy the view of others feeling so close together. All while knowing deep inside it was all a lie. Knowing that once it was over, everyone would go back to their lives in the city, never having enough time for anyone else. Yes, she came to the wedding to be a simple...yet unknown reminder of what it looked like to give up on love and everything that came with it. A simple reminder.

Of course, the vampire caught a glimpse of a few common faces, yet she made no effort to announce her presence. Instead, her rear end slid into a seat in the back, crossing her legs while sitting comfortably. Just how she wanted herself: distance.

[Sirene (DELETED 4465)]

Seeing the warm smile brought one of her own out. Reminding herself that she must be confident and prove herself to this male, she let a grin take over her lips at his reply. A slight giggle that edged towards nervous popping out.

"Oh good, I would hate to be the party pooper."

Oh gods. That was lame. She knew it, but she still kept a straight face on as she tried to move the conversation on past it so that the statement was not stand out. Maybe becoming a vampire had made her stupid or something. Whatever it was, she needed to be on her game from now on. Her hand stroked the gun quickly before she hid the nervous gesture.

She had to laugh, a true laugh that rang out at his last comment and wink that followed. "Well I did say I'd use that credit card sweetcheeks for good." The endearment slipped out. But then it fit him. When he chose, she had found that beneath the mysterious powerhouse was a charm and humor that oozed onto everyone around him. Making him what she assumed was irresistible to the ladies around this place.

She took his hand and followed, even as she wondered if he would catch the slip. It wasn't that she wasn't attracted to him, but the charming rich type had always come with warning signs in her head and he was no different. However this was underlain with a respect for the fact that he went after what he wanted, like she did on occasion.

Looking around she noticed a few had come in to settle down. Leaning towards him, she said quietly, still not understanding that vampires could hear clearly. "I do hope my outfit is not too tacky for this event. I do not want to present a bad image while representing you."

[Wolfgang]

Wolfgang didn’t miss a thing, but he was Mr. Oblivious; some would say it didn’t suit him, but everyone had to let one or two things slide every now and then, especially when that someone had so much to lose. “Well I’m glad you are enjoying yourself,” he said plainly, his transition from man to Vampire hadn’t gone as smoothly as he liked the change to go for his own childer, but, live and learn.

He walked the woman into the venue and scanned the room quickly. There were quite a few people here. He noticed Decklyn from the corner of his eye and wanted to go to her but considering she was sitting at the back of the room he thought that probably meant one of two things; either she didn’t want to be seen or she wanted to slip out on her terms.

He continued up through the middle of the seats with Sirene and noticed a few others. Half way up he decided to move two seats in and sit down, leaving a space for Sirene to sit beside him; that’s when he noticed the familiar earthy, auburn coloured hair a few rows in front of them. His icy hues narrowed as a slow, devilish smile manipulated his features; Superbia was here too. He wasn’t hundred percent it was her, but the white shoulders of her jacket left him wondering.

Should he call out? No.

He leaned into Sirene as she sat down and spoke softly so that he wouldn’t be overheard. “I’ll be back soon,” he promised the woman before looking back to Decklyn and offered a playful wink before leaving his chair to continue up the aisle. Wolfgang slipped in beside Superbia and sat down; the scent all too familiar, he didn’t even need to see her face then to be sure. “Fancy seeing you here,” he smirked, looking straight ahead.

[Azraeth]

There’s a certain ‘oh ****’ moment in everyone’s life where they are caught doing something they know they shouldn’t be. For the younger generations, it’s often something as simple as being caught stealing cookies from a cookie jar – hence the origin of the common saying. For Azraeth, it had been when her parents had caught her high. They had said that they would be away for the entire weekend, and so she’d invited Andrei over so that the two of them could try and play around with a recently bought tarot deck. Naturally, this had devolved into ‘let’s smoke weed’. The fall out had been catastrophic. For point of reference, when Wolfgang spoke to her, that was precisely what Bee was certain was happening all over again.

Her thought stream looked a bit like the following: ‘Oh it’s Wolfgang. Wolf! He smells amazing. Oh ****, it’s Wolfgang. Wolf! Why is he here? Did he track me down? Is he pissed? He doesn’t sound pissed. What the **** was going on?!’ She had the grace not to say anything at first, but instead, she carefully adjusted her purse in her lap so that she could tuck her knees together and then glance over towards the man as if to confirm it was him. Maybe it was just someone who sounded like him. But no dice. It was, in fact, her date to Cancun. Only he was here. At the wedding. The same wedding she’d sneaked off to without mentioning it to him. She decided that rather than let her panic show, she simply wore a smile, that same one she always fixed on him when she was just a little nervous she was doing things ‘wrong’.

It was a little bit like a pout, but not quite.

“Wolf.” She began. “I…” There was no delicate way of admitting that one was lying. “Well I accidentally overbooked myself. See I was supposed to be on vacation with you when I promised Daniel that I would try to make it to the wedding. Normally I would have just skipped the whole thing, but I thought it might be a good chance to meet some new people and I didn’t want to break my commitment and don’t be mad at me for lying to you.” She said the words in something of a rush, but she also said them near silently so that she had to lean into him when she spoke. Superbia was not the kind of woman who liked to dwell on her mistakes, and she wasn’t the sort of woman who accepted blame for things she hadn’t done. But when she was legitimately in the wrong, she liked to make amends for it. And so she wrapped her arms around one of Wolf’s biceps so that she could squeeze lightly; it was a mixture between a hug of greeting and an apology.

“I promise once the ceremony is over, we can teleport back and get on with the rest of the vacation.” She offered then a moment later, with less hesitation and more confidence in her voice. She also assumed (perhaps wrongfully) that he was going to attend the wedding with her. At the very least, she was going to stick by his side since they would be leaving together anyway. And so she sat there with him, her sage scent mingling with Wolfgang’s own spice to create a sense of zen around them. But that was what they did together, the mesh of their personalities. Wolfgang’s laid back confidence and Superbia’s calm, loving acceptance. At the very least, they were approachable.