Chapter Text
Wednesday’s forty-third escape attempt ended with her hanging upside down from the rafters, suspended by her left ankle. Above her, the ceiling creaked deeply from her weight, the snare tight over her ankle bone. She crossed her arms.
Her parents didn’t leave her hanging long. The ancient, mottled door rasped open and Morticia, resplendent in pure, sleek black, stepped into the attic. Her make-up was a perfect contrast of white, powdered skin and midnight blue eye-shadow. As a vampire, the points of her long fangs broke over her black lipstick when she smiled.
“Mother,” Wednesday said. She turned gently from her rope. “I’m disappointed in you. This trap is frightfully unimaginative.”
“And yet you fell for it,” Morticia said. She unwound the rope from the counterweight and eased it upwards, so that Wednesday began to descend.
Planting her hands on the dusty floor, Wednesday flipped forwards, shaking the loosened snare from her ankle. She brushed dusty from her black jeans and glared at her father, who had just stepped through the attic door. Gomez was dressed in a smart pin-striped monochrome suit, and already had a crooked, apologetic smile on his face.
“Is your ankle alright, my darkest petal?” Gomez asked, watching her step out of the snare.
“It’s in agony,” Wednesday lied, dryly. In truth it didn’t even twinge.
Gomez winced. Wednesday looked away from him. While the Vampire Morticia gave off an infuriating, forbidding nobility which Wednesday always found herself clashing with, Gomez’s Human wounded concern was even harder to face.
“I wish you didn’t make us set up such traps, darling,” Morticia said.
Wednesday glared at her. “You don’t have to set up another one.”
“Will you stop trying to escape?” Morticia raised a sharp eyebrow.
“Will you call off the wedding?” Wednesday asked.
Gomez’s awkward smile faltered again. He stepped forwards, hands outstretched, and Wednesday took an equal step back, keeping her distance. “My beautiful girl… You know we wouldn’t do this unless we had to.”
Wednesday barely glanced at him, eyes black with disdain. “If you really didn’t want to do this, then you would find another way.”
“There is another way,” Morticia said. “It involves reigniting war with the werewolves. Hundreds of needless deaths and decades of suffering, a trail of bloodshed that continues down every descendent line.”
“It sounds preferable to getting married,” Wednesday said.
Gomez took another step forward, and Wednesday took another neat step back. “I know it’s daunting. I understand how you feel.”
“No, you don’t!” Wednesday snapped.
“Wednesday, really,” Morticia said, a note of cold command entering her voice. “Of course we understand. Our own coupling followed the same logic. I am a Vampire Princess and Gomez is a Human, and our bond was one of the seven marriages which ended the blood feud between our people. I know why you fear it, but it’s a natural step to bring us peace.”
“I’d rather have war,” Wednesday said.
“Young lady, don’t make me use my Vampiric thrall,” Morticia said.
Wednesday matched her tone, iron for iron. “Go ahead—I’m immune!”
“Please, Wednesday,” Gomez said, voice soft.
Wednesday made the mistake of glancing at him. At his pleading eyes, her determination dissolved. Her shoulders slumped.
“We won’t let you get married to someone you don’t like,” Gomez said. “We’ll find a werewolf that will be suited to you.”
Except Wednesday didn’t want any werewolf at all, regardless of their personality or appearance. She had thought that, after rejecting dozens of suitors already, that Gomez might have simply run out of eligible bachelorettes. She wanted to be done with this whole charade and go back to her old life where people didn’t expect much of her and she could do whatever she wanted.
“The party is waiting downstairs,” Morticia cut in, coolly. “Whenever you’re ready…”
Wednesday felt a little of her irritation rekindle at Morticia’s firm tone. If it were just Gomez, then Wednesday might have even stooped to begging, but she knew against the six-hundred year old Morticia, she might as well beg the the sun not to rise.
“Fine,” Wednesday said.
*
Ten minutes later, Wednesday was standing in her family’s large foyer, surrounded by various members of her extended family and faced by a gathering of four werewolves, three adults and a teenager. It was always hard to judge what relation werewolves had to each other, both close family and distant strangers had that same easy closeness where they draped arms around each other.
The teenage girl waved at Wednesday. She was platinum blonde, with dip-dye colours on the tips of her curls. Unlike the rest of her wolf pack, her eyes were pale blue, like a puppy, rather than the yellow-gold of a mature wolf. She was wearing a hand-knit grey cardigan which made her look like a pigeon among the ranks of magpie-like vampires which surrounded her and the members of her pack.
“Wednesday,” Gomez said, gesturing at the teenage werewolf. “This is Enid Sinclair. She—”
“Charmed,” Wednesday cut through, already striding past. “I’ll be back in a moment.”
Enid faltered. “Okay, well, see you then.”
Gomez frowned at his daughter, “Wednesday, wait!”
Wednesday ignored him, striding through to the anteroom. Firelight gleamed across the mahogany floors. There were a surprising number of cousins on her mother’s side milling around the tables, even though there had been dozens of meeting between Wednesday and prospective wives. Vampires had a predilection for official events of any kind.
Raw meat platters had been set out on the long tables, an easy compromise between Vampires and Werewolves, who were both carnivores of different stripes. Too much meat was hard on Wednesday’s stomach, as she was only half Vampire, but she felt an urge to impress her maternal relatives by taking big bites of red steak as she passed.
“Well hello, little dies Mercurii,” a voice purred ahead of her.
Wednesday glanced up, still chewing on beef muscle. She wiped blood from her mouth.
It was Raphael. He had sleek black hair which gleamed almost iridescently with greens and purples, like raven feathers. His eyebrow was pierced. Although he looked barely older than Wednesday herself, she had to keep reminding herself that this “young man” was actually far older than Morticia.
“Don’t let me stop you,” Raphael said. “It looked like you were headed somewhere in a hurry.”
Wednesday clucked her tongue. There was no real point in running anywhere. Even if she kept dashing through the great house, she was only a mouse in a maze. “I’m just trying to avoid my father. You have keen senses, don’t you? Let me know if he starts following me.”
“You don’t have to tell me that. I’m avoiding him too. Gomez and I don’t really get along…” Raphael said. He leaned on one narrow hip, tilting his head. “But don’t tell me you’re avoiding your new little sweetheart, too?”
“I don’t have a sweetheart,” Wednesday snapped.
Raphael’s fathomless eyes narrowed, catlike. “Oh?”
“Don’t act surprised,” Wednesday said. “Even if it’s to stop our people fighting, I can’t get married to someone I barely know. What if I want to divorce her? Will that bring world-war three?”
Raphael tapped his collarbone with a black-varnished nail. The metal in his face winked as he raised his eyebrow. “Well, I can’t say I disagree.”
“You think it’s a bad idea, too?” Wednesday asked, a little startled. Every other vampire she’d spoken to had been convinced of her parent’s plan.
“Yes, although my reasons are different,” Raphael said. “Personally, I would never be able to marry a wolf. I can’t stand the way they smell.”
Wednesday frowned. “Don’t joke around.”
“I’m deadly serious. She’ll be your wife. Can you stand that wet-dog reek on everything?” Raphael said. He had a little, twisted smile, and it was difficult to tell what he was finding amusing. “I’ve always opposed these inelegant solutions Morticia comes up with. Look at what happened after our Princes and Princesses married those Humans.”
“Didn’t that work? I thought it used to be worse,” Wednesday said.
“Sure, the Humans used to hunt Vampires, but that, at least, was mutual,” Raphael said. “Now we’re all pretending to get along. It’s unnatural. Eventually it’ll snap and then there’ll be no helping us.”
Wednesday balled her hands into fists. She didn’t know whether to agree with the young looking vampire or not, but it did seem silly that a handful of token marriages was supposed to stop a centuries-long feud. “What do you think I should do? My parents won’t listen to me.”
“Well, don’t lose heart, little bat,” Raphael said. He inspected his long, razor-sharp nails. “All you need to is take control of the situation.”
“How do I do that?” Wednesday asked.
But Raphael suddenly wasn’t listening. His head jerked up, like a dog hearing a frequency she couldn’t, his black eyes widening. He melted into the shadows, vanishing from sight.
“Wednesday!” Gomez called, rounding the doorway moments later. “I thought you agreed to give this another shot.”
“You’re misquoting me,” Wednesday said, glaring at the werewolf girl who was trailing after Gomez.
“Hi,” Ella — No, it was Enid-something right? — gave another wave. “You said you’d be a moment, but you were gone for a while so we came and looked for you.”
“I know you can be shy, my little scorpion,” Gomez said. “But if you give her a chance, I think you’ll find you have a lot in common with Enid.”
Wednesday’s eyes dropped to Enid’s custom-painted sparkly converse shoes. She very much doubted it. But her Vampiric Uncle’s words rang in her head: Take control of the situation.
Thinking fast, Wednesday said: “I’d like to speak to Enid. Alone.”
Gomez was so startled, he didn’t respond.
“Sure,” Enid said, holding out a hand.
Wednesday ignored the offered hand and turned. She heard Enid walk after her, shoes squeaking on the polished wood floor.
The door to the library swung open and Wednesday closed it after the young werewolf had padded in. Among the ranks of ancient tomes, large glass vials held specimens of rare and unusual animals. Street light filtered through black gauze curtains.
“I understand this might be sudden, but I have a request to make,” Wednesday said.
Enid sniffed the air around a large stuffed predator and breathed a happy sigh of relief. “Okay, this is just a regular Eurasian wolf, not a stuffed werewolf. That’s a relief.”
“Will you please focus?” Wednesday snapped.
“Right, of course. What do you want?” Enid asked.
“I need you to tell your parents you don’t want to marry me,” Wednesday said. “I’ve rejected too many werewolves, so they won’t take it from me.”
“Okay, done,” Enid said, immediately.
“What?” Wednesday said.
“Why, is that weird?” Enid frowned. “I’ve known you for as long as you’ve known me. And to be honest… you’re not my type.” Enid seemed to double-back on herself a little. “Not that you’re bad looking! You’re cute! But I tend to go for girls a bit more, er, well… You’re a bit, um…”
Wednesday held up a hand. “There’s no need to give a reason.”
Enid relaxed. “Okay, phew. Well, is that all?”
Wednesday wanted to say yes, but something made her hesitate. She had an odd, almost uneven feeling, like she was staring down a long, long corridor. She could see the next few months stretching out before her, the endless parade of wolfgirls, dozens more meetings, until finally even Wednesday’s iron-clad resolve was worn down.
“No,” Wednesday said. “No, I’ve changed my mind.”
Enid tilted her head.
“You’ll get in trouble if you reject me, won’t you?” Wednesday asked.
“Aw, you’re worried about me?” Enid asked, a smile glowing on her face.
Wednesday almost flinched. “Please answer the question.”
“Well… yeah, probably, I’d be in the wolf house for a while,” Enid said.
“Wolf..?”
“Oh, like the dog house, but we’re wolves,” Enid explained, brightly.
Wednesday resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Right. You’ll be in trouble with your parents for turning me down. And I’ll be in trouble too. But what if we pretend for a while?”
“I dunno…” Enid said. “You won’t try to Vamp-possess me?”
“You mean Thrall?” Wednesday asked, bristling. “Vampires might joke about it, but nobody would really use Thrall casually. It’s only for your worst enemies, and besides… I can’t use it. I’m only half a vampire, remember?”
“Well, okay.” Enid glanced to one side, rubbing her chin. “Like, for how long? I wasn’t kidding when I said I didn’t want to marry you.”
“Thank you for making that very clear,” Wednesday said, sarcastically. “It won’t be longer than a couple months. Actually getting married would defeat the purpose.”
Enid nodded. Her match-strike smile returned and she extended a hand. “Okay! It sounds like a good plan.”
Wednesday looked down at Enid’s hand. The wolfgirl’s long nails were painted every colour and decorated with tiny puppy smiles. Solemnly, Wednesday took her hand and shook it firmly.
“Pleasure doing business with you,” Wednesday said.
“Any time, fiancée,” Enid said, with an exaggerated wink.
Yeah, Wednesday thought to herself. Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.