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Had anybody told him that this night would be ahead of him Lars had laughed at them. His younger self could not imagine how someone as beautiful and strong and brave as Alisa could choose some little fuck like him as her mate and husband.
Alisa was a saint. Day’s and night’s favourite. Shone on by the moon and the sun and worshipped by the vampires around them. The ground kissed her feet wherever she walked and flowers and animals turned to her, desperate for her light and gentleness. Everybody and everything ached for her touch and her words.
Vampires from every clan turned to her, fell down to the ground at her feet and prayed to her like the humans did to their gods. She was quite famous in their world and it was a great honour to feel something of her attention.
She was gentle with them. Always smiled and let them touch her skirts or hair. For the suffering she had kind words and lay her hands on their bowed heads, assuming them that everything would turn out well. She caressed the grass and the flowers and petted the animals that searched for shelter in her lap.
Alisa never complained about those duties. She never turned someone down and always offered a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on. She had grown in the last years. The girl she had been before the prophecy had been fulfilled was completely gone now. There was a grown woman now. Proud and tall, with the posture of a queen of gods.
Her body had grown into that of a woman. Her face was lovely with the pale skin, which stood in huge contrast to the dark curls that framed it, and the red full lips, which Lars wanted to kiss all the time.
Her body, now all grown up and ripe tempted not only him, but vampires and humans from all over the world. It drove Lars furious to hear their thoughts, all their desires and their lust in their minds. But at the same time he knew that she deserved nothing less than all the admiration and love in the world.
It made him proud to stand beside her, to hold her hand and kiss her on those beautiful rosy lips. He was proud of the whispers, the admiring glances. His unofficial title: The chosen one’s chosen one. Lars loved the jealousy, yes even the agony towards him. Maybe this was the arrogant Dracas in him, but he knew that he was the only man who deserved her. Wasn’t he a king after all? As the leader of the Dracas clan, he had the power of three rubies running through his veins. He combined mind reading, one of the most if not even the most powerful power, and the strongest clan inside him.
A clan of warriors, of ruthless men. A clan of winners. He himself was a warrior of the most dangerous kind, a killer. Cold, someone who didn’t back off of a fight. It was his upbringing he guessed. The words his father had told him again and again. You can rule over everything, you just have to take it.
It was arrogance and that overflowing self confidence every man in his bloodline had had. He descended from powerful, ruthless and feared leaders who were equal to any human king that had ever reigned over the earth. And he would be the most powerful of them. Lars would not settle for less, especially because he wanted Alisa to get what she deserved. The status of a queen, the fairest of them all.
The boy he had been when they had met was not worthy of her. Wasn’t worth even a little tiny bit of her attention and affection.
But the man was. The leader, the warrior, the knight. The man he had become over the years. And that man would marry her tonight.
Lars awoke alone in his bed. Even though he hadn’t slept much over the day he didn’t feel tired at all. There was an overwhelming excitement running through his veins, that made his body vibrate. For hours he had been laying awake dreaming of tonight with a content smile on his lips.
He wanted it to be perfect for them, suiting for a queen and king that would form a union stronger than anything that had existed before. Lars knew that tonight would change not only his own life and that of Alisa, but the whole earth. Something would shift and everybody would feel the day the saviour of the world gave her wedding vows.
On one hand it was scary that he of all people would be there at her side when this shift would happen. On the other hand was pride, that smug feeling of being better than everybody else.
Lars opened his eyes, sat up and looked around the room. Heavy furniture made out of dark wood with well-crafted carvings painted the picture of the leader’s bedroom. In the corner stood a huge dressing table without a mirror and a cushioned stool, which both showed carvings from flowers. Since ever it had been that of the ruling baroness, of the wives of leaders.
And from tonight onwards it would be Alisa’s. A smile formed on his lips as he imagined her sitting there in a light, flowing nightgown brushing her hair or applying perfume. He became all excited when he realized that he could watch her getting ready every night now and for ever.
A picture manifested itself in his mind. A picture of slow, cuddly evenings. Of love and passion. Of his beautiful wife in the most delicate gowns, sitting there at that dressing table wooing for his attention.
In the centre of the bedroom stood the huge wooden bed in which he was laying currently. It was draped with heavy, dark fabric that shielded it a bit from it’s surroundings. On it lay a few thick furs in which you could curl up in the cold winter nights. Preferably with someone else to keep you sweet company between the sheets.
It had always served as a wedding bed for leaders and their wives. Generations of generations of Dracas had been conceived here. Very likely he too. It was weird, but it was a tradition. And even though vampires believed themselves to be superior to humans in many ways they clung to traditions as much as they did.
The last thing in the bedroom was a fireplace with a warming fire inside to heat the room. It could get quite cold during winter so this wasn’t just some décor but something elementary.
It was totally silent around him. He was probably one of the first people to be awake. But hey, this was his wedding day and he was damnably excited for what was ahead of him. Full of anticipation he jumped up from the bed and slipped into his clothes, while humming a joyful tune.
As he made his way outside, curled up in his thick coat he watched the sky, that was not yet fully dark but not fully light either. It was the time of the polar nights, in which a constant twilight lay over the mountains and fjords.
He looked up. The sky was cloudless and clear, a few stars glimmering above. It was as though the earth itself was happy about the union that would be formed in only a few hours. And she surely was, Lars thought. Mother earth herself had assigned him to the role of Alisa’s knight. She wanted him to marry her and show her how great she was for every night that was before them.
He gripped one of the rubies around his neck, murmured a few words and suddenly the aurora enlightened the sky in all it’s colours. A gift for his wonderful bride. He wondered if she was already awake, if she was standing on deck of the Elisabetha, where she had spent the day, and looked up at the sky, smiling and thinking about him.
“Good morning my love.” He whispered into the emptiness around him. “I hope you slept well.”
He made his way into the royal hut, where he would find breakfast and maybe a few of his friends. Mostly the boys. The girls, including Calvina, Karen and Alisa’s mother had decided to sleep on the ship and host some kind of pyjama party to celebrate Alisa’s last day of girlhood or something. It had been Ivy’s idea and when he had asked why the hell they would celebrate something like that she just slapped his shoulder and explained that a wedding was something very special in a girl’s life and that he as a man had no clue of anything.
The other boys had been confused as well and secretly joked about what they did on the ship.
“Maybe they make some kind of witch ritual with period blood or something.” Malcolm had suggested, while Tammo was convinced that they would somehow just braid their hair and giggle about everything and nothing. Lars just grinned with that memories. He really couldn’t imagine what the girls had done over the day. Maybe he would ask Alisa tonight.
As he walked into the cosy warmth of the hut there sat only Tammo with a plate of animal blood in front of him. He was staring absently into the flames in the fireplace.
“Hey Buddy.” Lars greeted him and slipped next to him. The younger boy looked up at him and smiled. “Morning Lars.”
Silence spread around them. It was kind of awkward for the both of them, knowing that only a few hours Tammo’s elder sister would be married to Lars.
“How are you feeling about all this?” Lars asked finally, because he really was curious.
Tammo swallowed. “I am happy for my sister, I guess. That she found you and all.”
“You don’t sound that happy though.”
“Well, it kind of feels like she is leaving me. I feels as though she won’t even be a Vamalia any more.”
Lars sighed. “Your sister really loves you dearly. You know that?” He asked.
“She loves you too.” Tammo added.
“Yes, but not like she loves you. She will never leave you Tam. She’ll always be your sister, even as my wife and mother of my children.”
Tammo cringed. “Stop talking about children. It’s gross thinking about that.”
The older one just laughed and said: “I hope you are satisfied with me as your brother in law.”
“Well It could be worse.” Said the boy and wrapped his arms around Lars. A bit surprised he leaned into the hug. A warm feeling grew in his chest and he realized that he not only loved his beautiful Alisa but also her family. And somehow he knew that they loved him too. Especially Anna who seemed to see him as some child of her own.
At first she had been suspicious of him and his intentions with her daughter, but over time he had proven himself worthy of her in her eyes and ever since then she mothered him and welcomed him openly into her little family.
Contrary to Dame Elina who never did and never will see him as someone else than a child of his clan. She looked at Alisa and him with visible disgust in her red eyes, but there was nothing she could do against that marriage, especially when nobody, not even her close friend Sir Milton, shared her opinion.
It made Alisa sad that her grandmother would never accept her choice of a husband but over time she had learned that they didn’t need her approval for anything.
Lars was the first to pull away from the hug, because he had never really hugged someone so close in a platonic, brotherly way. He had no siblings and after his mother’s death his father had never hugged him again.
Luckily Malcolm and Nicu burst through the door that moment and kept the moment from becoming awkward.
“Morning!” Malcolm shouted and walked towards Lars. “How are we feeling today, knowing that today is your wedding?”
Lars grinned. “Oh it feels pretty good actually.”
“Very excited?” Nicu asked smiling.
Lars grinned as well. It was strange but between the two of them had grown a strong friendship, because after everything they had been through they had realized that they weren’t that different at all and that the other was not as horrible as they had thought before. Okay, Lars had to admit that it was mostly because Nicu didn’t love her any more, at least not more than everybody else. Alisa and him were still close though, but only as friends.
“Oh you don’t know how excited I am.”
“Have you slept at all or did you fantasize about your wedding night with Alisa the whole time?” Malcolm asked teasingly.
“Why not both?” His best friend answered.
“Uhh.” The two other young men said.
“I bet he fantasized about her breasts all night.” Nicu whispered overly loud into Malcolm’s ears. The three of them burst out laughing.
A hem from the door made them startle up. In the door, raising an eyebrow, stood Hindrik. The expression on his face showed that he had heard every tiny bit of their conversation. And he was definitely not amused.
“Morning Hindrik.” Tammo, the only who had not been a part of the conversation, whistled.
“Morning.” The shadow answered. The other men greeted him with a small nod.
It was not long until Calvina, Karen and Anna along with Ivy, Joanne and Lars’ cousins entered the hut, all bubbly and excited. Only Alisa was not with them, Lars noticed.
When he asked where she was Ivy walked towards him and smacked his shoulder.
“You won’t see her until the ceremony like you are supposed to, you desperate man!”
“Alright, alright.” He answered. “No reason to beat me to pulp. Especially not on my wedding day.”
“Oh yes it is.” Fanny said and smacked him over the head. Probably not even for asking but just because she wanted to.
“We won’t stay here either.” Inger joined the conversation. “We’re just getting a few portions of blood and a breakfast for Calvina and then we go over to the ship. Alisa is waiting.”
“Why are you girls staying for yourselves after all?” Nicu asked.
“Because you won’t help my fiancée get dressed, you pervert!” Lars exclaimed and pushed the other boy gently.
Everyone just laughed.
The ceremony crept closer and closer and with every second Lars grew more and more excited. He hadn’t seen Alisa for hours now. If she was as excited as him? What was she doing currently? Well, she was probably sitting somewhere on the Elisabetha while the others bustled around her, braiding her hair and getting her into her wedding dress. Before they had left Ivy had whispered something about how they would make her the most beautiful bride the world had ever seen.
He was in his bedroom again, slipping into more festive clothes while Malcolm and the others were probably doing the exact same.
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. “Come in.” He said a bit annoyed. If this would be one of his shadows he would forget himself.
“Do you have little time for the shadow?” Karen asked.
Lars couldn’t help but smile. Gone was his annoyance. “For you always.”
The shadow made her way up to him. On her way she grabbed his three rubies, that lay on the dressing table and hung them around his neck. Her hands rested on his chest and she smiled melancholically.
“How you have grown.” She whispered. He could hear pride and love in her voice.
“Thank you for being there for me, Karen. Thank you for everything. I love you.” Lars hated the sound of his own voice. Gone was the fierce clan leader and back was the small and fragile boy she had taken care of.
“Oh baby I love you too. You have no idea how much.” She pulled him into a tight hug. Lars closed his eyes and just enjoyed the moment. He had long overgrown her, but still he felt vulnerable and soft around her like the child he had once been.
“I can’t believe that the little nipper I raised is getting married today.” She said. “I kind of miss having a child around me to be honest.”
“Well, you can play nanny for my children if you want.” Lars answered.
“Oh no!” She said. “One of you was enough for eternity.” Both of them laughed.
A few moments later Karen interrupted the comfortable unity between them. “Come on, Lars. Your bride is waiting.”
They had decided to hold the ceremony in the class room. Both Alisa and Lars had made good memories there so it was just logical that they would make their vows there.
Everyone was there. The other leaders and elders, their friends, Calvina and Nicu. Only Hindrik and Tammo were missing, along with Alisa. They would accompany her to Lars, according to her wish. The three men I love most. She had said.
And now he was standing here, Ivy, who would hold the ceremony, at his side. And how excited he was to finally seal that union! He had fought battles, he had become clan leader and he had made good friends on the way. But what really mattered was this right here. Everything he had ever done lead to this moment. It was not just a wedding, it was his fate, his duty. And he loved to fulfil this duty. There was nothing more he wanted than this.
And then there she was. Hindrik and Tammo at her side, both dressed in their finest suits. But everything he could look at was his beautiful Alisa in that flowing dress, that clutched to every of her curves so delicately it made it hard to breathe for him. It had the colour of deep burgundy, the same colour as her lips and eyes.
Her hair was braided into a crown around her head while parts of it curled down onto her shoulder. The deep neckline of the dress revealed the ivory skin of her long neck and the fragile structure of her collarbones. Around her neck she wore a golden heart locket, the one that he had got her for his proposal. She had worn it ever since and had never taken it off.
The colourful flowers of her flower crown spread their sweet scent over her, so that she smelled gently like a meadow in spring. It was kind of strange seeing so many flowers in winter. Sometimes it was good to have a Noaidi as friend, Lars thought.
But the most beautiful thing about his bride was her smile, bright and warm and full of love. Gone was the doubt and fear from her eyes and instead there was pure happiness and joy in them. And excitement. Alisa looked like a little girl that had gotten a new doll for Christmas.
Their gazes locked and the voices of everybody around fell silent. There were only the two of them. Two bodies, two souls, two families and this magic. Lars felt as though the ground was shaking, it was as though it was day and night simultaneously, as though the moon and sun were watching him.
Alisa’s steps were light, made no sound on the planks of the ship. In this moment she was even more than the saint, no she was like earth herself. She was like gravity, pulling him to her with unnatural force.
And then she stood before him and the others were there again. Hindrik, Tammo, Ivy, Karen, his cousins. Lars reached out his hand. This was the last possibility to stop this. If she would take his hand now there was no going back.
Be my saint, Alisa von Vamalia. He spoke in her head.
Be my knight, Lars af Dracas. And she grabbed his hand.
Lars marvelled at the sensation of her skin. It was always a bit warmer than that of other vampires. And so soft, like the most gentle feather.
They stood next to each other in front of all of their friends and family looking at them. But Lars could not keep himself from bringing his hand up to her cheek, to cup it gently. His thumb drew little circles under her eyes. Her hand travelled to his and gently she lay her fingers on his.
A few moments passed and that was all Lars needed. It wouldn’t get any better than that he believed.
Ivy cleared her throat to get the attention of the two lovebirds. She almost looked as happy as them with that wide grin on her freckled face. Lars raised an eyebrow while the girls just giggled happily together.
Then finally Ivy turned serious. She wore the traditional Noaidi clothing, a wide flowing dress, and her hair hung loose around her face. She had never looked as powerful as now and her voice had never sounded so full and round. And when she spoke Lars, who had met her in person, could not not hear that in these moments Mother Earth really spoke through her.
“This night brings a union of enormous significance for each and everyone of us. The union of Alisa von Vamalia, a hero, a saint, saviour of us all, and Lars af Dracas, her support, her sword, her knight. From this night on they will be tied together by the unbreakable bonds of marriage and blood for evermore. And this union will bring peace over them and the entire earth. And you, vampires of all kinds and humans alike are their witnesses, like me mother earth herself.”
Ivy, white eyed, turned to them. “You may make your vows now.”
Lars was the first to speak. Clear and strong the words rolled over his tongue, nothing was easier than this.
“Alisa von Vamalia, I am so damn honoured to stand beside you on this day. There is nothing I want more than fulfilling what I have been born for. Serving you, praying to you, worshipping the ground you walk on. No words in no language can express how much I love you, but I want to try it anyway. For me there is no mountain too high, no river too deep, no distance too far. I would conquer heaven, earth and hell if it meant that you are waiting for me afterwards. I swear to always be there for you, to hold you, to protect you, to stay at your side. I love you.”
He could see tears filling Alisa’s eyes. But this were happy tears. She cried because he had touched something in her, that lay so deep inside her. Still her voice was firm and calm when she said:
“Lars af Dracas. First of all I want to thank you for everything you did for me. It is a great honour to have someone like you at my side. Someone so handsome, brave and gentle to love me. There was a long time where I thought I was unworthy of any love. I felt like I disappointed everybody. But you proved me wrong. You showed me every night how loveable I am and that I don’t need to be scared. You were always there at my side, even when I treated you unfairly. I swear I will honour that forever. I swear I will love and hold you and take care of you, like you do to me. For you I would face death and all my enemies a thousand times. I love you.”
Lars had never felt so happy his entire life. It was so nice to hear her words, to hear her proclaiming her unconditional love for him.
Ivy spoke again, this time with her own voice again. “You made your vows and now time is ripe for the bonding of your blood, for you two will be bound together for eternity.
She gave Lars a small, golden dagger with a sharp blade. The handle was formed like a rose. It was heavy in his hand. Alisa offered him her white palm. Gently he lifted it to his lips and pressed a tender kiss to the soft skin there, before he made a slow cut with the dagger. Right away drops of crimson blood quilled from her wound onto the wooden planks at their feet. Lars placed the dagger in her other hand and held out his palm for her to cut.
Like him she first pressed a kiss to the skin before placing the knife. His blood had the same colour as hers, he realized.
Ivy held out a simple glass cup in which both bride and groom dropped in their blood. It was not much, only a few sips maybe, but that blood held so much power. Alisa was the first to drink. Then she passed the cup to Lars. It was a strange taste. So different from any human blood he had drank before. He could taste Alisa, sweet like pomegranates and himself a bit bitter but not bad. As he turned his head to his bride she was marvelling at this sight and the both of them couldn’t help but smile at each other.
Now Ivy gestured to their hands, that were still bleeding a little. Slowly Lars took Alisa’s into his own
again and pressed their palms together firmly.
“Anna, the band please.” Ivy said and Anna, as mother of the bride came forward and tied a red ribbon around their wrists. For a few moment everyone kept silent. The air was thick with excitement and the scent of blood. Exactly three minutes passes until Ivy broke the silence.
She grinned. “You are now officially husband and wife!” She shouted before hugging both of her best friends.
With that the silence stopped and Lars felt everyone rushing to them and hugging them. He hugged Karen and Tammo and Hindrik and Anna and everybody else at least two times until finally he could take his wife’s hand into his own again. He had never seen Alisa that happy.
His head swirled from the celebration. It felt like a rush, like being high. Not only their closest friends celebrated with them but also his entire clan who welcomed their baroness with open arms. They respected him, maybe even liked him for the rules he had passed with the other leaders, the ones that let them love and live free if they wanted to, but when they liked him they loved Alisa, basically lay at her feet like their leader. He could not blame them for it. In fact he was rather happy they worshipped her as much as he did.
Alisa was sitting next to him at the table. Around them their friends danced around cheerily while shouting they are married! Now and then. She looked up at the colourful sky, the northern lights swirling above her, celebrating with them.
“Do you like them?” Lars asked.
“Oh I love them!” She exclaimed and her gaze met his. “They are so beautiful!”
“You are beautiful.”
Alisa smiled. “Thank you, dear husband.”
Something in him wanted to scream. Alisa calling him husband did things with him, he could have never imagined feeling.
To distract himself from that strange feelings he lifted his cup of blood. “A toast on us, my beautiful wife.”
She bumped her cup against his. “On us.”
He watched her drink. There was something so..erotic about it. As she put down the blood Alisa turned to look at him with the same hunger that lay also in his eyes. Their lips met in a hot kiss and everything around them disappeared. There was only her, her soft lips and that promise for more. He grabbed her upper thigh under the table, desperate for more touch and less space between them.
“Oh I think someone’s can’t wait any more.” A voice brought them back to earth. Ready to rip the speaker to shreds Lars turned away from Alisa to the other person. Of course it was Malcolm. Embarrassed Lars realized that everyone ha dbeen watching them. Joanne was holding back a giggle and everyone looked quite amused.
While Lars was too stunned to speak Alisa rose from her chair gracefully and spoke: “The baroness and baron af Dracas wish to leave the celebration.” She spoke like a true queen, like she would not accept any disagreement.