The Gift She Gives Ch. 22

"I'd like to welcome you all here tonight, and say thank you for taking the time to help Vesper and I celebrate our marriage." Apparently she would at least get to hear his voice, and the deep timber warmed her from her toes to the tips of her ears.

"I'd also like to apologize for the difficulty some of you may have encountered trying to actually access the grounds. We have had to tighten security, as you know, due to some threats being made. All of that is well in hand, so there is no need to fear, and your departure in the next few days will be quite safe, as well.

"Vesper and I, we weren't exactly sure that this day would ever come. Our start was...rocky...to say the least." His words made a few in the crowd chuckle a little bit and Vesper wondered how much of their story had been passed around.

"But I love her with my whole heart and then some. And I do believe that she feels the same." His deep timber asked a question and she licked her lower lip before looking from the people in front of her to the wall at her left.

"I do." She said softly.

"In all of my years here on earth, I've spent a great deal of time learning about what it was like to live. It took Vesper coming to the spa to really teach me what it meant to love. I hope that she spends the rest of eternity reinforcing those lessons. I plan on being an attentive pupil." He must have made some sort of look because there was laughter from the crowd.

Vesper bit her lower lip as she smiled, wishing she could see his face.

"Arc didn't really seem to like me much when I first got here. Of course, part of that was because he caused me physical pain just by being close, and then there was that whole issue with my being stuck at the spa, but his frustration boiled down to what I was, and what I meant for him. He will tell you that he's drawn to me, that he has no choice but to love me, but I have never felt like I tried to pull him in my direction. I repeatedly tried to push him away. But I love him so much, even tonight, not getting to see him right now as I talk about him, is frustrating because of how much he means to me. I'll be happy when we've said our vows and he is my husband, because I can't think of anything else in the world that I would rather have in my life, or my heart, than this man at my side." Vesper hadn't really intended to make any sort of a speech, but his words seemed to pull something out of her, and when she was done speaking, clapping erupted from the room around them, with many also tapping their silverware on the crystal glasses on their tables.

"Vesper is originally from London, and I spent an extensive amount of time in Great Britain myself, so we both agreed that for dinner tonight, we would rely heavily on foods that we both enjoyed while living there. We hope you enjoy, and if you have any special requests, just let your server know and our kitchen staff will see to it." Mr. Hughes spoke after a moment.

The room came alive with a flurry of servers who quickly filled the tables with buffet style plates of Cornish pastry, fish and chips, mushed peas, roasted potatoes and carrots, roast, and a myriad other English cuisine. Vesper smiled at the grand spectacle and delighted in the looks of pleasure on the faces of the many who had chosen to dine with them tonight. Fish and chips might not be considered "fine dining," but it was comfort food, and they had wanted their wedding guests to feel comfortable this evening. Some had come from very remote places around the globe to witness Mr. Hughes' wedding. A stuffy, sophisticated meal seemed a little too pompous. A plate full of potatoes and expertly prepared pastry was much more suitable. Mr. Hughes had at first suggested that they serve toast to the masses of people in attendance, but Vesper had felt that a proper meal, and not one that was personal to her likes would be better.

"Vesper, eat...but not too much. You might get a little anxious." Natasha put a hand on her arm and Vesper looked over at her and smiled, she could already feel butterflies flapping around in her stomach.

"I think we've missed that boat." She chuckled softly to her friend before picking up her fork and nodded at the server who placed a pastry onto her plate.

Despite her soft tease, Vesper took small bites and only drank sips of her champagne. She had no intention of feeling abnormal when it was time for her to walk down the aisle. The meal went well and it wasn't until the doors opened to her right that Vesper realized that the sun had set. Domino, her husband, and the rest of the vampires were walking into the room, smiles on their faces as they looked from her to the crowd of people in the room, many of whom they knew and had formed friendships with over the years.

"If you'll allow Vesper to leave with her bridesmaids, the rest of us will then be able to make our way to where tonight's wedding will occur." She heard Mr. Hughes' strong voice say over the quietening dim in the large room.

Vesper bit her lower lip and rose from her chair, setting her champagne glass down before walking towards Domino who was standing near the door.

"It's that time." Domino smiled at her, bringing her close for a hug before looking over at Natasha who had walked towards them slowly.

"It is." Vesper nodded, heat causing her neck to redden a bit as she thought about what would be happening soon.

Domino looped an arm through hers before glancing over to where Shi and Anya were approaching. Vesper caught the look that the blond vampire gave the light siren, but nothing was further said or done, and she went with her group of female friends out of the hall and they made their way out of the spa and towards her home to get her dressed for her wedding.

~*~*~*~

The walk to her home was quiet, Natasha was humming gently as she walked on the other side of Domino, who still had her arm looped with Vesper's. Anya and Shi walked behind them. Vesper felt her stomach roll a little and gulped gently, biting her lower lip as she looked over at the vampire who hadn't said anything since she'd entered the dragon's room earlier.

"I'm so happy to have you all here." Vesper said gently, she wasn't sure if the nervousness she felt around her was radiating off of her, or if there was something else going on amongst the others.

"I am happy to be here for you, Vesper." Domino looked at her with her fiery red eyes and smiled, "For you and for Mr. Hughes."

Vesper smiled back at her and nodded, "He holds you close as a friend, Domino. He is lucky to have you."

Domino breathed in deeply, making her chest rise a little and her wings arch just a bit, her eyes skimming to the side to look at where Shi and Anya were walking slightly behind them. "Mr. Hughes needed a friend."

Vesper caught the way Anya frowned ever so gently and shivered a bit. Domino's statement was loaded with meaning. Vesper knew the two had never spoken about Anya's time with Mr. Hughes. She knew there was still information that the light siren didn't know, information that was the entire reason Domino would continue to hold a grudge against her. If Vesper wanted to be their friend, she would forever be stuck in the middle, acting as a buffer between the two and at this particular moment, she didn't want to. At all. This wasn't high school. Not that Vesper had ever gone to school, but she'd read enough to know that this behavior from the two of them was juvenile.

Stopping where she stood about ten feet from the front door of her house, Vesper turned to look at both of the women on her mind. She spotted Natasha walk towards Shi and grab her hand, keeping the two of them back a little. Natasha wasn't stopping Vesper, so she must agree with what Vesper was about to say.

"I am marrying Mr. Hughes tonight, very soon, in fact. And I am going to ask that the both of you listen to me for a moment." Vesper bit her lower lip before continuing.

"Domino, you are very angry with Anya. I understand that, but now is not the time to quibble. It is my wedding day. I have waited all day for this, ALL day, so that you could be in attendance when I get married to the man that I love. The man I have waited 87 years to meet and love me. I know you have plenty that you would like to say to Anya, and right now, I don't care. When we go inside to get dressed for my wedding, there will be no comments, backhanded or otherwise about how anyone has been treated. No comments, no grunts, no sighs, I will have none of it. I want you at my wedding, Domino. Mr. Hughes would be crushed if you weren't there, but I can't take one more moment of this right now." Vesper spoke sternly to the vampire who nodded slowly and frowned in sadness at the ayperi whose wings had begun to stretch out as she spoke.

"Vesper, I'm sorry-I didn't mean to make you feel-."

"Anya, I have a feeling that there is a lot about the way you've acted that others do not understand. You have been inadvertently selfish and possible a little bit purposefully calculating in what you have done over the last few years. But I don't think you've ever been given the opportunity to clear the air, with yourself, or anyone else. But this is not the time and place for that. This is my wedding day. Today, tonight, is about me. My marriage to Mr. Hughes. I understand that this is an awkward situation, honestly, I get that. The only woman I am standing beside right now who hasn't been...intimate, in some way, with my fiancé is Natasha. We're all practically family at this point, and obviously all of this," Vesper waved her hand back and forth between the light siren and the vampire, "needs to be worked out. But not now."

"Vesper, I'm so sorry, I don't-."

Vesper shook her head severely as she glared at the two women before her. "I don't want to say or hear another word about this. I want to go inside, have a glass of champagne, and get dressed for my wedding with the women that I chose to stand at my side. I love all of you, and I want every moment going forward this evening to be about that love."

"Then we'd better get moving, Vesper, because Mr. Hughes is really impatient to make you Mrs. Hughes right now." Natasha stepped forward, a wide smile on her face as she slipped her hand into Vesper's still shaking one.

"I'm impatient to be her, Natasha." Vesper grinned softly back at her closest friend before reaching for Domino's hand, who immediately clasped her's close.

Shi walked up to Anya, who was a little teary-eyed, and threw her arm around her shoulder and kissed her on the cheek. "It's okay, Anya. It really is. Everyone is glad that you are here."

"Thank you, Shi." Anya sighed, walking closely beside Shi as they entered Vesper's home.

Inside, the four bridesmaids worked quickly to dress, fix each other's hair, and then help Vesper put on the wedding gown that she had chosen for tonight. She thought about the four groomsmen who must be with her fiancé right now. Zheng would look even more exceedingly handsome than usual in the suits that Mr. Hughes had chosen. The colors weren't as flattering on the giant, but Samir looked quite smashing regardless. His blue eyes took all attention away from the rest of his form. Mr. Bricker seemed only slightly less refined an individual than the dragon, and he was sure to cut quite a form as he stood among the rest of them. But it was Cynric that Vesper couldn't help but softly smile thinking about. The satyr would have had to go through so many fittings in order to have his suit properly fitted, and she couldn't imagine that the big burly creature would have enjoyed a single moment of it. But he had, and he had done it for Mr. Hughes and for her. Vesper felt herself blush when she realized that as much as Mr. Hughes had been intimate with many of her bridesmaids, she wasn't particularly innocent when it came to a few of the groomsmen. She'd kissed Samir and Zheng, and she'd, well, Cynric had been very intimate with her some time ago. Only Mr. Bricker was foreign to her, and he would stay that way, just as Natasha would stay foreign to Mr. Hughes.

'I have no interest in your angel, Vesper, now finish your champagne. It's time to go.' She heard Natasha's chuckling voice in her head and looked over at her friend.

"You all look so beautiful." Vesper smiled at the women in the room with her, and she was telling the truth. They all looked stunningly attractive. If she didn't look quite the brilliant comet moth herself, she might worry that she would be outshone at her own wedding. Vesper doubted that, even though she wouldn't have minded, she was not a conceited person. But it would be nice to know that all eyes would be on her, and on Mr. Hughes, as they started this new and long chapter of their lives.

"I could be wearing a housecoat for all anyone's eyes will be on me, Vesper. You look ethereal." Domino chuckled in her throaty voice and smiled at the woman she was quickly feeling a connection to.

"Thank you." Vesper grinned.

"She's right, you might be the most beautiful bride I've ever seen." Anya nodded, her arm linking with Shi as the two stepped towards them.

"I've seen a picture that Domino and Alexandru took at their wedding, but I've never seen one of yours, Anya." Vesper said.

Anya grinned and her face reddened a bit, "Sergei and I just went to a justice of the peace and got married. I wore a green dress. Nothing fancy. Not even any flowers."

"I'm sure she was already more than pregnant, too." Shi chuckled as she patted Anya's hand, whose blush had deepened.

"Wolves are a lusty bunch." Domino said cautiously, worried a little as she looked over at Anya, who returned her gaze.

"They really are." Anya nodded back, obviously whatever it was, was not part of the issue between the two women. Vesper remembered suddenly that conversation she'd had with Aidan back at Sergei and Anya's house. He had been with both women.

"Well," Vesper sighed before downing the last of her champagne, "I'm as ready as I'm ever going to be for tonight. I think it's time we head to wherever it is I'm going to find my husband."

At that, the four other women in the room with her smiled brightly and then led her to the door.

~*~*~*~

Vesper stood on the front stoop of her house with a frown on her face as she looked up at the large centaur that stood a short distance away from her. He was smiling warmly down at her and his left hand was extended in her direction.

"Whatever are you doing here, Bellator?" Vesper asked worriedly.

"You ride." He said in a deep voice that sent weird little shivers through her body.

"I most certainly will not 'ride' you." Vesper's eyes widened and she shook her head at the muscled half-man, half-horse.

"You ride. Distance far. You not know way." Bellator patted his back, his horse back, that was bare, and Vesper frowned again.

"I could fly then."

Natasha grabbed her hand and walked her over to Bellator. 'You would be such a liar if you said you'd never wondered what it would be like to ride a centaur. Up!'

'You are a terrible friend.' Vesper scrunched her nose at Natasha as she felt Bellator's large hands surround her and pull her up behind his human back to sit close.

Her arms instinctively went around his waist as she settled her legs on either side of his horse back. He was warm beneath her, and she was thankful that her dress was able to flutter out around her legs comfortable as one of his hands settled over her clasped ones.

"Hold Bellator." His voice vibrated through his muscled chest and Vesper bit her lip, riding behind a centaur felt way too sexual in nature.

Looking at the other women, she saw that Domino had already taken to the air, while Natasha, Anya, and Shi had mounted, that felt like such a dirty word currently, Bellator's sons. Corvus had already had Elarinya on his back while they'd waited outside for the women to get prepared. He had taken charge of getting the girls dressed for the ceremony himself, while Vesper knew that Sergei was the one to make sure the Boris would be ready, and hopefully, well-behaved.

Vesper didn't say anything else, she just looked at where they were headed. She had expected the wedding to take place close to the spa, if not within it, but they were headed farther away, towards the mountains in the far distance. She worried for a moment about the devil, but she could see, just at the edge of her eyesight, the tangled magic of the spell that Natasha had placed had extended along all corners of the acres and acres large property of Mr. Hughes. Again, she was struck on the shear enormity of the power that Natasha must have in order to create such a large spell over such great a distance. Her friend had many secrets, and that was all right with Vesper. Everyone deserved their secrets. And Natasha's secrets were keeping them all safe.

"I have to say, riding on the back of a centaur is not something I thought I would enjoy, but it's rather exhilarating." Shi chuckled a while later when they reached the rocky path leading up the mountain.

Vesper smiled over at her friend as the male centaurs began carefully maneuvering themselves up the steep incline. Vesper gasped once when she saw Cometes slip a little, and the little girl's squeal gave way to laughter a moment later when her father snatched the little centaur up in his arms and held her close in front of him as he continued his way up the side of the mountain.

"It's certainly less dangerous than being ridden by a centaur." Anya said so softly that if Vesper hadn't been riding atop Bellator who shivered a little at the comment, she might have brushed it off as a play of the wind. Looking over at the little brunette, Vesper saw the woman blush a bit and was reminded of just what had brought the light siren here in the first place. She'd come to Vorhees Spa as a client. Of course she might know what it was like to be with the oldest centaur, who worked here. Biting her lip, she couldn't help the way her hands clasped a little tighter to the hard muscled male abdomen in front of her and Vesper tried to ignore the images in her head. This was the issue with living near a sex spa. It was so very easy to make everything feel sexual.

"You never really made a decision." Payton was saying twenty minutes later, as Vesper stood holding her bouquet among her bridesmaids and the groomsmen who had met them in the carefully decorated to conceal corner of one of the high-ceiling awnings under which the satyrs lived.

"I didn't?" Vesper felt her stomach roll as she looked from Payton, to Wei, and then to Sergei and Yakov as they stood looking back at her expectantly.

"You never have chosen who will walk you down the aisle." Sergei smiled knowingly. It had been a constant conversation between the men of the spa, all wanting the honor on this particular matter.

"I never knew my father, he-." Vesper shook her head, hadn't it always been the one idea of her wedding that she'd wanted to actually have a father for? But she didn't have one. There was no father, no mortal father. Only-she shuddered-only a demon who had used her as a pawn.

"I feel very responsible for what you went through here, Vesper. It would be my honor to escort you." Sergei took a step forward, a growl rumbling in his throat as Payton brayed a little and shoved a little closer.

"You saved my life, I feel it best if I could help you start your life with the angel." Payton looked with a slight frown over to the werewolf.

"I would never go against my alpha, Vesper, but if it were to make you comfortable, I would walk you down the aisle." Yakov said with a great deal less tension than the first two.

"I am staying completely out of this, but can you let us know soon when we can start, there's a fallen angel in there getting his feathers all in a tizzy because he says you're late." Alexandru poked his head through a curtain and grinned his wide, handsome grin at her.