Epilogue
My Big Fat Vampire Wedding
Gunner couldn’t stop staring at Horatio. Clad in a perfectly tailored suit, hair pulled back in a neat ponytail, he was a rock-and-roll bad boy with a side of mafia kingpin. He strolled toward him carrying two glasses of champagne, leaving party guests drooling in his wake.
“I saw you from across the room.” Horatio handed him a glass. “Single?”
“Single and horny. Play your cards right, and I’ll let you fuck me in a broom closet.” Gunner took a sip and winced. “Champagne is so gross.”
“They’ll have an open bar after dessert is served.” Horatio leaned in and smelled Gunner’s hair. “You look so good in charcoal gray. And the cute little top knot? Damn, baby. Let’s go find that broom closet.”
“From what Sugar’s told me about his family, once everyone’s drunk, we can do it on top of the bar, and no one will care. That’s why this soiree is adults only.”
“Wow. That’ll improve things. So far, this wedding is a snore.”
“Are all weddings this boring? This is my first.”
Horatio chuckled. “I’m Greek, so the weddings in my family usually start with a fistfight and end with a few paddy wagons.”
Snake appeared out of nowhere. “You blokes need to save me from Sugar’s Auntie Bea. She keeps pestering me to show her ‘The Umberto’.”
Gunner cringed. “Yikes.”
“How are you feeling, Snake?” Horatio asked. “I didn’t even know vampires could faint.”
During the vows, Snake had collapsed and taken out the officiant on his way down.
“Makes two of us. Sugar is ready to kill me.” Snake wagged his chin at a tall male Humerian passing by. “That’s Sugar’s cousin Temple. He offered Seven fifty bills to bend him over in the coatroom. Of course, Seven said, ‘Make it a hundred and you’ve got a deal.’ Madness. Utter madness.”
“So did he do it?” Gunner asked.
“Yeah, and once he’d finished, Temple begged for an encore. Horny devils.” He smiled. “Guess I fit in well.”
“You do tower over everyone.” Horatio pointed to a familiar figure. “Saul’s here.”
“Oh, lovely, and he’s brought his wife.”
Gunner watched a group of servers roll in a cake the size of a Volkswagen Beetle. “That’s the biggest cake I’ve ever seen.”
“Sugar’s mother is worried it won’t be enough.”
“She’s hot,” Gunner said.
“No doubt. Imagine that beard tickling your ass.” Horatio cleared his throat. “No disrespect to your mother-in-law, though.”
“Bloody hell.” Snake palmed his forehead. “I have a mother-in-law.”
“Take a breath,” Gunner said. “Don’t faint again.”
Snake glanced around, then motioned for them to huddle in. “Don’t tell anyone, but I didn’t faint because I was afraid to marry Sugar. I passed out from shock.”
“What happened?” Horatio put a hand on Snake’s shoulder.
“I saw,” He let out a breath. “I saw… my father. Asp Vinter.”
Gunner felt his soul leave his body. Snake had told them some terrifying stories about his father. “Whoa, dude! I would have fainted, too.”
“He wasn’t invited. And I can’t think of anyone who would have told him about the wedding.” Snake gratefully took a glass of wine a waiter offered and knocked it back. “He just stood there, like a slab of frozen meat. Didn’t smile or frown—his face was… blank. I blinked, and he was gone.”
“Is it possible he was a figment of your imagination?” Horatio asked. “Brought on by nerves? You’ve been stressed about this.”
“I suppose. Another possibility is that he’s dead, and I saw his ghost.”
Sugar waved at Snake from across the room. “More bloody photos. Gents, keep an eye out for a seven-foot-tall fearsome creature with white hair down to his heels.”
Gunner held Horatio’s hand as they watched him saunter off.
“Gotta be a hallucination,” Horatio said.
“Yeah. Nothing to worry about. Probably.”
“Most likely.”
Their hands squeezed a little tighter.
~Fin~