A DEADLY NUPTIAL

27.

Josephine's POV

I stood in the shower letting the hot water run down my body. I was still thinking about Dark's question. Why would he ask if I would be forced to go anyway? The thought of him asking first was sweet though. I smiled thinking about earlier. He had opened up and shown me his private place and even created a special place for me.

I turned off the shower slipping on my robe. I changed into my pjs and put on my slippers to avoid the cold. As I was brushing my hair the electricity went out. How strange. I remembered there was a flash light downstairs in the kitchen. I blindly found my door. I opened the door and noticed the fire place where I had been reading days ago was lit. I chose to go to the family room where the fireplace was. I sat on the soft carpet hugging my knees to my body. Where was Dark ?

"Josephine," he greeted scaring the crap out of me.

I jumped startled.

"Do you always feel the need to scare me?" I questioned.

He smirked, "I guess I have that effect on you."

"Why did the power go out?"

"There's a blizzard outside," he explained.

"Yusi..." I said to myself, but apparently he had heard me.

"Don't worry she called earlier. She said she saw the news and wouldn't risk being caught in a blizzard, so she's staying with some relatives.

I felt relieved. I shivered unexpectedly, having a tendency to do that frequently.

"Are you cold?"

I shook my head. I was in front of the fireplace for pete's sake.

"Sometimes I shiver for no reason,"

"That's weird,"

"Hey, I'm not the only weird one here Mr.Vampire," I gave him a look.

"You're right," he said with his hands behind his head as he plopped onto the sofa.

The fire was making me feel really hot. I decided to stand up instead, but I automatically felt the cold.

"The power went out. Does that mean the heater's off?" I didn't mean to think out loud.

"Well the heater does need electricity sweetheart,"

I blushed at the word sweetheart. He had never used an intimate word before. I hugged myself not wanting to feel the cold. I would've sat on the couch, but Dark was sprawled all over it.

"Come," he said motioned to the space in front of his chest, "lay down with me."

Was he crazy?! Well...the couch was pretty big. Instead of laying where he wanted me to, I sat by his feet.

"So we're gonna be stubborn?" he smiled devilishly. In a flash I was in his arms as he hugged me to his chest positioning us, so we were laying horizontally on the sofa.

I didn't bother to fight with him, so I lay there with my back against him. I could feel his breath on my neck.

"Dark I ask you some questions?" I asked.

"Sure, go ahead," he prompted.

"You said only Yusi and Elsa knew about your family being vampires. Does Aron know?"

"He does,"

"Then why does it bother you so much that he's in love with your sister. He loves her for who she is."

I felt him tense behind me.

"She's my little sister,"

"And I'm Alexander's little sister. You don't see him punching you."

"That's because he knew you were doing it for your father,"

"Dark," I sighed, "Alexa's 19, she can date whoever she wants. Wouldn't it make you feel better knowing she's in good hands. Aron's your best friend."

"I know, and you're right," he said hiding his face in my hair.

"I'm always right."

"Sure you are," he mumbled into my hair.

I turned to lay on my back to look him in the eyes.

I took his hand, lacing it with my hand. He was still on his side propped on his elbow staring at me.

"There are other questions I've been meaning to ask..about you being a vampire,"

"Of course you would. Let me guess you want to know if I sparkle in the sun? And no I can't read your mind, I'm not Edward."

"How did you know I was going to ask that?"

"It's obvious Josephine. Any girl after reading Twilight would think that," he said, rolling his eyes. "Besides you would know if I sparkled in the sun."

"You're always wearing suits," I pointed out.

He arched an eyebrow, "We can change that." He took off his dress shirt flinging it across the room leaving him half naked. His skin was slightly tan leaving any ideas of paleness. I could also tell he worked out. There was six pack barely visible.

"That's not what I meant," I argued.

"I know, I just wanted an excuse to take off my shirt."

I turned back to face the fireplace not wanting him to see me blush.

"Don't worry," he assured, "I'm not going to push you into anything you don't want to do." He placed his hands around my waist pulling me to his chest. "Is this bothering you?" he asked.

I shook my head, unable to find my voice.

"Any more questions?"

I hesitated before asking, "Was your mother a vampire?"

"No, she wasn't. She was human."

"Then that means you're only half vampire," I said putting two and two together.

"That's right. I'm only half."

"How did Neil die?"

"He was in a car accident," he explained with sorrow in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring that up."

"It's fine. I'm going to have to get used to the idea that he's not here anymore." I gave his hand a squeeze since our hands were still linked together.

Shine's POV

I lazily walked back to the bed in my flashy black nightgown. I laid back down quickly engulfed in the arms of my lover.

"You took forever," he complained trailing kisses down my neck.

"Well I had to use the restroom," I said my back arching with his touches. He rolled me over, so I was laying on top straddling him. He tried to kiss me, but I quickly moved back causing him not to be able to kiss me.

"Hold it mister," I said putting my finger to his lips. "We need to talk about the plan."

He groaned, "Dark't we talk about it tomorrow?"

"No, we have to do it soon. We have to find a way to separate that brat Josephine and Dark."

"Agreed. You know," he said pulling on the strap of my gown, "the Smith ball is coming up. Surely, they'll both be there."

"That's perfect. You can introduce yourself to Josephine, and I'll seduce Dark," I smiled wickedly.

"There, we have a plan. Now where were we?" He pulled me down hungrily.

Back at Dark and Josephine's House

Dark's POV

I could see Josephine's eyes start to droop, her breathing was getting more even. I picked her up and took her to my room since it had a fireplace, and the power wasn't back. Josephine didn't even notice we weren't in her room anymore. I laid her on my king sized bed. I pulled away, but her arms grabbed mine.

"Don't go," she said practically asleep, "stay with me."

I froze. She actually wanted me to stay with her. I cautiously laid next to her as she cuddled to my side. For the first time in days I was able to sleep peacefully with her in my arms.

The Next Morning

I woke up with Josephine sprawled on my chest still asleep. I kissed her head moving stray pieces away from her face. This was how I wanted to wake up every morning.

I was thinking of the things I had to do today when it occurred to me that Josephine hadn't answered my question yet. I frowned. What if she rejected me? I silently slipped under Josephine trying not to wake her up. I put on a clean shirt heading downstairs. I was about to head down the steps when I noticed Josephine's office door was open. I went to close it, poking my head inside. It was obvious she had already used it. There were colored pencils sprawled around on her desk, and finished sketches on her studio desk. I couldn't help, but walk over to look at them, seeing as those were the only sketches she had colored. They were two different dresses. One was red and elegant and the other one was teal. It was still elegant but had a sexy edge to it. I took the sketches hurrying to my studio. An idea had formed in my mind.

Josephine's POV

I woke up stretching my arms. I breathed out feeling content with a full night's sleep. I froze. This was not my room. I looked around and saw a picture of Dark, Alexa, and Neil on his nightstand. This was Dark's room.

It was a dark room. It wasn't what I expected. It was all black with a coffin in the middle. The main color scheme was brown. The walls were brown, the bed had light brown covers and different shades of brown pillows. Across from me was the fireplace, the wall surrounding it was also made of stone.

I tried to remember what happened last night. I must've fallen asleep. I tried not to think about it, so I decided to head downstairs and make breakfast. I started making some pancakes when I looked out the window. I got closer to the window still mixing the pancake mix in my arms. Outside there was at least 3 feet of snow. It looked like a Winter Wonderland. I longed to go outside and play in the snow. That wouldn't be happening anytime soon. I got back to work making breakfast. As soon as everything was ready I hurried up the stairs to inform Dark that breakfast was ready. I looked in his office and found it empty. He must be in his studio I thought. I skipped to his studio feeling particularly happy. I knocked on it twice. I thought Dark would open the door, but instead he yelled through the door.

"Yes?"

"Breakfast is ready!"

"Um..I'm kind of busy right now."

My shoulders dropped.

"Oh..ok I'll see you later then," I walked away wondering what he was doing. I ate breakfast by myself since Yusi probably wouldn't be back for a couple days. After cleaning up the kitchen I felt extremely bored, so I went back upstairs and doodle for a bit. I sat in front of my studio desk ready to finish what I had started yesterday. That's weird I thought. I could have sworn that I had left my completed sketches on my desk. Maybe had put them on my office desk. I searched my office desk, but didn't find them. I looked around in my room but had no luck. I would have to ask Dark later. I got back to work creating new dresses. I didn't know it, but I had spent hours working. I wouldn't have noticed if my stomach hadn't growled. I went downstairs to make some lunch. Dark was by the sink leaning against the counter drinking a glass of water.

"Hey," I greeted.

"Hey," he greeted in return. "What have you been up to?"

"Sketching more dresses," I said plopping down onto a stool at the breakfast bar. "You?"

"I've been working on a new project."

"Really? What is it?"

"I can't tell you. It's not finished yet."

I pouted like a little kid. He laughed at my expression. I rolled my eyes getting off the stool to look in the refrigerator for something to eat. I was bending down to look in the vegetable bin when Dark slapped my butt. I yelped in surprise. I turned around as Dark walked away laughing his head off.

"That was not funny!" I yelled after him. I was mad and at the same time a bit flustered. He had never done something like that. After recovering from the incident I was able to think again and make a panini for lunch. I returned to my office continuing my work when the power went out for the second time. At least the sun hadn't gone down yet. I looked around the house looking for flashlights. The only thing I could find were candles and tons of them. I set them along the staircase, some in the kitchen,the upstairs living room where we had been last night, my office, and my room. Dark hadn't come out of his studio so that was his problem. After spending all my time lighting the candles and arranging them I gave up on going back to work, so I settled down to read one of my old books. I pulled out the torn cover I knew so well. The Time Traveler's Wife. Oh how I loved the book even though it was a sad one. I never got tired of reading sad love story or watching movies. It always got me in tears. I skimmed through the pages scanning through the words until I got to one of the saddest parts. The part where Henry found out he was going to die and didn't tell Clare. I read that part finishing the with my eyes in tears. Right at that moment Dark decided to come in. I quickly sat up wiping my eyes. I placed the book on the coffee table and stood up.

"Dark," my voice cracked. I cleared my throat, "what's up?" I asked, trying to sound nonchalant. He saw right through me. "What's wrong?" he asked concerned. He was now in front of me with his eyebrows furrowed in worriedness.

"Nothing," I tried to ease his concern. "I was just reading one of my favorite books, and I got to one of the sad parts." He looked at the coffee table while picking up the book.

"Of course," he said observing the pages of my worn out book. He closed it placing it back on the table. "I understand. That's one of my favorite books."

"Seriously?" I totally forgot about my sadness. I was now engulfed in shock. "Since when do you read romance novels?"

I rolled my eyes, "I am not surprised."

"I had to read what they wrote about vampires and trust me most of their stuff isn't true compared to real life."

"Like what?"

"Well for starters," he said sitting in tall studio chair turning it so he was sitting backwards on it with his legs resting on the space where I usually placed my feet since I was so short, "vampires don't have powers, I mean yeah we can run fast and have amazing strength, but we can't read minds."

I walked to my studio desk organizing my designs. I listened as he continued with my back facing him.

"And only full vampires can live forever. I live basically a human life. Oh, and the whole Edward watching Bella crap was so creepy. He sounded like a creep in the night."

"Oh please," I said, turning around, "it's not like you never watched me sleep."

He froze as if I had caught something terrible.

"Not that I've seen you do it, but by the look of your face right now my case is proven," I smirked.

He finally took a breath. I turned my attention back to what I was doing. I arranged the sketches in separate folders. I walked to my desk, opening a drawer and organizing them in dividers. I turned around to face Dark who seemed like his eyes had never stopped following me.

"What?" I couldn't help but ask.

His eyes practically twinkled in the candle light as he smiled, "Nothing."

I rolled my eyes," Whatever."

I couldn't help but yawn and stretch out my arms.

"Tired?"

"Mhmm.." I answered by rubbing my eyes.

"Well let's get you to bed then," he said, getting up and blowing the candles out.

He put his hands on my shoulder leading me out of the office. I was about to head downstairs and blow out all of the candles but in a flash he was gone and back, all the candles blown out. It was pitch dark, so I couldn't see when he grabbed my hand in the dark. I nearly yelped in surprise, but his finger pressed against my lips interrupting any noise that was about to leave my mouth. He led me once again to an unknown place. I had no idea where we were going. We ended up in my room which made me ask, "Why are we here?" I felt dumb after saying those words.

"Well this is your room, and you're going to sleep."

"Right," I said shaking my idiotic ideas of sleeping in his bed away from my mind.

"What is it?"

"Nothing," I smiled.

"If it were nothing you wouldn't be smiling," he pointed out.

"Well, you didn't tell me earlier what you were thinking, so I don't have to tell you," I retorted, walking towards my bathroom.

"Wait.." I stopped in my tracks knowing what he was going to say, " I'll tell you if you tell me."

"Deal," I said, turning back around, crossing my arms against my chest, "You first."

"Alright," he began, shoving his hands in his pocket, " I couldn't help but notice how beautiful you are."

"Yeah right," I snorted, "that was not what you were thinking."

"How do you know?" he arched his eyebrow walking to stand a foot away from me. "Dark, look at me," I said motioning to my body with my hands,"I'm not beautiful. I'm just a simple ordinary girl. There are millions of girls out there that are beautiful, but me I'm just a plain Jane."