Chansey felt the need to defend her decision. “Even if she were close and made it to New Orleans tonight, she wouldn’t have time to find us here at the compound. We’ll travel home tomorrow while the sun is up.”
“I agree with Chansey. It isn’t necessary to leave tonight, but it’s not safe to return to Pascagoula to stay. Marsala will search for you for a while in New Orleans, but the house in Pascagoula will likely be the second stop on her list when she doesn’t find you here.”
Chansey looked at me with panic on her face. “I won’t put my grandparents in danger by staying there.”
I didn’t have time to consider our options before Sol blurted out, “Curry can have my position at the Savannah Compound. Marsala would never find them there.”
It was a generous offer, but one I couldn’t take from him. “No, I can’t take your position,” I argued. “It means the world to you and you’ve worked too hard on it to hand it over to me.”
“I would gladly give it up to keep you and Chansey safe,” he offered. “You would do the same if the roles were reversed.”
Chansey’s safety was the only reason I would consider the offer, but I needed to hear her opinion. Living in Georgia meant moving a couple of states away from her grandparents. “What do you think of living at The Savannah Compound?”
Her face gave no indication of how she felt about a move to Savannah and I waited patiently for her to tell me her thoughts. “I think we don’t have much of a choice, but there is a problem with the plan. I can’t just up and leave my family to live with you if we’re not married. Granna and Granddaddy didn’t raise me to live with someone if we weren’t married. They would never get over it and I couldn’t disappoint them like that.”
Solomon casually fell onto the couch. “Jeez, this isn’t rocket science, guys. Go ahead and get married and then move to Savannah. You’re going to do it in a few months anyway.”
I looked at Chansey to see her reaction to Sol’s suggestion. “You know my stand on the issue. I would marry this minute if you’d agree.”
She looked torn. “I know, but it’s always been my dream to be married at my grandparents’ house at the top of the open arms.”
Lairah stood up and walked over to Chansey. She took her by the hands and said, “Don’t worry. You can still marry Curry just like you dreamed. Gia and I will help you put the wedding together. What do you think of doing it on Saturday evening?”
Chansey’s eyes grew large. “That’s not even a week away.”
Sebastian explained, “Unfortunately, you don’t have a lot of time. If Marsala hasn’t found a sign of Curry by the end of next week, she will probably go to your grandparents’ house and you must be gone before she arrives.”
Lairah shook her hands and arms to snap her out of her coma-like state. “Don’t freak out. It’s going to be fine. We’ll go over everything tonight and you’re going to tell us what you want for the wedding. Gia and I will take care of everything and then all you have to do is find your dress and show up.”
Chansey was shocked by the offer. “I can’t believe you would go to so much trouble for me. Planning even a small wedding is a tremendous amount of work.”
Gia joined Lairah at Chansey’s side. “You’re part of our family now, but this wedding isn’t just for you. It’s for our brother, also.”
Chansey hugged Lairah and Gia as she said, “I don’t know what to say or how to thank you.”
“Taking him off of our hands is thanks enough,” Gia laughed and smiled in my direction. “Come on, Chansey. We have about six hours to plan this wedding before daybreak.”
She smiled at me as she peered over her shoulder on the way to Lairah’s quarters. “Now would be the time to speak up if you have any requests.”
“You’ve already granted me the only request I had so choose anything you want for our wedding. I don’t care how much it costs. If you want it, it’s yours.”
“I don’t know if you need to say that in front of Gia and Lairah. I think they could break the bank,” she warned as she walked toward the girls’ quarters with Gia and Lairah.
“I mean it, girls. Give her anything she wants,” I called out.
“Don’t worry. We plan on spending lots of your money,” Lairah called back.
Once the girls were in Lairah’s room, I turned to Sebastian in hopes of learning more about how Marsala reached me through Black Magic. “How did she do it? Witches hate vampires. They avoid us like the plague. How would she have gotten one to cast a spell for her?”
“I have no idea, but my guess is that it took 22 years to find a witch willing to help her otherwise she would have done this already. You’re going to have to be careful because we have to assume it will happen again. She has gotten a taste of what it feels like to get to you and she isn’t going to stop after one failure.”
I heard Sully’s voice from across the room. “There are witches that are willing to work with vampires for a price.”
He unexpectedly caught everyone’s attention with his announcement and all eyes turned to him. “When I was with Zoyah and her coven, they were working with a witch in exchange for vampire blood. I don’t know all of the details, but they were using her magic to find an Agápe.”
I felt myself becoming furious with him because he was putting Chansey in danger again and was too stupid to see it. “Why didn’t you tell us this before now?”
“Finding Chansey had nothing to do with anything the witch did. I found her because Curry visited our parents’ grave. It had nothing to do with Black Magic,” Sully defended.
I turned to Sebastian for his assessment and didn’t like the look on his face. “Sully, you and Curry have familial blood ties. When the witch cast the spell to find an Agápe, you served as a link to Chansey through your brother. You and Curry were drawn to your parents’ graves at the same time so you could reunite, but it wasn’t a coincidence. Finding Curry led you to Chansey. The witch’s spell had everything to do with that.”
Sully slowly shook her head as he realized the horror of his mistake. “I’m sorry, Curry,” he apologized. “I swear I didn’t know.”
“I know. I believe you,” I reassured Sully.
Sol left the couch where he had been lounging carelessly. “Marsala and Zoyah are both armed with witches and they’re after Chansey. What are we going to do about that?”
I wasn’t certain I liked the desperation in Sol’s voice. He sounded a little too concerned for Chansey’s safety and I admit that it sparked a bit of jealousy in me. I was her protector, not him. I remembered Gia’s accusation the previous night and wondered if there was merit to it. Did Sol want Chansey for himself?
I shoved the thought aside and turned to Sebastian. I recognized the look of concentration on his face and then he said, “Zoyah lost her connection to Chansey when Sully left her coven, so I don’t think we need to worry about Zoyah finding Chansey. Her witch could just as easily lead her to a different Agápe, if there is another one out there. Marsala has non-familial blood ties to Curry because they exchanged blood and that is why she was able to connect with him. Marsala is the one we should focus on.”
Thatcher had sat quietly on the couch, but spoke u
p and brought a good point to our attention. “What are the witches doing with our blood?”
“They use it to strengthen their power,” Sully answered.
Say it isn’t so. “Sully, please tell me Zoyah’s witch didn’t drink from you and bond herself to you,” I pleaded.
“No, she drank from Zoyah because she was an elder.”
I felt immediate relief. I didn’t want to, but I was prepared to send Sully away if he was a link that could bring danger to Chansey.
“I guess we have a plan. We’ll get these two crazy kids married on Saturday and then ship them to The Savannah Compound,” Sol said and I definitely picked up on something in his voice I couldn’t quite identify.
“Come with us, Sol,” I pleaded. “I don’t want to take your position. I’m going to be a new husband and Chansey will expect me to spend time with her. I’m not the man for the job, but it would be an honor to act as your assistant.”
Sol looked uncertain about my offer. “What do you think, Sebastian?”
“I think Curry is right. Your offer is a noble one, but the Savannah Compound is yours to manage. It has been drawing you there for a while and I don’t think you could turn your back on it if you tried.”
I could see Solomon thinking it over. “You’re right. I feel like it’s where I belong.” He turned to me. “I wasn’t looking forward to losing my best friend and now I guess I don’t have to.”
˜ ˜ ˜
The sun was threatening to rise at any moment when Gia and Lairah let Chansey go and I had been in bed for a couple of hours when I finally felt her next to me. “I never realized there were so many decisions to be made about a wedding. It’s incredible.”
She snuggled next to me and I pulled her close. “Did you get it all done?”
“No. I had to tell them to pick out the things I didn’t have time to choose,” she sadly said.
“I’m sorry you’re not getting the wedding you would have planned if we had more time, but I can’t say that I’m sorry I will be your husband in less than a week. That’s the only thing I can thank Marsala for.”