47. Callie

The sun shone down fiercely and a cool breeze blew along the beach as I stepped out onto the sand.

Montana smiled brightly in encouragement as I paused for a moment, taking in a deep breath. She was wearing a flowing lavender gown which complimented her colouring and skimmed over the swell of her stomach where my niece or nephew lay waiting to meet me. Her dark eyes danced with excitement as she looked to me.

“I suppose I shouldn’t keep him waiting,” I murmured as my heart pattered in my chest and I clenched my fists to stop my hands from shaking.

“I think he’d wait all day and all night if he had to,” Montana replied with a smirk. “So if you need a few minutes-”

“No,” I said quickly. “I was just thinking about Mom and Dad and wishing...it doesn’t matter.” I shook my head and took another step but Montana moved into my path and threw her arms around me.

“They might have been a little intimidated by him at first,” she said ruefully. “But any man who would chase you into death would most certainly have won them around in the end.”

I released a nervous laugh as I nodded. She was right. Of course she was right. But they should have been here for this moment and it felt right to think of them before I went through with this.

I looked up at the blue sky with a smile. Maybe they were here anyway. After all we’d learned of the gods and the afterlife it wasn’t hard to imagine them looking down on us now. Being a part of this even if we couldn’t see them. I gripped the chain at my neck for a moment and a single tear tracked down my cheek.

Montana inhaled sharply as she quickly brushed it away. “Clarice will lose her mind if you ruin her masterpiece,” she chided and I couldn’t help but grin.

Clarice had insisted on putting me through the whole rigmarole of hair and makeup styling yet again. My hair was loose at my insistence, though Clarice had made sure her people had curled it and gotten them to weave white flowers through the golden strands. Not that I could claim to mind that really. If she wanted to help me look my best then I wasn’t going to complain about it. Not this time.

“Are you ready then?” Montana urged and I gave her a bright smile as I took her hand and we started walking.

The white dress I wore was simple, much to Clarice’s disgust. It hung without straps, hugging my figure and trailing behind my bare feet as I moved further down the beach. I’d refused the veil six times before she’d begrudgingly accepted my choice in the matter and I was glad as the breeze blew again, twisting through my hair.

Butterflies danced in my stomach as I chewed on my lip and the reality of this moment sank in.

It had taken so much for us to get here, but impossibly, I was walking towards a fate I’d chosen for myself at last.

As I crested a dune, the sea was revealed before me, a never ending ocean of deepest blue, spreading away to the horizon. The sound of the waves lapping against the shore filled the air and I could taste the faintest hint of salt on my lips.

Standing before the water were the people I cared most about in this world. Erik, Fabian, Clarice and Chickoa stood together, looking up at me as I approached. And behind them Magnar and Julius stood, looking out to sea with their backs to me.

Montana squeezed my fingers as I paused one last time.

I took another step and the sound of a string quartet reached me from somewhere hidden within the dunes to our right.

I frowned at Clarice with a hint of irritation and a bit more amusement. I’d made it clear that I didn’t want to lay eyes on anyone other than the eight of us today and she’d found a way around it to get the music she’d so desired - I couldn’t see the musicians at all. But I could definitely hear them.

Montana laughed as she glanced at my face and I rolled my eyes as she tugged me into motion again.

I looked up and found Magnar facing me across the sand.

My breath caught in my throat as I looked at him and I stilled again as my pulse thundered in my ears.

This was it. The moment we’d both dreamed of and hardly dared hope would ever happen.

His golden eyes burned fiercely as he looked up at me and my mouth grew dry as I felt a blush growing in my cheeks.

Montana urged me on and my feet started moving, driving me towards my destiny.

The closer we got to him, the faster my heart beat and I could see the same desperation for us to do this in the tension of his posture.

He was wearing a pair of pale grey trousers with a white shirt which he’d left open at the neck. Julius was dressed the same but I noticed that Erik and Fabian both wore grey waistcoats and ties to match the trousers and I guessed that Clarice was probably pretty annoyed at the slayers for simplifying their outfits right about now.

Julius smiled broadly as we reached them but my eyes were fixed on his brother.

Montana passed my hand to Magnar and he smiled at me as he accepted it. Electricity danced across my skin at the feeling of his palm against mine. I hadn’t seen him for a week which had been another of Clarice’s ideas; Julius and Erik had gotten him drunk and put him on a plane to this hidden island in the South Pacific while he was too inebriated to object. By the time I’d found out about it they were already gone but I was actually kind of pleased now.

A week was a long time to miss the feeling of his skin against mine and I could already see the desire pooling in his eyes as his gaze slid over me. Clarice had assured me that her idea had been in aid of making our wedding night as memorable as possible and I bit my lip as I realised she was probably right about that. Magnar was looking at me like he’d never seen me before and even the small contact we held between our hands was enough to send heat flooding through my veins.

Julius stepped back so that he was between us and the sea. Magnar had insisted that he didn’t care which way he married me just so long as he did it but I’d wanted it to be done in the way of his people. He’d lost so much when he’d left them behind and now that the curse was lifted, we knew for certain that the three of us were the last slayers who would ever live. Though our children would have our blood, none of them would take their vows.

And it seemed right to me that the last Earl of the slayers should have the last slayer wedding ever to take place.

Julius smirked at the two of us as Montana moved to stand with Erik and the others. He took my hand from Magnar’s, lifting it and placing it over his heart. I could feel it beating solidly beneath my palm and I smiled up at the man I loved as excitement gripped me. Julius lifted Magnar’s hand next, placing it on my chest too. My heart rate picked up as his calloused hand pressed against my skin.

“Those gathered here will bear witness to the union of your souls. Speak the words and let your lives be tied together from now until the end of time. This union will bind you for all eternity and lead to the birth of blessed children. Do you understand the oath you are making?” Julius asked.

“Yes,” Magnar replied firmly.

“I do,” I added.

“Magnar of the Clan of War, do you claim this woman?”

“I claim Callie Ford of the Clan of Dreams for my wife. My heart is hers. My life is hers. I will love her for all of time, father her children and fight for her until my dying breath...and beyond then too,” he added with a smirk. “We are one.”

The fierceness of his words washed over me and I was filled with the deepest sense of love for this man before me. I didn’t need to marry him to know he was mine but I wanted to. I wanted to tie myself to him in every way possible, to carve his name into my heart and make sure there could never be any doubt about where we belonged.

“Callie of the Clan of Dreams, do you claim this man?” Julius asked me.

I knew the words because Julius had taught me them but nerves swirled in my stomach as I opened my mouth to speak them. Magnar smiled encouragingly and I pushed aside my hesitation so that I could say the things I felt in my heart.

“I claim Magnar Elioson of the Clan of War to be my husband. My heart is his. My life is his. I will love him for all of time, be the mother of his children and fight for him until my dying breath.” I held Magnar’s eye as I prepared to speak the last line which would tie our lives together forever.

“We are one.”

I knew that at this point the goddess’s power should have bound our souls together but with Idun dead no deity appeared to seal our vow. But I didn’t care. I didn’t want a goddess or anyone else to tie me to this man before me. I was totally capable of doing so myself.

We had all the power we needed in the love we shared and nothing in this world or beyond it was more meaningful than that.

Julius handed Magnar a ring and I smiled at him as he took my hand from his heart and slid it onto my finger. I lifted an eyebrow in surprise as I recognised my mother’s wedding ring and Julius shrugged.

“The gods didn’t ask for it back again and it belongs in your family,” he said with a wink. “Besides, I didn’t think you’d mind being invisible to them again.”

I smirked at him as I felt the ring’s power nudging against my mind and Magnar brushed his thumb across it, drawing my gaze back to his.

“Let the power of your love guide you and the strength of your bond unite you,” Julius said. “Seal this declaration with a kiss and go forth as man and wife.”

Magnar caught my waist and dragged me against him with a groan of longing and I laughed as he pressed his lips to mine.

Our friends started clapping and cheering and Clarice and Montana threw handfuls of white petals over us.

I stood on my tiptoes, wrapping my arms around Magnar’s neck and smiling through the kiss which sent shivers running right to the base of my spine.

No one could take this moment from us. I was his and he was mine. We had tied ourselves together in every way we could and I refused to relinquish another moment in his arms for the rest of my life.

We had done everything the gods had required of us to break the curse and save humanity from the vampires and now the world had been born anew, filled with hope and promises of better days to come.

There was only one thing left for us to do. And I intended to do it as well as I possibly could. Our life was waiting for us. And I couldn’t wait to start it.