Vincent took one look at Marie. He already knew the answer. “No, Mom. They just want to be left alone to live out their lives together. Let’s let them be. C’mon. Let’s go home. Let’s start our new lives, yeah?”
“What the hell am I going to do in Paris?” Daphne asked.
Vincent took one look at her and smiled. “Only one way to find out. What do you say? Let’s give it a shot,” he said and smiled.
Daphne nodded, giving on. “Yeah, okay.”
“Daphne, you’re going to love Paris,” Beatrice said as she got in-between her son and her best friend. “Maybe this is a good thing. We’re finally on our own, without anyone to tell us how to dress, or what to do with our lives. It’s could be really good.”
Daphne relented. “Yeah, let’s get out of this miserable city.”
The three of them headed home, ready to start a new life.
Meanwhile, Marie was looking into the circus tent, an awestruck expression on her face. She watched as her husband, the vampire, swung from the swing, using only his legs. She applauded and cheered when he ended up on the other side.
William heard the sound and turned his head, his breathing heavy, but it didn’t stop him from breaking into a smile from ear-to-ear.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” he yelled across the tent. He was just about to put on his clothes once the vampire women left, so that he could come save her from Drake. He was surprised to see her there.
“I came to see you,” she said, for the sake of the security guard. “I wanted to make sure you got here, okay.”
“Please, come in,” he said. He looked the security guard in the eye and nodded. “This is my wife, Marie.”
“Marie, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” the security guard said and winked, as he led her in. “Your husband is quite popular around the ladies. I’d be careful if I were you.”
“Oh, I know it. How do you think he reeled me in?”
“As long as he’s an honest man, ma’am.”
“The best man I’ve ever known,” she replied as she stepped into the tent.
William beckoned her to come to him with his hand. Marie looked up at him, on the ladder. She laughed.
“You’re crazy, if you think I’m going to join you up there.”
“Don’t you trust me by now?”
Marie shook her head as she took her boots off. “I don’t know about this, William,” she admitted as she placed her bare foot on the first step of the ladder.
She faced him at the top. She looked at him across from her. “Get on that swing and when I get close, you’re going to let go and reach for my hands. I’ll take it from there.”
Marie smiled nervously. She had watched him do it a hundred times, but that was a hundred years ago. She looked at the net below her and nodded. “Okay.”
“You’re going to have to swing a couple of times until we get close enough for me to catch you.”
She took off her jacket and let it fall to the ground. When she got on the swing, she nodded at him, putting on a brave face. She swung, feeling the euphoric feeling of being in mid-air. William swung with her, hanging on from his legs. Finally, they met in the middle. When she let go, he reached for her hands and grabbed a hold of them with a force she hadn’t been expecting. But he was right, he had her and was holding on to her tightly. With enormous strength, he gathered her up and lifted her body up onto the step, so that she was standing upright. He joined her and was upright with her in a matter of seconds as they continued to swing. He held onto her waist. “Now I want you to fall onto the net.”
“What?” she asked with a laugh.
“Trust me.”
She nodded and let go from his embrace. She fell down into the net. It bounced with her weight as she laughed from the sheer joy of having fallen. She moved out of the way and waited for William to fall after her.
He laughed as he fell. too. “That’s always my favorite part,” he said. She got back onto the net with him. They lay for a few moments, in each other’s arms, William’s breath loud in the silence of the circus tent.
He turned to her. “How’d you manage to escape?” he asked.
“It’s all over. We don’t need to worry about it anymore,” she said in a whisper, her hand caressing his muscular stomach. She closed her eyes. “You know, that up there, that’s always been a dream of mine. Thank you for that gift.”
“You’ve given me something so much more important. You’ve given me the gift of my life back. And what a joyous one it is,” he said, tucking back her hair behind her ear. “C’mon, we shouldn’t stay much longer. Someone is bound to come in soon.”
They both quickly got out of the tent. William put his clothes back on and Marie did the same. They walked hand-in-hand, to the security guard. William pulled out a couple hundred dollars from his wallet. “Who you been talking to this whole time?” he asked, when the security guard put his phone back in his pocket.
The security guard broke into a large smile. “Oh, that’s my girl, Tina. I’m taking her out to dinner tonight, and she’s excited, so she’s texting me talking about how she’s going to wear something special for me later on tonight.”
William handed him the money. “Well, you take her someplace really great, then. Look, I’m not really with the circus.”
“What? How do you know how to do all those things, then?” he asked, pointing to the trapeze.
“I used to be. Just don’t tell anyone we were here.”
“Oh, shoot man, I’m not trying to get in trouble. Your secret’s safe with me.”
Marie stuck out her hand to shake his. Instead, the security guard kissed hers. “You two steer clear of those crazy ladies now, you hear? They’re gone now, but who’s to say when they’ll show up again.”
“Thank you,” Marie answered graciously.
Once they were out of the tent, they decided to circle the block. Marie put her hand to her neck. It was then that William noticed she had been bitten.
He stopped and turned to her. “Marie?” His eyes had a bewildered look in them. “What happened?”
“Relax, William. He didn’t get very far. I didn’t tell you, but I poisoned my blood.”
“Poisoned it? How?”
“It’s a witches secret, William,” she said, and linked his arm into his, smiling. They continued to walk. “But I did it in case you bit me when we made love that first night.”
“You planned on killing me?” he asked, an eyebrow raised.
“Just a deterrent. I have the remedy for it, too, in case you had.” Marie took his hand.
They were quiet for a moment, but then William broke the silence.
“What now?” he asked, looking around the city as they walked.
“How do you feel about leaving your vampire life behind and becoming a witch’s husband for a change?”
William smiled. “That sounds perfect.”
They walked as the sun set over Las Vegas, the darkness descending overhead, the casino lights twinkling in the twilight.
Blood Like Rain
Tracy A. Ball