sighed. “I didn’t think it was too much to ask, coming to a party in our honor to wish me well.” Dahlia’s cheeks would have flushed if they could have; she was embarrassed at the poor manners of her sisters. “I guess it’s a measure of our friendship that you came inside to see me,” Taffy admitted. “I know we’re buddies. Please, help me get through this wedding with peace between our people. I want you there on my wedding day, and I want my other friends there, too, and the last thing I want is a bloodbath between the two tribes, us and the Weres, right there in Cedric’s garden.”
Cedric had offered the garden of his mansion as the locale for the wedding, to everyone’s surprise. Cedric had told Dahlia, in his languid way, that he had been sure Taffy would cry off before the day actually arrived. Now that the wedding was fast approaching and still a reality, the notably lazy Cedric was scrambling to get the grounds ready and also calling in markers in an effort to assemble some of the more levelheaded vamps to act as security for the big night, which was shaping up to be the scandalous social event of the season in the supernatural world.
Ignoring the Weres who were peering out of the bar, Dahlia and Taffy began to stroll down the street, arm in arm, an old-fashioned habit that drew a few stares.
“Taffy, I’m worried.”
“What about, Dahlia?” Taffy asked gently.
“You know that Cedric’s mansion is in a turmoil of preparation,” Dahlia began, trying to think of the best way to voice her concerns without sounding like a complete alarmist.
“I heard.” Taffy laughed, her throat tilted back. “That old bastard! Serves Cedric right for making a promise he had no intention of keeping.”
“Taffy, you’ve been with the Weres too much. Don’t disrespect the sheriff so boldly.”
“You’re right,” Taffy said, sobering quickly enough to satisfy even the worried Dahlia. “So, Cedric’s in an uproar. What of it?”
“The Weres and the vampires aren’t the only ones who may have heard of this wedding,” Dahlia said. She was voicing something she’d not told anyone else, and her voice wasn’t completely steady. “Since the Weres haven’t come out yet, to the world it must look as though you’re illegally marrying a human.”
Vampires didn’t have the legal right to marry in the United States, not yet anyway. Dahlia couldn’t have cared less about her legal rights, since she knew how transitory governments were, but there was no denying it was sweet to be able to walk the streets openly, admitting her true nature, and to know that if she was killed, her death would be state-avenged.
Well, maybe, under certain circumstances.
The point was, society was moving in the right direction, and the backlash from this affair might knock all of them sideways. “Who in the mundane world knows?”
“It won’t make a difference if humans know it afterward; we can explain it wasn’t a true wedding at all. Cedric can get reporters to believe anything. But if it becomes common knowledge beforehand, there’ll be human reporters all over the place, and protesters, and who knows what else.”
“Cedric’s gardeners are human,” Taffy said slowly. “The florist is human.” Her face was utterly serious now, and she looked like a true vampire. They turned back to return to the bar.
Dahlia nodded, silently, knowing her point had been taken. She was thrilled to see Taffy looking like her former self, until she realized that though the familiar calculation had returned to Taffy’s face, something had been taken away: the lighthearted joy that made the ancient vampire look so renewed.
“So, you’re saying that we might need more security than Cedric’s thinking of providing,” Taffy continued.
Dahlia cursed inside. Her point had been that Taffy should call off this insane ceremony. But Taffy had simply not considered it for a moment. “Sister,” Dahlia said, calling on the bond of the nest-mate. “You must not go through with this wedding. It will bring trouble on the nest, and … and …” Dahlia had a flash of inspiration. “It may bring the Weres out into the open before they are ready to be known,” Dahlia said, confident she was playing a trump card.
“This is a big secret,” Taffy whispered, and not even a gnat could have heard her whisper, “but in the next month, the Weres are voting at their council about that very issue.”
It had taken years of worldwide secret negotiations to pick the moment for the