Fury hesitated, then placed his hand in Vane's. Vane pulled him forward and hugged him.
Bride's throat tightened at the look of pain on Fury's face. It was obvious he had never expected Vane's reaction or his acceptance.
"I won't betray you, Fury," Vane said. "Ever. And if Fang ever comes out, he won't either."
Fury stepped back and nodded.
"And if you walk out that door," Vane said between clenched teeth, "I might have to maim you for it."
Fury laughed. "Okay. I'm here for a while, I guess." He cleared his throat and took a step backward. "You two probably want to talk now. I'll go be in the kitchen with Amanda."
Vane waited until they were completely alone before he turned back to Bride.
"Hell of a day, huh?"
Bride sat back on the couch and took a deep breath to help her cope with all the odd events of the last twenty-four hours. "Yeah, oh yeah. We got flying babies, wolf-brothers, psycho moms, serial-killer boyfriends, vampire-killing friends, and I'm not even sure what else."
This was so beyond her ability to cope. "Am I insane?" she asked him.
"Really, be honest."
"I wish it were that easy. I wish I could say yes so that you could have Grace fix you, but no, you're not crazy."
She was afraid of that. The question now was, what should she do?
"So let me see if I got everything straight from your mother. This"she turned her hand over to show the mark"means that we are somehow meant to be husband and wife. But if I refuse you, you spend the rest of your life impotent and alone? But I, on the other hand, am free to live my life however I see fit?"
He nodded.
"It really sucks to be you, doesn't it?"
Vane looked away as a muscle worked in his jaw. "I don't expect you to accept me, Bride. I never did. I mean, I hoped for about an hour or two, but I'm not stupid and I don't live in the world of well, okay, I do live in a world of fantasy, but I've never deluded myself."
He knelt on the floor before her, took her hand in his and kissed her palm.
Oh, he was so tender with her. So kind. She curled her fingers against his warm, whiskered cheek.
How could she leave a man like this?
He's not human.
Not fully, anyway. And he lived in a terrifying world of magic and mystery and scary monsters capable of all manner of cruelty.
"What do you want, Vane?" she asked, desperate to know. "Be honest with me. Do you want me simply because of this?" She held her palm out to him. "Or do you want me? I mean, you don't really know me, do you? Nor do I know you. I know you're a great guy in a pinch and that you have a family that makes the Addamses look normal. But I don't know the real you."
He took her hand from his face and held it in his callused one, staring up at her with those piercing hazel-green eyes. "The truth is, I don't know. I've never wanted any female the way I want you, Bride. But I honestly don't know if it's the mark or not. I don't."
At least he had told her the truth. That was definitely one thing in his favor.
He'd never once bed to her.
"How long do I have to make a decision on this?" she asked.
"Two weeks. Roughly. Barring any further demon or mother interference."
"Then how about we try and act normal?" She burst out laughing at the ludicrousness of that statement. Yeah, they were just Jack and Jill Average climbing the hill to hell. She only hoped Jack didn't break his crown or that she went tumbling after.
Bride sobered. "Okay, at least we can pretend to be normal. Let me see the real you in all your strangeness so that I know what I have to look forward to and then I'll decide if I can handle it all without going totally insane."