“I know.” I kissed the top of her head. “Just promise me that you’ll be careful tonight.”
“Are you kidding me? Meg Giry is an adventurous creature.” She clung to me, and I felt strength from her warm human body. “Please, next year can we do Phantom 2?”
I laughed, rolling my eyes. “Next year you’ll be a full-time actress, Amy. School life doesn’t last forever.”
“Hard to imagine not being here,” she replied, pulling back. “I can’t imagine what it’s like for the kids who have been here since kindergarten.”
“Hopefully, after tonight, they’ll still have a school to come back to,” I said, looking down at my watch. “Go on, get dressed.”
As show time rapidly approached, and my transformation, alone in my dressing room was complete, a different mood struck me. I could smell the blood of the audience, of my actors, of the stage crew, all swirling around me, and despite three shots of whisky and a fresh blood bag, my cravings weren’t being silenced.
My phantom makeup was intact, so no one would be able to tell, but I forgot just how hard it was to keep everything in check. Never in my life had I longed so much for my basement dungeon, where I could scream and snarl to my heart’s content and do no one harm.
I grabbed the walkie-talkie that I had kept on the ledge and hit the talk button.
“Anyone got eyes on Sarah and Amy? Send them to my dressing room, stat!” It came out more of a bark than I intended it to, and I felt my ribcage literally shift, accommodating a stronger vampire form. I hadn’t taken into account how hard this would be. Last year, I had Porsche, who kept me human without even blinking, and I thought it would be fine. Somehow, like an idiot, I had forgotten the reason why I was locked in the basement every night.
The door opened, and they both stepped in, quizzical looks on their faces. As soon as Amy entered, the smell of her infected blood calmed my cravings, but I knew it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t spend the whole show as well as the wait up until show time like this.
“Amy, I need you to stay,” I said through clenched teeth. “And Sarah, I need you to go as far away as you can, without jeopardizing the show.”
“What?” She raised an eyebrow.
“Get out!” I practically barked at her. “You and your binding spell are killing me in a theater full of people. Take the walkie and stay away until the lights dim, you understand?”
“Jesus, Liam, there’s no need to be rude about it.” She snatched the walkie from my hand, coming dangerously close and then slammed the door behind her.
If it was anyone else, I would be alarmed, but Sarah and her attitude were something I’d gotten used to. Once we were alone in the room, I closed my eyes, breathing in Amy’s scent. Suddenly, it got stronger.
I opened my eyes to find her peeling off a band aid and picking at an IV wound until it bled. My face softened immediately.
“Amy, baby…”
“It’s ok,” she replied, perching on the makeup ledge and putting her bleeding hand between us. “If it will help, it’s fine.”
“I don’t want this,” I whispered, reaching to cover her hand with mine.
She just shrugged. “I can’t be much use to you tonight, Liam, I know that. I’m not a Shield, or a vampire, I’m not strong or fast. But I can do this for you, so let me.”
Sarah must have cleared the building, because my fangs were receding as well. I sucked in a lung full of fresh air, and tried to smile at her.
“Thank you.”
We sat in silence for a few moments, simply enjoying each other’s company.
And then Amy spoke, “What’s the first thing you are going to do when the curse is broken?”
“Geez.” I had been so focused on getting the show off the ground and seeing Selene’s dead body in front of me that it hadn’t actually occurred to me to consider the after effects. But it was true. Tonight, if all went as planned, then I would draw breath until the end of my natural life and no longer fear the sunset or be a slave to the dawn. One thought darted into my brain like an arrow. “Spend the night with you. Hold you in my arms all night and never let you go. Is that what you had in mind?”
She gave me a sly smile. “I was thinking a prelude. Candlelit dinner, sunset walk along the beach. And then we could get to that stuff.”
I brought her hand to my mouth, kissing the now clotted wound. A prop ring that I had on my hand caught the light and I knew that this was as good as time as any. I wanted her to know that no matter what happened, human or vampire, I would always love her.
I slipped it off my hand and held it up to her.
“Amy.” A thousand thoughts slipped through my head. That she would say no, that she wasn’t that serious, that we were both too young. That I might ruin the show if she said no. That she didn’t want to do that to me because of her shortened life expectancy. But I didn’t really care. And I didn’t want to be fancy and elegant about it. I wanted to get straight to the point. “Amy, will you marry me?”
I thought something was wrong in the way her eyes bugged out and she started choking. I actually dropped the ring in my alarm, reaching to take her in my arms.
“Are you alright?”
She choked a few times and then nodded, but she was trembling as she met my eyes.
“Are you serious?”
“Amy.” I tried to steady her. “Don’t feel pressured. If you think this isn’t right, or you’re not ready or… whatever reason, you don’t have to explain yourself to me. If you say no now, it’s not going to change anything between us. I’m not going to stop loving you, and I’m certainly not going to stop asking. I love you, more than anything, more than I ever thought possible. I didn’t believe in love until I met you, Amy, and you changed everything. I thought my world had been turned upside down when I was made into this monster, but the day you walked into the audition room was the real day my life changed. And I wanted to do this now, before everything went down, because I wanted you to know that no matter what I am, I will always love you. Even if you walk away now. And I’m sorry I’m not prepared, and that this isn’t a diamond, but I’ll get you a diamond and…”
“Liam.” She brought a finger to my lips, hushing me. “I will.”
Now it was my turn to choke in shock. “You will?”
“I will. Yes. Yes!”