seeing us,â Andrea said.
âNo, thank you, â I mumbled. If not for them Iâd still be smiling awkwardly at Sinclair and trying to figure out where to stuff the necklace.
âWeâll get right to it, maâam. Daniel asked me to marry him.â
âWhat? Seriously? Thatâs great! Congratulations!â
âThanks.â Andrea smiled and looked at the floor, then back up at me. âAnd the thing is, weâd like you to do it.â
âDo what?â Get married? According to some, I already was married.
But not according to me. As happy as I was for Andrea, I was suddenly so jealous I was ready to spit on her Payless-clad toes. Why, why, why couldnât Sinclair have asked me to marry him? Why did he have to trick me? Why did he bring me presents instead of apologizing and trying to make things right? If he loved me, he had a crummy way of showing it. And if he didnât, why did he fix it so we were stuck together for the next thousand years?
âTo marry us,â Andrea was saying. Oops, better pay attention. âTo perform the ceremony.â
âOh.â This was a new one. As the queen, I could do all sorts of things other vampires couldnât do. Handle crosses, drink holy water, accessorize. But perform vampire wedding ceremonies? âUhâ¦Iâm flattered butâ¦can I do that?â
âYes,â Sinclair said from two feet behind me. I nearly fell off the couch. The guy couldnât make noise when he walked like anybody else, oh no. Six foot four and as noisy as a cotton ball. âAs the sovereign, you can perform any ceremony you wish, including weddings.â
âOh. Jeez, you guys, I donât know what to sayâ¦â
âSay yes,â Daniel said. âBecause we canât get a priest. And Andyâs got her heart set on you doing it, donât ask me why.â
Andy (not that anybody else could get away with calling her that) nodded. âThatâs true.â
âWhich part?â I teased.
âAll of it. Will you help us?â
âButâ¦â But I didnât know how. But I wouldnât know what to say. But it would be really depressing for me to marry another couple, knowing I would never have a proper wedding. But it was ridiculous, having a secretary perform the wedding ceremony. âWhenâs the big day?â I asked, surrendering.
They looked at each other, then back at me. âWe figured weâd leave that up to you,â Daniel said. âYou know, with your busy queen schedule and all.â Typical guy.
âWhen do you want to get married?â I asked her. Sheâd have picked out a date the second he proposed.
She hesitated for a second, glanced at Daniel, then said, âHalloween.â
âOh, cool!â And it would be. So cool. A Halloween wedding ceremonyâ¦with vampires! Plus, more than two weeks to figure out exactly what the heck I was supposed to do.
Daniel looked vaguely alarmed. Again, typical guy. âThatâs kind of quick, donât you think?â
âThatâs okay,â I said, trying to catch Andreaâs eye while she glared daggers at her beloved. âYeah, okay, thatâll work. Do you want to have it here?â
Again she hesitated, and again she glanced at Daniel, who shrugged and relaxed back on the couch. âIf that wouldnât be too big an imposition, Your Majesty.â
âItâs no trouble. Itâs not like we donât have the space. Besides, we havenât had a decent party here inâ¦ever.â I started to cheer up a little, picturing myself in a severe black suit and pumps in maybe a dark purple. Or burnt orange, for the holiday? No, purple.
âThank you so much,â Andrea was sayingâoops, they were leaving. All business, that was Andrea. Plus Daniel was still yawning. It couldnât be easy, adjusting to the undeadâs schedule. I used to waitress at a truck stop