Perfect Pet

Ch. 39: Love Bite

Mature content ahead!

I couldn't have been more surprised when the person helping me get ready for the Bonding ceremony was the same woman that had designed my very first ballgown. Esme, she cheerfully reminded me, wrapped me in a tight hug, and congratulated me on finding someone. "I had a good feeling about you. You just had this essence about you."

With anyone else, it would have felt fake but with her, I could tell it was nothing but genuine.

After that, she had eagerly asked if I wanted to see the dress and try it on, clearly excited to show off her handiwork. I was just as excited to see it, the Bonding ceremony gowns kept a closely guarded secret until the day of. I knew that the vampires that decided on a Pet submitted their decision several weeks before the school year ended and I assumed that's when work on the gowns had also started.

I still had a hard time believing that that faint dream I'd had all those months ago of getting chosen had come true and that I was one of the few people that got to wear such a special outfit on top of finding the love of my life.

For all of its challenges, this had been a really good year.

With my eyes firmly closed at her request, I could feel fabric being slipped over my head and my arms tugged into sleeves. Several more minutes of pulls and adjustment later, she gave me the okay and I opened my eyes to a work of art.

My ballgown had been stunning but it was obvious this was where she was truly gifted and the reason she was a favored designer. Where my dress for the Claiming ceremony had been over the top sexy and revealing, this one went completely the other way. Pure white, it sort of reminded me of a wedding dress with its sweetheart neckline and lace sleeves that came to points at my hands. It was loose and flowy, swirling around my legs when I took an experimental step.

A sacrificial maiden ready to be left at the altar.

"I'm glad you like it," she said with a soft smile as she watched me twirl around like a little girl in her mother's dress. "Because it's too late to change anything if you didn't."

"No, it's perfect." Pausing to stare at my reflection in the mirror, in awe of how much more mature I looked compared to when I first arrived, I absentmindedly added, "I just wasn't expecting it to be so similar to a-"

"Wedding dress?" She supplied with a knowing smirk. "I get that a lot. I suppose they're similar in a way when you think about it. There's no getting out of the bond. A real death do us part type of deal. Though the sickness and health part doesn't apply since the bond prevents you from getting just about anything-"

"Do you know what it's like?" I interrupted when it became obvious she was getting sidetracked. "The ceremony, I mean."

Coming up behind me, she started messing with the lace detailing surrounding my exposed back in a clear attempt to buy herself some time. "No," she finally admitted after a short pause. "The Bonding is a deeply personal thing to a vampire. Once the magic of the ritual infects them, their demon takes full control and wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone that interrupts. That's one of the reasons that the Council doesn't have someone in the room to verify it."

I could feel my face blanch of all color at the mere thought of someone there, watching us, as we went at it like we undoubtedly would. Especially if his demon was fully in the driver's seat. "They've done that?"

"Tried," she corrected mildly. "There wasn't much left of the poor guy by the end of it. Vampires are territorial on a good day but during the ceremony, it seems to be amplified tenfold."

Fighting down bile at the mental picture that created, I chose instead to go back to focusing on how pretty I looked in my dress. Before this, I hadn't thought much about the fact that this was the closest I would ever get to a wedding since the mere idea had felt more like a ball and chain around my ankle than an act of love if my mother had it her way.