“I don’t care how many times I see it… or don’t see it, it still freaks me out a little,” Andrea said.
“What’s that, love?” Remington asked.
“We have no reflection. I’m just having trouble getting used to it,” she replied as they walked into the ball. The other four couples with them all paused to check their look in the mirrored entrance. Remington and Andrea didn’t have a reflection. “Sometimes I just want to check my look, too.”
“Just look into my eyes, darling. That will tell you all you need to know,” Remington said. He bent down to give her a quick kiss.
“Flatterer. That will get you everywhere.” Andrea giggled and jabbed him with an elbow. “And that right there is one reason I fell in love with you AND let you turn me.”
“I swear I have never seen a more beautiful woman in my three hundred years as a vampire,” Remington said. He lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles.
“Oh, come on you two… or go get a room,” Tyler glanced back at them from where he and his wife led the little group into the ball.
Andrea giggled again and stuck her tongue out at her brother. “We’re coming. Don’t worry, big brother.”
Tyler smiled. While he’d been nervous about his sister’s romance with a vampire, he had to admit the guy treated her like a queen and she was deliriously happy. He was still getting used to the idea of a vampire for a brother-in-law and knew that if their parents had been alive, they would be more than a little upset. Tyler had never seen his sister so happy, so he was happy too. His practical side asserted itself and reminded him that having a sister who’d live for centuries was a huge benefit for his estate planning and designating guardians for his kids should anything happen to him and his wife.
Grinning at Andrea and Remington, Tyler shook his head and returned his attention to the ballroom they were entering.
The ball was a glittering affair and Andrea and Remington were not the only couple who didn’t appear in the mirrors surrounding the ballroom. While they did not require food or drink, they both enjoyed the taste of the fine champagne offered by the many waiters circling through the attendees.
The room was certainly spectacular. Pillars, surrounded by plants, broke up the large rectangular space, giving it the feel of an open patio. A small orchestra was seated on a raised platform at one end of the rectangle. On either side, just past the pillars marking the edge of the dance floor, long tables groaned under platters and tiered serving dishes filled with foods from around the world. Small tables and chairs sat at random intervals near the buffet tables. Waiters constantly circled through the crowd with finger foods and champagne.
Andrea sighed as Remington led her onto the dance floor. “If you’d told me even five years ago that this would be my life, I’d’ve laughed in your face,” she said as her husband pulled her to him with one hand at the small of her back.
“Why? Did you think you did not deserve a life like this?” he asked, bending down to whisper in her ear.
“No, not that. I just didn’t think it was attainable,” Andrea said.
“But your brother is here, and that isn’t because of me,” Remington reminded her.
“Oh, I know. And he would have invited me to something like this. But he wouldn’t have found me a date, never mind a wonderful husband,” Andrea told him. She raised herself up slightly on her toes and brushed her lips against his. “You are what makes this evening perfect.”
Remington’s hand tightened on her waist. “So you do not regret allowing me to turn you?” he asked.
Andrea heard the hesitancy in his tone, and it made her heart flutter. Remington was not one to hesitate about anything. Take his time, maybe. After all, at three hundred years old, he had plenty of time to do whatever he wanted. But she’d never known him to hesitate. That’s how she knew he truly loved her. That and the offer to turn her. He’d said he hadn’t wanted to contemplate the future without her. The whole drinking blood had made her hesitant at first, until Remington explained that vampires today had agreements with blood donation organizations to purchase the blood they needed to survive, thus eliminating the need to attack humans.
“No. I don’t regret it for a minute, and I know I never will,” Andrea whispered. She rested her head on his chest and sank into the music and the movement of the waltz.
******
This week’s More Odds Than End prompt came from nother Mike: The mirrored entrance to the ball showed four couples walking in. The fifth couple didn’t have a reflection… My prompt went to Fiona Grey. Wander on over to More Odds Than Ends for a diversion from the ordinary and see what everybody came up with.
