down her body. I didn’t know what I was going to do to get them off of her.
How do you break a soul bond?
“Get her!” Creely hollered, and the entire crowd shifted its malice toward me.
A cool blue jolt of power seared through me. Clan magic. I hoped to God. It numbed my ring finger as it rose up from my skye stones, encasing both the ghost and me. Creely bounced off the blue energy and fell to the ground, stunned. I couldn’t quite believe it myself.
I was shaking. My demon slayer instincts screamed for me to draw a switch star, to kill them all. It took everything I had to turn my back on the mad rush of bikers, in-laws and society mavens set to attack. I had to trust Dimitri’s magic, and my own.
I had only one idea on how to free the ghost, and it had better work. I reached for the locket, and this time it, it clicked open at my touch.
The grave dirt had to be the answer. I’d known all along I needed to take it, I just didn’t know why. But this dirt was from the place where her family and friends had mourned for her. They’d prayed over her. Used their meager resources to build a monument to remember her. Those people hadn’t been able to reach her in the dark place she’d been taken. She was shackled. Cold and alone. But she was loved. I could bring that love to her.
“I have you,” I said to the ghost. “I’m here.” I touched the rich dirt to her hands, poured the black Earth into her outstretched palms, and the chains fell away.
A look of wonder crossed her face. Her skin began to glow. She reached for me, caressing the dress I wore, then whispered her fingers against my cheek in a silent caress.
I focused on her bravery and her determination. She’d been a prisoner of the demon for more than a century. I couldn’t imagine the horror of her wedding night, the betrayal she faced as a human sacrifice. She’d had her very soul chained. She’d been brutally used. They’d taken everything from her. Yet, she never gave up hope.
Amazing.
She must have seen her chance when the demon lured my mom to this place. The dead Elizabeth had called to me, even when I couldn’t hear her. She’d asked me to her grave. My necklace had responded. It began to glow, stopping me along the road even when I didn’t know why. It had even offered me a vessel when I felt compelled to try and make a difference.
To think, she ended up saving me as well.
I watched her rise and as she slowly ascended, I drew on my angelic strength to try and help her along on her journey. It flowed to me despite the ugliness of today. It was the light in all of us, the light we sometimes have to choose in order to see.
I released it out to her. She glanced back and smiled. For one brief moment, I saw her embrace the joyful spirits waiting for her, before I lost her in the clouds.
The Earth had quieted. The fighting around me ceased. My guests had stopped trying to kill me, and each other.
They looked rather dazed, in fact. Creely sat on the ground, confused as to how she’d gotten there. Mrs. Rodgerson stared at the blonde wig in her hand. Grandma cursed at the blood on her arm, and Pirate made a face, as if he didn’t like the taste of what he’d been trying to chomp.
Hillary lowered the folding chair she’d been ready to smash into my head. “What on Earth?”
A middle-aged Greek woman stood next to her, dazed, and handed Hillary the sleeve to her white mother- of-the-bride jacket. “I found this,” she said, clearly not quite sure where she’d gotten it.
Frieda wandered over to Grandma. “That was some earthquake.” She stopped, holding her stomach where Ophelia had sat on her. “I think my girdle’s too tight.”
I tried to do a mental headcount, which was hard when none of them were standing still. “Is everybody okay?” I asked. If they were, I wanted to get back to Dimitri and see how he was doing.
“How’s my hair?” my mom asked me, tucking a few strands behind her ear, missing the large chunk standing up in the back.
That’s when I saw Dimitri stagger out from behind Flappy. He looked a little worse for wear, even though he wore a new tux. The shirt was buttoned only part of the way up, exposing his upper chest and throat. The dragon licked him, and rolled onto his back for a belly scratch, as if he hadn’t probably been trying to eat my fiance a minute or two ago.
“Thank heaven,” he headed toward me, and I met him halfway, glad he was still in one piece. It was a miracle we all were.
He hugged me tight, and I savored the feel of him, and the steady rise and fall of his chest.
When I at last drew back, I had to ask, “where’d you get the new tux?”
He shook his head and drew a bow tie out of his pocket. “Antonio had one stashed, in case that date you’re supposed to get him with Dyonne goes really, really well.”
Mrs. VanWillen moved to stand next to mom. “I’ve heard of the earthquakes in California,” she tsked. “What will you do now?”
I drew back from Dimitri. “We’re going to do the wedding anyway. Mom picked out the perfect spot,” I said, watching her blush.
“Yes,” Dimitri agreed. “And while not even Hillary can plan around earthquakes, everyone we love is here, and this is where we want to be.”
Hillary beamed. The society folk clapped politely and the biker witches started clearing chairs. Meanwhile, Dimitri cleaned up and a few of my in-laws managed to put out a few small fires we’d neglected to worry about.
A few minutes later, Pirate had retrieved the ring pillow and our loved ones began gathering with us in the former herb garden.
Dimitri and I stood at the center, holding hands as everyone surrounded us. My father stood at my left. My mother stood at my right. Rachmort eased his way past Aunt Ophelia, digging in his pockets for his glasses. They were broken. He put them on anyway.
He gave us a warm smile. At last, everything was as it should be. “Welcome family and friends,” he began, reading with the intact lower part of his bifocals. “We are here today to celebrate the joining of Lizzie and Dimitri. I’ve watched both of them as they’ve grown to love each other, and I can’t think of a more suitable,” he paused, looking over the destruction, “loving place for them to be.” He glanced out over the crowd. “You helped make it that way.”
A cold nose nudged me under my dress. Pirate gazed up at me. “Psst. Lizzie! I’ve got the rings!”
He didn’t. But I managed to pry the plastic ones off his pillow anyway.
Rachmort cleared his throat. “Elizabeth Gertrude Brown, do you take Dimitri Helios Kallinikos to be your lawfully wedded husband, now and forever?”
“I do,” I said. Dimitri was much, much more than that. He was the keeper of my soul.
My father handed me the real ring. I’d chosen a simple gold band, engraved with our names inside. I slipped it onto Dimitri’s finger, and his hands closed around mine. Then we both smiled as I added the plastic one onto his pinkie. It had to be good luck if Pirate hadn’t lost it.
“Dimitri Helios Kallinikos, do you take Elizabeth Gertrude Brown to be your lawfully wedded wife, now and forever?”
“I do,” he said, “with all my heart,” as he touched the skye stones on my ring and kissed me.
***
The catering tent had been destroyed in the mob action at the start of my wedding, but lucky for us, the biker witches still had all of the supplies they’d gathered for the post-wedding kegger.
They’d strung lights up over the back porch, tapped the keg and placed Dimitri and me in the lawn chairs of honor. Mine even had a white and silver bow.
