Eleventh Grade Burns(9)

Otis sat back, stunned. It looked as if his heart had been ripped out. His words were merely shocked whispers in Vlad’s mind. “Just like that? No? Won’t you at least give the matter some thought?”

“What’s there to think about? You obviously already know how I feel about it, and you have no right to ask me to change that. It’s not your place and you know it.”

“I am truly sorry. I thought you would be happy. I had hoped that you would give me your blessing.”

It was Vlad’s turn to act surprised. “Wait, , , my blessing? For what, exactly?”

“Vlad, it’s likely that I won’t make it out of this trial alive, but I want you to know that if I do, I intend to ask for Nelly’s hand in marriage, and I would like to know that I would have your blessing if I did It’s no secret that I hold Nelly in the highest regard. I ... I love her, Vladimir. I want to make her my bride. I was wrong to judge Tomas so harshly. I now understand what he was trying to tell me.”

Vlad stared, unable to speak for a moment. Otis wanted to marry Nelly? He wasn’t cornering Vlad about feeding on Snow? He took a deep breath, letting that sink in for a while. It wasn’t that Otis was saying anything that he didn’t already know, but the fact that Otis had finally admitted to it really blew his mind. Vampires, after all, didn’t love humans. And if they did, they definitely wouldn’t tell anyone, and they certainly wouldn’t marry them. “What about Elysia?”

“What about it?” Nelly returned for more plates, and Otis smiled and watched her as she moved back to the kitchen. “I’m already a criminal. And there’s no use fighting it anymore. I love her. And I want a chance at happiness with her. But ... I won’t marry her without your blessing.”

Vlad thought for a moment before speaking. It wasn’t like he disapproved of his uncle marrying his guardian. But he had to watch out for her. “What about your trial? You told me that there’s a huge chance you’ll be put to death for betraying the Stokerton council and hiding me from them—I believe your exact words were ‘I do not know of a vampire who has survived an Elysian trial of this magnitude. You can’t widow her on your honeymoon, Otis. It’s not fair to her.”

“I planned to wait until after the trial to propose. Call it a lucky charm.” He smiled sadly, as if all of his hopes of surviving his trial in Elysia were resting on the notion that he might one day call Nelly his wife. “Maybe it will be enough to get me through the charges against me.”

“There are a lot of them, Otis. I mean, we were lucky they never called me to trial, after all, but you ...” Vlad met his gaze. “I don’t want to see her get hurt, Otis.”

“I want nothing more than her happiness, Vladimir You have my word.” Honesty filled Otis’s eyes.

Vlad smiled. “Then you have my blessing.”

He stood to leave the table and met his uncle’s eyes once more. “Oh and one more thing. You look terrible. You should step out for a bite later.”

Reluctantly, hope crept into Otis’s tone, as if he were worried Vlad might be pulling a fast one on him. “Meaning ... ?”

Vlad shrugged. “You know what I mean. Find yourself a hobo and chow down.”

Otis exhaled a sigh, his body visibly relaxing. “Thank you. These past few months have been excruciating.”

“Just no one from Bathory, okay?”

“Fair enough.”

A smile danced on Otis’s lips. Vlad could tell his uncle was already daydreaming about rivers of blood pouring down his throat. “I’ve missed our talks. Is there ... anything else you’d like to talk about before heading into Stokerton?”

Vlad stiffened before turning away. “No. Not at the moment, anyway.”

He shouted a goodbye to Nelly. Luckily, Henry was just pulling into the driveway in his early birthday present, a gloss black Dodge Charger, as Vlad closed the door. Vlad would be lucky if he got Otis’s piece of hand-me-down crap someday. It must be nice to be a McMillan.

In a few quick steps, Vlad was at the car. He opened the door and slid onto the soft leather seat with a sigh. “You have no idea how good your timing is.”

Henry flashed him a questioning glance, but Vlad waved it away. Then Henry backed out of the driveway and slammed the transmission into drive, gunning the engine until they were barreling their way out of town.

After they’d passed the edge of farmland that counted as part of town, Vlad cleared his throat. “So ...”