…Anastasia POV…

I cannot believe the words that have come from Sebastian's lips. I cannot say which I feel the most, shock or surprise. Never have I taken to the idea to become someone's wife serious. I never considered it in my mortal years, and when I became immortal, I did not think that something such as this would be possible. Do Vampires even get married?

Now it should be an easy answer, for I love Sebastian with more than every fiber of my body, and we shall, after all, be together for eternity. Why then is there hesitation for me to answer him, should I even dare to say that I shall considerer his proposal?

But now another idea comes to mind. Does he mean this, or did he indeed only say this in the moment of ecstasy. I am sure a man such as Sebastian, who lived a life where he had women in abundance, has never considered such a drastic step in any relationship.

The thing is, why am I even having this inner battle with myself. The answer is easy; it should be yes and nothing else. But somehow, I cannot get myself to say the words to this man that is staring at me, waiting for me to come to a decision.

…Sebastian POV…

I am taken back by the hesitation of my beloved. Surely the answer should be simple; we love each other. We shall be spending eternity together, yes maybe such a step is not necessary, but it is something that shall complete our bond.

Now it is true that I have been much of a lady's man for much of my Vampire years; never did such a commitment appeal to me. I can not even go as far and say that it would have been something that I would have considered in my mortal life. The idea of being with only one terrified me, but now it only sounds natural to me. After all, she is my beloved; whether we shall perform such a ceremony, we shall still remain bound to each other for eternity.

But with saying this, I do believe that she thinks that I am referring to that dreadful word, marriage. Of course, a Vampire does not get married; the mere thought of dressing up in a designer suit and watching her standing in front of me in some unsightly white frilly dress scares the living daylight out of me. No, a Vampire wedding is I only but a ceremony where one declares that you shall only stick with one person. Not that I do wish to have another woman, but there are just some things that a man needs assurance with.

Yes, it does sound like a human marriage still, but believe me, there is a distinction between both. So I believe I should put the poor woman out of her misery.

"My beloved, I see your hesitation; please let me explain what I mean by bride."

"Well, does bride not mean get married?"

"Well, not truly in the sense that a human does."

"How can a Vampire wedding not be the same as that of a human one."

This is now starting to confuse me for the more I think of it; it does sound like a marriage to me. What makes a Vampire ceremony so much of a difference that a human one?

"First of all, my beloved, I do not wish for you to wear such an awful thing as a white dress that has more lace than your panties."

"Sebastian!"

"My beloved, there is nothing as unsightly as a dress that is covered in lace. Now give me satin and chiffon, and I will desire you more."

"Sebastian, will you only desire me for the clothes that I wear?"

"No, my beloved, let me rather carry on before I find myself in a world of trouble again."

"Please do."

She only but chuckles at me; I have come to know by a certain why that she says my name that she is only joking.

"My beloved, it is only but a simple ceremony."

"Fair, but does a human wedding not have a ceremony?"

"There is not a priest present; there shall also be only Edward, Lilith, and of course now Victor."

"And rings, do we wear rings?"

"If you wish to not, then we shall not. You can say it is a wedding, but not with all the silly things that humans find necessary."

…Anastasia POV…

Now that he does explain it, it is merely a ceremony where you vow to be with one Vampire for the rest of eternity. I do not think I should even mention the word divorce to him, for I am sure the man will die all over again. It is truly not a point of getting clarity; it is the seriousness that a Vampire marriage shall present. I do not wish to, and never have I been, a woman that had the desire to be with more than one man.

So I meet his gaze with a smile on my face, and I can see the light brighten in his eyes; I have witnessed Sebastian happy but not as this.

"Yes, Sebastian, I will become your Vampire bride."

With that, he pulls me deep into his arms; if there was comfort there before, it has just grown in intensity. It is amazing how a small human pleasure can bring joy to a hardened Vampire such as Sebastian Belmont.

"Wait! Does it mean I become a Belmont?"

"In human tradition, yes, but not in Vampire union. Why is my last name such a bad one to have?"

"No, only wondering."

"Well, then we should start planning at once. I think this shall be a good distraction for Lilith after all that has happened."

"How soon did you have this in mind?"

"Well, my beloved, we do not know which monster shall surface next, so I do want you to be my bride by the next sunset."

…Sebastian POV…

To describe what I feel as excitement would be a weak word to express my feelings. I can honestly say that I have only felt joy once like this in my life before, and it is the day that Anastasia decided to become a Vampire. I can clearly remember that day; even though it might have been terrifying for her, it was the best moment of all my lives.

So it begins, the countdown to our union once again.

With great joy, we decent the stairs, where we find the entire Belmont household as per usual convening like humans in the kitchen. I yet to understand this somewhat rather peculiar tradition they practice. It is not that they are having coffee; they are only but standing and talking about ancient old experiences. Between all their doom and gloom, the cheerful Stefan is running, chasing that rather pesky and noisy little puppy. I swear the thing yaps more than a normal human baby does.

Then I get a rather splendid idea, which does not go unnoticed by my beloved.

"Don't you dare, don't you even think about it."

"What might I have been thinking of now?"

"The poor child is not carrying our rings on a stupid pillow. I will smash that thing into your face until the things shreds to feathers."

But it is not the violent pillow slapping that catches Lilith's attention; it is the mention of rings. And I swear this woman can read minds, for she immediately knows what I am referring to. And if I thought that Sebastian was excited, then the delight on her face is nearly terrifying.

"Did you say rings? I believed I heard the word rings? Please tell me that you did say rings?"

"My dear Lilith, you did indeed. I have asked Anastasia to become my bride."

"Oh my, we better start preparing. How long do we have? When do you plan to have the ceremony?"

"Before next sunset."

I watch as Lilith frantically starts to look for a pen and paper to scribble her ideas down. But wait, I need to make something quite clear.

"Lilith, I warn you if you dress her in lace, then I shall have your head on a stake."

"Just for that, I shall make sure everything on her shall be lace."

I only but chuckle at her while I turn to Edward and Victor. I watch them stand there quite dumbstruck with the most stupid grin on their faces. I know what their terrified minds must be thinking. Well, more Victor than Edward's, for I might have just planted a seed in Lilith's head. Shall we have another Vampire wedding soon?

So as we leave them to brainstorm their ideas, we make our way outside. Even though the preparations for the wedding have begun, we still need to deal with the matters of the Council. And I must add that if there is any sort of a problem, then I shall have the head of the one that presents it to me today.

It is only a half an hour later that we find ourselves stopping at the Council house, and what we see shocks all of us down into our core. The front door appears to be wide open; now, the only one with a key is the two men that are in the car with me. And as I look over to their faces, they have gone paler than all fifty shades of white.

We immediately make a hasty exit from the car, not considering if whoever has forced their way in is still inside. Now the unfortunate thing, by the nature of some of the articles that are kept in here, we are not able to call on law enforcement to come and assist us. We shall have to face the danger ourselves, which I know we are more than capable of.

So with absolute careful and very soft steps, we make our way through the front door. It seems that the door has been forced open with some instrument or tool. As we enter, the very first room is thrown in absolute chaos; it is very apparent that whoever broke in here were looking for something. Well, thank the pope we keep everything locked behind a very solid safe.

The same with the second and third rooms, it is turned upside down, but something does look very strange.

"This has been done on purpose, Edward."

"It seems they are trying to distract us from what truly has been taken."

But then Victor turns to me; he seems to be even paler than I noticed before.

"Sebastian, the only things of importance is locked behind a steel door."

We abandon the search of the rest of the house and head for the safe; what we see in front of us is beyond possible. The door has been broken through; now, if I say through, I indeed mean that it has been forced right open. Now I fear to say that it has been done by hand, but there is a part of me that wishes to say that it was some other instrument of tool.

We wait for Victor as he steps inside to survey the damage that has been done. But when he steps out again, I wished that he did not come out in the first place.

"It is gone."

"Everything? Is everything gone?"

"No, only it."