I groaned, "Of course you are."

"Yeah, it wasn't my first choice either." he said.

I was tempted to beg him to stay, but I knew it wouldn't make a difference.

He kissed me on the hand, and then on the cheek, and then on the lips.

"You're going to run out of places if you keep going." I laughed.

He looked up at me, eyebrow lifted, "That's what you think."

I couldn't help but burt with laughter at his bluntness. It was so unlike him. Actually, it was very unlike him.

Randalls words ran through my mind again.

He bagan to walk away but I grabbed him by the arm.

"So, you feel alright, don't you?" The question came out clunky. It wasn't what I'd really wanted to ask, but my real question would be even harder to phrase.

He laughed, "Well I mean, I've been better. But right now I'm doing pretty good."

"Yeah, I know," I stared into his eyes, but they were bright, blue, and human, "I was just wondering, you know, it doesn't matter, you should go."

he looked a bit concerned by my rambling, but he only kissed me again lightly and left.

I chewed on the inside of my cheek. It was him. I knew it was. But what was he?

He was such a strange person already, but it was begining to be hard to tell if he was just growing as a person, or just not a person at all.

It didn't feel worthwhile to try and sit down again so I just paced around the room. I was tempted to mess around with my hair and makeup, but I didn't want to ruin all the work the stylists had put into it. Especially now that my eyes seemed to have brightened and my whole face had lifted, I looked like a whole other person.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, there was another knock at the door.

I whirled around but had to hide my disappointment when I saw my dad standing there.

"You ready, kiddo?" he asked.

I was impressed by how good he looked. My dad wasn't really known as a snappy dresser of any sorts, but it worked well for him.

"Yeah," I had to hold in the hesitancy in my voice. I'd almost forgotten that I had a charade to keep up with.

I followed him out of the door and through the now abandon larger room. I'd never been in this building before, so I was clueless as we walked through rooms and hallways. I didn't even know we were getting close until I heard this mysterious low hum of noise.

We turned a corner and I saw my mother and sister standing with a bunch men. I had to hold in a laugh when I realized my sister had no idea she was standing next to the homeless man she'd beaten with her backpack only a few months ago. Mostly because she was flirting with him.

He smiled awkwardly at me as she touched him on the arm.

I had to hand it to my sister, she didn't mess around. He politely excused himself from their conversation and made his way over to me.

For a second I thought he was going I kiss me, which would have been a bit blasé for that particular time and place, but I wouldn't have complained.

Instead, he leaned down casually and whispered, "You really do look beautiful."

I snorted, "Doesn't really fix anything."

"Everything's going to be okay," he straightened up, "I promise."

"You know you keep saying that," I began, but was cut off by loud music beginning in the next room. He gave me a sympathetic look and made his way back over to where my sister stood.

She wrapped her arm around his and turned around to me and mouthed the word, "Damn."

I was tempted to go burst her bubble, but before I could The large doors in front of us were thrown open and we were blasted by the music. Everyone began lining up and my dad offered his arm to me.

I smiled at him and took it.

As Peter and my sister began walking down the aisle my dad turned to me and asked, "Are you sure about this?"

I looked at him in the eye, fighting the urge to cry, and said, "Yes."

But it wasn't for the reason he expected. I was the opposite of sure about marrying Randall, but I was sure I wanted to keep this man safe. I wanted to confide in him why I was doing this so he would understand better, but I knew he would rather die than have me do this, so I kept my mouth shut.

The people in front of us disappeared one by one until it was our turn. I didn't realize I was shaking until my teeth began to chatter. My dad glanced at me curiously but I kept my face trained forward.

The room was huge, decorated in elegant dark red decor. I couldn't help but gasp a little. It was beautiful, no one could argue with that. It was also extremely crowded.

More people were jammed into that room than I'd ever seen in my entire life, and maybe a dozen of them were mine. Most of them looked like they were accustomed to lavish events like this one. I knew he had a lot of powerful connections, even though I had no clue what he did to acquire them all. Maybe I would find out someday.

Before I knew it, it was time for me to take my first step down the aisle. I was too frozen in fear, and dad had to yank on my arm a little bit to snap me out of it.

Every step felt heavy, and It wasn't just because of the dress. It was impossible to imagine that I was really doing this. I was binding myself to this awful thing, not even a human, a damn demon. How on earth had i gotten myself here?

People rose to their feet as soon I entered the room. The sound of everyone standing created a wave of noise throughout the room, nearly so loud I felt like I could be swept away with it. If only it were that easy.

I could see Randall standing a few feet in front of me and I had the immediate urge to run. But my dad's steady hand reminded me why I couldn't. So instead of focusing at the monster I was about to sacrifice myself to, I looked slightly to the right at Peter.

He was smiling in a warm but solemn way. I didn't take my eyes off of him, because if I did I probably wouldn't have been able to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

And before I was ready, I felt my father slide his arm away from me and kiss me on the cheek. I did my bet not to look at him directly, just in case he could see the terror inside me seeping through my eyes. my teeth were beginning to drum together again, so I wedged my tongue between them.

He let me go and my heart sank a little bit. I hadn't realized how much I'd needed him to push me forward. From this point on it was all me. I had to do this on my own.

I turned to Randall and stepped slowly towards him until we were right next to each other. Realizing that I still had to try and make myself look happy about this, I turned my eyes to Peter in an effort to give myself a reason to smile.

When I came to a stop he leaned over slightly and whispered, "I guess that really did work didn't it?"

I was tempted to say something snarky to him but knew that would look questionable in front of all those people.

The officiator began his little speech and I allowed myself to space out in order to keep from having a panic attack.

I repeated back what I was told to, avoiding his eye as much as possible. The words felt like sawdust in my mouth.

And then it happened, I had to kiss him. He leaned into me and I just froze and stayed as still as possible as his thin lips latched themselves onto mine. I had to fight the urge to recoil.

But it was over quickly and the crowd went wild.

He took my hand and we began walking back down the aisle as people clapped thunderously.

All the excitement just about made me dizzy as we got to the door and turned the corner.

He kissed me on the hand before I was ushered off to get changed.

I tried not to think about what had just happened as I was helped into a much more comfortable dress with a thin, movable material. One of the many costume changes I apparently had scheduled for that day.

Everyone looked so happy, but I was just numb. It wasn't like the aching fear I'd been feeling for months. There wasn't anything left to be afraid of. It was done. It had happened. I didn't know what to do after that.

When I got back to the main room all the chairs had been cleared away and replaced by a sea of tables, each topped with a bouquet of roses.

I was instantly surrounded by people congratulating me, most of which I didn't know. I just smiled tightly and nodded at their compliments. I almost felt like I was being rude, but I was far from turning that around.

After a good amount of time dealing with that, I was informed it was time to dance.

Dancing was by no means my Forte, but I figured stoic swaying couldn't be too hard to pull off.

Randall appeared by my side and guided me to the center of the dance floor.

When we began dancing he said, "See, that wasn't so hard."

That didn't even deserve an answer, so I just snorted a little raised my eyebrows. I kept my head turned slightly, I didn't want to look at him. I was scanning the room for Peter, who seemed to have disappeared.

"Well, you have to admit, the place looks nice." He said I'm in a jolly voice.

I nodded slightly, still sweeping the room with my eyes.

"Look at me." He snapped, tightening his grip on my lower back.

I forced myself to make eye contact and glare at him.

"Much better, Ms. Amy."

I about wanted to retch at the name. It was just another assurance that I wasn't going to be myself ever again.

"Oh come on, you seemed at least at least a bit more smiley earlier."

"Well, your plan worked, congrats."

He chuckled, "You're very easy to figure out."

"Good for you." I dismissed his playful jabs and began looking around the room again, "So you've already figured out I'm going to be hell on earth for you unless I get to see him. No pun intended."

He seemed to consider this idea, "I might be able to have that arranged, but only if you two behave," then he laughed and said, "speak of the devil."

Ignoring the fact that we both seemed to be on top of the demon puns today, I spun around to follow his eyes.

I caught sight of Peter slipping in the door quietly and my stomach dropped. He was wearing sunglasses.