Chapter 2 Private celebration

Joana heard a tap on her window by 8:00 pm. She knew who it was as she had been expecting him and was beginning to get worried that he wouldn’t come and they wouldn’t have their private celebration together. She strolled happily to her window to let Andrew in, he hugged her upon seeing her.

“What took you so long?” She asked. “Grandma Jen said she invited you to the party but you didn’t show up.”

“I know, I’m sorry babe. I wanted to come but it turned out that my parents also threw their surprise party for me,” he said laughing.

“It’s ok my love, the most important thing is that you’re here now. I would have hated us not getting to celebrate in our little way.”

“Are you ready?” He asked.

“Yes, I had already gotten dressed before you came.”

“Ok babe, then let’s go.”

He held her hand and led her out of the window, with Andrew’s help Joana climbed onto the tree and got down. Then he did the same. Walking towards where Andrew had parked his motorcycle, about three houses away. They both climbed onto it, Joana sat at the back helping him clutch his guitar. When they had both settled on it, he drove off.

Within a few minutes, they had arrived at a small lake. The lake separated the town from the woods and here, you could enjoy the beauty of nature whilst hearing the froggies croak and the birds sing. This was their favorite spot as right here, where they had shared a lot of memories.

They sat on one of the many large rocks that bordered the lake, Andrew holding his guitar. They stared at the lake for a while, pausing to take in the fresh air and peaceful feeling that came with being here. Andrew then reached for her hand and gave it a small squeeze which caught her attention and made her turn to him. He looked at her in return, the both of them catching each other’s gaze as he leaned forward and took her mouth in his, giving her a long kiss.

“I can’t wait for you to make me the happiest man alive,” he said to her after the kiss.

“Calm down honey, it’s only a month away. We were saying before that we couldn’t wait to graduate, but look at us now.”

“Have you picked a date yet?” He asked her.

“Yes, I’ve decided to do it on my birthday.”

“That’s good, but I thought you hated big parties on your birthday.”

“I know, the reason being that it has always been a special day for me and my family, so I never really wanted anything loud growing up, except for when I was a kid. But since it’s my wedding day, and my wedding day is special, I want to celebrate my future birthdays knowing that it was the same day that I said ‘I do’ to you.”

Andrew reached for her shoulder and gave it a small squeeze, making her lean into his chest.

“I love you,” he said. “And I support you no matter what, we can get married anytime so long as we still get married, and if you want it to be on your birthday, we’ll have it then.”

She smiled at what he said. Then after looking at Andrew’s guitar which was now on the floor, she remembered the reason why they were here.

“It's getting late, and you haven’t played me a song yet!” She mumbled as he had always played her a song whenever they came here.

“Oh! Slipped my mind, you tend to forget a lot of things when you’re with the most beautiful woman in the world.”

“Such a tease,” Joana said, pushing him lightly.

Andrew loved to play the guitar and Joana had always loved when he played it for her, he was her favorite musician, and she had fallen in love with every single piece he wrote.

“I have been working on a new one. I want to sing it on our wedding day, it’s not finished yet but I still think you should be the first one to hear it.”

“I’d love to hear it,” she said.

He brought out the guitar from the bag, stood up, and placed it on his lap after lifting his leg with a stone. He held onto the neck with one hand while using the other to play the strings. Then he began to sing to his one-man audience.

I love my baby

And she loves me too

I’ll marry my baby

And she’ll marry me too

After Andrew finished the song, Joana gave him a round of applause. She had loved every word of it.

“It’s wonderful, and I think it’ll be perfect for our big day!” she said as she stood to give him one last hug before they both left the lakeside and went back to the motorcycle. Andrew started the engine and began to drive her home.

***

In a vampire coven located in a tall castle in the mountains, a messenger bat flew in, with new information about the one it had been sent to watch on.

The bat flew into the big castle and went to its master, Dana, to deliver the message.

Dana had just awoken, as the sun had set. The bat landed on top of her table in the darkroom where she slept.

“Hello, faithful one,” she said to the bat, “do you have any news for me?”

The bat made a squeaking noise, it was communicating with her in its language as she nodded her head.

“Ok then,” she said to it. “Let me look into your eyes, I want to see what you have seen.”

The bat flew to where she sat. She took the bat in her hand and brought it closer to her as she looked into its eyes. She then saw the image of Joana, the 200th descendant fixing a wedding on the day she was supposed to transform.

“Oh no,” Dana said. “This is terrible news.”