Under the Full Moon's Light

Richard was elated when Wilbur told him that he accepted his proposal and would be giving him Gwen's hand in marriage. Never doubting that his proposal would be accepted, Richard already had many of the wedding preparations started. However, having this confirmed to him caused Richard to go into a craze, he wanted to have Gwen as soon as possible. As a result, Richard ordered all the wedding preparations pushed to be finished as soon as possible. Richard's excitement could be felt throughout the town. Everyone knew that Richard was the Minister's son and this was going to be one of the biggest weddings the town had ever seen. Richard packed almost every business in town with wedding orders; flowers, cakes, food for 500, and of course a beautifully tailor made dress for his beautiful bride. He wanted this day to be perfect. Of course, "perfect" was whatever standard Richard demanded. Not once during the wedding planning process had the thought ever crossed Richard's mind to consider what Gwen would want or be comfortable with. Charlotte could see that Gwen was doing the best she could to keep a smile on her face, after the night the sisters were told the news, Gwen hadn't let a single tear stain her face. As they went about the town being ushered from place to place being shown all the decadent things Richard planned to have at the wedding, Gwen would smile nod and every once in a while she would mutter a quiet little,

"That's nice" or "oh, how lovely".

Charlotte may have accepted the fact that her time of protecting Gwen was soon coming to an end, but she refused to leave Gwen's side until the very end. Charlotte could see that the environment was overwhelming for Gwen. Going place to place, being amongst the bustle of the townspeople, spending the whole day on her feet, not to mention the never ending reminder of her encroaching wedding day. Charlotte knew that Gwen needed her, and Charlotte, even if she would never be able to admit it to herself, needed to be there for her sister.

Upon the days leading up to the wedding while Charlotte was out running errands, she would receive letters and small packages addressed to Gwen from many of the townspeople. Everyone wanted to send their congratulations. Richard was the most sought after bachelor in town, he came from a wealthy family, he was educated at the best school in all of Lexington County, and he apprenticed under the best doctors in the entire country. Gwen, while coming from a poor family, was also widely sought after because of her renowned beauty. On the rare occasions that Gwen would manage to make it out of the house she would get bombarded with unwanted attention from the young suitors of the town. Because of this, Gwen being the one that Richard chose to marry didn't surprise the town.

Feormaten was a town situated on the western most part of the human territory, and was built in the center of where four territories met; the human territory, the vampire territory, the werewolf territory, and the siren territory. Naturally because of this, there have been times of conflict between the humans and the surrounding creatures. One legend of one such conflict between the vampires and humans became famous in all the lands. Next to the town square in Feormaten, there is a beautiful gothic cathedral with an infamous past.

As the legend goes, when the humans were first being sent to settle in Feormetan, the King of that time ordered that a huge cathedral be built for the worship of his gods, and the protection of his people from the "unholy creatures" that surrounded the town. The King wanted the cathedral to be built out of the finest quality stone, which could only be found in the mountains of the vampire territory. The King ordered that his people enter the vampire's territory and set up a small quarry to mine the stone. However, the vampires disliked the humans entering their land and those barbaric vampires took drastic action to send their message to the humans and committed an unspeakable act. One dark night without warning, the vampires sent a group of their strongest to stealthily go down to the town of Feormetan and attack the unsuspecting settlers. The vampires preyed on the weak and drained their bodies dry leaving nothing but carnage in their wake. This horrible assault on the townspeople lasted until dawn, when the vampires finally retreated back up to their territory. This first attack sparked a war between the humans and the vampires, the townspeople would work to build the cathedral during the day and fought off the vampires by night. Until one night the group of vampires came down to the town to pursue their attack, only to their surprise the town seemed empty. The vampires searched all around the town until they heard a human cry coming from the now completed cathedral. The group of vampires, being driven by bloodlust, rushed to the cathedral and started to ransack the place looking for the human they had heard cry out. Once all of the vampires were inside the cathedral, the doors to the cathedral suddenly slammed shut and with the sound of a heavy thunk the doors were locked tight. Before the vampires had a chance to process what had happened there came an unfurling sound from the ceiling. The vampires looked up only to find their demise. From the ceiling burst forth the brightest beams of sunlight even though it was the darkest time of night. With screams that pierced the night sky, the vampires burned trapped inside the beautiful cathedral. When the screams died down and the cathedral turned quiet, the townspeople opened the heavy wooden doors to find the inside of the cathedral was covered in ash. The human's plan had worked, the cathedral was built with special skylights in the ceiling that were made from blessed crystal that had the ability to trap sunlight during the day and let that sunlight shine during the night, making the cathedral have a heavenly gleam about it at all hours of the day. The townspeople had covered the skylights with thick cloth that was able to block out the light, and once the vampires were lured into their trap they untied the cloth from the ceiling, encasing the entire cathedral in pure sunlight and making the cathedral a death trap to all vampires.

Charlotte pondered the infamous legend she had been told about all her life as she looked up at the towering cathedral before her. The legend of the cathedral's history always caused Charlotte to have an uneasy feeling whenever she had to pass by it, and that was no different today as she entered. Today, however, no one would guess that such a beautiful building would have such a dark history. Flowers were bundled and hung up on every surface, the ceiling glowed celestially from the special crystal skylights, and from the windows you could see doves cooing and fluttering about outside. It was a beautiful day for a wedding. Upstairs, in the bridal room of the cathedral, Charlotte regarded Gwen, she was a picture of perfection. Her slim silhouette was perfectly framed in her beautiful wedding dress. The tailor had made it to her proportions perfectly. It was covered in lace and beautiful embroidery, a long train trailed behind it, and Gwen wore a veil that matched the train in length. Gwen's long blond ringlet hair had been perfectly pinned in place, and anyone looking at her now would mistake her for being a princess. Richard had accomplished what he wanted for the wedding, everything was perfect.

“How are you feeling?” Charlotte asked.

“Honestly, I am a little nervous.” Gwen replied, but Charlotte could tell that Gwen was more than a little nervous. Gwen kept fiddling with her dress and hair that didn’t have a thing out of place. Her hands were slightly shaking, and she kept nibbling her bottom lip. Charlotte walked up to her sister and turned her away from the mirror that she had been fretting over for over an hour now. Charlotte leaned in close to her sister's ear,

“You know, if you want, we could run away.” Charlotte teased.

“Oh sure we could, but then who would marry Richard?” Gwen teased back, playfully pushing Charlotte away and relaxing into a laugh. That was a relief for Charlotte to see.

“Thank you,” Gwen said calmly after she was able to settle down from laughter, her face shifting to a small smile on her face.

“Thank you? For what?” Charlotte asked bemused.

“Thank you for everything. For everything you’ve done, for taking care of me your whole life. After today, I’ll no longer be your responsibility, you won’t have to worry about me anymore.” Gwen said, keeping her small smile but had sad eyes.

“Hey, don’t talk like that.” Charlotte said, lifting Gwen’s chin to meet Charlotte’s eyes. “You’re my sister, I never would have had it any other way. And I will always worry about you.” Just then, Gwen suddenly surprised Charlotte with a hug. Although Charlotte was a little taken aback, she quickly recovered and wrapped her arms around her sister. This little outburst caught Charlotte by surprise and she found herself choking back a tear.

"Come on now, enough of that. You'll wrinkle your dress." Charlotte said as she reluctantly pulled away from her sister's embrace. And turned away to wipe a tear from her eye. Charlotte always knew that the day would come when Gwen would get married, and that would mean her days of taking care of her sister would end. Even though there were times when she was younger that she couldn’t wait for the day, now that it was finally here Charlotte wished that she could put it off for even just one more day. Charlotte took a deep breath and regained her composure.

“Come on, let’s get you down to the chapel, they’re waiting for you.” Charlotte said as she turned back to face Gwen and linked her arm with her sister's.

Charlotte put on her freshly cleaned common blue dress and bonnet with her hair neatly tucked underneath. Charlotte thought back to Gwen's wedding and knew that her's wasn’t going to be nearly as grand as all that. Wilbur decided that there wouldn’t be any need for Charlotte to have a separate dress just for marrying in, her common everyday dress would be good enough. Unlike Gwen, Charlotte wasn’t marrying into a rich family, in fact she knew almost nothing about the family she was marrying into. Other than the fact that they were werewolves and that their last name was Wolfson, everything else was a mystery to her. Charlotte hadn’t been involved in any of the wedding planning. It was the responsibility of the parents of the bride and groom to plan the wedding, and Wilbur decided that he would take on that responsibility without involving Charlotte. Wilbur and the Wolfsons had decided to keep things simple, no need for expensive decorations or any other non-necessities. Now that Wilbur would be leaving to live with Richard and Gwen, he wanted to be able to leave once the ceremony was over, so no fancy supper afterwards either. Only her father, her betrothed, and Mr. and Mrs. Wolfson would be in attendance, as per the werewolves request, they wanted things to be as understated as possible. Even though the werewolves had the same rights as humans now, they still limited their contact with the humans as much as possible. It was smart of them to do so, not all of the townspeople were ready to get past some of the unfriendly things that have happened between the humans and the creatures throughout the town's history and welcome them with open arms. Charlotte was sure that the Wolfsons weren’t very happy the day their son came home and told them that he had decided to marry a human. What could have possibly been running through his mind that day anyway? Charlotte wondered. Did he see her plump figure and decide that she looked good enough to eat? Charlotte shuddered and shook her head to dismiss the thought, no if he wanted to eat her he could’ve done that without having to marry her.

“Alright Charlotte, it’s time to meet the Wolfsons”. Wilbur called from the door. He was dressed in the same outfit that he had worn the day of the proclamation. He was washed, shaved, and tidy which meant a lot to Charlotte. She was a little worried that her father would treat this as any other day, but no. This was still his daughter's wedding day, and as unconventional as it was, that was special to him.

Charlotte and Wilbur walked down a dusty dirt road, Wilbur carried Charlotte's bag of things. She didn't have much, but seeing as Charlotte would be leaving to live her new life immediately after the ceremony, she did pack a few things to bring with her. The road they were walking down was empty other than a few passerby's they encountered on their way. It was early in the afternoon and most people would be working at this time of day. The chapel Charlotte would be getting married at was on the outskirts of town, not many people had business to attend to out here. The few people who did pass by didn't stop to offer Charlotte their congratulations like they would have to Gwen, instead they would stare and quietly whisper something to their companions before hurrying away. Despite Wilbur's and the Wolfson's best attempts to keep this marriage as private as possible, it was the first time a human and a creature were getting married. That kind of information was impossible to keep secret.

Charlotte and Wilbur arrived at the small one room chapel her wedding was to be held at, and they stopped for a moment outside.

“It was difficult to find someone who would officiate the wedding… considering the, uh, special circumstances”. Wilbur stated. “But this little place isn’t so bad, your mother and I actually got married in a place similar to this”. Wilbur continued. Charlotte looked up to her father, he had a wistful smile on his face as he remembered the past. Charlotte took her father’s arm.

“Let’s go in”. Charlotte said.

Wilbur and Charlotte opened up the wooden doors to the small chapel and headed inside. The Wolfsons had already arrived, and were seated at the front of the chapel, as the doors opened they raised. Their son, Charlotte’s groom, was waiting with the officiant at the front. As Charlotte and Wilbur entered there was an organ that began to play a wedding march. Charlotte took a shy look at her soon to be in-laws. They were both wearing simple but tidy clothes. Mr. Wolfson had grey thinning hair and green eyes. Mrs. Wolfson had long red hair with some white strands running through and bright amber eyes. Like all werewolves they had long pointed ears and eyes that were a little wider than a human’s would be. Charlotte also knew that werewolves had tails that were always there, she could see Mr.Wolfson’s tail his suit must have accommodated it, but Mrs.Wolfson was wearing a dress and it looked like her’s was hidden underneath. Charlotte also noticed something about Mrs. Wolfson's attire that caused Charlotte to immediately avert her eyes. Mrs. Wolfson had a neckline that went much lower than any respectable woman wouldn't be caught dead in. Charlotte, feeling extremely embarrassed, looked back down. However, there was one person she wanted to sneak a look at the most, her soon to be husband. Charlotte took a deep breath and gathered the nerve to look up again, as soon as she did she felt her face blush a deep red. She hadn’t seen him since the day at the market, but he was even more handsome up close than what she remembered. He too was dressed simply but neatly, he had thick dark brown hair and his mother’s wide amber eyes. He was tall and he looked strong, with the kind of strength a man gets naturally with physical work. When Charlotte made eye contact with him she was shocked to see the look on his face. He looked at her with a look of nervousness and longing. He smiled at Charlotte and Charlotte quickly looked back down.

‘Why did he look at me like that?’ Charlotte wondered to herself. ‘He looked at me the way other men looked at their brides, with love and an eagerness for affection. But, he didn’t even know me. Was it possible that he had feelings for me? No, that wasn’t possible’.

“Who gives this woman?” The officiant interrupted Charlotte's ponderings as she suddenly found herself at the front of the room.

“I do, her father”, Wilbur replied, Charlotte smiled slightly to herself as she thought she heard the slightest bit of pride in his voice. Wilbur directed Charlotte to where she was to stand and took his seat.

“Arche Wolfson, please begin with the vows you prepared.” Directed the officiant.

‘So, Arche is his name,’ Charlotte thought to herself. Knowing her soon to be husband’s name gave Charlotte a bit of comfort. ‘Wait, he prepared his own vows! Why didn’t my father tell me? Is he expecting me to have prepared my own vows too?’ Charlotte’s mind began to panic at the thought that she wasn’t properly prepared for her own wedding, but then everything quieted at the sound of Arche’s voice.

“Charlotte, on the day when I saw you across the marketplace I knew my time had finally arrived, the day that every werewolf looks forward to, I had found my mate. From the time we are pups, all werewolves are told about the fateful day when they will find their mate. As legend has it, all souls were created in pairs and then separated to be sent to Earth. While on Earth the souls will begin their lives individually to grow and learn, however the souls are always searching for their mate. Eventually, when both souls are ready, the fates will bring the two souls back together to be paired once more, never to be separated again. That is how souls originated and to which they will all return. Charlotte, I vow to be the constant in your life for the rest of our lives. I vow to be your partner in life, to never leave your side. I vow to be your pillar, your comforter, your protector, and your guide. As our souls are intertwined by our fates, I vow to never cause you harm.” Arche looked deep into Charlotte’s eyes as he said each word, Arche’s hands held Charlotte’s tenderly. Charlotte was stunned by Arche’s words and actions. She had never known a man to be so gentle and to speak words so beautiful. Charlotte was so enamoured by his vows that she hardly heard the officiant ask her her’s, she simply said,

“I do”.