24. U and UR Hands.

The House of Monaco was a damn good headquarters. It just was, even if I was on a computer or on the phone very much of the day, I enjoyed it. First, the views were stunning, and although it wasn't as remote as some places here, it had peace of its own. The peace of doing things at your own pace, not having to worry about other members of the pack.

Sometimes I might have fleas come by to bring some plans or satellite images and we would go over them together. It was good to concentrate on work and gigs and not think about our fight with Damon.

We'd gotten a pretty big batch of guns from Reddington, and Jake had just brought them to me the day before when I was sitting on the porch again in the morning thinking about it. I'd only been on this for five days. We had a hell of a lot of bases all over France, and one of the bigger ones was very close to Monaco, so we had visitors now and then.

This was a big house with a huge basement space I hadn't used yet, so I put together a group of workers; these were the fleas who weren't out in the field; they were building and researching and whatnot. I asked them to make me a shooting range and a sport or exercise track in the basement.

I had been thinking a bit about Adam's throw about my road rage and realized that if I could get my rage properly vented with indoor practice, it would be much less. So that would help, too. The staff came that day in the evening and got to work while I was trying to study about a thousand satellite images and deduce where there might be a medical facility that we should be watching.

That was also quite a job. First, we had to find the facility and then get confirmation that it was a bad facility. And when it was not so straightforward job either. And if the suspected facilities could be ten or more, even though we had people, then I or other analysts had to find the most likely targets. And then send observers to the sites. So every site that we got down and out of operation was actually dozens of hours of work, and there could be quite a few people involved.

And since all the fleas were based on volunteer work, I couldn't force people to work through the night. So that was also a problem. Maybe when I found a site and passed the information on, someone went to investigate it and then went home, but the site stayed until someone else took it on.

Jake and Magnum had made a board where everyone would mark the item they were investigating. Then you could see what they had found out. You always had to put updates on the board. So often when I went to the base, there were boards just like this and lots of them.

But now I was in Monaco trying to find the targets. 

We went by satellite images when we were looking for certain things. First, if a building was marked as empty and it wasn't. We used computers to search for this kind of information from satellite images, and when there was some sign of activity, we marked it.

Well, then you had to see what the activity was. It could be something completely innocent, like an old building being sold or put into use, but you went there to investigate. Well, the satellite only noticed that there were people in the building when there shouldn't have been, so the fleas would then try to find out who the fuck was there.

If they were businesslike, then it wasn't a target, but if they weren't, they would continue working on the site. The next step was to see if the activity was ongoing or if homeless people or a youth group were going on. We would look at the site with the satellite for a day or a week, or we would put scouts on the site.

Satellite images of various buildings, where activity shouldn't have been spotted, cluttered my desk. Still, we had to find out that it was a pharmaceutical plant, not a drug gang convention, so we had to monitor it. Suppose we found any clues of other activity. Still, if it wasn't related to what we were searching for, we passed information on if that activity was illegal.

We'd contact the police, share our information, and they'd try to investigate it officially. They couldn't use anything that we had found; they had to find it themselves, and often, there were police patrols and plainclothes police in the area, and they could do their job.

We had many people analyzing these pictures, and we worked as a team. We looked at things together, and it didn't depend on one person's opinion.

I'd been in Monaco for two weeks when a flower delivery brought me a hundred huge dark red roses with passionfruit flowers among them.

It came with a note saying, " Still wanna marry me? Damon." And a phone number.

I texted, " Of course, my love, I wanna marry you if you wanna marry me."

 After a moment, my phone rang; I answered, "Mimi Salvatore."

Damon chuckled and said, " Really, baby, you will not be Springcove anymore, are you? Where are you off to? I've been organizing our wedding with Adam and Samuel for several weeks now. What are you up to?"

I laughed and said, " Monaco, flea work, mostly paperwork, or at least going through it. I'm trying to find targets, and yeah, I got a range built here, so I've been testing out the new guns that came in from Reddington. I have a gym or an obstacle course here. Yeah, I'm not a Springcove. I get a better impression of Salvatore." 

Damon laughed out loud and said, "If you don't mind the baby, go right ahead. I'll let you know what day the wedding is, and then it'll all be a surprise for you. I want you to remember this wedding always and forever. And baby, I don't know. I don't even remember the whole thing that I sold your information, but maybe it's better if I'm not involved in the planning of the gigs; I have blackouts sometimes, so I don't trust myself. I can come with you on the rush gig, but not on something that I might screw you guys over to Sark or whoever."

I said, " Yeah, maybe, and maybe one day you'll find out why you're blacking out and how you can prevent it, but fine by me, I'll get on with it. Let me know when you need me. Love you."

Damon said softly, but his voice was different again, sharper and more precise as he replied, " Love you too, darling.."

He hung up. I thought for a moment and called Dresden. I told him about the entire week of stabbing and healing, also that darling flashed by now and then. I told him how Damon's voice was changing, and I also mentioned the whole lifting on the wall and the smell of wet dogs. I was pretty worried about this darling side. I didn't want that side of him to be on display too much because he was an unpredictable character then.

Dresden said he would make another drink, but he didn't think there was any harm in the guy per se. It's just Damon's vampire side that's probably more on display. He couldn't say anything about Damon's blackouts or the side that had been looking at me like a piece of meat. He just said that Damon is an old creature, and they can be pretty unpredictable. I gave Dresden my thanks and reminded him of the wedding. Yes, he knew the date, but he couldn't tell me. He'd be there.

There were plenty of gigs. Now I have gone to do them again and have been successful. There was more activity in France, and either Jake or Magnum kept me firmly safe at every gig. We got another enzyme plant down and I did no less than four rescue jobs.

I was on a roll. I also got a lot of jobs planned and distributed. We found a lot of targets and got surveillance in place, well the police got some work too as we uncovered some drug dealing and gang crime, not the good guys. Mimosa drew up six different kill lists, which I sent to Reddington and then also to Magnum and the other hit squad organizers.

Reddington came by actually once, we had lovely time; he wanted to see my headquarters, and I gave him a tour. We talked little bit of everything; I did tell him about Damon and he was quiet, not much saying anything about that. When I told him that prophecy came true, at least partially he as surprised as he had almost forgotten it but he realized it too. I told him few things on gigs, and he had this need to get bad guys out of the business and even he tried to sell himself to me as criminal he really wasn't one. He was grey, middle of bad and good. More of the good side.

I didn't bother Adam now because they obviously had a wedding in mind. I knew there would be some shadow fleas at our wedding, but I didn't know who yet. I knew the guest list would be long and extensive. There would be fleas, Jake, Ruby, Sapphire, Penn, and many more—a three-day wedding.

I didn't know what to expect. I wasn't what you'd call a wedding nut, but it would be an experience I wouldn't forget for a while. Probably. There was not a quiet moment in my daily life between gigs. I returned to Monaco only to find a gigantic pile of satellite photos and information on my desk. I had had little time to explore those guns or try out the gym or training room made by Magnum, designed for the rage. 

I was soon to see it when a text message from Damon arrived on my phone saying, " The wedding is on the 6th of June; come to the castle on the 5th of June. love Damon." That was less than a week away.

It was then that I realized the wedding was approaching and approaching ominously. The dress was ready, designed, and fitted; the hairdresser ordered, and the makeup was all done. And the castle in Italy was getting prepared. I wouldn't go there until the day before. Damon and the others were probably already there.

I was talking to Jarod and said, " Just think, after I had agreed to Damon's proposal over six months ago, that's when this whole thing started. It's nothing, but not when he had to grab me almost immediately to have another stabbing session. And this time, he also broke all my ribs and didn't let me heal right away. And all because of fucking paintings. The original vampire Nick liked to paint and had painted me. For a little payment when I rescued some of his vampires from one nasty facility and ruined baddies' plans for making weapons against him. There was always a little thing about it I thought was funny, but it made Salvatore's blood boil. In the painting, I had fang marks on my neck that always dripped a few drops of blood."

I sighed, remembering the entire scene in my mind. Well. Photographic memory, curse, or blessing?

I continued. "Damon destroyed the paintings, walked away, threatened me telepathically kidnapped me, stabbed me until I was no longer healing, tied me on my back or drugged me standing up so that he sent fear and terror into my head and then calmed me down and started stabbing me at the same time. He usually called me darling, which I had now associated with this very dangerous side of him, which I didn't want to face. So when Nick had found my six sides, I didn't know what the bad thing was. "

Jarod chuckled and said, " Your life certainly hasn't been boring. Is it fun to be immortal, the kind where you're always getting better, and then someone uses you to throw a tantrum? "

A sound came out of my mouth that was something between a snort and a chuckle. "It's not always. It's a big fucking advantage sometimes, but not always. After that job, I required surgery and a week's feeding when I grew a full set of organs. It revealed that I have a special enzyme that helps grow organs, but I am a weirdo, so my enzyme went rogue, and I was stuffed with organs. And that's not all. The gentleman sold the information about my enzymes back to Sark and refused to talk about it. He had just looked at me like a piece of meat and threatened to hurt me badly. So I let it go. I've just concentrated on the gigs after this, yes he sent me roses and everything. I'm happy I didn't have to do anything for the wedding. '"

Jarod replied, " Yes, I can say I'm not jealous, though I could be. I have my life, and oh, how it seems quiet compared to yours. But you have your own purpose, and I'm sure the wedding will be great."

I laughed genuinely now and said," Or not, but that remains to be seen. "

Jarod talked to me for a few more minutes and then hung up. I sat at my desk, pulling my hands through my face and hair and sighing heavily. Sometimes, I just wish for an everyday life, but it's not always like that.

I received another message from Damon a few days ago before the wedding, telling me some things about our wedding.

Our wedding was going to be a three-day affair. Even the Vice President was coming. An enormous bunch of vampires too, the Elders again, but now no weird rituals to do, werewolves as much as Bran could invite. Everyone who wants to stay will be put up in the Italian castle. There's plenty of room, and I have our own honeymoon suite reserved. I haven't seen it, I'm told, surprise, surprise. Sometimes I think this is going to be a real surprise wedding.

At least we'll be able to socialize. But then again, as far as possessiveness and jealousy go, Damon is fantastic at it. Every day I'll have a new outfit, the first day we're actually getting married, but then I hear there's everything from dancing. Dancing was one thing I was nervous about, but Damon said it would be fine as long as I followed him.

I knew there would be fleas, regular and shadow members, and Jarod. Damon has never really seen Jarod, so maybe they will get along as well as he and Jake did. It took a few days to clear my desk, and I did not know where we were going on our honeymoon.

I did not know how long I would be away from work. After our vampire wedding, we had gone all over Romania and dedicated hotel honeymoon suites, and somehow, I didn't think that was what we would do. 

So I went to the airport. The email had told me about the airport and what time the plane would pick me up, so now it was showtime, and I was to get on the plane and fly to Italy.

I'd just been on a rush job in Germany, a fucking difficult job, it took us thirteen hours to destroy the whole fucking plant and save people, and my blood was required and a lot, I felt slightly anemic, but I'd probably remember to drink some blood somewhere in between. Doing gigs is sometimes really enjoyable, but sometimes it becomes a job. But it's essential work.

Saving the lives of those 432 people was a very good thing, but it always came back to me when I went to the morgue to photograph the 69 victims; there were hundreds more victim photos on the computer, autopsy reports, and people I didn't have time to save. My one irritating feature of probably all of them was my self-reproach. 

Magnum had been with me in the morgue, and after I had sighed and everything, he had said, " You can't save everybody."

I replied, " These victims died three weeks ago. The first victims, this facility, had been under surveillance for two months. Oh, fuck if I had known to make this a priority earlier. "

Magnum said nothing; he just grunted, and I knew I was right.

I got to the airport, and I knew the flight wasn't that long, but it was part of the job that I was flying to Italy. I didn't even know where Damon would take me on our honeymoon, and I didn't care; I just tried to focus on our three-day, once-in-a-lifetime spectacular wedding. I left work behind for now and took my role as a bride. Not innocent, not really, but experienced. 

I knew that even though we were a wedding couple, there would be a lot of negotiations and conversations that were not really about us, but that didn't bother me. Because Bran has invited all the werewolves in the world he can get, and I know he's looking for fleas there and trying to contact them.

I hoped the wedding wouldn't be boring because I didn't think I could socialize with some dumb bimbos for three days while giggling under Damon's arm. I wanted to talk to friends and acquaintances, eat well, and maybe play some stupid wedding game, but no boring introductions to men and women I didn't know. That's Bran's specialty. Introducing people to each other, and especially to me.

I didn't know if there would be a lot of Damon's ex-women like there had been in our vampire weddings, and then if there were, what would be the consequence? I had limited or hoped that Adam or Damon wouldn't invite a lot of fleas, especially men because I didn't want jealousy drama. 

 The flight went surprisingly quickly, and when I stepped off the plane, a limousine was reserved for me. Everything was pre-arranged. Fine, I boarded and drank a pink strawberry champagne. Someone had a set activity in mind. Suppose I knew my future husband at all.

I arrived at the castle, and someone had put it in order. I bought this a few years ago, and it was shabby and abandoned. I had started to put it right, but as often happens in our pack, something came up. Now and then, it seems like nothing else is happening when something else comes up.

Someone washed the marble benches, tended the lawn, and ensured the seats were spotless. Somehow, the entire castle was tidy, with the vines growing along its walls in bloom, the wisterias gorgeous. The courtyard looked lovely, and someone had washed the fountain, filling it with crystal-clear water. The tiling pattern was visible as someone had removed the weeds between the tiles and cleaned and repaired any damaged ones.

I stood in the courtyard for a while and looked at the decorations and the beautiful flower vines that were hung here and there. It looked like a wedding venue, and I couldn't help but feel butterflies in my stomach.