Romeo and Juliet: A Vampire and Werewolf Love Story (19 page)

Juliet and I had planned out exactly we were going to do it. I even told the DJ on my side to play
some nice instrumental music o
nce I started talking
.

I could see Juliet at one side of the white stage and we were waiting for our cues. The music was to stop
,
then the side of the tent walls
were
to be let down so
that
guests c
ould
see the stage.
The stage had a beautiful white-
dove theme backdrop. It looked like something out of a dream.
I was very happy to this point, that everything was going according to our plan.

I looked down
at my watch. I
t was only seconds before midnight.
Then like a well
-orchestrated symphony, the cues
went as per
fectly as follows: The music shu
t off
by the DJs
. Then the side drop
s
of the tents
fell and all the guests turned their attention to the stage.

The first person out from the Montague tent was Mercutio. I looked over and saw
that
the first person out of the Capulet tent was Tybalt. Great
,
the two hot heads
were
leading the charge.
This should be interesting. After hearing Tybalt’s rebel yell last night, I was starting to question my sanity of bringing my family down here.

But the lights came on
at
the
stage and I heard the sweet sounds
of instrumental
music
light
ly
playing. The cues couldn
’
t have gone any better if I was a stage manager for the Ahmans
o
n
in Hollywood
.

I stepped forward and I was miked up
and looked across at Juliet, who
was also miked up on her side.
I walked onto the stage and simultaneously
,
Juliet walked out to me. Neither on
e of us were talking, but were in full view
of both families. We just stared into each other
’
s eyes and slowly walked toward each other without a worry in the world.

The closer we
got to each other, the more it
did feel like a wedding.
I couldn
’
t imagine proclaiming my love for a
woman
in a grander way.
We were now standing facing e
ach other, n
either one of us reaching out to the other.

It was time for me to speak. I said, loud
ly,
so
that
everyone could hear me
,
“In this life, we have been given a great givt>
gift
than that. We have all been given the gift of having a wonderful family.
But, this week I have discovered
a gift
, an
even greater
gift
than that.
”
I paused and there was absolute silence. No one was saying a word. They were just looking in
our direction as if
they were witnessing a horrific traf
fic accident that left them spee
chless.

Nevertheless,
I continued, “This week
,
I met the love of my life. Not just this life. Any life
that
I would ever
wish to be in. I have found my hope
.
I know… she is my one true love.”

I expected a huge uproar
,
especially on the Capulet side. But there was still silence.

Juliet then sp
oke. I wasn’t sure if she would, but I hoped so
.
“I have always known that there was a part of me that was incomplete
,
waiting for the right person or thing to come in my life. I wasn
’
t sure what it was but when I saw Romeo, I knew I had finally found the one
thing on this earth I was destined
to live always and forever with.
”
Juliet paused.

Again
,
silence echoed in the night.

Then Juliet surprised even me. She s
aid, loud and clear, “I love him!
”

I looked at her and was shocked and immediately yelled out,
“And I love her!
”

I wish this was the part where I can say everyone agreed to resolve their differences and Juliet and I lived in
peace and
harmony through
out
the rest of our very long lives. But, that
wasn’t
reality. When hate
ran
as deep in two families as it
did
with the Capulets and Montagues
…
not even young love c
ould
cure it.

Tybalt yelled, “You will continu
e to love her over my dead body!
”

“Did someone say the
y
wish
ed
they were dead!” Mercutio yelled
out in Tybalt’s direction
.
Mercutio
,
my dearest friend in all the world
,
had a streak in him that I hated. He c
ould
get himself really work
ed
u
p and tonight was no exception.

I caught Mercutio’s eye and shook my head. He bulldozed on in the same vein.

“Who the hell do you think you are
,
Tybalt?”
Mercutio then stepped forward in a challenging stance.

“Who am I?” Tybalt responded.
“
You dumb peasant. I am a man who sticks to his morals. Unlike yourself. You mock the underworld
by
being both warlock and werewolf.
”

It appeared that Mercutio seemed impressed that Tybalt not only knew him, but even had a reason to hate him. One would think that would be enough for his ego. But Mercutio had to raise the stakes even higher.

“
Don’t frown because you’re jealous of the gift set that the gods have bestowed on me.”

“The gods?” Tybalt abruptly laughed out loud. “The gods of what…Chihuahuas and poodles? The fact is, i
t doesn
’
t matter to me what
you are. You are the one non-M
ontague I
’
d like to see dead.
”

“That is where you and I are
the same, but different. You
’
r
e
the only son of a bitch I want to see dead
,
and I wanted to see it for a very long time.
”
Mercutio leaped
onto Tybalt,
holding his rapier
in his right hand. He had his
silver
stake over his head.

I was horrified.
This was exactly what I didn
’
t wa
nt to happen. This was the worst-
case scenario.

One of the wait staff dropped a tray of blood-filled goblets and they shattered.

In that instant, when everyone’s attention, but mine, was slightly diverted by the sound,
Mercu
tio turned into his werewolf for
m
, still
holding the stake
. He quickly struck toward
Tybalt
’
s neck. The w
ay to kill a vampire is by puncturing
one side of the neck and shoving it through the other side. Once the silver blade
c
a
me out the other side
, the vampire was completely dead
. Then
,
poof
!
T
hey are gone
, vanished
.
They disappear forever. With n
o sign that they ever existed. That
was
the price of being immortal. When you d
id
die, there
was
no trace of
them
. It
was
the same for werewolves. Werewolves
could be
killed by a simple silver stake
,
directly
piercing the heart.
When werewolves did die, we also just disappeared and nothing was left—no blood, no clean up. Nothing.

T
h
is
scene was not a good one.

“
No one else turn
!”
I yelled
. “Juliet and I
want no one else to fight. This is not
why we called you down
here. We want this t
o be a celebration. Not an excuse
to fight.
”

No one else turned
.
Thank God. But that didn
’
t stop Mercutio and Tybalt from fighting.
I wanted to get
e="+0">that silver stake away from Mercutio
.
It was obvious that Tybalt had no such weapon.
If I could at least get the weapon, I
could make sure no one
would
get killed. They could just beat each other up for a
while. I decided the best thing to do was to get t
he rapier away from Mercutio. If I could disarm him, it
could look
like a neutral action on my part,
to
ward
both families
, e
specially
, due to the fact that Mercutio wasn’t a family member to either side
.