Jack floated down the twisting halls back to his abode, as he entered into his room, he called out, "Leslie..."

"Hmmmm?" Leslie sat up in Jack's evening tomb revealing her bare body. Exquisite in her own right, Jack enjoyed the candy-like view. Long black hair that flowed like water as it swept down her shoulders, with those perfect oriental features. He remembered a saying from his last world. A proverb, as it was called. Though Jack couldn't remember the exact saying, he could roughly remember, [beauty to drown fish and cause birds to fall from the sky.] Though, he wondered if he was to use this here, would he have to change birds to bats?

Coming back to his sense Jack approached the side of his evening tomb, and sat, while he waved his hand, his laptop flew to him from its perch on his desk.

Leslie knitted her brows, as she felt that something was off, but didn't know where to place her finger. She waited for Jack to speak.

"Let me see," Jack spoke aloud, as Tux flashed onto the screen of his laptop.

"Tux is there any information on Vampires and Vampire culture?" Jack asked aloud, while Leslie looked on with mild amusement now that she heard the question. Considering Jack just came back from taking his pet for a bath... This made sense to her.

"There are twenty-one tomes concerning Vampires within Tux's Library."

"Anything on marriage practices?" Jack asked as Leslie's brows became tighter on her face, even as her smile still hung on her lips.

"There are two tomes of this nature."

"Tux, please inform me of the significance of a female vampire pulling out her still beating heart and giving it to someone," Jack asked finally.

"Reporting to Creator, Ancient vampire tradition has it that when a female vampire swears her mind, body, and soul to her lover, mate, or husband she will forcefully and painfully extract her own heart by her own hands in a gory display of devotion and love. She will then give this heart to her lover. If her lover accepts the heart, they are then bound by the same ancient vampire laws of marriage. This form of marriage is outdated and seen as the most barbaric of traditions. It is rarely used as of the writing of this tome ten thousand years ago."

Jack would go pale if he had flesh and blood, as he opened her robe to stare down into his rib cage at the beating heart of Eris.

Leslie became dazed after hearing this... She had her own thoughts and concluded it had to be Eris. Now hearing the process and the meaning, this was two different things.

"Tux... Besides marriage does the heart mean anything else? What about divorces or disputes of marriage?"

"This form of marriage is known as the Bloody Heart Marriage. This was condoned by the Vampire God Alucard. At the time of writing, this marriage could not be disputed even by the Vampire God himself, let alone the mortal ruler of Vampires or any other vessels. As for divorce, it is very simple... Crush the heart to kill the wife. True Death do you part."

As the words of Tux lingered in the air for a moment, they soon became fleeting and left the room in silence. Jack and Leslie were completely silent at this moment, as they both looked to each other. Jack sitting on the side of the evening tomb, and Leslie glancing from Jack's face to the heart in his rib cage and back to his face.

Jack unconsciously reached into his rib cage and lightly held the beating heart. He felt it quiver in his hands. He thought of it before, but he didn't want to admit it... He greatly enjoyed the beating sound of this heart, and the rhythm it brought.

Leslie watched his action, as she sighed, "Haaa~ So, you married her before me?"

Jack released his grasp of the heart, as he put up both his hands in defense, "I DIDN'T KNOW!?"

"You watched a strange woman pull out her heart and give it to you, and you just took it? No questions just went... Yup, I see no problems with taking this crazy woman's heart and put it in my rib cage for safe keeping, can't be any problems with this, nope, nope, nope..." Leslie spoke with a harsh but teasing tone.

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"She made it out like I held her life, and if she got out of line, I could end her!"

"What a good wife she is, huh? You hold her life in your hands. Forbid it to be if she displeases you, and a simple squeeze and that's her end, huh? Why are you bathing her as a pet, if you hold her life? Shouldn't she be bathing you? Your servant?"

"Ah... Well..." Jack rubbed the back of his bald skull under Leslie's scolding.

Leslie was very annoyed, but soon she calmed down after her first emotions passed... Finally, she opened her mouth again, seeing Jack's slumping posture where she had beat him down.

"Do you want her as a wife?" Leslie finally vented enough to get to the topic.

"I... Uh... No... Not really."

"Excuse me?" Leslie tilted her head unsure what you make of Jack's refusal.

Jack raised his hands in defense again, "I mean... At one time, I thought having a harem of women would be nice. You know. Being lonely like I was... More the merrier, but... Then... Well..."

Leslie laughed at Jack's awkwardness, "Come now, speak. What is it?"

"...You..."

Leslie tilted her head.

"I love you," Jack said with complete sincerity.

"..." Leslie had heard these words from Jack twice before, but only in passing... Almost like saying goodbye, but this was the first time she heard him say them with confidence, conviction, and sincerity. This filled her with warmth, and everything she thought of earlier seemed that it was no longer as important, as her thoughts spun.

She got up on her knees and made her wait to Jack's side to embrace him with her nudeness. Jack without hesitation returned her embrace, as he squeezed her to himself, feeling the pressure of her body against his.

She spoke feeling secure, "I don't think this is a bad thing, per se. While I was caught off-guard, I know you didn't take her heart knowing it was for marriage. Since it seems that even her father, which I take it a Vampire King can't stop this marriage now... We can use this to our advantage."

"Mmmmm, We could." Jack agreed.

"Also... She's very beautiful."

"Mmmmm, she is." Jack agreed.

"Is she more beautiful than me?" Leslie probed.

"No."

Leslie pushed herself from Jack to look up at him in astonishment.

Jack seeing her face of shock wondered what was wrong, as he asked this, "What's wrong?"

"You're... Telling the truth???"

"Well... Yeah."

"But... She... She's almost unreal in beauty! I'm a woman, and even I see her beauty! She must have succubus in her bloodline! How can you possibly say and mean that I am more beautiful than her! I know I look good, but I have a mirror! I know what I look like!"

It was Jack's turn to be dazed...

[Is she angry? Why is she angry???] Jack thought to himself, as he put his hands around that thin waist of Leslie's and pulled her back into his embrace, as she spoke to her.

"Leslie, my honey ghost, listen to me. Beauty to me is more than just looks. Yes... If I base that question on physical appearance only... Then Eris is without a doubt more physically beautiful. So much so, that it hurts to look at her at times... BUT, I don't base it only on appearance. Listen to me, I mean what I said. You are most beautiful to me because of the way you carry yourself, your air about you, the way you act, that quirky personality, your charm, that seductive voice, and that tempting smile you use on me... This combined with your appearance is your beauty. Never let anyone say you are not Eris' equal, because to me you are her superior."

At the corner of her eyes, black tears formed and threatened to spill... Not because of these sweet words and honeyed phrases, but because Jack really meant them.

Jack released Leslie from his grasp, and then took her skeletal hands into his own, as he lifted them to her eye level, as he spoke again, "Eris might have given me her heart... That's a custom, and it does mean a lot, but you without question... You gave me your hands. These hands became like this for me... Of your own choice."

Jack took her hands and rubbed his forehead against them in a loving way, "I love these skeletal hands, as I love you."

Seeing her skeletal hands joined with Jacks, she could see that black ring on her finger, which represented Jack's promise to wed her. As she looked at the way the light twisted and bent as it fell into the ring, she felt her heart tighten. Those threatening tears no longer threatened as they spilled from Leslie's eyes. Jack wanted to panic at the sight until he saw Leslie's beautifully wretched smile behind those tears. She threw herself into Jack's embrace again, as they held each other for a period of time.

After a period of time, Leslie finally vented her love. Hearing Jack's real thoughts, she was able to kill a large heart demon, and she felt that it would be soon before she would break into King Rank herself.

Leslie extracted herself from Jack as she looked up into those flaming eyes, "You should return to your blood wife... You came back so quickly, I doubt you finished bathing her, right?"

"Ah damn! I bet she's waterlogged!" Jack stood up.

"Jack..." Leslie cooed.

He, in turn, looked down to Leslie, as she slipped back into his evening tomb, "I can recognize her as your official THIRD wife. She will not be before me, and you can entertain her at your leisure. After all, a husband must perform his husbandly duties... But not with her today. I expect you to come back here as soon as you're done with her bath and talk. You still have your husbandly duties to perform with me." Leslie spoke with a seductive tone, causing a tingling and burning feeling inside Jack's soul. He wanted nothing more than to forget Eris and dive into this evening tomb now. He suppressed this desire.

"I'm going to give her a ring, as well." Jack floated to the door, as he was about to open it. He spoke as if asking a question.

"As long as it doesn't look like mine, I don't mind," Leslie said with some humor.

Jack nodded, and left the room for Eris, with his laptop in hand.