And he was just so much like David. If I watched his face, ignoring the deeper, almost timid tones of his voice, I could almost imagine he was David—almost needed to imagine he was so my heart could survive the fear. They say that fear paralyses, but that was the wrong word. It felt more like running full speed, then stopping at a dead end with no air.
Each breath I took responded to my panic, rising inch for inch with Jason’s lips moving down my body. He kissed me sweetly on my rib, running his thumb over the bite, then moved down along my flesh, coming to a halt at the very top of my inner thigh.
“He wanted to bite you here—that day he drank your blood.” He kissed me there. “He was afraid you’d die if he bit you. But, luckily—” He looked over his shoulder for a second, “I don’t have to worry about that.”
No, please stop—please don’t, Jason.
The familiarity of leaves rustling above me with the garden-scented breeze made my heart ache for normality. Even the stars, once so mysterious, seemed only so recognisable to my weary eyes as I watched them, wishing on each one for something, anything to come along and save me from this.
“I’ve already bitten you, Ara. Only death can save you now,” he said, and like a serrated clamp broke the flesh, he sank his teeth into my leg. A surge of agony stole a squeal from my lips; it split the air like a thousand knives through an eternity of silence and echoed off the emptiness all around me. My thigh bone seemed to lengthen with the ferocious burning, making the scream move deeper into my soul—resounding from the back of my throat in the highest save-me-God-save-me pitch I’d ever heard.
“Jason. Stop,” I pleaded, and finally, all life, all sound faded, my cry becoming only a distant shriek, like a whistle blowing. But even when I closed my mouth, panting as the pain blast through my hip, the whistle continued.
Then, I heard a holler: “She’s over here—over here.”
The whistle blew once more, echoing in my mind as if I were spinning in a giant plastic bin.
Jason sighed. “Why did you have to go and scream? Now you’ve ruined all my fun.”
The cold night air burned my throat as it scraped into my lungs, dragging vestiges of Jason’s sweet scent with it—a scent that once reminded me of love, but now, only reeked of cold fear.
He landed on the grass, his body stretched out alongside mine, a cheeky grin putting the vampire to rest. “They’re coming for you.”
I tried to nod. I knew this much, but I knew he wasn’t finished with me yet, either. Vampires were fast—he had plenty of time. Just promise me you won’t hurt any of them, Jason.
His immaculately green eyes softened, turning bright as his body absorbed the life-force of my blood. “I want you to know, Ara—” he leaned down, his deep voice vibrating warmly against my brow, “—I’ve enjoyed our time together, although it’s been cut short. And I will watch when they come for you. I want to see what your replacement thinks when he finds you like this—so broken, so demoralised, just a worthless, unwanted little girl that nobody cared to fight for.”
I swallowed back the lump in my throat. The venom had burned in my limbs for so long now that they were numb to all he could think of to hurt me—except the truth.
Jason was right. David never came for me. Even until I hit the ground, I still, stupidly, believed he would come. And now I would die alone—disgraced, and all hope for an eternity of blood would only ever be a promise I wished I’d made. I ruined my own life by loving a vampire. I should never have loved David once I knew what he was—but I would love him anyway, for all time.
A sharp, tight grip capped my throat, and Jason’s cheek touched my jaw as he sank his teeth into the curve of my shoulder. I laid perfectly still. My body twitched, convulsing without the knowledge of my brain. But I felt calm inside—unable to process what I was suffering.
“Your blood is running thin,” he said, his red, wet mouth right in front of mine.
I studied it carefully, seeing my David in the way he smiled, the way he closed his lips for a second like he was considering kissing me.
“I was considering it,” he said, and he looked up from my lips, his eyes cold again. “I know how much it’ll hurt my brother to see our lips touch.” He came down slowly and opened my mouth with his tongue, sinking it inside with a mix of blood and venom or spit or something that burned the back of my throat. I tried not to swallow, holding my breath, but as I coughed from the burn, spitting back in his mouth, I had no choice.
“Don’t drown in it,” he said, drawing back, then turned my head to the side so the blood dribbled out the corner of my mouth.
It was nearly over now. The nightmare was fading away with the stars in the sky. Only second’s left, I could feel it. I’d miss life—miss David, but at least the suffering would be over.
I felt the fear in my eyes flood away with the serenity of near-death, and I was sure I smiled as I looked up at Jason. “Tell David...I love...him,” I muttered weakly—not a message for Jason to deliver, but a part of the story before the end. David would hear it when Jason showed him the memory, and he’d know that, even in death, it was his name on my lips.
I exhaled and settled back, looking up at the sky; the stars blurred into one thin silver line, and the night sky surrounded me.
For a second, I saw them; Mum and Harry—nothing more than a flash—just a flicker of a memory, standing there behind Jason. They were waiting for me. I wanted to run to them, call to them, ask them to help me—for anyone to help me. But I knew they weren’t really there, and that even if they were, they couldn’t help. There was no help. People died every day. People suffered every day. No one came to save them, and no one was coming for me.
I’m sorry, Mum, I whispered inside, I know you wanted better for me.
“It’s okay now.” The memory of her nodded, reaching out. “Come on, it’s time to go.”
But, I need to see David again—tell him I’m sorry; tell him I want to be a vampire now—be with him forever.
“I know,” she said with a sympathetic smile, like everything was okay. But it wasn’t. Not at all. She wasn’t going to help me. She wanted me to come with her—to end it all right now. Right here.
“Death is only the beginning, Ara.” She smiled. “There is so much more for you now.”
No! I want to go home! “Please?” Cold air brushed out past my lips—colder than it should be. I thought I felt my hands shaking, but wasn’t sure. The only thing I knew I felt was the warm, mucky feeling of something sticky under my head and all over the side of my neck. I struggled to open my eyes—to remember where it was I had fallen asleep, or how I got there. “Mum!” I screamed. “Mum?”