“No!” he howled.
I could feel his arms around me, trying to pull me forward. It was the worst pain I had ever felt and I knew the audience heard. The show must go on.
“I’m not letting you go, Amy. No. This life isn’t worth living without you!”
“Liam,” a voice spoke that I had never heard before, and I glanced up to see a man from another time. Clad in what seemed like priest robes, with long hair and chiseled features. I tried to place him in the show, but couldn’t. Still, he stood there, towering over the rest. To my confusion, the vampires backed up, sinking to their knees. Liam turned, not letting go of me.
“Elias,” he said, his voice muddled. “Please. Please save her. Please.”
The one he called Elias shook his head. “This is not my choice to make, Liam. It belongs to you!”
“How!” Liam said. “How can I do this? Selene’s death will make me human! I cannot save her!”
“Selene doesn’t have to die!” Connor spoke up, and the others turned to him, slowly.
I felt sleep take me and a warmth spread over me. This was it, this was what death felt like. I had spent my whole life wondering what it would be like when the time came. But I hadn’t imagined it like this. I had imagined my withered body, hospital tubing and my sobbing father. I hadn’t seen it backstage with my father’s spirit waiting for me and my fiancé crying.
Elias smiled at Connor. “We mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” He looked upon the coven of vampires, as if he were a proud father. “If you here tonight understand that lesson, then you give me hope that vampires can continue to coincide with humans for all eternity. This has been a bloody fight, and I applaud your effort in it. And with Selene’s death comes your freedom, but at the price of more than one innocent. We made you vampires long ago, but we did not make you monsters. That is for you to decide.”
I fought with all my strength to raise my head, and look at him.
“Who are you?” I asked, my breath coming fast. I could feel my heart struggling to beat and I knew my time was drawing to a close. He bent down, a soft smile on his face.
“I’m the very first vampire, child. And I do not wish for us to end here. What you share with Liam, and the love I see here in this coven is exactly what I and others like me have been working to create for centuries. That vampires can co-exist with humans.”
“My father,” I sobbed. “My father is dead.”
“Yes.” He didn’t hide that fact from me. “But this supernatural world exists so that nobody is ever truly gone. For when one is lost, amends cannot be made, love cannot be created, grudges cannot be forgiven. Nothing can ever truly be mended if the chance to do it is not there.” He reached out to take Liam’s hand and brought it to my neck, where my pulse barely beat. The world seemed to slow down again, and I felt my heart stop, just for a fraction of a second. Liam trembled, but held strong.
“Selene will live,” Connor said, and it felt like he was a hundred miles away. “For I have known love, and lost it, and have been lucky enough to find it again, in a creature nature swore me against from the beginning. I will not let Liam and Amy lose a second chance. Even if it means being a creature of the night forever.” His voice got stronger as he spoke. “Those who wish for Selene’s death must go through me.”
I didn’t know what they did, or what happened, but I did know that Selene remained a vampire. Liam’s face came into my field of vision.
“I’m so sorry, Amy,” he whispered.
I used the last of my strength to bring my hand to his face and draw it close to his mouth, where his fangs protruded. My hand slipped, brushing his lip and revealing them more.
“The show must go on, Liam, no matter what.”
"No matter what,” he whispered, and then leaned into my neck, sinking his teeth into me.
I felt the venom seep into my veins, but after the pain I experienced just minutes ago, it felt like morphine. I can’t describe what transforming felt like. It was like a blessing and a curse. I screamed as I felt Liam pull me from the spike and onto the ground.
The whole world spun out of my vision, and I saw light and darkness collide and a burst of stars. My eyes rolled back and I felt my heart stop, and yet, I didn’t lose consciousness. I felt the venom flow into my body, cooling it and nothing felt natural. Everything felt disconnected and yet connected. I felt strength flow through me and the wound close on my stomach as if by magic. And then, I felt a familiar hand on my arm and I began to breathe again, sucking in deep lungfuls of air as my vision cleared. I looked up to see Sarah’s face hovering over me with a tearful smile. I had healed, I had transformed, and here she was, as if this was her purpose in life, to be here at this moment, to keep me human.
“The show must go on,” she whispered, tears falling down her face.
I glanced down at my stomach and saw the flesh healed. Slowly, I sat up, careful not to move too fast. Selene was now in Elias’s grasp, and for the first time, looking absolutely terrified. I didn’t know what her fate would be, but I had a feeling she would be kept barely alive, and suffer for the pain she had caused. All this time, I had thought it was us breaking the rules, when it fact, it had been her.
Carefully, I rose to my feet, surprised at how good I felt. My mind wasn’t clear, I knew that. To my left, my father still lay, and on trembling legs, I walked over to him, and crouched down.
He was dead, there was no doubt about that. Tears fell as I reached to close his eyes, and I felt Liam’s hand on my back.
“He’s at peace, Amy. He’s with the one he loves.”
“I know,” I whispered, brushing my hand over his rapidly cooling cheek. “I want to leave this place, Liam. There’s been so much death and sadness here, I don’t think I could take it if we stayed.”
He wrapped his strong arms around me, kissing my hair and whispering soothing noises.
“We can do whatever you want, my love. But our experiences make us who we are. Without this place, even in sorrow, we would never be where we are.”
I almost broke down. I had to bite my lip to the point of breaking the skin to keep myself in check. Shakily, I rose again, facing the crowd of vampires who now stood, surrounding Sarah. Tonight, they thought they would become mortal, and because of me, they could not.