“WHAT? Are you out of your fucking mind?!” I spat at him, talking a cautionary step back.

Sadness befell his handsome features. “It aches my heart to inform you that you’re dead. The cancer treatment didn’t work.” Kay shoulders sagged as he looked at the floor.

No... No fucking way...

“You’re lying you conniving son of a –” I raise my fist to hit him but he catches it instantaneously.

“Look at you!” His urgent voice froze my movements. “You aredead,Ruella.... The only thing stopping your soul from travelling into the afterlife is me!”

I peeked at my hospital gown. It was dirty and torn in bits and places. I raised my arms slightly and saw that they were turning grey...I was decaying.

“You see now?”

I whipped my head up to meet his eyes. Kay was heartbroken.

“The only way to save yourself is to become a vampire. I’ve come to offer you a choice...” His voice was breaking. It was hurting him to see me like this.

“I don’t believe this....” I trailed, staring at the cuts and bruises on my dead body. “I should be alive but I died.... Dr. Alcott said I would survive.”

“I know.” His voice was like a caress. “We argued with him about this and he said that the cancer got aggressive very quickly and that’s why it wasn’t possible to save you.”

I thought about his offer. “What would become of me if I became a vampire?”

Hope blossomed in Kay’s eyes as he smiled at me. “You’ll live with me in my mansion. I will take care of you and teach you how to control your urges.”

“My urges?” I asked suspiciously.

“The urge to kill any living creature which has a heartbeat. Bloodlust.”

“All the more reason for me to turn down your offer.”

“I won’t let you hurt anyone, Ruella. I will be there with you every step of the way.”

I barked out a laugh. “You ran out of the hospital room, Kay. You will help me? You couldn’t help yourself then!"

“But I can now!” He said suddenly.

“How?” I rolled my eyes. “Do you know you terrify me, Kay?”

“I–”

"You promised to take care of me! You promised to be gentle with me! You promised to support me in everything!”

“I LOVE YOU!!” His voice was booming over my own.

I flinched. ”What?"

Kay was crying now. “I’ve fallen hopelessly, madly, deeply in love with you, Ruella.” He sniffled. ”You’ve changed me as a person. The mo-ment you sauntered towards me that day with your kind eyes, pretty smile and your innocence. I was head over heels with you. My heart ached to have you near me. When I close my eyes, I dream of you. That day when you told me about your cancer diagnosis, my world felt apart. I told my parents about your condition and they bother asking questions. Gavin and Clara were very supportive of the decision to help you. When your health started to decline, I couldn’t sit still. We decided that if the treatment doesn’t work, we will offer you the choice of immortality.”

“And if I say no?”

“Then, I won’t stop you, Ruella. You won’t be able to achieve your dreams. You won’t be able to see the world from a new lens. Vampirism has its pros and cons. Immortality will help you achieve and succeed in life.”

“And what are the cons?”

“You won’t age. That’s one of the most common aspects of being a vampire. Your skin will be youthful forever. There are people out there–witches, banshees, he said lowly, who hate us. They want us dead. But if you stay away from them, they won’t lay a finger on you.”

After thinking about Kay’s offer, he appeared before me at the station. “I consider your offer.”

Kay’s body relaxed after I told him.

“Now, what?”

“Now, I bite your neck.” Kay vanished and I felt the side of neck erupted in flames as something... or someone bit my neck. My vision went black and I was engulfed in darkness.

***

~ Kay

Cries escaped her mouth and she wrestled in my firm grip on her to be released.

“It’s okay, Ruella. You’re safe. It’s me.” My hot breath fanned her ear. It was killing me to hold her in an aggressive manner. I don’t like to manhandle the woman I loved. “Breath in and out.... slowly. Don’t focus on the pain.” I whispered, sounding calm when I was actually feeling the opposite. I didn’t want Ruella to feel my emotions in my desperate attempt to save her soul.

“K-K-Kay... I can’t... It’s burning me.” Her eyes were streaming with hot tears. Her mouth was gasping for air. “Why can’t I see? It’s pitch black!” She cried in frustration.

“You soul is fighting between two worlds Ruella. It’s rare for a dead person to experience this. If you calm down, it will be easier for it to finds its place back to you.” My fingers gently wove between her right hand. She gripped them for dear life.

I heard a door open to my left and hurried footsteps began to encircle around me till they came to my left. The process was going smoothly so far. The only thing to be afraid off, was that the window to Ruella’s soul leaving for after life was limited. I had to hurry. Ruella thrashed in the bed, screaming in pain. Her arms were hot with fever, the vampirism taking over her body. This was walking through a furnace for her.

“You’ll break her neck Kay. Be careful.” Clara warning came, next to me. I only grunted in response. I was being gentle. I want to be the gentleman for her.

The fire in her veins was moving down her chest and abdomen. Her heart was galloping in her chest. Her skin and hair was brimming with sweat, the bedsheets soaking with it. I closed my eyes tightly, not to be distracted. But that wasn’t all. Ruella moaned in pain as headache formed in her temples. She hit her fist on the bed grunting, groaning and crying.

“How much long Kay?” Clara’s asked anxiously.

The fire was now at her thighs and quickly reached the pinnacles of her body– her toes. My sharp teeth carefully released her flesh making it exposed to the air. “It’s done, mother.” I said with a sigh, wiping away the blood with a handkerchief I kept on the side table.

I took a lasting look at Ruella’s sleeping form and wrote a note on the sticky paper. Clara was watching me sadly on the threshold of Ruella’s room, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. I then proceeded to walk out of the room, closing the door with a click behind me.

Clara smothered her skirts in a nervous attempt to quell her nerves. I’ve never seen her this nervous. “Mother, are you okay?” I asked gripping her shoulders softly.

We took our seats outside the passageway. There was a table surrounded with five seats, the golden glow of the chandelier casting it in warm glow. I admired my father’s taste in design. He may be an aloof and unavailable to me and my sister, but with regard to knowledge of architecture and aesthetics, he was the best in it.

Mother nodded quickly wiping the tears of her cheeks. “Yes, son.”

“You are crying? I’ve rarely seen you cry...” It was heartbreaking to see my mother cry. We’ve been together in so many ups and downs. She was the one who helped me control my bloodlust when I became a vampire at fifteen. I was a scared little boy then, who didn’t dare to venture out of his room fearing that the entity was out there to kill me.

“I remembered the day when I found your lifeless body in the passageway.” She shuddered. “My whole world came crashing down, seeing you smeared in the thick blood that coated the hallway.” I gripped her hand, now cold. “S-she... Ruella... her pain reminded me yours– my fifteen year old son, my Kay. You think she will be able to handle her bloodlust?”

Now that was a question I dreaded. Turning a human into a vampire wasn’t that hard, but controlling their urges was their sire’s responsibility. Our kind wasn’t the only supernatural species in this world. Ruella is aware of that fact.