A Taste Of A Vampire

He shook his head and held his hand up to her, though he didn’t touch her. “No! No, that’s not what I was doing at all. I was… tasting you; drinking you in. Filling myself with you. There’s nothing so sweet to me as your scent and flavor. You’re delicious in every way. Your mind and heart, your flesh, your blood… every part of you is intoxicating to me. I must have you with me.”

“You mean these bites on my neck are from you, and they aren’t going to turn me into a vampire?” she asked as terror tightened every part of her body. The very thought of it was enough to make her feel faint.

“No, my love. You can’t be turned into a vampire that way. I have to let you drink my blood… and then, then you will become like me. Then you will be with me forever. Let me give that to you tonight. Let me make love with you again, and give you my own life blood to drink, and we will be together forever. You will feel everything so intensely, so much more than you do right now, and the love that we make will be the most powerful thing you’ve ever felt.” He smiled at her and reached for her again, but she bolted away from him to the end of the bed, nearer the fireplace.

He stared at her in amazement. “What is it?” he asked incredulously.

Claire shook her head. “Nicholas… I was falling for you, but you aren’t who I thought you were. I thought I was falling in love with a human! I didn’t know you were a… a vampire! I can’t be with you! I don’t want to be a vampire! It’s repulsive! How could you even think that I’d want anything like that? I have a life! I want my life. All of it! Every passing aging day, until the day I die. I want all of that, and if you were human, I would want it with you, but you’re not! You’re… you’re something else entirely, and I don’t want a life like that!”

She meant it. She meant every word of it, and she was terrified of what he might do or say, but she had to tell him. She had to fight for her life and what she wanted. She could not succumb to him and his dark life of death and blood, no matter how he made her feel, no matter how much she cared about him. There was just no way that they could be together.

A sickened look came over his face and he shook his head. “No… no, Claire, please… think of what you’re giving up! An eternity with me! I love you, more than anyone ever has or ever will. I want you… I need you. I know that you feel all of that for me as well. I can feel it. My senses are heightened to a point you cannot conceive of, and I know how you feel about me. I know how much you want me, even now, just standing here in front of me. You want my body against yours, you want my lips on your skin and me inside of you. You cannot deny that. You cannot deny that your heart races when you are near me. I can hear it. Your soul calls out to me. Every part of it, just as mine calls out to you; lovers that are a whole together, and pieces apart. You must be with me. Don’t be afraid… don’t tell me that you won’t be with me!”

His heartfelt pleas touched her, but she knew that her mind and heart could not be changed. Tears welled up in her eyes. “Nicholas, I do love you, and I want you more than I have ever wanted anyone, but I cannot be with you! If you were human…yes, all of our lives…I could be with you, but not like this. Not ever like this. It isn’t who I am, it isn’t what I want. You have to understand that. I’m never going to be what you are. I’m leaving England, and I’m never coming back. We won’t see each other again.” She swallowed hard. “This has to be it. This has to be the end of what we’ve found and made with each other.”

She lifted her chin and looked at him defiantly.

He was silent, standing there watching her. Slowly, Nicholas shook his head. “I can’t live after this. I can’t. I don’t want to see another day without you. I’ve known half a millennium of life and I’ve never known passion and love like I have with you. I will let you go, but there will be nothing for me after this. Nothing at all.”

Nicholas walked away from her then, pausing at the balcony doors as he turned and looked over his shoulder at her. “I was forced to be what I am. I would never force anyone else to have this life. I wish you wanted to be with me, but that is a choice that I will give you. If you ever want me… If you ever need me, just call out to me, and I will be there for you. I’ll love you always.”

With that, he vanished in the hint of a shadow, and she was alone in the room again, with her heart in pieces, her body trembling, and her mind feeling as if it had been split wide open.