A Destined Death (20 page)

“It’s like we were meant to be,” I whispered.

His fingers curled under my chin. “We
are
meant to be. That is why our bond reaches beyond death.”

I sucked in my breath and put a hand over my mouth. “I died and you…you were left behind so many times. You couldn’t save me. How awful! I’m so sorry, Draven!”

“I’m sorry I let it happen.” His eyes held a strong regret.

“No. I saw it all. There was nothing you could have done. They…I loved you more than life. I still do.”

His lips touched my neck before he gazed at me intently. “Now you understand what I couldn’t tell you. My eternal life has been excruciating without you, and because of that, I make this vow to you now: If I lose you again, I
will
die with you.”

The conviction he put behind the oath was so intense it scared me. “I won’t die then.”

He smiled and rubbed his cool hand over my cheek. “Yes, you will, but…let me kill you, Elizabeth.”

I felt silly giggling when he spoke so seriously but it was such an odd request. “So when you say that, you’re really asking me to become a vampire?”

“Yes,” he breathed. “I cannot make love to you again until we are one. Spend eternity with me.”

The softness in his eyes made me want to say that I would gladly spend three eternities with him but dying and becoming something else scared me. It was too serious of a question to answer him on the spot. I found myself unable to say yes, but still unable to say no. “I…I couldn’t kill anyone. If I were a vampire, I mean. I couldn’t take someone’s life, even for my own survival.”

“There’ll never be a need.”

Perplexed, I widened my eyes. “What do you mean? Don’t vampires––”

“Relax, Elizabeth. There’ll be plenty of time for you to understand everything.”

“You’re so different from those vampires in Paris.”

He rubbed his finger over the cross around my neck. “There’s good and evil in every species. When we’re turned, a madness takes over and many succumb to the darkness. Your cross may have actually slowed them down. I’m not evil.”

“Why didn’t you succumb?”

He laughed easily. “Because I was in love.”

“And you’re sure I won’t succumb?”

“I swear it. Our bond has strengthened, and we are one again. With that much love in your heart, evil cannot exist.”

Feeling reassured, I propped my head on my fist. “Can those vampires do what you do?”

“No. Most vampires spend their existence hunting. I’ve met very few that care about humans at all. They stick together in groups, raising hell and moving around a lot. They particularly enjoy human disasters, plagues that offer easy feeding and little chance of being caught.”

“And you don’t?” I asked awkwardly.

“A few of us, who enjoy a life of solitude, find out how far we can stretch our abilities. Teleportation, for example, is an attainable goal if one takes the time to channel their concentration properly. I’ve mastered it,” he said, placing a kiss on the back of my hand. “I’ve actually spent lifetimes trying to find ways to impress you.”

I flushed, and my heart melted into a little puddle under the bed. I snuggled in close to him, enjoying the feeling of his cool flesh. “I’m so glad you’re not a ghost.”

He laughed but I heard the surprise in his voice, “I suck your blood until you can hardly stand and it’s fine but if I were a ghost that would be worse?”

“Definitely,” I told his chest. “If I couldn’t touch you…”

He hugged me as if to concede.

“Tell me how you became a vampire.”

He sat up in the bed and leaned against the headboard, pulling me with him. His eyes darkened as he gazed toward the window. “It was January 15
^th,
1944 in San Juan, Argentina. We were scheduled to be married in a small church. You were the most beautiful bride I’d ever seen. I’d snuck in to see you that day before the wedding, and we almost made love beforehand but you sent me away to wait until the time of the ceremony. It was hard for me to leave you but in that day, sex before marriage wasn’t acceptable, especially for prominent couples. We were both looking forward to the wedding night…but it never came.

“An earthquake hit and collapsed every building in the area. Beams from the bar fell on me, instantly trapping me underneath the rubble. My ribs were crushed, and a metal rod stabbed through my heart. I heard my best man calling to me but the life was rushing away from me so fast, I barely had the chance to call your name… ‘Alicia.’

“It was my final word before I awoke, drinking blood from my best man’s wrist. I thought I was dreaming when I watched him pull the rod out of my chest and throw the beams off me like they were made of cardboard. The transformation took nearly fifteen minutes, all of which I spent in agonizing pain. I had no idea Armando was a vampire but he saved my life that day. He made me immortal. As soon as I was able to forge any kind of thought, only one thing crossed my mind––you, my beautiful bride. Armando helped me. He tried to get me to your side in time. He did everything he could...” A sad remorseful look passed across his face.

“It was unbearable when I found you. You had died instantly from the impact of the ceiling. I begged him to help you too but he couldn’t. He said it was too late. Rage struck me, and I blamed him for my life. I didn’t want to…I couldn’t live without you so I sent him away. I was so angry, I told him I never wanted to see him again.”

I sighed and closed my eyes when a tear ran down my cheek. “I’m so sorry.”

“I blame myself.”

“Where is he now?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. France, I think.”

I could see the pain in his eyes so I tried to calm him with a light mood and a subject change. “You’ve waited four lifetimes for me? That is so sweet!”

Happiness returned to his eyes when he looked at me. “Yes.”

“What else? What about coffins?”

“I don’t sleep in a coffin. I don’t really need to sleep at all unless I use too much energy or don’t take any blood. I sleep mostly when I’m missing you or waiting for you to grow of age.”

I suddenly realized how hard it had been for him to stay away for the last two years. I knew what the aching behind his eyes had meant. I hugged him firmly while tears formed in my eyes. “I
have
tortured you. I’m so sorry.”

“No,” he said, placing more kisses on my neck. “You returned to me.”

“Sunlight?”

“I’m afraid I cannot go out in the sunlight,” he said seriously. “Overcast skies are fine, but not direct sunlight.”

I gulped silently before I turned away unwillingly.

“How are you feeling?”

“Honestly, I’m completely overwhelmed. I’m still trying to absorb everything.”

“Regrets?”

I smoothed his face with my hand. “None that involve you.”

“Will you marry me, Elizabeth?”

The sincere look in his eyes had me casting an inquisitive glance. “Do you still want to kill me?”

“Very much!”

Brushing my cheek across his stubble, I whispered into his ear, “Swear you’ll love me for all eternity.”

“I swear it.”

Happily, I leaned against him. “I know I don’t ever want you to leave me again. It hurt so badly, I felt like I was being ripped apart from the inside.”

“Trust me,
I know that feeling well.”

Even though I couldn’t see his face, I felt the deep sadness in his voice. “My blood sugar’s low,” I said, trying to jerk his attention away from the subject.

After we dressed and went to the kitchen, I popped at TV dinner into the microwave. “You seriously don’t kill people?”

“No.” He appeared less tortured when he sat down at the kitchen table. “I have a servant, a surrogate, at home who gives blood freely. I pay well and they take care of my affairs. I find it gives me more free time for important things like finding you and trying to keep you alive.”

His usage of the word
they
sounded very suspicious. Unconsciously, I turned to stare into his eyes. “You keep servant girls in your home?”

He smiled, holding in a laugh. “You’ve never let me have a girl. I don’t mind though. I’ll do anything to make you happy. I’ve gotten you someone as well. She’s very willing to please and she’s anxious to meet you.”

I laughed, my face turning crimson. “You’re serious? You have a personal blood bank waiting at home? This is crazy.”

“I’ve had decades to put this plan into place. All that’s left now is for you to say yes.”

“How can I say no? You’ve already told me you won’t have sex with me again until we’re married. That’s a lot like blackmail or extortion, you know, and they’re both against the law.”

Draven chuckled, but as I ate his mood shifted darkly. He appeared deep in thought, and when I finished, he rose and paced the kitchen restlessly.

“What?” I asked cautiously.

He turned to me, his face serious. “Elizabeth…I need you to understand something. We will not have a chance to repeat this. I told you that if you die before I change you, I will die with you. That’s the truth, but I don’t know what that will mean for you in your next life. You’ve always died so young even when I tried…”

“That’s in the past,” I insisted.

“That’s not my point,” he said, sounding tortured again. “You could hate me for my decision, and I wouldn’t blame you. We’re soul mates, and I will be abandoning you. I cannot be reborn like a human. If you never find love in those next lifetimes, it will be my fault.”

“But you could change your mind.”

He shook his head. “No, I can’t, and when you were one, I took measures to ensure it. I’ve put in a request with an Ancient that I trust in France, and he’s sworn to take care of things if I don’t change you or if you die before I get the chance. He will hunt me down and kill me. He’s given me his word.”

With wide eyes, I stumbled to his side. My voice was no more than a whisper, “Why?”

“Do you remember what you said, about being ripped apart from the inside?”

I nodded.

“Imagine going through that as many times as I have. I
will not
go through it again, Elizabeth, and if I lose you again, I would rather be dead.”

Tears fell down my face yet I instinctually tried to calm him. “Don’t leave me, and it won’t happen again. I can feel it. What’s her name?”

“Who’s name?”

“The girl, the one you got for me.”

With his chuckle, everything was all better. “Candy.”

Even with tears running down my face, I laughed so hard I lost my balance and nearly tripped on my way back to the table.

He smiled too when he sat down across from me. “Why do you ask?”

I wiped my leaky eyes with my fingers. “Do you think she’d be my maid of honor? At the wedding, I mean.”

“You don’t have any good friends?”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course I do. Let’s see, there’s you and Tommy, oh, and Hecate. She’s great but she looks really bad in a dress. It’s not pretty.”

“That’s a no then?” he asked with a smile.

I ignored the question. “Where does she live? I mean, I think it would be a little crude to just meet her one day and say, ‘neck please, Candy.’”

He chuckled. “I suppose she wouldn’t mind if you met beforehand.”

Grateful for his light mood, I stood and walked over to the fridge, creating at least a three-second distance before I started the fire. “And, of course, we’ll have to find Armando to be your best man,” I said.

Draven didn’t move, but his eyes closed, and his face turned unreadable. After almost ten minutes of silence, he finally spoke. “After the things I said to him…”

“It’s what I want. Surely after, what…sixty years, he’s forgotten by now. And if he hasn’t forgotten, he’s probably aching for your forgiveness just as badly as you are for his.” When he didn’t respond, I continued, “Please, I feel responsible.”

“For dying?” he asked crossly.

I didn’t give in. “Yes, for dying.”

He inhaled deeply before he met my eyes and softened. “It’s what you want?”

“Yes.”

“Then it will be so.”