I gazed at my lover, my friend, and my companion for the last time with these human eyes, and I sighed. My William. Soon he would be my William forever. His pale smooth skin reminded me of pebbles at the beach. Surrounding his face was a spiky crown of jet-black hair; his lustful red eyes held my gaze, smouldering me.

He placed his cool hands on my face, holding me. Maybe he was trying to memorize my face now so that he could remember how much he thought I was giving up. He was so protective that he thought I should have every human experience possible. I begged to differ.

“Are you ready, my love?” he whispered.

I nodded enthusiastically. He leaned over me as I lay on the makeshift table in our cave, his perfectly white teeth gleaming in the candle light. I felt his cool sweet breath on my neck, making me tremble with excitement. A low growl trembled through his body as he lodged his teeth around my skin. I frowned; knowing that this hurt him would have been enough to not want him to change me. However, he had insisted that I was too precious for him to kill.

There was something I wanted him to know before the screams and flames came, something that I hoped would carry him through the three days of watching me tortured.

“I love you,” we both whispered.

I smiled; we were two of one piece destined to be together. Lose one and the other has no purpose.

I screamed as his teeth sunk into my neck, my blood pouring out. I clenched my fists, digging my nails into the palms of my hands, trying to hold on to consciousness. It was no use as the flames consumed my mind and body.

It felt like I was being thrown into the deepest pits of hell. I could feel the venom spread further and further, down to my toes and the tips of my fingers, alighting my hands with fire.

I heard through the screams of my own voice my love crying tearlessly.

NO, I commanded myself. No more shall I scream and cause him pain like this.

I found my mouth and closed it; I found my limbs and held them. I would not cause him any more pain.

I do not know when or how I controlled it, but I felt like I wasn’t being thrown down into fire, but rather like a feather drifting down into the flames. It wasn’t sleep. I knew I would never have that again. It was as if I had retreated into the corner of my mind, where only the tips of the flames could scorch me. I stayed there.

No longer could I concentrate as my frail heart beat faster than humanly possible as the fire retreated from my limbs, having consumed everything. I felt like someone was punching a hole through my chest repeatedly.

My heart struggled through its last breathtaking pound that was so loud, I felt it echo off the rock walls. And then it stopped.