They tell me that it will all be okay. That one day I’ll understand why they did it and why, for some unknown reason, I’m still alive. And he isn’t.
​
Technically, neither of us were alive by the standard meaning of the word. And yes, he broke the law by changing me. But, it was all in the name of love, and yes I know how cheesy that sounds, but it’s the truth.
The law has been in place for years now, ever since the outbreak started. No one knows where it started or how, but one day they were things of myth and the next, vampires were flesh and blood, roaming around us. It took the military. All of the military, to seal off the city and create new laws. The big one: no vampire could bite a human. They were sustained with animal blood. Well, sustained is probably not the right word, but it’s all I can think of.
I was terrified of them. There were always the rouge ones, the ones who killed for fun and tormented the city. But, they didn’t last long. Some vampires had been militarized and easily took out the vampires who broke the law.
I stayed away from their hangouts, even in the daylight, but one night I was walking home from the library and bam! There he was like something out of a stereotypical romanticized version of Dracula. I remember the way he looked at me. Not like prey, but like he had known me all my life, and when he said my name, I shivered. But not in fear, but because I had heard that voice before. In my dreams. Or I had thought they were dreams.
Darkness in Love
Part I
Darkness in Love
Part II
Dreams are funny things. Most my dreams about the vampires ended with me being torn to pieces. But, the feeling I was getting as I locked eyes with him was that of a good dream, a sweet dream. I stood there, just a few yards from him in the dark tunnel with only the light from the lamp post illuminating the night, frozen. But, not in fear. Somehow I knew he wouldn’t hurt me. When he started to glide toward me, I didn’t take the instinctive step back. I watched with fascination as he stopped just inches from me, the air around me suddenly turning chilly.
“Rayna.” He spoke my name softly and with passion that I had never heard even from my past lovers.
He reached out slowly as if not to scare me and placed his hand on my cheek. Electricity jolted through my body and not knowing what came over me, I reached up and placed my hand over his, feeling the heat leaving my body.
“Devon.” I whispered his name like a ghost.
Something flickered in his eyes as I reached my free hand up to his cheek. We stood there, still as statues, which came easily to him and for me, for an unknown reason, even though I was a naturally fidgety person, it wasn’t that hard. He moved his hand from my cheek, brushed my hair out of my face and leaned down to placed the softest of kisses on my lips. My eyes fluttered closed as sensations flew through my body.
Then, it was like being struck by lightning and my whole world went black.
Darkness in Love
Part III
I felt myself falling through darkness, but it wasn’t a fast, deathly fall. It was like a trust fall in slow motion and I knew that someone was going to catch me. All around me were flashing images. I saw myself with Devon—in a brilliant red dress at a masked ball, running through the woods being chased by men with torches and pitchforks, standing on the edge of a cliff and taking each other’s hands before stepping off the edge into eternal darkness.
I woke with a frantic start and searched the unfamiliar room for him. He was sitting on the edge of the bed, watching me. “Do you remember?” I nodded, speechless. “Thank God.” He reached over and pulled me against his chest and stroked my hair. I could feel tears streak down my face and I could feel them from him dampening my hair.
I pulled back. “How?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know, but I don’t care. I’ve got you back now and I don’t ever want to lose you again.”
I leaned forward and kissed him deeply. A kiss I remembered with every fiber of my being. “Then don’t,” I said and brushed my hair back from my neck. “Please,” I practically begged, knowing all too well what I was asking him. He brushed his fingers over my bare neck and without giving it much more thought he sunk his fangs into my flesh.
The pain lasted a moment, then a pleasure like none I had ever known surged through my body. But, it was quickly replaced by a hunger and there was Devon with his bloody wrist held out to me. I know I should have been repulsed, but all I wanted was him, so I grabbed his wrist and took it to my mouth, sucking down the crimson that poured from it. It only took a few moments before he was gently pulling my head back and kissing me feverishly. He pushed me back on the bed, never breaking the kiss. I was lost in the sensations that were ripping through me.
I barely heard them when they entered. But, he did and he pushed me violently into a corner of the room, while the military engaged him. I watched in horror as there was nothing I could do, nothing I knew how to do. But, the moment one of the military drew blood from Devon, I jumped in the fight, drawing attention to myself and away from him. We fought as if our lives depended on it, which they did. Then, I heard it. A blood curdling scream that ripped through my bones.
I turned to the horrific sound and watch in agony as Devon fell to the ground with a stake in his chest. Pain seared through my body as I screamed. Then once again, my world was jarred to black.
Darkness in Love
Part IV
I woke chained to a bed. Struggling against the silver was useless, but I did it anyway only to be further burnt by the restraints. I searched the room, trying to figure out where I was. The room was sterile like a hospital room, but with a one way mirror opposite the bed. I could see my reflection, but I knew there was someone standing on the other side watching me, observing me. Then, it all hit me hard again, watching as Devon was killed in front of me, taken away from me for all eternity. I scream a gut wrenching scream that rattled the glass on the window.
For a moment I thought it would shatter. I hoped it would shatter.
In the distance, I heard footsteps coming my way. They were walking fast, as if on a mission. Then, a lock was clicked open on the door to the room and in walked a stem looking woman with a jagged scar across the right side of her face. She was military and she was a vampire.
“What do you want with me?” I shouted, struggling once again against the chains.
“Shh, shh,” she hushed me. “You will learn your purpose soon enough.” She ran her ice cold hand across my cheek and I bit at her, but all that did was make her laugh. “You are strong, perhaps the strongest we have ever seen. You will do great things.”
“I will do nothing for you.”
“Oh, you will. You have no choice, if you want to live free of these chains.”
“You killed him.”
She shrugged. “Necessary causality.”
How calmly she said that. Necessary causality. An anger like nothing I had ever felt before bubbled up inside me. I screamed again, louder and at a higher pitch. I pulled at my chains. The woman covered her ears and backed away from me. More vampires in military garb came running in, but they all fell to the ground, covering their ears. I felt the restraints start to weaken and I pulled harder until they snapped like a branch being stepped on in the woods. I didn’t need to take a breath anymore, so I continued to scream and smashed the glass with my fist. I grabbed a shard of glass before jumping through the now open window and sprinting through the facility. I relied on my heightened sense of smell and the scent of grass to get me out of the building.
I came to a stop when I entered the tunnel where I had first ran into Devon. The memory of his skin on mine caused me to shiver, as tears to start streaking down my face. I heard my name on the wind and looked up from the dirt that I had fallen on to. And there he stood. Well, something like him, it was like looking at a mirage when suffering heat stroke in the Sahara. He reached his hand out to me and whispered my name again. There was only one way I knew we could be together. We had tried forever in this life. Maybe, we could be successful in the next.
I looked down at the glass in my hand and without thinking, jammed in into my chest. I didn’t feel any pain. Everything just went black again, but this time when I woke, Devon was standing over me. He was smiling at me and a warmth came over me. He reached down for my hand and I took it. Sparks shot through my body as I got my feet. He took my face in his hands and kissed me gently.
He took my hand and we walked toward the now rising sun at the end of the tunnel, fading into the light.