The Best Way to Kill Your Boyfriend

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Holy darkness. His blood... It rushed into my mouth. Beautiful. Incredible. For a frightening moment, I became a vampire again, someone who would suck him dry without a second thought. It was so delicious, so satisfying. But something stopped me. Somehow, I was able to take my fangs out of his vein, my mouth off his neck. I looked down at Jake, bloody and unmoving, and panicked. What if I had been too late? Done something wrong? Took too much blood? Not transferred enough venom?

I put my head on Jake's chest and listened. Silence. Then - a beat. Another one. His heart was faster than usual, reacting to the fire of the venom, pumping it through his bloodstream. Saving him. Healing him. Turning him into a vampire.

I shouted at the crowd until they calmed down. I was still their queen. They had to listen to me. 

I ordered some guards who had finally appeared to keep an eye on them. I announced the deal with the werewolves, not saying what we had gotten out of it. Anna and Asher loped away with that strange lupine grace. 

I carried Jake upstairs, to my room. I set him down on the bed and stood at the end. Soon the screaming started. My heart broke every time it happened, wishing I could take the pain away, but his heart still beat strong. I listened to the sound as I waited...

And waited...

Two hours. Five. Ten. Twelve. A day. Two. Three. My throat was burning like the sun. Three days and eleven hours. Four days. Four and a half. 

A week had passed when Jake's heart suddenly stopped. 

He slowly sat up and opened his eyes. They were red as blood. His skin was pale like mine, and as he gaped at everything he saw with his new, eagle-like eyes, I saw that his teeth had become vampire fangs. Eventually, he looked at me. I couldn't read his expression. I took a step forward, and when he didn't say anything, approached him cautiously. New vampires could be unpredictable.

"Ashleigh-" he started.

I interrupted. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to turn you into one of us, but you were dying - you would have died - I couldn't -"

Jake stood up and walked towards me at vampire speed. I was still talking, apologising, but he stopped me - by kissing me.

It was even better than the first time, when he was still human. After a while, we broke apart. 

"All I want," Jake told me, "Is to be with you. I don't care that I'm a vampire, because it means that I can, the way I want to, instead of being afraid all the time." And when he smiled at me, that same smile I had loved from the very start, the only thought in my mind was, Blood is overrated. I just want this.