Vampirical -- Lauren Jauregui x Reader

Epilogue

"You okay, baby?" I hear a familiar voice ask softly, breaking through the noise building up in my head, "Bad dream?"

I nod, too out of breath to speak, and roll onto my back. She lays at my side with a gentle smile, and my eyes dance along the grey roots of her hair.

"Same as always." I manage to breathe out, referring to the reoccurring nightmare I've been getting ever since that fateful night.

"Well, I'm still here, chicken nugget." She chuckles, shuffling over and resting her head on my shoulder, wrapping her arms around my waist and lazily kissing my neck.

"It still feels weird," I admit, laughing slightly at the way her lips tickle my neck, "Seeing you like this, I mean. I'm not used to it."

"I know. I look more like your grandma than your girlfriend." She chuckles, sighing contently and gazing out of the window. One of the things that haven't changed about her is her incredible eyes.

I laugh at her joke and take one of her frail hands in mine.

"You still look gorgeous." I compliment.

When Ally gave us the option of her turning her back into a human - a real, living human - I was absolutely devastated at how quickly Lauren sacrificed herself; Because that's what we thought it was, a sacrifice. It turns out, she's merely aged into an elderly version of herself within just a few seconds, and then slowed down to a much more regular ageing speed. I still remember the moment she woke up, as it plays through my mind every day.

I'd been hunched over her figure for hours, the wolves had left and the girls back in the house, packing their things to leave. The hot tears hadn't slowed down. As I tightened my fist in her shirt, I felt a hand weakly touch my back. I thought one of the girls had returned to comfort me, but then I heard her voice.

"Please don't cry, my love."

When I looked up, she looked relatively the same as she does today.

She'll likely still die way before me, but it's a lot better than we thought it'd be. Plus, by that time, I might be able to convince her to let me turn her back. In the meantime, my girlfriend who is really hundreds of years older than me and used to look the same age as me now looks about 50-60 years older than me. Yeah, I couldn't wrap my head around that for a while either.

In gratitude for my compliment, she leans down and gently kisses me, letting go of my hand to cup my face instead. I kiss back feverishly, as I always do after dreaming of her death. Soon, though, she has to pull back to avoid her lips turning too blue.

I reach over for the blanket, wrapping it around her shoulders before laying my head on one of them. Oh, how the tables have turned.

With a sigh, she leans down and kisses the top of my head, shivering at the action which makes us both laugh softly.

Unable to stop myself, I bring my nose to her neck, a place which I often litter with hickeys now, and take a slow inhale. I'm like she used to be. She smells incredible, like the finest meal you've ever eaten is just sitting there on the table, teasing, but you can't start it yet. Because I've never had human blood, she's the only one I want, though I haven't gone to school in this new place yet. What's the point if Lauren isn't there? She can teach me everything, anyway.

"I'm sorry." She breathes, teeth chattering slightly at my closeness.

"Why?" I frown, keeping my eyes glued to her pulse point and vein. When she's human, there's one vein in her neck with stands out sometimes. It only teases me even more.

"I know you want to taste me. I know how that feels. I'm sorry that you can't."

Ignoring the innuendo besides a small eyebrow raise, I shake my head.

"I can wait." I argue, "And if you will never allow it, then I will survive. The deer around here taste pretty good, anyway."

Her laugh, one of my favourite sounds, floats around the room for a moment and I know I've done my job.

I love her. She loves me. Despite our rather unusual situation, we've got everything we need and we're happy. Isn't that all anyone wants?

—
See? A happy ending.

And that's it! Thank you all so much for sticking by this book, for adding it to your reading lists, for voting and commenting and convincing me to carry on! This book started out as a 'oh, let me just try this and see how long it'll last', it was my first published book on this account, and it's come way further than I thought it would! So thank you!

I hope you guys enjoyed it and with this book finished, I can start planning more... make sure you follow me (@canola_jauregooey) so you can see when I publish a new book, of that's what you want.