Sleeping Beauty - a retelling

Chapter 4

I don't know how long I've been like this now, asleep but yet awake, but it feels like a hundred years. Every night my dream lover comes to me and take my blood, and every night I'm wishing for him to be Ethan.
I miss him so much.

I feel a presence beside me and I know right away that it's my dream lover who's come back to me, just like he does every night. Anticipation builds inside me when I feel him leaning in over me. I know what's going to happen now, just like I've known it for the hundreds of nights where he's leaned down to kiss me.

He brushes his lips against mine and I sigh with pleasure.

It's when he jerks back in surprise that I realize that I've sighed out loud.

"Rose, can you hear me?"
He sounds shaken to his very core.

Warm hands caress my cheeks, and I feel like crying. I want to answer him so badly. Warm tears slips down my cheeks and by reflex I start blinking.

"Rose."

I see a blurred figure leaning over me.

"Rose, can you hear me? Say something, please," the figure implores. He sounds as desperate to hear my voice as I am to answer.

The blurred figure becomes more clear and when I see who it is I almost sob with relief.

"Ethan." I croak. I barely recognise my own voice and my mouth feels as if I've been gurgling sand.

Ethan gently brushes the tears away from my eyes with his thumbs. His own eyes have a wet sheen to them, but he's smiling all the same.

"Rose, are you ok?" He looks at me worriedly.

"I think so," I say tentatively. My mouth feels dry as a desert.

As I look around I realize, I don't recognize the room I'm in, luxurious and tastefully decorated though it may be. I can't shake the feeling that I'm missing something vital.
"What happened?" I ask, unable to keep the trepidation from my voice.

Ethan frowns. He doesn't look like wants to answer that question. In fact he looks like he's dreading it quite a lot. But he wouldn't be the Ethan I think I know if he took the cowards way out.
Finally he inhales deeply, squares his shoulders and look me in the eyes.

"You ate some poisoned raspberries. You - I'm so sorry, Rose, but you've been asleep for a hundred years." Ethan explains while he looks me over with concern in his eyes.

"A hundred years! How is that even possible?" I croak pathetically, apparently yelling is rather difficult when your mouth is dry as dust.

Ethan silently hands me a glass of water, which I swallow in a few gulps. He refills my glass with a pitcher from the bedside table. While he's focused on filling my glass, I discretely feel my cheeks with my fingers. I'm not feeling any wrinkles, that I know of, but would I really be able to tell by feel alone?
Ethan turn around before I can silently freak out any further.

"The berries you ate where bewitched and put you in an enchanted sleep. When I found you in the forest it was already too late. The fairies had watched the whole thing unfold and they told me what had happened to you. I pleaded with them to help and they told me the only thing that could reverse the spell was for me to become a vampire so I could drink your poisoned blood. That way I could drink your blood and slowly but surely you'd get better."

"You saved me?"
I feel like my heart is about to burst with love. No one else would've gone through so much for my sake. The thought is humbling, and I don't think it's possible to love this man any more than I already do.

"Yes." Ethan takes my hand in his. "I love you, Rose, I don't want to live in a world where you're not in it."

"Oh, Ethan."

Fresh tears fall down my cheeks.

"I don't want to live in a world without you either. All this time, all I ever wanted was to see you again. I want to be with you forever. I want you to turn me vampire too."

"Really, you'd do that for me?"

Ethan looks shell shocked. But there's no doubt in my mind. The lenghts he's gone through to save me, to keep me safe, erase any doubt I might have had.

"I love you," my voice breaks, and Ethan brush away my tears with his thumbs. His own eyes are suspiciously damp too.
"I want to be with you."

Ethan leans in and kisses me. And in that kiss I feel all his love and, his devotion.
"Forever, Rose," he breathe against my lips.
"Forever," I whisper and we seal our vow with a kiss.
Eventualy Ethan breaks the kiss to trail kisses across my cheek, reaching my ear, he licks the shell, then kiss it, before moving to my neck and the little vein in my throat. He licks the vein, making goosebumps break out on my skin. When he begins to suck on the pulsepoint, I sigh with pleasure knowing what's to come next.

I feel the telltale sting on my neck before intense pleasure washes over me as Ethan starts to drink my blood. After he's had his fill he pulls back to bite he own wrist.

"Drink from me, Rose."

I latch onto his wrist and drink his warm, rich blood. The darkness closes in on me and for a moment I'm afraid that the spell hasn't been broken. Fear grips me, but Ethan holds me and reassures me.
"Sleep now, my darling Rose," he mumbles against my hair, "and know that I'll watch over you while you sleep."
His words calms me, and while he holds me in his arms, the darkness claims my consiousness once more.

When I wake up again I instantly spot Ethan, who's sitting beside me on the bed, looking at me expectantly.

"How are you feeling, Rose?"

"I'm... fine."

As I say this I realize I'm more than fine. I can see more clearly, I can smell roses from a nearby garden, and somehow I feel stronger too.

"I - did it work? Am I a vampire now?"

Ethan grins at me, showing me his fangs.

"Yes, you're a vampire now, and all mine."

He leans in to give me a toe curling kiss.

We pull back when we hear cheers outside the window.

"My court knows that you've been turned and they're anxious to meet you," Ethan explains. "Are you ready to meet them?"

I nod, and together we enter the balcony where a crowd has gathered down below. When they see us, great cheers erupts from the crowd. Ethan raises my hand and the cheers become deafening.

"I love you, Rose." Ethan says as he gently cups my face in his hands and leans down to kiss me. The kiss is bliss and I realize that I've just gotten my happy ending.

The End.