The Sweeter the Blood

Colette

"Is it done?" Rupert asked, looking up with hopeful eyes. They were green and brown, earthy, and more alive than anything dead I have ever encountered. The Elders told me that vampires were less than human; they were vile creatures that could lie to your face and seduce you with their gazes alone. They couldn't be trusted as long as you had blood in your veins but I trusted Rupert James with my life.

This binding spell proved that much.

I placed my hand over his heart. I liked the way it felt underneath his skin and bone. It beat fiercely like a bird in a cage. He placed his own hand over mine. His skin was warm where mine was cold. I hope he couldn't sense how afraid I am. 

Our lips found each other in the half-darkness of the room. Meredith and the rest of my coven were probably looking for me and witches were good at finding their own, especially when they wanted them dead.

Our time was running out.

"I love you more than anything in this world," I breathed against his mouth. "You are the best thing to every happen to me, Rupert James."

"As are you, my love." He kissed me once more, the tears that stained both of our lips both salty and sweet. Meredith once told me that his kind couldn't cry. But she was wrong. She was wrong about a lot of things. She told me I wasn't strong enough to make sacrifices; that I was selfish and reckless. Perhaps I was reckless and selfish but I did know a thing or two about sacrifices. I was going to make the biggest one of my life to save the man I loved. Rupert didn't notice when I slipped a dagger out of my coat pocket. 

"We'll meet again," I whispered in French. His eyebrows quirked. He hated when I spoke another language around him because he knew I only did it when something was wrong and even though I thought this was the right thing to do - it hurt more than the idea of losing him did. As I stabbed him in the heart the spell I stole from the Elders, flowed from my lips. I was always good at memorizing things and this incantation was no different. 

"Sanguinem sanguine spiritum spiritus redeat ad me vivos et mortuos." 

If this spell worked, Rupert would wake up in New York not too far where his family lived. He would no longer be Rupert Elliot James but he would be safe. The thirst for blood would be my cross to bear. I would no longer be a witch. Meredith, the Elders, and the rest of the coven would no longer be able to trace me. I'd be as dead to them as they were to me only this time I'd be the creature they taught me to hate, the very one they feared. 

Rupert's eyes stared up at me empty of life. I closed his eyelids and placed a kiss on his forehead. The warmth of his skin was fading and so was the beating of his heart. I could hear it much better now. The spell was working faster than I thought it would. To become a vampire, one had to die with the blood of another vampire in their system but witches were different. The transformation could happen while we were still alive. I could feel my heart begin to race in my chest. I fell back onto the floor trying to breathe through the pain. There was so much of it - the pain. It felt like fire was pumping through my veins replacing all of the blood there with a different kind of magic. Suddenly, everything sounded louder in my ears. 

I could hear jazz music playing in the distance, a baby crying, someone taking their last breath. It was magnificent and overwhelming all at once. The pain numbed eventually and soon I was able to get to my knees. I looked down at Rupert's body. Blood pooled out of him, calling to me in a way that was hard to resist. I could feel my eyes change and fangs slide out of my gums as if they have always been there. Every nerve in my body was telling me to feed while the blood was still fresh but I couldn't. I had to fight the urge to drink, to complete the transition. Just until I found someone else to..."