I woke with the sun. Half-opening my eyes, memories of the night before flooded my brain. I smiled and snuggled closer in to Christian's chest. Suddenly, my eyes flipped open as I remembered everything else. Where we are. Who was after us, well, really who was after Christian. Not wanting to die naked, should they find us before we get a chance to leave, I pulled out of my love's arms and got dressed, before shaking Christian himself awake, and telling him to get dressed and leave, we've got some running to do.
Blinking at the sun, he pulled some clothes on and watched as I got breakfast together. For myself.
Christian peered into my pack, and smiled. "Eggs, bread, cans of soup, bottles of water, the whole frickin' Harry Potter series. How long were you planning on camping out behind my house?"
"As long as I needed." I replied, before taking a bite out of a hard-boiled egg. "I wash kinny deloofinal." I tried to say through the egg still in my mouth.
He laughed "Can you repeat that?"
"I said, I was kinda delusional. What didn't you get about that?"
He rolled his eyes.
And that was the start of the epic journey. Moving and sneaking and kissing and talking and laughing and hiding and "vamping out" and feeding and eating and reading for about a month. As scary as our journey was, it was the best time of my life. I was glad to know that it would last all of my life. But my brain shied away from the end of my existence. I was scared and depressed for Christian. For the fact that he would have to be alone for all eternity after I was gone. I couldn't stand leaving him all on his own. But I decided that if he couldn't have me for all eternity, the time he had me would be filled with so many good memories that it would be almost like I never died. Or so I hoped.
Except for the looming threat of my death, everything was peachy until that night. Everything was lovely, until we heard that noise. Or more accurately, Christian heard it.
"Listen." he said, coming up for air in between kisses. "Can you hear that?"
I strained my ears. Finally, I heard a rustling of leaves.
"It's them." he said "I know it."
My heart began to beat a violent tattoo on the inside of my ribcage. "Are you sure?"
He nodded.
"How can you know?"
"Instincts." he whispered "Never doubt the vampire instincts."
"Okay." I said, struggling to keep the panic out of my voice. "Okay, I'll pack."
I began to fun around, putting cans and eggs and loaves of bread away.
"Erin. Erin, stop."
I complied. "But they're coming, we've got to go."
"They can outrun us." he said, calm as anything.
"Then do your vamping-out thing and carry me away."
"No use." he replied "They can still outrun us. Besides, I'd end up biting you."
"So we're just gonna give ourselves up?!" I whisper-yelled angrily.
"No." he replied "Of course not."
"Exactly." I said "So we need to pack.
And I began bustling around again.
"Erin, look at me."
I did as he said. In his hand there was a wooden stake. Sharp enough to pierce skin with one light touch, presumably pulled from his own pack. I immediately knew what he wanted.
"No." I said "no way you-you can't kill yourself-"
"That's right." he agreed, still calm "I can't. It's not physically possible. That's why you need to do it. You need to stake me, finish packing, and hide. Run to the nearest town once they leave, and start a life there. Maybe even Map Quest a way back home. Say I was eaten by wolves or something. Just don't cut yourself on your way out. Vampires can smell blood. We're like sharks." he held the stake out to me "Go on. Do it. I just can't let them get you."
I shook my head, and pushed the hand with the stake back at him. "No, Christian, I can't-"
"But you can."
"I can't." I repeated. "We have to make some sort of effort to get away."
"But we can't get away." he said again "It's impossible. But you can. You can get away with your humanity, with your life."
"I don't want to live without you." I whispered.
"Yeah, well, I don't want you to die or get turned because of me." he shot back "I need you to do it."
With shaking hands, I took the stake and walked toward him shakily. I kissed him once more, briefly, and whispered "I love you." against his lips.
"I love you, too, Erin." he whispered against mine and drew back slightly, eyes pleading with me to do it and do it now.
I plunged the stake through his heart, and he fell back off it, dead. At the wet sloop! sound the stake made, sliding out of his wound, I began to sob. Then positively wail. I looked at the death insrtument and his body. I remembered what I said earlier I don't want to live with out you. It was true. Christian was gone and I didn't want to live anymore. I pointed the stake, still wet with my love's blood at my own heart, and the crying stopped. In just seconds, I would be reunited with him. I couldn't wait. Smiling, I plunged the stake through my heart.
In the last seconds of my life, after hitting the forest floor, stake still lodged in my chest, I saw five pairs of feet run into our clearing.
"Would you look at that?" said a voice from above my head. I tried to look at who was making it, but didn't have the strength.
"Yes." said another "It looks like someone already did our job for us......"
And then came the black. But through the black, above my head, I saw Christian, my true love, with a hand extended in my direction. Getting up from the forest floor, suddenly possessed with a strength far beyond that of any Supreme Court Vampire, I flew to him, through the night sky. Joining hands with him, together we glided to the only star, the long dot of light on the horizon.
