The Vampire's Dream

19: Happily Ever After(ish)

Most of the trip was spent in comfortable silence as we headed towards the restaurant Gio had picked out. While I did enjoy the quiet I still wanted to talk about something.

"So when exactly were you born?"

"That's what you choose to go with? I thought you were going to ask about the weather or my favorite sports team." He gave me a small side smile.

"We aren't a normal couple, so I figured normal questions were a little too... dull, for us." It was the truth, but I don't know anything about sports and I couldn't care less about the weather right now.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Why won't you just answer?" He rolled his eyes at as he shook his head slightly. I had a feeling that I knew exactly why he wouldn't answer, but part of me was sure that he wasn't being that self-conscious.

"What are they doing?" He was looking ahead at the car headed toward us. I couldn't tell that anything was off with the vehicle, they seemed to be staying in their lane, and there wasn't anything else visibly wrong.

"Haha nice try. Just answer-" before I could finish Gio flung his hand against my chest and pinned me back to the seat just before the other car slammed into us head on.

It's like everything happened in slow motion after that. One minute we were upside down flying over the other car, glass was flying everywhere and I could hear the screams leaving my throat but I had no power to stop them. The next we were upside down and spinning across the road. Once the car finally stopped moving it felt like all the oxygen was gone. I gasped trying to fill my lungs but nothing was happening. I grabbed for my seatbelt to undo it only to realize I was stuck. Something was mashing against my chest. I began full on panicking, I couldn't move this thing, whatever it was, and I Couldn't breath because if it. Black spots began clouding my vision just before I saw a small movement out of the corner of my eye. I felt A slight pressure before I felt like I was floating. I could breath again. I sucked in air like I had never breathed before. The air felt like razor blades in my lungs but it tasted so good. My vision slowly came back and I realized Gio had gotten me out of the car. The cold wet pavement felt good against my skin as he gently laid me on my back. I could hear his heart racing, or maybe it was mine I'm not sure. I tried sitting up but Gio held me down as he examined my injuries.

"You're already healing, it's a good thing Sebastian changed you when he did or... or else..." I could hear the pain in his voice and I understood why he felt like that. Just the thought of losing Gio made my heart feel like it was being crushed by a snake. The very act of breathing felt impossible when I thought of something happening to him.

"I'm not going anywhere sweetheart, just calm down, and that's not my heart you're hearing, it's his." Gio smoothed my hair back as he nodded toward the vehicle we collided with. "You seem to be okay, and I am perfectly fine. I can't say the same about the other guy. He was drinking and driving. I don't think he is going to make it until the ambulance gets here."

Before he was done talking I shoved him away and jumped up to get to the guy trapped in his car. Everything in my body screamed at me to fall back to the ground and lay there until the pain stopped, but I couldn't let that man sit there and die. I am a nurse, I help people, it's what I do. Gio must have known what I was thinking because he didn't say anything as he helped me over to the car. I peeked in through the drivers window to see just how bad off the guy was. That's when it hit me. The smell of his blood. There was so much all over the car I wasn't sure if he had any left in him but I was dying to find out. I tried to pull myself away from the car but this other side of me was pulling me forward. Part of me saw what was going on and wanted to walk, no, run, in the other direction but the larger part of me was winning. I knew I should get away but my body continued on in the guise of helping this man. I drew closer pretending to look at his wounds when all I could really focus on was the pulsing vein in his neck. When I got close enough I knew I had lost the internal battle, before I could try to regain control I had latched on to his throat. Everything happened so fast, the taste of blood in my mouth, the man slumping over in his seat, and Gio pulling me away. Whatever blood the guy did have in him was gone now, and it was my fault... I just killed that man.

"What did you do?" Gio looked mortified, but why? This is what he wanted right? Now I will be like him forever. "No! This isn't what I wanted... I mean, it is, but not like this! I wanted you to want this. I wanted you to choose this. This wasn't how that was supposed to happen."

"Well it did." My voice was barely above a whisper as I spoke. "Now we have a dead body and two cars we have to figure out what to do with."

"Wait here and I'll take care of this." Before I could blink he was by the guy's car and he was pushing it to the side of the road. Gio rolled the car off the road and into the dich before calling someone, who I assume was Sebastian judging by the way he spoke. He asked him to come get rid of our car and meet us back at the house. "Come on, we need to leave before anyone gets here." Gio picked me up bridal style and took off back toward the house. This was different from the last time we did this, I could see everything as we flew through the woods. It felt as if I were taking a nice evening stroll rather than flitting through the woods faster than the human eye could see.

This was it huh? This was how I officially 'die', if that's what you can call it. I won't be alive anymore, at least not to my family or other normal people. I won't have a heart beat or experience any normal human things ever again. I will forever be frozen in time. In some ways that wouldn't be the worst thing, at least I won't get wrinkles and I will be with Gio forever. In others though, I will never see my family again, I will never have children, I won't get anything I could have had if I were still human.

We arrived at the house in less than half the time it took to drive which is also a perk of this lifestyle I guess. Gio set me down before holding my shoulders softly.

"I know you're dealing with a lot mentally right now and I'm sorry I can't help with that. What I can do is be here. Whatever you need and whenever you need it, I will take care of it... I will take care of you. What happened tonight was partially my fault, I saw you were struggling but I thought-..." I could tell what he was thinking, I was thinking the same thing back at the scene of the accident.

"You thought the good side of me would win. I was hoping for that too. This is going to be hard, for a long time. I can't do this alone and there isn't anyone else I would want to help me get through this other than you. I love you Giovanni Romano and I know that we will get through this together. I made a promise to you the day we got married and as long as you honor your vows I plan to honor mine." A warm goofy smile spread across his face as he placed a soft kiss on my forehead.

His warm breath fanned across my neck as he whispered in my ear. "I need to hear you say that again amore mio." His tone was enough to make me weak at the knees. I loved when he spoke to me in Italian, it is a beautiful language to begin with but when Gio spoke it... words can't begin to describe how much better it he made it sound.

"I love you Gio. I will love you forever and always."