“There is nothing for you to do. I will do it all. I will guide you.” He shook his head as he looked at her. “You have made me very happy, Marion. I must tell you something before we do this.”
“Anything!”
“I have never been in love before I met you.”
Marion started in surprise, but recovered quickly. She leaned forward on her hands and brought her lips to his chest, kissing it several times. From underneath her prettily arched eyebrows, she looked up at him and said, “Nor have I.”
Relief wafted over the naïve vampire and he whispered, closing his eyes underneath her kisses. Almost to himself, as though to convince himself that the decision he made was a sound one, he breathed, “I do not want to spend eternity alone.”
Her lips turned upward and she sat back on her heels, tilting her head in a most appealing way. “You won’t have to now. You will have me.” His heart warmed at the words. She looked around and saw again the empty brandy bottle. Pouting at the sight, she whispered. “None left.”
Joshua smiled. “Is there ever any left when you’re around?”
She picked up a pillow and threw it at his head. He laughed as it bounced, mussing up his hair. He looked very handsome and she came forward to kiss him. “I just wanted a sip to give me courage.”
“I will be your courage.” Without warning, he pulled her to him and sunk his fangs into her neck. She wrestled against him in surprise for this was the first time he did not tell her what was coming. He drank fast and her head swam with dizziness more than it ever had. Fear gripped her and she tried to push him again away, fighting for survival out of primal frightened instinct. He was to kill her, she was now sure of it! She yelled out and thrashed but he did not ease up. Soon her arms could no longer fight. Her legs lost all mobility. Her eyelids fell and her heart slowed almost to a stop. She was dead. She could feel nothing anymore. An angel was calling to her, repeating one word: “Drink.” Am I in Heaven…? “Drink,” it said again. A thick liquid touched her tongue and sharp, stinging tingles charged into her veins. “Drink.” Her lips strained to receive the sweetest nectar she had ever known, greater than any wine, than any love she had ever made, than any pleasure she had ever felt, ever. Her eyes flashed open and she grabbed onto the source of the wonder – his arm which had been cut for her. “Drink Marion. Drink and be with me for all of time.” She sucked at his skin as her body began to change. Fire stormed through her and every cell became alert. “Drink.” She could even feel her hair, how soft and magical it seemed. “Drink.” She began to writhe on the bed and make the most hideous noises. Joshua had watched the transformation with loving awe until this shift. The site of her lashing about and moaning like an animal disturbed him. His mind raced to remember if this had been how he had acted, and he could not remember having done so. “Marion, stop,” he said. She did not hear him. Her grip was firm with both hands digging into his flesh so that if he had not been a male with all his preordained greater strength, the little Marion might have ripped his arm right off.
“Enough!” Joshua yelled as he shoved her from him. Her teeth ripped back a great deal of his flesh as she was forced back. In alarm, Joshua looked at the folded flap of torn skin. The sight was grotesque. He pushed it back down so it would heal. He had seen Ludovico’s head grow back after the battle with he and William, so he knew intellectually that it would heal, but experiencing it first hand was a whole other matter, and it threw him off balance in his mind. “What the devil!” he muttered, smoothing his broken skin and watching it begin to repair though not as quick as his elder’s had.
Hearing a noise, he looked up in time to see Marion lunging at him, leaping through the air. He ducked quickly and she landed on the floor
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