He tried to convince her several times. She always said no.
As the little girl grew older, a fear started to grow inside of him. At first he didn't pay a whole lot of attention to it. But then she was no longer a little girl. Now she was an adult. She had less time to play with him. That was fine, though, as much as it pained him to admit that she had responsibilities and... well, more important things to attend to. Still, at least she still visited whenever she could, back then. On the occasional weekend when she could afford to stay up so late.
Soon little Mina wasn't so little anymore, at twenty two years old. Less and less time spent with each other as she grew into adulthood, but... that was not what he was truly worried about. True, the average lifespan of humans compared to when he was among them was much, much longer now. Still, still... It would happen eventually. She would wither away, her body would deteriorate, and she would...
...
Die.
Having lived for more than seven hundred years now, and with no plans of dying any time soon, he simply couldn't fathom it. He didn't think about it much when Mina was such a young little girl, but now the years seemed to just fly by, as if his friend appeared older ever time he so much as blinked. Maybe it was just his own paranoia, he thought. In any case, it scared him. It scared him very much. He did his best to smile through it and be cheerful for her, even as her visits were less and less often, over the years. Twenty, thirty, fourty years.
"Let me turn you," he'd said. "The both of us could live forever." No matter how many times he insisted, she said no. Her own mortality only showed her that she should treasure their time together all the more. That's what she told him. The words only made his dead old heart clench painfully within his chest, though. No, no. No-
Why did she always have to refuse? Mortality wouldn't even be an issue if she'd just let him- .. A few times he pondered doing it anyway. Biting her as she slept. However, he knew she would only hate, despise him for that. If he did that, she wouldn't be able to go out in the day anymore. She'd have to live like he did, feeding off of the blood of the living. It was a strange feeling. He wanted her to stay forever, but at the same time...
It was too late now, anyway. Currently it was eleven PM, nobody around at this hour, and he sat on the edge of a hospital bed, gazing at an old woman who seemed to be barely managing to hold onto her life. They held onto each others' hands loosely, as if they were simply waiting... for..
The vampire was snapped out of his thoughts by the old woman's voice. Calm... "I don't like it when you look like that, Count. Please-"
He frowned apolagetically, shaking his head. "I'm sorry. Ahh... How are you feeling, Mina?" An attempt at the wide, fond smile she was so used to seeing. Obviously fake, thinly veiling a massive amount of grief, but a small part of it was genuine. She could tell. Seemed as if it was time to get her words out, though. She felt as if she was perhaps running out of time.
"Listen, Vlad. Try your best to move on, okay? I don't want you to be torn up over this for too long. If anything, please, remember everything we did, all the time we spent together, and smile. Okay?"
God, he hadn't cried since... since maybe before he was even turned, but he felt as if he might just shed a tear. Or twenty. Instead, he swallowed down a huge, heavy lump in his throat and nodded, lips pulling back into a smile that was of mixed sadness and joy. Truth be told, he had no idea what he was supposed to do with himself after this. Nonetheless...
"I vill."
After that, silence. A long few minutes of silence, before his superior hearing caught a change in Mina's breathing. Was it just him, or was it slowing down...? The old woman's hand was squeezed more tightly, though still gently, as her breathing softly tapered down. Slower, slower...
And then, it stopped.