Chapter 1

The bed felt cold and empty, as though all the comfort and warmth that the sheets used to provide for the human suddenly disappeared when he realized that Marceline wasn't lying next to him. He stretched his hands to the other side of the mattress and sighed as his fingers brushed only the cotton fabric. Finn grabbed the pillow out from under his head and hugged it to his chest; at least it was better than nothing.

He closed his eyes tightly and tried to force his mind and body to rest, but it was all in vain. His thoughts were swarmed with images of the vampire, her voice ringing through his ears. Every time he inhaled he could taste her sweet breath on his tongue. He didn't think about what had happened just hours earlier when she had tricked him yet again, completely twisting his reality. The anger that had burned inside of him had been extinguished completely, and all that remained was the fact that he was uncontrollably in love with that girl, and there was nothing she could ever do to change that.

Finn kissed the pillow gently and squeezed it even tighter against him. He wanted nothing more than for Marceline to be there with him, to be wrapped safely in his arms. In frustration, he grumbled and threw the pillow across the room. "I can't sleep!" he complained.

Jake awoke from a sound sleep and looked around the room in a panic. "Finn? Are you okay, dude?" he yawned.

Finn pouted and crossed his arms. "No! No matter how hard I try, I won't let myself sleep."

The dog settled back into his drawer and closed his eyes. "Don't try so hard," he muttered.

"Well, it's Marcy's fault," the boy said. "She won't get out of my head. It's bogus."

Jake rolled his eyes and slowly struggled to jump out of his bed. He hit the floor with a loud thud, stretched his arms above his head, and made his way to sit next to his best friend. "I don't know why you're still bothering with that dame, man. After what she just did to you…I don't think it's very cool."

When he arrived home a couple hours ago, Finn told Jake the entire story of what had happened over the past few days. When Finn was at her house the dog had been worried sick and had called Marceline's phone several times to check up on his friend, and she had assured him that the human was safe. When Jake had found out about the trick that the vampire had pulled on Finn, he developed a new distaste for the girl.

"Well she apologized," Finn defended. "She knows that what she did was wrong and she feels really bad about it. I say it's alright."

The dog slapped a hand to his forehead. "You're blinded by love, bro! You have to try to snap out of it. That blood-sucker is bad news. She'll suck the life from you…literally."

"Knock it off, Jake! You know Marceline, and you know she's cool. Jeesh, she made a mistake! Just lay off it."

"Sorry, Finn. I just care about you and I'm worried. I won't bring it up anymore, okay? If she makes you happy…" he paused as though the words were venomous and needed to be approached with caution. "If she makes you happy then you should be with her."

Finn sighed and let himself fall backward onto his bed. "I don't know, man. Love is way too complicated. All I know for sure is that I love her, and that doesn't seem to change no matter what she does."

Jake thought for a moment. "Have you guys thought this whole thing through?"

Finn sat up as though it was a natural reaction to those words. "What do you mean?"

"Well think about it, dude. She's kind of immortal and you're…well you're human. She stays the same no matter how old she gets, and she's most likely going to live forever. You age every day you're alive, and you probably won't live much past a hundred." The dog exhaled slowly and tried to banish any thoughts of his friend's death. "I mean, you guys can't really be together for very long."

Finn sat in silence and contemplated this for a long while. It was a subject that had entered his mind before, but he always pushed it aside for fear of the answer. "I…I don't know." His words were shaky. "I brought up immortality with Marcy before, but that topic seems to make her really upset."

"You…you've asked her about it?" Worry coated every word. "Finn, don't you dare tell me that you've actually considered it for yourself."

"Well, I—"

"Finn!" Jake shouted. "Are you insane? Living forever is a fate that no one should ever have to face…EVER! Don't even think about it…just so you can be with that…that…vampire! Not cool, bro! Not cool!"

Finn's face flooded red with anger. "Who do you think you are, my mom? I make my own decisions, not you! Besides, I haven't even made up my mind yet. I only said I thought about it, not that I was for sure going to! Glob!"

"Oh…well still! Finn, you're my brother and I want you to be okay. I'm not trying to be a jerk; I'm just looking out for you. Just the thought of you being trapped here forever…it kills me, man. I just want you to think really super hard about stuff, okay? Promise?"

Finn held up his pinky and Jake did the same, then they twisted their fingers together. "I promise."

"Kay good," Jake muttered. "Now I won't be able to sleep because I'll be thinking about you and how stupid you can be sometimes." He made his way to his bed and hopped into it.

Finn lay back down and pulled the sheets up to his chin. His thoughts were flooded with a hundred questions, all of which lacked an answer. Why is there a huge price to pay for every good thing in life? I love her so much…ugh! Why does she have to be immortal? Why does everything have to be so hard? He slid out of bed and retrieved his pillow, then fall onto the mattress again. I'll talk to Marcy about it tomorrow…

He lay awake for hours, his mind racing. He could faintly hear Jake's heavy breathing as he slept. There was a sudden rush of wind that caused the human to shiver, and he sat up and looked around the room. He felt something cool and soft against his lips, the sweetness of strawberries dancing across his tongue. Marceline appeared in front of him, her lips molded around his, her body floating a few feet off the ground.

"Hello, human," she whispered as she pulled away. "I got bored and decided to fly in for a late night visit."

Finn smiled and put his hands on the vampire's hips to pull her closer. "Well that's good, because I was just thinking about how badly I wanted you here." His voice was hushed as not to wake his friend.

"Oh?" Marceline sat down next to her boyfriend and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Mhm." They sat in silence for a moment. Marcy decided to lie down and pulled Finn with her. They faced each other, their bodies pressed together, their arms draped loosely over each other. After a few minutes of complete stillness, Finn kissed her forehead gently, then brushed his lips against hers. He felt comfortable and a lot of the worry that had been pulling at his emotions all night was beginning to fade. As long as she was in his arms, he had no worries. Soon, Finn noticed that Marceline was beginning to drift off and kissed her awake. "If Jake catches you sleeping here we're both dead," he warned.

The vampire smiled. "I'll be gone long before he wakes up, trust me."

Finn nodded and pulled her body closer to his, then closed his eyes. It was only a few minutes before they were both fast asleep.