"Juliet, don't leave," I pleaded. My breath caught in my throat as I stifled a sob. I stood on a smooth, white marble terrace. I was in my beloved's family tomb, where she had been 'buried' upon death. I had stumbled to kill myself beside her dead body, but I had found her, living, and very much alive.
"Romeo, you don't understand." She said to me. My Juliet. My beautiful Juliet, wearing a white, lacy dress with white flowers hanging in her hair and tucked behind her ear. She looked angelic in the night, with her dark colored hair twisting around her porcelain face. However, her eyes marred her beautiful features: Black, colorless, and endless. They traveled forever into the depths of darkness, where I couldn't follow her. And right now, they were twisted into an expression of angst and resentment. I wondered briefly if I was the cause of her pain, and hoped it was a no.
"Please." I pleaded one more time. She stood still and silent as stone.
"You don't understand." She repeated, looking guiltier every time she spoke.
"What," I asked. "You don't like me?"
"No." Her voice strained.
"Your family?" I questioned. "I can talk to them, we'll work something out…"
"Its not them." She said quietly. "Have you ever wondered, if only briefly or in fleeting, why you never see me in daylight?"
"No, I never thought about it." I answered quickly, but her words sunk in. Had I seen her in the daylight? It was dark in the tomb, but I could still make out her beautiful features and moon-white skin. It was as if she glowed. I couldn't remember ever seeing her beautiful face in the sun.
"Wondered why my skin is deathly white? So, un-earthly beautiful?" She continued as she looked at the ground before her.
"Your just pale!" I exclaimed, but my conscience was racing. What was she getting at?
"Why you love me," She said, her voice steely and cold. "Romeo, its a lie."
"No! It's not!" I argued, still pondering her words.
"You don't understand!" She argued back. Her face was contorted with anger. I stepped back, so as not to anger her farther.
"All I want is you," I said. "I love you, Juliet."
"No." She shook her head. "Don't love me, Romeo. You don't understand."
"You keep saying that! What don't I understand?" I said, enraged.
"Romeo! Think about what I'm saying," She exclaimed. "I'm pale, deathly pale. I have a beautiful face. You don't see me in the sun. My eyes are black, Romeo, black." I looked at her face. I thought her black eyes were beautiful. "I can't die, Romeo, I'm immortal." She whispered, last. Her stony, gorgeous face was downcast as she looked for my reaction.
"Like A Goddess," I breathed, before falling to my knees.
"Don't bow to me." She snarled. "I'm nothing like a goddess."
"Of course you are," I smiled to her, hoping I could make her see my love. "To me, you are a goddess."
"No." She growled, more anguished than before. "See? You don't understand."
"Then help me to understand!"
"I'm not a goddess." She strained a smile. I could see her ice-white teeth, glowing in the dark. Sharp, icy teeth. Fangs. The words played around my head. "That's right," She said, seeing my obvious horror. "I'm not a goddess. I'm a monster."
"No!" I said. Vampire, I thought. Vampire. "No, you're not a monster! I still love you!"
"It's all a lie, Romeo. All you see is my face. And now I have to say good bye, before you get hurt,"
"No!" I jumped to my feet. "Juliet!" I ran towards her, wanting nothing more but to hold her in my arms, even if she might kill me. It felt like forever, before I was close to reaching her. As I touched her arm she flinched back. Before I knew it, she was behind me.
"I love you, too, Romeo." She whispered in my ear. I spun to face her. Already, she had moved to sit on a stone pillar across the room from me. Intimidated, I slunk back.
"Juliet," I said her name as a question. "I love you. I don't want to part from you."
"It doesn't matter, Romeo. You can't be like me, because I won't let you."
"It does matter. I want to be with you, Juliet, whether you are a monster or not."
"It' won't work out! 'It' is living with an immortal monster for the rest of you life. 'It' is never seeing your family again, should I accidentally slip and kill you. 'It' is loving an undead specter." She cried out, her voice ringing in my ears. She stood up and moved gracefully across the room to where I stood. She moved her hand and touched my face. Her touch was cold and icy. "I could easily kill you," She breathed. "You wouldn't try to stop me."
"I love you," I replied. Inside, I was nervous.
"Romeo, go back to the mortal world. Go and find true love, without the curse of a demon in your relationship." She commanded. Her hypnotic voice almost persuaded me, but a life without her hurt my heart and I fell to the ground, clutching my chest in pain.
"Don't leave, Juliet." I pleaded again. "Please, Juliet. Don't leave me."
"I have to." She said, looking at me, concerned. At her side, my nemesis appeared.
"Pathetic," sneered a gloating Paris.
"Paris?" I muttered under my breath, hurt. "Your choosing Paris over me?"
"You don't understand, Romeo," She repeated yet again. However, instead of looking angry, she looked sad.
"I understand enough," I said. Paris glared at me, his eyes a dark red.
"Let her go," He commanded.
"No!" I shrieked at him. "I can't live without her." I glanced at her face, and could've sworn I saw tears rolling down her stone cheeks.
"Romeo," She whispered. Paris took her hand. I shook uncontrollably.
"No!" I yelled again, looking for a weapon. I looked towards Juliet's coffin and saw a metal cross. I crawled towards it. Paris saw my actions in the dim light and reached for me with a hiss.
"Paris!" Juliet cried in shock. "No, leave him alone!" She sobbed. Paris pulled me back, right as my hand closed around the cross. He grabbed my neck in his iron grip and pressed. Juliet was trying to pull his hands off.
"No!" She sobbed. "No!"
I grasped onto the cross, holding it steadily in my hand before plunging it into the heart of the real monster, Paris. And after he had toppled to the ground, my arms found Juliet, and I held her tight, before looking her in the eye. She saw what was happening, the change I was making, even before she saw the bite mark on my neck and the blood spilling onto my shirt. Her eyes stirred, and I knew she was hungry. I motioned that could have my blood, if she wanted, because soon I would be like her. I could be with her. I was elated, and my motionless heart rose.
She was crying as she held me, and grabbed for something in my pocket. The drug. I remembered. My death. I remembered. In my head I thought of how wonderful it would be to live with Juliet.
"Don't want this," She whispered. Then she poured the dark liquid down my throat. I sputtered, trying to keep it back. I didn't want to die and stay dead. I wanted to be like Juliet!
"I love you." She proclaimed, before grabbing the cross I had used earlier and stabbing herself in the heart. With my last effort, I screamed her name and grabbed her hand as she fell next to me. Then everything faded with one last thought:
'I love you', said the frozen angel to the besotted mortal. 'But you shouldn't want this,'
Funny, what you dream, before death.