Sometimes I wondered what terrible twist of fate had brought us together. She, a warm angelic being, and I, a cold and demonic creature were surely not supposed to be this close. I was so selfish. It was unfair to her, really. That every single second she spent with me was a threat to her very existence. She was an angel caught in the dark depths of my hell, and I did nothing to make sure she made her way out safely. I kept her with me, for my own pleasure and satisfaction.

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, guiltily breathing in the scent that tortured me. There she was lying so close beside me, her pulse thudding in her chest. How easy it was to sink my teeth into her fragile skin and drain her of that delicious liquid running through her veins, to just lean in and brush my teeth against the faint beating in her neck, to just open my mouth and prolong the moment by breathing in that heavenly fragrance, to just clamp my jaw shut around that point and drink and drink until there was nothing left.

Nothing left. No more warm smiles, no more silly blushes, no twinkle in her eye, and no comforting sound of her accelerating pulse as I kissed her, no more love.

How could I possibly think this way? How could I think such disgusting thoughts about my beautiful savior, for she had surely saved me from a meaningless existence? How could I possibly think of ending such this precious life? I took in her small figure lying in my arms. The large white bandage a reminder of how close I had been to letting my control wither away and taste the liquid that had taunted me. She'd opened a parcel and, by an innocent accident, had cut herself.

A paper cut.

One single drop of blood had driven my brother insane. He'd lost all control, letting the monster inside of him take over. I'd had to throw her into a pile of glass, causing her greater pain and damage, to save her life.

She'd cut her finger on a piece of stationary. It hardly deserved the death penalty.

And it had not only been Jasper. Every one of my family members had struggled against their instincts. Each one had wanted to taste the forbidden elixir pulsing through her body.

And then she'd gone and blamed it on herself. If the events of that night had not driven me mad, that fact surely had.

There was only one way for her to protect herself against me. It would shred my insides apart, but I had to do it.

Dawn was approaching outside; the start of a new day.

The end of my life.