In the darkness, it began again.
His teeth bit into the soft, pink flesh of her neck. He felt repulsed by what he was doing, and at the same time excitement tingled along his spine like a wave of electricity. His eyes closed, and he breathed against her skin.
Droplets of blood began to well up where his teeth had broken through the surface. They grew slowly, and he could see them like little red jewels in his mind's eye. He sucked gently, and the blood welled into his mouth. It tasted of salt and iron, and life. She moaned, and reached up with one trembling hand to stroke his hair.
He felt the life from her surge into him. It filled his veins. It filled his mind. He drank it in, and it consumed him. It was different from any other blood: not bitter like human blood, but not like the rest of her kind either. It was special to him. It was a taste he would never, could never forget, so distinctive. He sucked harder, and he heard her moan.
His teeth bit deeper, and now the blood flowed freely. He drank from it like a fountain, and he heard her breathing deepen in response. The blood was everything. A trickle of it escaped his lips and ran down her bared shoulder, leaving a trail of crimson wetness. And now her moans of pleasure ceased. There was a single cry of pain, piercing the darkness all around, and it rang in his ears like the bells of a church, announcing a funeral procession for all to hear. One single cry of pain, and then anxious, fearful whimpers.
"Arystar? Arystar, you're hurting me." Her voice sounded hollow, insubstantial, as if the blood he drew from her veins had been the only thing binding her to this world. The trickle on her shoulder became a rivulet, became a cascade, and he was no longer able to drink it all in.
He pulled his mouth away from her, crying now, and lowered her gently to the ground. He sobbed, as she lay bleeding, her head cradled in his lap and her eyes growing glassy. He could only force out one word, her name.
Why? The thought echoed in his head, over and over. Why? Why, why, why? It echoed, shattering into so many pieces. Why didn't you stop me? Why did you have to die? Why can't I be with you anymore? Why do I have to keep living?
She touched her shoulder with her hand, and it came away red. She held it in front of her eyes, examining it like something dead and beautiful. "So this is blood."
He sobbed again, and his throat caught, his breathing stopped. He wanted to die with her, to join her wherever she was, but then his throat groaned open and air filled his lungs, and he knew the truth of their parting.
She reached up with her bloodstained hand and laid it alongside his cheek. She opened her mouth to speak, and then her eyes glazed over and her hand fell away, leaving a dark smear on his face. He sobbed, and his body shook with the force of it. He sobbed, and the pain seemed to last forever. He sobbed, and the world seemed to crash down around him.
In the darkness, it began again.