A gentle shake on her shoulder woke Liz from her slumber. Nick hadn't left her apartment the entire time she had been sleeping.
She smiled at him, grateful that he was still there. "Good evening, Nick." It was more of a question than an actual statement.
He nodded. "Good evening."
He gently stroked her hair and absently ran his fingers over where her bite marks had been. "I'm glad you're taking everything so well," he admitted. "I expected you to kick me out..."
Liz stayed still, enjoying his touch. "Well I have learned to live with my life's choices. No point in pushing the cause of said choice away." A slight smile spread across her lips. "I prefer to embrace them."
Nick chuckled at that. Then he grew serious again. "When I offered you my embrace, you didn't know what it really meant. It's the term we use to transform someone into a vampire."
"So I have gathered." She looked up at Nick, who was staring into space.
"Nick?" his eyes flicked to her and held her gaze, looking into them deeper, almost as if he was searching for something.
'He will stay with you forever if you ask him. Ask him. You should ask him. Yes, yes! It will be good. Ask him, ask him, ask him. You must ask him, Liz. Or maggots will eat you. Eat you. They will eat you. You're delicious. A treat. A snack for dinner. Ask him. He has to stay. If he doesn't stay you will die. He wants to stay.'
Liz took a sharp breath. It wasn't just one voice, they were many, male and female. The different voices were blending, bleeding into one another, almost making her head hurt with their intensity. It was impossible not to listen. Some were right next to her ear, some further away, some getting closer, some moving away.
"I hear them," Liz whispered, almost scared. "They're all around me. They're speaking to me." She was still looking into Nick's eyes.
"I'm sorry it's happening so soon. You'll get used to them." He traced his fingers along her collarbone.
"Are they always this loud? The voices I mean."
He nodded. "They are, at least for me. But it manifests differently in each kindred." He reminded himself to explain the term to her. "Our word for vampire. For me, it's many voices. Some of them are helpful, some of them commanding and sometimes inanimate objects have voices as well. Sometimes the voices tell me the future." His fingers kept moving along her skin. It calmed her. "Describe what you're feeling and hearing, if I can ease your burden, I will."
Liz appreciated that he wanted to help. She told him that she felt a bit scared, she repeated what the voices had said and as she spoke, more of them kept talking at her. She tried to ignore them.
Nick's hand stopped moving for a moment as he listened. When she had finished he spoke, "The voices were right about the fact that I would stay with you forever if you asked. They were also right about that I want to stay." A flicker of a smile ghosted across the corners of his lips. "I don't think maggots will eat you, and neither do I think you'll die if I leave."
'He helps. He helps a lot. You'll be happy with him. You'll be happy you died. You're dead. Dead. Dead. Dead. No heartbeat. You still have a heart. It's broken. Your heart is dead. You'll be happy. You're happy now. Happy, but still dead.'
"Do you want to stay with me forever?" she asked Nick.
He leaned closer to Liz and breathed, "I do."
Her hands reached for the back of his head and she slowly, gently pulled him to her, kissing him softly. Then she released him again and leaned back a bit. She smiled at him. If she could have blushed, she would have. "I hope that was okay for me to do. I'm sorry I didn't ask first."
Nick seemed amused by this. "It's all right. You're very gentle. Almost tentative. It was a nice kiss. Was it your first?"
She chuckled. "It wasn't. But it was the first that I feel like has meaning."
"You're very sweet." He was genuinely touched by her admitting to that. "It wasn't my first kiss either. But it's the first one that really matters." He went quiet and took Liz's hands in his. She could tell he was listening to what she couldn't hear.
"What are they saying?" she asked. Then quickly added, "You don't have to of course! I- I was just curious. I'm sorry."
His voice was quiet as he spoke, directly giving the voices inside his head, a voice. A real voice. "Fire. It burns. It doesn't. It won't hurt. It's inside you. Keep it lit. Melting. Dripping. Keeps the cold away. Saved her. She's safe."
After a moment, he spoke again. "There's more, but it's hard to voice all of them. There are so many."
Liz understood. "Thank you, for everything."
He opened his arms and she nestled into them. They were quiet for a while, the only sound in the room their breathing.