Charlaine Harris owns these characters.

A/N: I realize that I may be breaking (bending?) the one-shot rules a bit here, but I wanted to give the reader some choices as to how this story went. If you prefer your own choice, then feel free to stop right here. I could have played by the rules and made this all one chapter, but I wanted to keep the first part pure for those of you who don't want to venture further.

Sam

Sitting there on her bed, I imagined what I would have witnessed had I been outside the window the night before.

"Yes, Eric. I forgive you." He took a step closer and then hesitated. I saw his smile falter and knew in that instant that I would not be getting married in the morning, or on any morning. I stood and in one liquid movement, I was in his arms. I pulled his head down to my lips and my entire body remembered what it needs and can't live without. I wept into his mouth, "Please don't leave me again."

"Never. Never, my love." He picked me up, opened my robe, and lay me back onto the bed before a decision could be made. There was no turning back now. I tore at his clothes and he granted my wish. At first it was rough and powerful almost to the point of pain, but then he was tender and tentative, searching my eyes for permission to continue. Is this okay? Is this really what you want? I didn't need to read his mind.

Afterwards, I was packing a bag. I unpacked my honeymoon suitcase and threw some of its contents into a smaller one. I realized that Eric hadn't bitten me when we made love and I asked him to do so. At first he said no, but when I stood before the mirror and pulled my robe open, tilting my head to the side, his pupils dilated. I watched him in the mirror as I said, "I want it," and he was on me in a hungry flash. I kept my eyes open and watched the scene unfold in front of me in the mirror as if it were happening to someone else. His face was buried in my neck, his throat making small mindless animal sounds with each swallow. His hands were caressing my body, fingers working in soothing strokes. His back bowed as he pressed his erection into my hip and his subtle rhythm matched the strokes of his fingers. He got uncharacteristically sloppy and I watched a line of dark red run down my chest along my breast and into his hand just below. He disengaged and began to trail his tongue down my neck to chase the runaway blood, but I stopped him and placed his head back at my neck where he resumed his powerful sucking.

I looked at my face in the mirror and thought what a selfish woman I am. I thought of Sam and how his heart will break when he learns what I've done. I touched my finger to the blood on my chest and reached out to my own face in the mirror and began to write. Whose forgiveness did I want? My own? Sam's? I'm not even sure. Eric stopped and cleaned the mess I'd made on my own body. He looked at my bloody message and then held me again, only this time there was no lust, no passion. He held me like a loving father would comfort a child. I gave into the feeling for a moment, feeling sorry for Sam and for myself. And then that was over and I dressed and finished packing. I left the front door unlocked for Sam as Eric and I began our new lives together.

Sam

Sitting there on her bed, I imagined what I would have witnessed had I been outside the window the night before.

"Yes, Eric, I forgive you."

I knew that I should just leave. I had accomplished my task. But seeing her, the way she looked at me. I knew that nothing had changed in our hearts. That same fire burned, and suddenly, I could no longer suffer the pain. I did something that I had not expected of myself. I lost control. I was on her in a split second and my rage and lust consumed me. I simply couldn't give her to another man. I thought that I was so evolved, so superior. But in the end, I was simply a mindless animal protecting his own heart, his own sanity. When I realized that I had killed her, I dropped to my knees and wept into her lifeless body. I held her to me, burying my face in her neck, the blood of my own tears mixing with the mess I'd made of her neck. I'd carelessly torn the flesh, and licked it gently in my remorse. I was reduced to this—a mad monster unable to control his actions in a moment of livid passion.

I stood and gently placed her body on the bed, and then turned to see myself in the mirror. My face was a bloody mess. Her blood dripped from my chin, my own was in streaks down my face. I touched my finger to the blood on my chin and then traced a line up to my cheek, mixing our blood together before writing my message in the mirror.

Then I stood over her lifeless body and asked her forgiveness one last time before biting into my wrist and placing it over her mouth.

Sam

Sitting there on her bed, I imagined what I would have witnessed had I been outside the window the night before.

"Yes, Eric. I forgive you."

He nodded in response, obviously satisfied with our exchange. He turned to leave the room and said a last, "Good bye, my love," before closing the door behind him.

Something clicked in my brain as soon as I knew he was gone. I stood and carefully unpacked the suitcase that I had packed for my honeymoon. I straightened the room, but decided to leave the wedding dress hanging on the door of the wardrobe. It looked so pretty there. Then I went down to the tool shed in the back yard and found the folded tarp. I stopped in the kitchen on my way back to my room to get the knife.

I carefully unfolded the tarp on the floor and sat at the vanity for a moment. I decided not to leave a note, but instead make a small cut on my wrist and wrote what I needed to say in blood on the mirror. Some may wonder if I was asking for forgiveness of myself. Most will assume it's for Sam. Eric will know that it's for him. That's all that matters.

I lay down on the tarp and finished my cut and then matched it on the other wrist. Then I gave myself permission for the last time to think of Eric before everything went away.

Sam

Sitting there on her bed, I imagined what I would have witnessed had I been outside the window the night before.

I came in after the bachelor party a little drunker than I should have been. I know those goddamn vampire ears heard me. He probably just started fucking her harder when he realized that I was in the house. I watched for an instant at the door before leaving. She never even knew I was there. She never lost herself like that when we made love.

I drove back to the trailer and kept drinking. That was probably a mistake. I worked myself up into a drunken rage and by the time I started trashing the place, I was quite a mess. After my little tantrum, I sat in the floor surveying the damage and reached over to pick up a broken chair leg off of the floor beside me.

I was back in my car before I really thought about what I was doing. Thinking that I could stake a thousand year old vampire showed just how drunk and stupid I really was. What I didn't expect was to find her alone. I was so out of control, out of my mind with jealousy and hate that when I saw her standing there looking so shocked, I lost it. She looked innocent but I knew that she wasn't and then the stake was buried in her chest. Just like that.

I sat with her body for a long time before I wrote on the mirror. Then I drove home and sat and waited for the sheriff to come. But he never did.

My wedding day came and went. People were so kind to me. The whole town felt sorry for the groom whose bride was murdered by that vampire lover of hers. It never occurred to me that he would be blamed. I was ready to go to jail, but then I realized that jail wasn't going to be my punishment. And so as the day came to a close, no one questioned that I wanted to go and be in her house. They all left me alone. Even Bud Dearborn just asked that I not disturb anything while they were still investigating.

So, I sat on her bed, studying the wedding dress, watching the bathroom door, imagining waiting for her to emerge as my new bride. I knew I didn't have much time and so I tried to think about forgiveness. There was no one left to forgive me and so I needed to forgive myself.

I never heard him come in of course, but heard the water dripping onto the carpet as he approached the bed. I had one last silly thought that it must still be raining outside before he was on me and I felt the fangs. And then I wondered who will forgive him.

XXX