I felt the blood rush into my mouth, better than anything I had ever tasted. It was thick and sweet and smelled of the most divine bouquet of apples, sweetmeats and wildflowers. I drank long and deep, savouring the taste. Suddenly she cried out again.
"Jane!" she shrieked, panting.
I pulled away, annoyed that my food had yelled at me. She, however was looking at me through tear stained eyes, her pale skin white and bloodless. I could hear her heart beat, so inviting, fluttering and loud.
"it's me!" she tried, breathless and weak from lack of blood. I stared at her blankly, trying to recall her memories.
"don't you know who I am?"
I shook my head, curious.
"I'm, I'm Anna. You're sister." Big fat tears were streaming down her pretty face, spoiling her deep brown eyes.
Then the memories came flooding back, all at once, as if from a thousand years ago.
Anna. My Sister.
I looked back at her, a wave of horror flooding through me. What had I done? I stared in shock at her white, almost lifeless figure, blood pouring from the giant wound in her neck. A thousand memories flew to me in a second. When she had defended us, her soft hugs, her comforting words. Once-upon-a-time she was the soul reason I lived. And I had destroyed her, her beautiful life had only just begun and I, her undead sister had taken that from her.
What had I done?
"Do you remember me?" she whispered. I nodded, trying to will the tears that wouldn't come.
"Anna," I said, my voice cracked. "I am so sorry"
I softly stroked her neck, but this time not in a way that make me long for her blood. The burning in my throat was gone, replace by another pain unlike any I had ever felt before. It tore through me, breaking my heart, ripping it unbeating from my stone chest. It was worse than the fire of the stake, more painful than the unforgettable pain of the transformation.
"I missed you." She reflected. Her voice was so quiet even I was having problems hearing it. She gulped a breath of air, gasping with pain. "I thought I had lost you. Both of you"
I could hear her heart beat slowing, its initial speedy beats growing fainter and further apart. She had lost too much blood.
She paused, breathing in the hot, summer air.
"your hands are cold" she said suddenly. Her voice was louder now, causual, as if she was passing the time of day. "and your eyes, they are as red as the blood that soaks you" I looked down again to the wound in her neck.
"I am so sorry" I said, just loud enough for her too hear.
"Why?"
"For taking your life, my sister"
To my surprise she laughed, a soft cracked laugh and I could tell that it was an effort now for her just to keep breathing.
"It's not funny!" I snapped a sudden surge of anger towards her flooding through me without warning.
"But, Jane," she answered still smiling her pained smile. "Can you not see that I couldn't live without you?" there were tears falling from her eyes again. I brushed them away. "I would have died sooner or later of a broken heart, all the joy in my life had left me"
I shook my head.
"But you would have recovered." I insisted. "You could have had a life."
"no." came her reply. Her heart was barely audible now. "you two were the only reasons I lived"
I opened my mouth to protest but something stopped me. The room was silent. No breath, no rustle of bed sheets, no heart beat.
