At the top of his lungs Bernard shrieks, "Saaandy!"

My arms tighten around him as he thrashes and I'm trying not to panic but Godric didn't prepare me for this. I try to hold him down but his body is so strong now and all I can think to do is cry and whisper, "Sh! Sh! Please, Bernard, shh!"

But it only gets worse.

At the sound of his own name his body jumps, displacing a lot of soil and making it fall on me. For a second I feel my grip loosen and then he starts climbing and he slips away but I grab onto the bottom of his shirt and I yank him down against me. He screams a monster kind of scream and his voice doesn't sound like his own and he continues to fight me while I keep crying, "Please! Please be quiet! Please!"

"Saaandy! Sandy! Save me!" He cries and it's then that I realize who Sandy is. It's his sister.

My own tears fall and I press my chest against his back as I hold him and he sobs. I rest my mouth against his ear and whisper, "It's going to be alright, shhh. It's going to be alright."

His loud screaming quiets to whimpers that hurts me more than his screams. I reach my hand up and stroke his face in the dirt. He is my little baby now and I have to comfort him but I'm not sure how. Godric is so good at these things. I think back to when I was younger and I would wake up from a nightmare and scream for help and even though my dad promised the monster at the bottom of my bed wasn't going to take me I still couldn't stop crying until my mommy picked me up and sang to me.

I decide then, that is what I have to do. Against his ear I begin to sing quietly, "You are my sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray. You'll never know, dear, how much I love you. So please don't take my sunshine away."

Like a magic trick it works and there is no more noise from him-no crying or shaking or fighting or anything and I think I'm home free until a strange feeling hits me. Inside of my chest-deep deep down-I feel something weird. The feeling is scary and I don't know what it is, Godric never mentioned it. It's like...it's like my chest is a big open hole and like the grave it's being filled; but this time not with dirt and instead with something far more filling.

It's almost like blood is being pumped back into my veins, like all the blood I gave to Bernard is being given back but I don't understand how. And with all that blood...I feel a strange sense of power or something. Like I have grown ten feet tall and the little thing in my arms needs all kinds of protection from the terrifying things in the world. But that's not all. There is so emotion. There is so much emotion inside of me but I know that it's not all mine.

At first I think of Godric and wonder if he is feeling all these things but deep down I know it's not from him. I can feel a strong, strong sense of fear that fades into bits of joy and then back into terror and it pulses on and on like that until it fades into a blank kind of nothingness. Somehow I know what it is and I'm sadder than ever before. That fear, that pulsing, was his life and I know it was worse than my own. I hold onto my little bear and promise to myself that I will always take care of him and I will make sure he is safe and happy and always loved.

Bernard stirs slightly as if he can feel my promise but then he sinks right back into me and I know that everything is okay for the rest of the evening. I wonder what time it is now and what Godric is doing and if he is doing everything I asked. I asked Godric if in one of the spare rooms of our castle be turned into a room for him and the closet filled with all kinds of clothes. I specifically asked though for nice dressy clothes so we can both match for Godric and look very presentable. I also asked for comfy clothes that I've seen boys his age, well around our age, wear. I also asked for his bed to be the shape of race car because I always wanted a race car bed and why wouldn't my child love it? Even if he is fifteen.

I wonder how I know that he's fifteen and that is full name is Bernard Hanson Jr. and that his dad was a pastor and that his parents were getting a divorce when him and Sandy were kidnapped. I close my eyes tighter and it's weird because I keep getting random bits of information but I have no idea where they are coming from and I wonder if Godric had this happen to him too. I wonder if my Godric knew things about me that I told him already and I wonder if he still pretended to be interested though he already knew. I feel a new kind of love for Godric that comes from understanding and being in his position. I wonder how vampires could go through this so many times over and over again.

My eyes get heavier and heavier and I feel like I'm about to fall asleep until I feel a slight stinging. The stinging grows and turns to burning and I open my eyes with a panic and see bits of light coming through the packed dirt and I realize it is the sun coming up and I didn't dig the hole deep enough to avoid it! I close my eyes again, maybe it won't hurt so bad? But it does!

As the sun stays over us I feel a pain that grows over my skin and hits deeper inside of me until it starts to become excruciating and I realize it's because the pain is much worse for little Bernard in my arms! I roll slightly over him to try and protect him from the sun but the more that is on me the more it hurts me and hits new places like the silver chair. I try to stay calm but I know I can't take being here all day and there is no one that can help us! All my friends are vampires and the human ones are too far away to be of any help! Maybe if...maybe if I dig us deeper?

Before I can confirm my thought a dark blanket of darkness falls over us and the pain is gone. Bernard returns to his silent slumber and I'm left in confusion. Is it night time already? My body tells me it's not and the only thing I can think is someone must have helped us somehow. But I can't imagine how.

Little trembles ripple through Bernard's body and I'm brought back to the pulsing pain and little joy inside my chest again. I feel a hollowness, a detachment that must come from him and must be the only way to deal with this kind of thing. For the second I'm thankful for the happiness I had in my short human life but it's short lived because Bernard's life has been even shorter and filled with so much sorrow. But I can't think about that for long because my eyes grow heavy and I'm so tired I know I have to sleep or I'll begin to bleed. So I close my eyes and instantly go to sleep.

My dream is strong and hits me hard in my head. There is a man, a vampire, I have never seen before and he is standing on gold. In fact he entirely made of gold and he looks older, even older than Godric. His eyes are red and his tongue looks like a snakes and he seems to grow and grow and just when he's the biggest a blonde man with ice blue eyes strikes him down and I instantly know he is Eric. What Eric and that man have in common I don't know but Eric has a hatred in his eyes I have never seen and even though that goes away he still sad. He is still really really sad.

"Amie."

My eyes flash open and I know instantly it was Godric's voice. I glance to Bernard and in his sleeping form he seems so different and still like a rock. My first thought was to wake him because for a second I was scared he was actually dead but I knew better than that. I remember Godric's whisper: don't move, you're not ready yet.

I let go of Bernard then and move around in the grave, somehow finding the moonlight and open air with ease. When I finally stand on the solid Earth that fills the grave bellow I look up and see Godric waiting for me. I don't get a word out before his lips meet mine and we are back to making love again.