Love is the strongest force in existence.
Forget power, forget drive – love trumps them all.
That's why it's so hard to find.
Jonno's blood had dried on his hand. Crusty red mingling with the even darker shades of his own blood but they were indecipherable. The dim lights from the candles in his room left everything a faded orange, even the plasma on his palm.
But he still should've been tempted.
As a vampire who'd always suffered the lingering temptation, never beaten, but forever suffering the quiet was unsettling. The crawl on his skin that he'd been accustomed to, the forbidden craving, it was gone.
He was content, and he realised this was all he wanted the treaty to stand for. Being satisfied without being dead, consuming blood without carnage.
It washed over him like a gentle tide. He'd finally done it. All these years of hoping, of childish, infantile dreams and all it took for the treaty to succeed was for him to dirty his hands. He would have never gotten to this point without becoming Mir but he'd never want this without being Vlad. Perhaps he was somewhere in the middle.
Perhaps he was Vladimir. Finally complete – the vampire and breather in him balanced. There was a king in him ready to step up, finally. He believed this treaty would last for years, finally. They could face any troubles that would topple the treaty, finally. It was perfect, finally.
Except for one little detail.
Erin Noble.
Vampires aren't supposed to love,
And so love becomes an abomination.
Yes, vampires love but we're monsters who fight it with every cell.
The sun was sinking and she was crouched just shy of the sun's rays. The trees made her invisible, just a shadow among silhouetted branches, tinted gold by the ending day.
"Did you get bored?" Mir strode through the gates of the school and turned to face her in her hiding place. "Or were playing the long game and hated this all along?" The expression on his face was cold, his lips taut and his eyes faintly narrowed. "We both know how gullible I can be when it comes to you."
Soft peals of laughter erupted from her belly. Oh the irony. Still laughing, she removed herself from the brush and stood before him. Her hand reached for his cheek and he reluctantly allowed her to stroke his skin. "How strange it must be for you to be the last person who knows." Her gentle caress morphed into a hard slap and she sent him skittering to the ground. "There was no game, it was only how you felt."
Her boot came down hard on his middle. "Because you see Mir. Loyalty doesn't apply when you're in love with your half-fang." He rolled away from her and leapt up. A slayer-issued stake was nestled in his hand. "But you didn't love me. Not until three days ago." Her words froze him. Poised and ready to kill her he couldn't move. She smiled. "Does this hurt you yet? Because I've been your thrall for months and I am done!"
Before he could react she crashed into him. The floor rushed up to meet them. Erin wrestled him for the stake, rolling them until she was straddling him. Mir was struggling – just as she'd wanted – guilt stopped him fighting back.
He looked… stunned. Hurt and filled with innocent confusion. "I've… All this time it's been loyalty?"
She nodded and drew the stake into the air, ready to bring it down on his metal heart until she had to tear his rib-cage apart to kill him. It was wishful thinking to think he'd be willing to go like that.
The bewilderment vanished as Mir caught the descending stake and shoved Erin back.
They both made it to their feet, face-to-face.
He was ready to fight. And Erin knew, once he was willing to fight he would win.
She made a split decision – she'd rather be dead than stuck in this cruel cycle of loving and hating. Mir's eyes widened as she turned the stake towards her own heart. "Only one of us walks away from this. And I'm not going to stay on this earth if you're still on it."
The silence stretched out, a single second becoming infinitely long.
Mir's eyes were so blue and so full of emotion. He swallowed. "I love you Erin." His voice was almost Vlad's, the rough gravel of it almost hidden by the emotion. It wobbled, as did his hands as he raised them slowly.
She smiled at him. It wasn't a fake one and it wasn't a joyous one. It was understanding. He loved her and he tried to love her like a human.
"That's the problem." She forced the stake in. All she heard was a squelch.
Her body seemed to lag, as if it didn't understand what had happened. Maybe it gave her a few seconds. Maybe Death knew she had something to say.
Her skin was called away as she spoke, a stream of dust moving in from her hands and feet upwards. "You are a fool, Vladimir Dracula," She told him, there were tears on her face -why were there tears? She could feel the end now, the lightness of her skin dissolving – her dead body unable to anchor her anymore. "But I forgive you," There were only seconds left, she was merely a shape in the breeze. "Just- just don't make another me."
I am Erin Noble. I have loved, I am loved and I am dead.
Finally.