Love Answers

She held her breath then said, "Turn me into a vampire."

"What?"

"I said, turn me into a vampire. "

"When?"

"Now! Tonight! Don't give me time to change my mind."

Henry spun her around and pressed her back against his body as he moved deeper into the shadows.

"You have one heartbeat in which to stop me."

Vicki shook her head no and Henry relaxed his hold thinking she had said stop! Vicki reached down to her waist, brought his arm up to her lips and said, "How do I do this?"

He shifted her slightly and took the penknife from his pocket, scored his wrist and placed it to her lips.

Vicki felt his vampire calling, licked her lips then placed them over the fresh wound. His blood filled her mouth and she swallowed. She placed her hand over his to keep the wrist firmly pressed against her lips and took as much as she could. While her tongue circled the wound the vampire became aware of one of its kind being born.

Henry nuzzled her hair and said, "I love you more than anyone I've ever known."

After the bleeding stopped, Vicki moved her head just enough so that his wrist rested on her cheek and his fingers cupped her ear. She begged, "I want more of you."

He moved so that they were standing side by side and said, "Then let's go."

***

Vicki didn't say anything until they were back at the apartment and locked in Henry's room. Then, while they stood in the quiet room, she asked, "What happens next?"

"I'll feed deeply from you in a few minutes."

"When do I feed?"

"When I get up tomorrow, then every evening until I say otherwise. While you're resting, I'll go out hunting. It'll take a lot of feedings from you and others until the change is complete. When you've got your own fangs, I'll teach you to feed from prey."

Vicki put her hand on his cheek and asked, "After, will we still be able to feed from each other?"

Henry looked off into the distance, "I hope so."

Vicki asked, "How long until I'm vampire?"

Henry stepped closer, stroked her hair and leaned toward her to nibble gently on her neck, "There's no set time. Some change quickly, others take weeks. Personally I'm hoping it'll take months. The longer it takes, the less territorial we'll be."

"Months then. I'm going to be unusually patient about this."

He lifted her off her feet and carried her to his bed. He never took his eyes from hers as he slowly lowered himself over her. She placed a restraining hand on his chest and he pushed it away saying, "It's too late to stop me. Now it's about me taking your blood."

***

Vicki woke up feeling lightheaded and weaved from side to side as she made her way to the bathroom. Studying her reflection in the mirror, she fingered the dark circles under both eyes and started talking out loud, "Damn! It looks like I've been in a fight and lost." Tilting her chin, she saw the bruise on the side of her neck was purple with a tinge of brighter red in the center. "Henry's never left a mark like that before." Then it hit her like a ton of bricks. She gripped the sides of the sink to keep from falling and twisted to lower herself on the toilet seat. Nauseated and dizzy, she put her head between her knees as her hand clutched at her stomach. "Oh crap! What've I done?"

Vicki sat still waiting for the nausea to ease up and continued to talk out loud, "Okay. You can do this. You've signed up and can't quit. Crap! He didn't warn me about this. He's going to get such a pounding when he wakes up."

Vicki finally stood and wobbled her way into the kitchen to make coffee. The sick feeling became worse as the coffee perked, but she was so sure a hit of caffeine would work it's usual magic that she didn't think about the nausea. Sitting at the table with mug in hand she took a deep swallow. Her eyes watered as her mouth filled with saliva saying, "Oh no!" She threw up the coffee then suffered dry heaves for over an hour while crawling from place to place cleaning up her mess. When the shaking and heaving stopped, she made her way back to Henry's side to lie down and snarled, "Henry Fitzroy! you're going to pay big time for this." She closed her eyes and held tight to his hand hoping she would either fall asleep or die.

***

Henry woke to feeling the pressure of her hand holding his and smiled. He turned his head as soon as he was able and said, "Hello love."

Vicki opened her eyes and said, "Bite me!"

Henry taking that as an offer, raised up and leaned over her, as she snapped, "Get off me you bastard."

Genuinely confused, Henry said, "What's wrong?"

"Why didn't you warn me about coffee?"

Henry put his arms around her and held her close, "I didn't know. Honest. What about coffee?"

"I live for coffee. No matter how bad the hangover, coffee made it better. Today, I threw it up all over the kitchen and had to clean it up on my hands and knees while retching."

"My poor baby vampire. We all react differently to food and drink. I can't know ahead of time what you will or will not be able to tolerate. We need liquids other than blood to keep living. Experimenting until you find what works for you is my only suggestion. I can tell you what I like to drink, but most likely your tolerances will be different. Tasting foods can be pleasant, but there's no benefit for our kind from eating."

"You said it'll take months for me to finish turning, if the nausea keeps up, I'm not going to be a happy camper."

"Stick with water and clear liquids and stay away from strong flavors. You'll be sleeping most of the time after the next few feedings, so days won't be as much of a problem. Maybe you should think of yourself as pregnant."

Vicki frowned and said, "That's not a happy thought. Try something else."

Henry gave her one of his irresistible grins and suggested, "Think about how much you love me, and how happy we'll be together."

"Today, on my hands and knees cleaning up my own puke, I didn't love you very much."

He pouted just a little and asked, "How do you feel now?"

Vicki touched his lower lip, smiled and said, "Hungry."

Henry picked up the small penknife from the bedside table, "Where would you like to put your mouth?" Then he warned, "Don't even think about there!"

Vicki pointed to a spot on his chest where she could curl up close to him and feel safe while feeding. He nodded and made a small cut.

He let her feed until he felt her tongue stop it's sucking demands. "I'm going hunting, then I need to talk with Sylvia."

"The feeding I can understand, but why talk to her again?"

"I was a prick the last two times I saw her. That's not how I like to behave and I don't want her thinking she wasted her time knowing me."

Vicki pulled his pillow over her chest and breathed in his scent, "Go. I'm staying right here. I like the idea of you being kind. It fits with my image of you."

Henry kissed her lips then went to get ready for the evening's hunt.

He came to stand over her for a few minutes before leaving, "I won't be out too late. I'll need to feed from you before sunrise. You should get up and move around as much as possible. Don't treat yourself as though you're sick, that will make the transition harder."

***

Henry stood outside the "Frosted Mug" and listened for Sylvia's heartbeat. He heard it coming from behind him and turned to see her walking arm in arm with a tall man. She saw him standing there, smiled and waved.

"Hank, I want you to meet my Johnny. He got home from the army last week and called me today. We broke up but now he's back and it's like he never left."

Henry held out his hand and John gave him a firm grip. Henry knew he could put this man on his knees without having to exert himself, but refrained. John's grin was open and friendly as he said, "Hank, glad to meet you. Sylvia said you were a good friend to her while I was gone. Thanks for looking out for my girl."

Sylvia caught Henry's eye and tried to use her eyes to beg him to go along. Henry gave a grin that had Sylvia's heart skip and said, "I've enjoyed spending time with her, but she always let me know she belonged to someone else. I'm thinking you're that special someone."

Sylvia tugged on John's arm and said, "I'm late for work and I want to show you off. It was good seeing you again, Hank." She turned away from Henry and snuggled closer to her man. Sylvia patted John toward the door and turned back whispering, "I've got good memories of our time together, but don't foreget, a bartender never tells and neither should you. Please don't come here again."

Mentally, Henry put a check in the good ending column of his past relationships. He had a real future with Vicki and he intended to make the most of it.