Chapter 3

• There was a glowing brightness inside of me that represented my life, and it was dimming. I was floating in a dark, peaceful haze between life and death. I was thinking about all the little things that had made my life so special, like the summers I spent in Florida and my mom's Christmas cookies. There was neither anger nor bitterness. Instead, there was just a calm acceptance that my time had come.
• I was shocked by how calm and peaceful I felt. All the small worries I had when I was awake went away. It was surprisingly quiet, and the only thing I was sad about was that I was going to die so soon. My life was too short and I didn't have enough experiences to say that I lived a fulfilled life. All of my hopes and dreams for the future were gone, and all I could see ahead of me was endless silence.
• I started to give up my physical life and let my spirit leave the physical world. It was a strange feeling, like slipping into a cool lake or ocean. It felt almost like I was floating. I felt very light, free, and calm. There was no worry or fear. Instead, there was an endless calm.
• I was suspended in the stillness that existed outside of physical reality when I suddenly felt a terrible sense of unease creeping up on me and slowly wrapping around me. The quiet started to crackle like white noise, and I could hear the faint echo of a voice whispering incoherently. I worked hard to pay attention.
• Through the crackles and pops, I could hear soft, quiet gasps of air and small whimpers. It sounded like someone was crying, but the sound was louder, like this person was crying out of sadness.
• It could have been my mother. Maybe she found out I was killed, and her grief was so strong that it was being heard in the afterlife. But the voice did not sound like my mother. It sounded easier and younger, just like me. The crying kept getting louder and louder. I didn't like this. I wanted to run away from the noise, but I couldn't because I was overcome by a force that was as cold as ice.
• Oh, God, I'm in hell! "Mia..." "Mia, help me," a woman's voice said, but it turned into gurgling white noise that I couldn't understand. I was scared and tried to get away, but I didn't know how. Then I heard a different voice, a man's voice, coming from the darkness.
• He called out to me as if I were his dead lover. He called me "my love" and begged me to forgive him. His voice seemed to push away the white noise and the woman crying, and it made me feel warm and close. I couldn't figure out how this could happen. I couldn't remember ever having a boyfriend. Who was this man, and what had he done to me that he needed to apologize?
• I could feel his sadness pressing in on me and wanting to bring me back to life.
• ""Drink," he said in a whisper. Drink to stay with me for all time. Drink my love."
• A strange life force flowed into my body, changing the laws of nature and bringing it back to life. My heart started to beat again, and I felt myself being pulled out of Death's arms and pushed back into my own body. My soul started to slowly and painfully get back together, but not fully. A small part of me chose to stay in the happy otherworld, where we all went to die.
• I started to feel my body again, and then anxiety and panic hit me like a freight train. I was the kind of dead that modern medicine couldn't bring back to life. It felt strange and unnatural, and I was almost turned off by it.
• The first thing I felt was a metallic taste of liquid heat that ran down my throat and exploded in my stomach, sending shock waves through my body. For what felt like a second but could have been an eternity, there was pain that faded into awareness. I felt like I was coming out of a deep sleep and getting all my senses back.
• I became aware of the soft cotton sheet on the bed and the warm blanket on top of me. I moved my fingers and could feel the warm body next to me.
• Even before I opened my eyes, I knew it was the Prince of Darkness. His big arm wrapped around my waist, and he put his hand across my stomach to hold me close. As he slept quietly, I could feel the soft rise and fall of his chest against my back.
• I should have been scared or freaked out, but the fact that he was so close made me feel strangely at ease, as if we were real lovers.
• His arm moved slightly, maybe just a centimeter or two across my waist, but it was enough to make my eyelashes flutter and open. I couldn't see anything at all.
• I thought that the mysterious man who had taken me away was just a dream for a split second, but when his solid arm tightened around me, I knew he was real.
• I tried to remember how I got to be in this bed with this guy, but I was too tired. I was teased by fuzzy thoughts of Laura Taylor and that stupid wedding dress. Then I thought about the graveyard, the Hangman's tree, and that stupid story about that man with the sharp teeth who lived in the graveyard.
• My body went rigid in fear.
• The Prince of Darkness took a deep breath and woke up. His arm pulled me closer to him until I was pressed up against his chest. He said to me in a sleepy voice, "I'm so sorry, sweetheart. I didn't ever want to hurt you."
• I screamed out loud and pulled away from the stranger next to me as hard as I could. I dug my heel into the mattress and pushed backwards, almost doing a somersault across the bed.
• "Calm down, my love," he said softly as he touched my arm with his hand.
• I pulled my arm away and pushed myself in the opposite direction of where his voice was coming from.
• "Don't come near me!" I yelled like a crazy person.
• "Okay," "I won't come near you," a soft male voice replied.
• "Please, could you do something like turn on a lamp? I can't make out anything, "I asked.
• "I could, but it wouldn't change anything. You're blind, my love. This is just a short-term situation until the change is complete "He spoke slowly.
• "Change?" I echoed dryly.
• I put my hand to my neck and reached out to feel where his teeth had gone into me. My fingers were shaking. I carefully ran my fingers over the skin, but I didn't find any cuts or painful bruises. There was no proof that he had ever killed me.
• "My love, are you scared?" He asked.
• "I'm scared of you and what you did to me," I told him.
• "Why do you think I'm mad at you?"
• I said, "I don't know, but I do know I'm not the same."
• He let out a loud breath and said, "Look, I think this wasn't the best way to do this."
• "What do you mean by the right way?"
• "It no longer matters. You are scared and scared, and as your husband, I have to say something about that:"
• "Please don't do that. Look, I don't know who you are or why you thought it was okay to bite me, but let's get one thing straight: we are not getting married tonight. It was a fake wedding. We didn't have a license, give each other a blood test, or get married in front of a judge. Most importantly, you didn't have my permission to be your legally married wife "I lost it.
• He told her, "You stood under the tree."
• "Because of stupid Laura Taylor, I had to stand under that tree. And where on earth does standing under a tree mean, "I agree to marry you?" Could you imagine trying to explain to a judge that I am your legally married wife because I stood under a tree in a graveyard?"
• "Yes, in vampire court," he said in a snide way.
• I yelled, "There is no such thing as a vampire court!"
• "I'm sorry, sweetheart, but there is. I'm a vampire, and now you are too "He answered.
• I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Vampires don't exist.
• "They do, yes." I heard his voice in my head all of a sudden.
• "Please don't tell me I was thinking of you," I said without feeling.
• "Yes, telepathy is one of my many vampire powers," he said with pride.
• I realized all of a sudden that he was reading my mind like it was public property. I could feel him casually going through my memories, trying to put together what he knew about me. I was shocked that he didn't care about my privacy, so I told him, "Get out of my head!"
• He said, "I'm sorry. I was trying to find a way to help you calm down."
• I almost laughed out loud, "Help me relax? You bit me like a crazed bat and then took me away. I can't see, so I have no idea where I am. If you don't have strong sedatives, I don't think there are any words in my memory that you could use to calm me down."
• He said, "Look, I know I bit you and I'm sorry, but I had to because you were alive and I didn't want you to die."
• "Because you bit me!"
• I could hear his voice saying, "Oh well, to hell with it."
• When I opened my mouth to say something, I felt two hands grab my shoulder and push me back into the bed. I screamed in fear and tried to push him away, but he grabbed my wrists and pinned my arms above my head with one hand.
• "What are your plans?" I spoke in a broken whisper.
• He said, "Take you home and put you back to bed."
• "What? Are you really sure?" I asked.
• "Yes," he groaned, "I'll have to court you, Amelia Hayden, and try to make you love me."
• I tried not to laugh and said, "Yeah, well, best of luck to you."
• He finally said, "We are meant to be together, Mia," and then he bent down and ran his lips across my neck.
• I couldn't help but moan as his teeth scraped my skin.
• "You taste great, Mia," he said in my ear.
• "GIVE ME HELL!" I yelled back at him in my head.
• He moves his tongue over the pulse in my neck, and I can feel myself shivering under him. My body didn't feel like mine anymore. Instead, it wriggled around uncomfortably under him, wanting more physical contact.
• He breathed on my neck and said, "Hmm, this seems to be a very good way to calm you down, Miss Hayden."
• My mind felt fuzzy and full of the thought of him.
• He said, "I wish it could last longer, but I have to take you home."
• As he bit down again, the pain in my neck went off the charts. I let out a loud gasp, and the darkness came back around me. He let go of my arms and pulled me into his arms. I fell on his chest and felt how warm his skin was against mine.
• Before I finally fell asleep, he whispered, "I love you, Mia Hayden."