Gwen’s POV
I wake up in the middle of the night to strange sounds coming from the hallway. I sit up in bed and listen. When a feminine scream rends the air, I jump out of bed and rush for the door.
When I get to the hallway, I see a woman outside Alexander’s door. She turns around when I appear, and on seeing me, rushes towards me.
“Help me! They are trying to–” She comes to a sudden stop as a stricken look crosses over her face. She stumbles back, eyeing me with suspicion. “Are you one of them?”
Phillip appears from Alexander’s room and I walk over, looking between him and the woman. She is human. “What is going on?”
“Don’t worry about it,” he tells me. “Go back to sleep.”
The woman is looking between us, pressing herself against the wall. I look at her. “It’s okay. No one’s going to hurt you.”
There’s only one reason a human would be in a vampire’s castle. But as long as I’m here, no one’s getting drained.
She looks at me with wide, terrified eyes, unsure whether to trust me.
I step forward, positioning my body between her and Phillip. “Let her go,” I tell him.
A choking noise comes from inside Alexander’s bedroom, and then the stench of blood hits me. I frown as I look towards the open door. “Is Alexander okay?”
“Fine, I’ll let her go,” Phillip says. “Just go back to your room, okay? I’ve got this.”
There’s something awfully wrong, I can tell. I walk past Phillip, ignoring his protests, and head to the open doorway. I gasp at the sight I find and hurry to the bed.
Alexander is leaning over the edge of the bed, his head angled towards the floor. The carpet on the floor is soaked through with blood.
The sight chills me to my core, and for a moment, I stand over him, not sure what to do. Why is he vomiting blood?
“Alexander?” It’s impossible to avoid the bloodied carpet, so I step into it to get close enough to touch his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“His body rejected the blood I brought earlier,” Phillip says, walking into the room.
“So what do we do?”
“Nothing.”
I look at him. “What do you mean nothing?” Earlier, Alexander said he had to drink blood to get better. So if his body rejected it, that means he will get worse, right? How can we not do anything?
“He won’t drink her blood,” Phillip says. “It’s the only thing that might save him.”
So that’s what the woman was for. I hold Alexander’s shoulder and push him onto his back. “Alexander? Can you hear me?” I call, but his eyes remain closed and I get no response. Has he passed out? “There must be something we can do.”
“It’s over,” Phillip says.
He doesn’t need to say more. I know what he means. I shake my head. He is wrong. This cannot be the end.
I sit on the edge of the bed and stroke hair from Alexander’s face. He is paler than he was when he collapsed earlier.
His eyes flutter open, and hope brims inside me. See? Phillip is wrong.
“Alexander? It’s me.”
His eyes, unfocused and so pale there’s no hint of their beautiful lilac colour, settle on my face. “Gwen…”
His voice is so weak I can barely hear it.
I bend lower, getting closer to him. “You’ll be fine,” I tell him.
He shakes his head. “I’m sorry I can’t protect you for longer.”
I shake my head. “No. You’ll be okay.”
He lifts his hand. It’s trembling as it lands on my cheek. “Forgive me, my love.”
He closes his eyes.
“Alexander? Stay with me.” There’s no response. His hand falls from my face and onto the bed. I shake his shoulder. “Alexander!”
“I don’t think he’ll wake up again,” Phillip says.
“You are wrong.” He is a vampire. It doesn’t matter how he has been living, but he cannot die so easily. Why now? He has been living like this for hundreds of years. How can he die so suddenly?
“I’ll bring her back,” Phillip says.
He is talking about the woman. Why isn’t he even checking on Alexander? Maybe he just passed out!
“I’ll be back soon,” he tells me. “I won’t be a minute.”
“Don’t hurt her,” I tell him.
“I won’t. I’ll just scrub her memories.”
He leaves, and the woman shouts for help one more time, and then it’s quiet. They are gone.
I look down at Alexander’s pale face and teardrops fall from my eyes to his skin. I didn’t realise I was crying.
“Don’t do this,” I tell him, stroking his face. “Don’t leave me. I’m sick of it.” I wish I knew more about vampires. I would know what to do.
There must be something I can do. Heck, I’m living in a world with vampires, werewolves, dragons, and God knows what other nature-defying creatures. There must be a solution.
It’s so cold, his voice slithers into my mind.
See? He is okay. Phillip is wrong. He just needs to rest and his body will recover.
Without thinking twice, I climb onto the bed and to his other side. “I’ll warm you up,” I tell him, laying down next to him. I throw my arm around him and snuggle up as close as I can to his body. “You’ll feel better tomorrow.”
Phillip shows up a minute later. He takes a look at us and then leaves the room. I don’t hear Alexander’s voice in my head again. I hope that’s because he is now resting well.
About an hour later, Phillip appears again.
“He is gone,” he says.
“He talked to me,” I tell him. “He is just sleeping.”
“Vampires can tell when their maker dies,” he tells me. “Even if I was thousands of miles away, I’d feel it.”
I look at Alexander’s still face. I want to argue with Phillip, but that won’t change anything, will it?
Why am I so useless? Everybody I care about keeps leaving me and there’s nothing I can do about it.
Am I cursed? Am I doomed to never have someone by my side, who’ll stay for a long time? Is it because of something I did in my past life?
“It’s almost sunrise,” Phillip tells me. “I’ll take care of the body.”
It takes him a short while to set up a pyre behind the castle. My heart feels heavy as I watch the flames grow, engulfing Alexander’s body. I’ve only known him for barely a day, but it feels like I’ve known him forever.
“I have to go now,” Phillip tells me after a long while. The fire is still roaring. “I’ll be back in the evening to sort out things. He left everything to you.”
“What?” My voice barely makes it past my throat.
“After he found you, he transferred everything he has to your name. When I come back tonight, I’ll bring the documents.”
I don’t know what to say.
There’s nothing to say.