Promises

I lay in a hospital bed, my pained breathing radiating misery with each breath. I didn't want to die, but the way I felt right now made death seem welcoming, almost friendly. One stupid stunt ruined me. I could remember hitting my head so hard on that amp and something snapped in my head, almost like a rubber band breaking.

I was dying of a neurological hemorrhage.

It killed me to think about people’s reactions when I passed. My band; I know how much they were worried, and they knew how quickly I was expiring. Of course, the fans would be devastated. I could image the Myspace headlines and Twitter updates saying something like, R.I.P. Audrina Ashlan. We miss you.” Only 21 and I’m already on my death bed

The door opened and I reflexively turned away in my bed. I heard a soft, harmonic voice laugh lightly. I peered back over to see Jacob Shay, a med student, watching me. He was the only person here that eased the pain of death without upping my morphine drip. Jacob just being near me and treating me like a girl instead of a rock star or a doomed patient would make my day just a little bit brighter.

“Are you trying to hide from me?” he joked.

I chuckled, coughing as fluid surfaced from my lungs. “Certainly not. I just didn’t expect to see you this early in the day.” Jacob smiled gently at me and I blushed, the colour being quite evident on my cheeks since I was so pale.

“Your condition is… complicated,” he said, suddenly looking away. “I hate to think about how soon you could die.” We both became silent and I saw his honey-coloured eyes darken.

“J-Jacob,” I muttered, but it seemed as though he ignored me. “I know I’m going to die. For all it’s worth, I could die tonight-”

“Don’t say that,” he grunted, sitting on the edge of my bed. “Someone younger than me shouldn’t be ready to die.”

I blinked. “Younger? What are you talking about? We’re the same age.” Jacob grew quiet.

“Never mind,” he grumbled, getting up and walking to the door, then stopping and turning back to me. I was in awe sort of. He was unimaginably gorgeous, almost too gorgeous to be real. “Audrina?”

“What?” I replied, now straining to speak.

He paused, smoothly running his fingers through his ashy black hair. “I can save you.”

My eyes widened. “You what?”

Jacob closed the door, locking it. I sat upright and my chest felt heavy. “I’ve been debating on this for the longest time.”

“Is it a medication? A procedure?”

“The latter,” he said, sitting back on my bed. “It’s painful. Extremely painful.”

“What is this?” I asked. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m saving your life,” he said, touching my cheek. I flinched. His fingertips were so cold. I knew Jacob was studying to be a doctor, but this type of cold was unnatural, almost deathly. I felt so terrified, yet completely safe. “You’re going to live.”

“Just stop saying that” I exclaimed, then took a deep breath. “Are there side-effects?”

“A few,” he replied.

“Like what?”

He paused, almost as though he didn’t know for sure. “Um… you’ll have to change your eating habits. Permanently. And, uh… your senses will heighten, and you’ll be… stronger.”

“I’ve yet to hear a down side,” I input. Jacob sighed.

“Life will not always be enjoyable. You will mess many things up. Guilt will eat you away sometimes and urges will tear you apart. You will sometimes wish I’d let you die.”

I blinked. “Okay, I take it back. Can I still be in the band?”

“I guess. However, you can’t tell the band mates about your treatment. Ever.” He told me. “And once I cure you, we have to leave this place.”

“You mean I have to leave. You can’t leave, you’re a med student.”

“No. We both have to leave. I shouldn’t do this at all,” he said. “Go get dressed. Your clothes are in the bathroom.” I got up slowly and he helped me into the bathroom. I dressed weakly, still terrified. I looked into the mirror, seeing how sickly pale I looked, not to mention how ratty my dark red hair was. I brushed my hair out, letting it be the only thing I bothered with.

I felt weaker, colder. I was straining to breath and I knew that without Jacob's cure, I would probably be in the morgue by this time tomorrow. I walked back out, seeing him having changed out of his scrubs and into some skinny jeans and a tee shirt. “You’re a quick one.”

“You’ll be quick, too,” he mumbled smoothly. “Now sit back on the bed.” I obliged as he approached me.

“When can I get my cure?” I asked.

“Now. Audrina, it’s going to hurt. More than you will ever know, and you can’t scream,” he explained.

“No anesthetics?”

Jacob shrugged. “Sorry.” I looked around the room.

“What about equipment?”

Jacob looked sheepishly at me. “You’re looking at the equipment.” My stomach churned at these words.

“I’m scared,” I blurted.

“Do you trust me?” he asked. Stupid question, I knew the answer without being asked.

“Y-yeah. I don’t know why, but I do,” I confessed. He chuckled.

“I know why,” he mumbled. He suddenly touched his lips to mine. I found myself soothed by the kiss, yet slightly confused. His hands weren’t all that was cold, but his entire body was, for no heat radiated from his body. I tore my mouth away from his.

"Jacob,” I whispered, “what are you?”

He smirked. “Your hero.” He placed a chilly hand on my cheek. “Promise not to scream?”

“I promise,” I said shakily.

“You’re lying,” he chuckled, then pressed his hand over my mouth. He pushed my against the bed, his mouth drew towards my neck and I felt his teeth graze my skin. Suddenly, what was definitely the worst pain ever surged through every ounce of my being. I tried not to scream, but the pain was unbearable. My body strained and I soon blacked out from the pain.
__

My eyelids fluttered open and I saw Jacob. I bolted upright and looked around me. We were outside in a clearing in the woods and I was sitting next to the most beautiful, sparkling pond. I figured everything out in that moment. His icy skin, saying I was younger, his behavior, the absence of pain in the side of my neck, and especially the fact that I felt as healthy as ever.

Jacob sat by the pond and I stood up. I walked over to him and shoved him into the pond. “What did you do to me?!” I yelled.

“Audrina!” he exclaimed, getting up.

“What did you turn me into?” I demanded. I knew the answer, but he needed to be honest with me.

“You’re like me now.”

“For how long am I going to be like you?”

Nathaniel sighed. “Forever.”

“And how long have you been like this?”

“97 years.”

I saw back down on the ground as he shook water from his hair. “I’m a vampire now, aren’t I? This burning in my throat is because I want blood, right?” He nodded.

“No human blood for you. Only animal blood,” he told me. “I’ll help you hunt.”

“You saved me from dying a horrible, painful death just to have me experience a worse one? The only upside is that I’m not completely deceased.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” I said. “You put me through more physical pain than anyone should endure, but you gave me life. Life after death.”

“Talk about ‘the afterlife’,” he joked. I giggled lightly.

I paused briefly. “You’ll take care of me?” Jacob sat down next to me, then kissed me. It was sweet and soft this time, as if he were protective over me, and for once his skin didn’t feel icy to mine.

“I promise."