Give Me Love

I gazed at William as I waited for my macaroni and cheese to cool down. "How old are you?"

He looked at me. "Five-hundred and nineteen."

"How old were you when…?" I asked, trailing off.

"Thirty-one."

I bit my lip. He was of age and from what I've gathered from Nicholas, their family liked to marry them off young. I wanted to ask about his life as a human, but I'm not sure how he would react. Nicholas is hotheaded and secretive, so I wouldn't be surprised if William was the same.

"You can ask."

I looked up. "What?"

William sighed. "You wanted to ask me something, but decided not to," He explained, "you're easily readable, Lauren."

Running a hand through my blonde waves, my blue eyes locking with his chestnut ones. "I have a lot of questions that Nicholas just isn't giving me answers for," I told him, "I never understood how you could go in the sun, just that you could."

William put his hands on the table and let a small smile grace his lips. "If one is…well fed the sun will only cause a small headache, nothing more than a dull throb. But it can cause debilitating migraines on some. Age is also a factor. We are also weakened, and we won't heal like we normally do if we are in direct sun."

I nodded and let myself absorb this information. "Garlic?"

William laughed. "You are playing with me."

I cracked a smile. "What about reproducing?"

William shifted. "It's not impossible," He started, "vampire males can impregnate a living female."

My eyebrows furrowed. "How would that affect the child?"

"The living genes in the child overpower the dead. The child would live a pretty normal life, if he makes it through the pregnancy," He explained, "the only vampire trait he would have is the healing."

"The pregnancy is rough. The fetus would grow quickly. Everything the mother eats goes straight to the fetus," William continued.

"So the child would essentially starve the mother?"

"Yes, the fetus would take everything from the mother, like a parasite," He told me, "the mother would have to be on strict bed rest and eat nearly all day."

Nodding, I asked another question: "Where you married as a human?"

William took a deep breath. "Yes, and I had a child."

I ran a hand up and down my arm. "Oh, you don't have to continue," I said to him.

"No," He said, shaking his head, indicating he was going to continue anyway, "I had married Margret when I was twenty; she was only sixteen. We didn't love each other, but wanted the same thing: a daughter for ourselves. We tried for a child for seven years before she became pregnant. We had a little girl: Aria," As William continued to speak, I could see a small tear in his eye, "Aria had my dark hair, and her mother's sky blue eyes. She was my light."

I sat there, my food completely forgotten. "What happened?" I whispered.

"There was a man, Anthony, that wanted to see me suffer. He had been in love with Margret and was angry when I married her," He said and I could feel his pent up anger, "he made me watch as he raped and stabbed my wife, before stabbing my Aria."

I sucked in a deep breath at the heavy confession. "I shouldn't have asked."

William looked at me and gave a small smile. "It felt good to get it off my chest. Thank you, Lauren."

I grabbed his hand, comfortingly, "I was raped when I was nineteen by my boyfriend. I had gotten pregnant, but I was happy. I had always wanted a child. When I found out I was having a boy, I was ecstatic. But, I had somehow made him angry and he pushed me to the ground and kicked my stomach repeatedly."

I wiped away tears that had started to streak my face. "I may not have gotten to meet my little boy, but I did love him and I think about him everyday."