* * *
The dream started like it always did… A raw burning in my throat. A thirst like no other consumed me. My throat burned. I had to have it. No! I needed it. The pain was excruciating. This had to be death for surely I would die if I didn't get what I desired. Everything was red and pain. Pain and red. My body itched but I couldn’t scratch it. Only one thing could satisfy me. Blood.
* * *
I sat bolt upright in the bed. I clutched my hand to my chest. My breath was coming in short labored gasps. I was covered in a layer of sweat.
Jonathon’s cool hand reached up to brush a piece of stray hair from my face. Concern was etched into the fine planes of his forehead.
“Principessa, are you okay?” he asked running his hands through my hair.
“I’m fine,” I lied like every other night.
“No you’re not, love. I know something has to be wrong,” he gave me the look that said he knew something was wrong and that I better not lie to him.
“Nothing is wrong!” I said a little too defensively. Jonathon looked at me in shock, I never snapped at him, and then he took my face in his hands, tilting my head so that I was looking at him.
“Principessa, I am your soul mate you can tell me anything.” He said, love for me written all over his face. A single tear slid down my face, landing on his hand. I wanted so badly to tell him how much my body seemed to want blood, his blood specifically, but I didn’t want him to think less of me. I took a deep breath deciding that after months of fighting my desire and keeping it a secret that it was time to tell Jonathon.
“Promise you won’t get mad?” I asked him taking a shaky breath.
“My love, I could never be mad at you,” He said, his accent growing thicker with emotion.
“I want…” I breathed.
“What do you want, principessa? You know I’ll give you anything that you want.” He said with love in his eyes.
“I want your... blood,” I whispered. His shocked expression hurt me. But what hurt me more was how he pulled away from me.
“I knew you’d get mad!” I cried hysterically.
“Oh! Principessa, I’m not mad I was just thinking,” He said wrapping his arms around me to comfort me. My ponytail had come loose while I slept and my hair hung loose around my shoulders. Jonathon’s long slender fingers ran through my hair.
“Is something wrong with me?” I asked.
“No, no principessa. Let me explain.” He said rubbing my cheek.
I took a deep breath and said, “Okay.” I wanted to understand what was happening to me.
“If a vampire’s venom other than a soul mates’, enters a human, it acts as a poison. Let me clarify, once you meet your soul mate another vampire’s venom acts as venom. If John Doe out there had bit you before we met then you would have turned into a vampire. But once we met you were marked as mine and therefore any other vampire’s venom would be poison to your system. When Selena scratched you her venom entered your blood stream and was going to kill you slowly and painfully. The only way for me to save you was to drink some of your blood and then give you some blood, my blood more specifically, to make sure no poison lingered in your system. But here’s the thing about bloodletting, that’s what it’s called, it becomes addicting. For both the human and vampire. These past few months have been difficult for me as well. You aren’t alone in this,” he said in all seriousness.
“You have no idea how good that is to hear. I really thought I was going crazy,” I said breathing a sigh of relief.
“No, principessa, no. This is normal when bloodletting happens. Don’t worry yourself sick,” He said sweetly. I gave him a weak smile. He was so good to me.
He kissed me on my mouth and said, “Love, you should try and get some more sleep. You need to be in good spirits for your brothers.”
“You’re right, like always,” I said rolling onto my side. I was suddenly exhausted now that I knew the reason for my dreams and the intense feelings I was having regarding Jonathon’s blood.
“Sleep tight, my principessa.” Jonathon said brushing my hair from my face and kissing me quickly on my cheek.
As he got situated for the rest of the night I fell into a peaceful sleep with no dreams or more specifically no nightmares.
I awoke completely restedfor the first time in months. I was alone in my bed. No doubt, Jonathon had made a big show of coming out of his room, alone. I slowly climbed out of my bed, taking my time to stretch my long legs. I opened my bedroom curtains and was greeted by a sunny sky, full of promise.
I padded over to my wardrobe; there are no closets since they hadn’t been implemented yet when the home was built. I opened its large doors and grabbed a cerulean colored sweater and a pair of distressed jeans. I dressed silently and headed into the bathroom to put on some make-up, and do something to tame my hair.
I found the cd Isaac had made me sitting on the counter. I picked it up and looked it over. I opened the cd player and stuck the disc in.