“I’ll be fine,” I said.
&n
bsp; They went back to the living room to lend a helping hand to those injured while I went to check on Jonathon. I didn’t entirely trust that he was okay. I had to see it with my own eyes. The upstairs was empty but I knew he had to be in his room. I normally loved the walk up to Jonathon’s room but right now the tight spiral staircase made me feel claustrophobic. After what felt like an eternity I felt my hand grasp the door knob to his room. I held my breath and thrust the door open.
Jonathon lay on his bed and he looked comatose. His chest moved slightly with labored breathing. I thought it a small miracle that he didn’t necessarily have to breathe in order to live. Patrick and Joseph stood by the bed. They both looked exhausted. Patrick looked immensely worried which made my heart start to race. If he was worried then there had to be something seriously wrong. Joseph had his arms crossed over his chest and he kept rubbing his face.
“Is he going to be okay?” I squeaked. Tears were starting to come to my eyes again and I fought with all the energy I had left to push them back. I could not lose Jonathon. He was all I had left.
Patrick sighed, “I don’t want to lie to you.”
“Then don’t. Please, tell me the truth,” I said and came closer.
Patrick put his hand on my arm in a comforting gesture, “I will always tell you the truth, Kylie, even when I don’t want to. The honest truth is, I don’t know, I really don’t know if he’ll be okay. I’ve never in all my years seen anything remotely close to what he did out there. I don’t know the lasting effects something like that might have.” I couldn’t stop the tears any longer. Patrick hugged me tight against his chest. “I’m sorry,” he murmured, “I don’t know what to say except I’m sorry. I really am. We just have to hope that he’ll be okay.”
“He has to be okay,” I sobbed, “He has to. I need him. I can’t lose him. I love him too much.”
“I know,” he said, “I know.”
I began to control my sobs and pulled away from him. “I’m okay now,” I said pulling away.
“Are you?” he asked looking at me like a nurturing worried father.
“Yeah,” I said wiping my face. “You guys can go. I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure? We can stay with you,” said Joseph.
I gave him a small smile. “I’ll be fine. Really. There are plenty of people downstairs that need your help. Go, I’ll be fine. I promise.”
“Okay. But if-,” Patrick began.
“I need you come get you. I know. I just went through this with Danny and Gabriel.”
Patrick chuckled. “Don’t hesitate.”
“I’ll be okay. I can handle this on my own,” I said with a steely resolve.
“I know you can,” he said and kissed me on top of my head like I was his own child.
I watched them leave and then I went to stand by Jonathon. “Oh, Jonathon,” I sobbed, “This is my fault. I did this to you,” I said as I ran my fingers gently through his golden halo of hair. He looked like some kind of sleeping angel. He looked so at peace. I put my hand against his cheek. “Please, wake up. Come back to me,” I begged. There was no movement from him. He was just like a block of stone. Unchanging. Unmovable. I went around the bed and climbed in beside him. I put my head on his chest and said as tears rolled out of my eyes, “I love you, Jonathon.”
I finally cried myself to sleep while I laid my head on his chest.
* * *
A shudder rocked through my body. Only, it wasn’t my body. I woke up startled thinking that maybe I was having one of my scary realistic dreams but found that it wasn’t the case. The bed was shaking as Jonathon’s body convulsed. It looked like he was having some kind of seizure. I placed my hands firmly on his chest. His eyes darted rapidly back and forth unseeing.
“Jonathon,” I said, hoping that speaking to him might bring him back. I wanted to scream but I knew I had to keep my head. No one knew what might be the repercussions of Jonathon’s act. I knew no more than anyone else. I had to think.
His body kept convulsing violently. I thought I might get thrown from the bed. His body was clammy with sweat. I didn’t even know that vampires could sweat. He kept shaking violently and my strength was no match for his. He rolled over and threw up over the side of the bed. I had no idea that a vampire could possibly throw up and I wasn’t about to look to see what Jonathon had thrown up. I didn’t need to get sick too; I needed to keep my head. A small trickle of blood ran down the side of his mouth.
“Jonathon? Oh, Jonathon! Please stop,” I cried hysterically. I couldn’t believe that no one had come up yet but figured that being in the attic we must be out of ear shot with all the chaos that was going on downstairs. I was going to have to do this on my own.
I sat on his chest to minimize the movements. I looked around frantically for some sort of sharp object that I could use to cut myself. There was a picture of the two of us at my home in California on his bedside table. I grabbed it and smashed it on the floor. I held on tightly to the bed as I leaned down to grab a piece of shattered glass. The convulsions seemed to be lessening but I didn’t want to risk it.
“Help! Help! Someone!” I yelled as I sliced the edge of the glass across the tender skin of my wrist. I put it too his lips.
Suddenly the movements stopped and he came to. He grabbed my wrist and held it greedily to his lips. I could feel the blood being pulled from my body but I felt no pain. His eyes had turned black and his grip was tight but the high from the bite was taking affect. Now that we had had made love I could see why bloodletting led to sex. It was very sensual. I felt extremely connected to him but now was not the time. He finally pulled away. I expected him to be awake but as soon as his lips left my wrist he was asleep again.