Ravore looked down at his love in sudden disbelief. How? How could she know what lay ahead of her? How could she be willing to step into the void without any knowledge of her impending doom? Ignorance. Sheer ignorance. Were it not for her love for him, he may even have called it arrogance. But he knew better. She was too sweet, too innocent. She didn’t understand the desire, the desperate need for her that ached within him. She was playing with fire, and she didn’t even know it.

“Perhaps if I were stronger”, he thought “I would stop this madness before it began.” Oh, but it had already begun. “I can’t, She is simply too tantalizing… And I have done what I vowed never to do again; lost control.” But even in the uproar of heedlessness within him, he knew that he had to be sure… that she had to be sure.

“You will suffer in comprehensible trials, Indescribable terrors, and Insufferable hatred. You will never again know what it is to be understood, to belong” Ravore said, searching her soul for reluctance. He found none.

“The only place I need to belong is in your heart” Nicole cooed, her honey like voice teasing his ears.
He slowly extended his pale hand toward her bronze one. She began to reach for his when he pulled back ever so slightly. “Once I do this, there is no turning back” he said, a simple statement. He knew in his heart that he did not possess the strength to save her. Ravore was giving her one last chance, to save herself.

She looked up at him with entrancing, crystal blue eyes. Those eyes were full of trust, full of passion, both of which he knew he did not deserve. Those pale orbs seemed to mock his very being. “I’m ready” she breathed.

Ravore could wait no longer… she had made her choice. He took her eagerly, but gently into his embrace. She wrapped her slender arms tightly around his waist. Her love brushed Nicole’s auburn hair away from her neck, exposing the delicate skin there. He started kissing her ear, and worked his way down to the hollow behind the lobe. Nicole tensed slightly.

“Will it… will it hurt?” she asked softly, naïve fear in her voice, she began to tremble.

“Only for a moment” Ravore promised, whispering warm breath into her ear. His lips were just above the most sensitive of veins. He stroked her hair, and continued to kiss her neck. She was quaking.

“Shhh…” he whispered, trying to assuage her fear. “It will be quick.” She began to relax, slinking helplessly into his hold. Ravore’s gums were swelling with anticipation, as his fangs slowly emerged. Ravore felt each pulse radiate throughout her body. His pupils slowly dilated as a hawk’s might, just before the kill.
Nicole breathed deeply, her heart racing. Her scent was intoxicating him, torturing his resolve, and tempting his control like never before. She opened her mouth to say something, and it was all Ravore could do not to sink his teeth into her at that moment.

“I love you”, she breathed.

And at that moment, he could take no more. He bit deep within her flesh, tasting the cloying blood that ran freely from her neck. She shrieked in pain and attempted to free herself, but Ravore held on all the tighter, willing her not to fight him. After a brief moment, she once again relaxed in his arms.
He lowered her gently to the ground, and withdrew from her skin. Her eyes were closed. He softly caressed her cheekbone, and planted a single kiss on her brow. “And I love you”