Stacy sat on the couch, her hair pulled to one side as John moved up behind her. She felt him there, his hands on her arms, his lips brushing against her neck, reaching over her shoulder to kiss jawline.

“I’ll try to make this not hurt. It can sometimes. It’s different each time, for each person. I’ll only take what I need to get by. I promise. I will not hurt you.”

She felt his fangs pierce her skin, drawing deep into her neck to bring her blood to the surface. His tongue licked at the drops that spilled but most of the blood went through his teeth, straight to his heart. The only time it ever beat was when he ate, the organ waking up long enough to pump the vital liquid throughout his body. His cock stiffened against her ass, the experience was sometimes sexual for him. With Stacy, it was an overpowering urge that he fought to control. Her blood was like pure raw sex to him, invigorating and thrilling. The blood filled him with pleasure as he ground against her ass. He was going to have to get inside of her.

He moved his mouth, releasing her neck as he moved.

“Stacy?” he asked murmured against her neck.

“Hmmm,” she hummed back, lost in the euphoric feeling he’d created for her.

“May I fuck you, darling? I need you!” he whispered urgently.

“Mmm, yes, please do.”

He moved around her, quickly removing both of their clothes and pulling her beneath him, on her knees, as he sank his fangs into her neck again. She moved against him, meeting his quick thrusts with joy and pleasure, hearing his thoughts for the first time.

She knew he loved her now, she could feel what he felt as he read her thoughts in unison, a confusing jumble of emotions. They were aware of each other’s minds invading their own, they felt the mingling. Stacy could taste her own blood in her mouth, as he tasted her. She could feel her own pussy, from his point of view and he experienced his own dick, feeling the sensations that Stacy felt. John moved to manipulate her clit, knowing that would send her flying as his other hand manipulated her nipples, stopping his thrusts for a moment as she took over the movements.

He let her build them up; his teeth still attached to her neck, loathe to stop their fusion. She lost herself; felt him feeding from her and the fulfilment he gained from that. Their release, the cataclysm that sent them into darkness, was surprising, coming quickly and without a warning. They flew into the heavens, joined the stars as specks of dust, and fell back to heaven, lost in rapture.

John came to his senses first and realized that Stacy was not moving. “Stacy” he called her name, shaking her shoulder. She fell from the couch, her body lifeless and empty of thought. He checked her pulse and felt only a faint movement there, barely anything like a heartbeat.

“Stacy, no, I’m sorry baby, don’t give up yet, hang on.” He sealed the bite mark with his saliva, bit down on his wrist and held it to her mouth. He may not be able to turn her into a vampire this way but he could heal her, he could bring her back from the brink.

From far away Stacy could hear John calling her but she was so lost in the clouds, in the warm comfort of the darkness that she did not want to leave it just yet. In her own world, dying but not knowing it, Stacy had to make a choice, it did not matter what John did now and Stacy had to decide. That’s what the voice had told her anyway.

Searching she looked for the voice and found a light. She floated towards it, asking what the voice wanted.

“I want you to join us here, Stacy, if you go back you’ll be the same as John, or you can come here into the abyss with us.”

“What is this place? Who are you?”

“I am the universe, the world, the global conscious if you will. I am The Oneness. I am all of us and this is the nothing we go to when we die. There is no pain here, no tears or grief, or pain. Only nothing. Are you ready for that?”

“What do you mean, I’ll be like John?” she asked The Oneness.

“You’ll be a vampire, you’ll wander the earth. Eventually you’ll die but it will be millennia from now. You’ll see history rise and fall, empires come and go. Or you can make another choice, a choice you’ll have to make for John.”

“That is?”

“I can send you back but I can also take his gift from him. His greed has overruled him. He should be fine now, that’s why we took his donors away. He has you and he’s happy but still his greed for blood does not end.”

“Shouldn’t this be his choice?” she asked.

“It will be whatever choice you make, because this is also his punishment. He was not careful with that he loved most. He abused you and has almost taken your life. It’s your choice to make now, Stacy. Can you trust him or do you want to punish him?” The Oneness asked.

“I can trust him; this was my mistake as well, not only his.”

“Then you’ll be vampire too. That is your choice?”

“If that’s what it takes, then yes.”

She woke up in her bed, a feeling of cold filling her body like she’d never felt before. Was it only a dream? Something was missing though, she knew something was different. She listened, she felt and finally she realized it was the absence of her heartbeat that was so strange. Stacy screamed, sitting up and running to the bathroom.

She was pale, white as a ghost, no colour showing at all on her body. “JOHN!” she screamed again.

“John! What have they done to me?”

John ran into the bathroom from the kitchen, looking at her in dread. He’d stopped dead in his tracks when he saw her face, the paleness of her skin.

“No! No they can’t do this! They can’t punish you for my mistake! They can’t!”

“It seems they have, darling. What now?” She looked at him, trust in her eyes, hope that broke his heart.

“I can’t fix it. I simply can’t. This is your life now.” As he spoke, she remembered the words from her dream. The words she’d spoken. She did not blame him but knew she had to tell him.

“This is your punishment John. You nearly killed me. You have to control your urges, darling. You have to stop your greed for blood. You simply have to.”

“But I can’t, I need it. I physically need it. You needed food emotionally; it filled a hole for you. This is a deep craving, something I can’t rid myself of. I am weak, powerless to control it. I simply need it.”

John sank to the floor, miserable and lost now. He suspected he’d also lost Stacy now that The Oneness had decided to punish her. Yet again, she was taking the brunt of someone else’s problem, not her own.

“But you are my problem John; you became a part of me the day we met. We took each other then, stronger than any marriage or vows, we love each other and cannot break away from each other. You’ve had your answer all along, your cure but you’ve chosen to ignore it. I fill you but you’ve become so dependent on the blood you’ve forgotten you don’t really need it anymore. Your need is purely psychological now. I thought I needed all that food. Dismiss it if you like, I felt the same cravings for food as you do for blood. I was killing myself but I thought I’d die without it. Look at me, darling. Look at me.” Stacy insisted.

John looked up, tears streaming from his eyes. “I love you” she spoke, “we are in this together. Now, look into my head.”

He truly felt it then. Where he’d felt a fleeting notion of pain and hurt, he now also felt the full sum of her despair. The hurt she’d felt throughout her childhood, the hurt of her adulthood every time a man used her. He felt her shame, her degradation and utter loneliness. He felt the way food had filled, soothed and hid it all away from her awareness. He truly understood where he thought he knew before. He’d known, but he hadn’t realised the full impact of it all.

If she can do it, he thought, so could he. He felt the cravings she’d felt, still felt sometimes and the hurt of pushing those urges down. Swallowing them. He also felt how he’d healed her and made her whole again. His own selfishness had almost snuffed out this new bright flame of hope. He saw where he’d gone wrong now. He’d been so focused on her, so determined that his problem would remain unsolved that he’d been blind to his own problem and answer. He had to swallow it, learn to not need the blood. His body no longer needed it to live, like food and breathing he’d only come to use it as a crutch, a lifeline to a life he no longer lived.

A light filled the room, a form appearing in front of the both of them. The Oneness appeared, only a form, no real features present in the light.

“That’s it, John. You’ve found it finally, your answer to the question you didn’t even realise you’d had. How do you end it? You simply stop wanting it.”

“How though? How do I stop wanting it?” John asked, taking Stacy into his arms. Looking at her, her face beautiful in the light, he knew. He just had to make that decision. He did that, taking a deep breath he knew he may not need but still wanted. Like the blood. He no longer needed it, the urge left him as he breathed out. He felt a calm enter his body then, a peace he’d never known before filling him with joy.

“I shall leave you now. I’ll return in a year, you can give me a decision then. Do you want to stay this way or do you want to return to humanity? It will be your choice, each of you. Your choice cannot be unmade so think on it long and hard. I’ll see you before you know it.”

The Oneness disappeared then, leaving them to their thoughts. They huddled on the bed, lost in each other, and in their own thoughts.

“What do we do?” Stacy asked.

“Well, I think we quit our jobs, I have enough money for both of us. We should travel. See what the world has to offer us, if we want to spend an eternity walking it or if we want to find our way into the obscurity of normal humanity.” John told her, pulling her close to smell her hair now that she was with him, almost alive again.

“I think that’s a really good idea, the best one for both of us, for now. You’ve lived a lot longer than me. I can’t make a decision without knowing what the world actually has to offer, can I?” she cuddled close to him, running her fingers over his back.

“We can do whatever you like, my darling. We have all the time in the world, either way we choose. We can grow old together or we can spend eternity looking like we’re in our late 20s. Personally, I am fine with either one, whatever you’d like. As long as I have you, I’ll go anywhere do anything and live however you want to.”

“What about children? Do you want children?” Stacy asked.

“No, not really. The world is a hard place for children, don’t you think? And if we were to have children I’d rather adopt one that needs us.” John told her.

“I’m the same. I wouldn’t want to subject a child to my own fate and I’m not sure I could raise one. We’ll see what happens though, alright? We may change our minds later. For now, I love you and I want my life to be with you, about you and around you. Where you go, I go, that’s just how it’s going to be. You’re stuck with me now.”

“Alright, well hopefully you’ll be sent a donor because you will need blood the first 50 years or so. After that you should just stop needing it. You’ll also start to notice your flesh heals; you’ll become even healthier, even though your heart isn’t beating at all now. It’s a miracle, but it’s a curse. Hopefully you won’t live to regret it. We’ll make the choice when the time comes. For now, let’s find where we want to go first. I promised you Paris, didn’t I? That will have to be our first stop. Let’s get those tickets booked. I love you darling and I’m sorry this has happened but it looks like it had to. I’m just glad you don’t hate me.” John kissed her nose, picking up her laptop as he did.

“I love you too, John, thank you for pulling me out of the darkness. I am thankful for you every day. Now, you’re getting first class tickets, right? I’ve never flown first class.”

Their voices trailed off, The Oneness finally leaving them to their night as it flew back to the sky, settling there to watch over the humans that walked the earth, unaware that their own choices were what mattered most. They had to choose to live or die and sometimes knowing that was the hardest thing of all to know. For now, John and Stacy were happy, laughing as they ran for their coats and John’s motorcycle keys. They were leaving on the next flight, two hours from now, straight to Paris. No bags, no clothes, no cares in the world. Only their passports, bank cards and their love for each other. The only items they needed to take with them.