Ever After

Chapter 6

“William’s Point of View”

I watched her sleep, knowing this peace she had right now would soon end. The medication would wear off, and throw her already worn out body into waves of pain that cannot be described in words. I knew the pain, but not on such a level as she was having. My own change had been hellish.

I spent days wishing I would die, my body drained by the spastic waves of gut wrenching horrific pain. I could hardly bear to see her go through all of this. If I could have taken the pain from her, I would bear it myself in a second to spare her the agony. I worried she was getting too weak to take much more; she seemed so frail and fragile now. The battle going on in her body was draining her each day.

Doc had told me not only was her body fighting the venom and the changing process, but also her human illness was not gone. The fact she was still technically human and her system was too, meant her cancer was far from gone. It was a factor in all the pain she was having, not just the venom. Doc worried the cancer would take over the remaining human part of her system and shut it down, causing her death.

I pulled her small weak body closer to me as I feel her shiver, as she sleeps. I was thankful she was getting some much-needed rest now. The past few days she seemed to get worse by the hour. The glow from the full moon and the snow shadowed her angelic face as I watched her sleep.

I could never have imagined I would ever love anyone as I did her. I had not really ever loved anyone before, when I thought about it now. I had girlfriends of course before Corrine, but none that were serious, especially since I became a vampire. Many girls from other covens approached me but I didn’t feel right dating.

I mean really how do you go about dating as an immortal. I just decided years ago to bypass all that, and be like Doc and find an area to work in, maybe medicine and focus on that. I wanted to help cure human diseases as he did. Corrine had come into my life like a thief in the night and stolen my heart. I had forgotten all my plans when I met Corrine, she changed everything for me.

That day by the river when she looked into my eyes so innocent and trusting, I fell for her right then. The feeling I had known her in another time, was too strong to ignore. I knew if she did not survive this. I could not live without her. I hated myself for allowing her to sacrifice herself to save me that night at the Halloween party.

I knew how stubborn she could be and I knew she would have found a way to get me to take her blood anyway, I’m sure. I had to put my faith in Doc. I knew he would do everything in his power to save her. Dr. Pratt was a genius and I knew it. He would know what to do, he had to.

Dr. Pratt was one of the head elders of the Follower coven in France, there were quite a few in Europe. Pratt had always been kind to my mother and me on our “visits” when Vincent was becoming too nosy about where I was. It was a regular thing for us to go to Europe to keep him guessing, and avoid him trying to contact me, or do something worse.

I knew Pratt had spent century’s doing research on various topics and in-depth studies on vampire change. The fact he was being delayed by the weather was un nerving to us all. Time was not on our side right now, each hour Corrine’s body got weaker and closer to death. If he was delayed much longer it might be too late for him to help her at all, that was my greatest fear.

Pratt’s wife was the one reason I had a really good feeling he could help Corrine. Emma had much the same problem as Corrine as Doc had explained to us. It was well known it was Pratt’s hours and years of studies, that helped save her. Emma was proof he could save one who was failing to change over to a vampire properly.

Emma had been the victim of an attack by none other than the evil Dark Coven. Doc had told me the story years ago. Emma had been walking home from shopping, and was pulled into an ally way and brutally attacked. Two members of the Dark Coven left her for dead. Pratt was never sure why they didn’t kill her, as they typically did all their human victims. Emma was for all intensive purposes, dead already and a human doctor would have pronounced her so. Human medicine would not have saved her.

Pratt took her back to his home, laboratory to try to save her if he could. As a Follower, he upheld the rule of trying to protect and save human lives, if possible. He had devoted most of his “vampire life” to finding cures for devastating human diseases. It was not unusual for him to try to save random people he found that were attacked by Dark Coven members.

Emma had suffered greatly, and much like Corrine, she was near death. Pratt worked for days on end to save her. The fortunate thing was, he had just got back from a ten-year stay in Brazil doing research. Pratt had stayed in a Brazilian rain forest with a tribe of natives, he and five other American scientists and doctors made their home there.

The basis for the study was an exotic and rare flower that only grew deep in the southern end of the rainforest. Pratt and his colleagues did extensive studies with the flower extracts. Their ultimate goal was to create a serum to cure various cancers and diabetes. The serum was showing promise, but proved to be too strong for use on humans as it was lethal after steady use on lab rats.

Pratt returned to France very disappointed, but he kept the serum and brought it back with him to do more studies. He believed it had some sort of use and he just needed to find out what. The serum proved to be his last ditch effort in Emma’s treatment. He had studied it very little at his home lab, but felt it may help her.

The serum stopped the destruction of her cells and pushed the venom to change her system, making her a half-blooded vampire. I knew the story and I hoped he had enough of that serum left to help Corrine. The only thing that worried me was Doc said because of her cancer the serum might not have the same effect it did on Emma. I had to hope it would, without Corrine my world meant nothing.

I didn’t want to even think of my life without her, and I knew deep down I would not live one more day if something happened. Corrine said I had shown her life was worth living, but honestly, she had shown me the same thing. I only existed before her, not finding very much joy in being alive, if that’s even what the case is. Being alive for a vampire is not the same as it is for humans.

That’s really bad thing when you are immortal believe me. I was facing centuries of nothing but loneliness. I had given up on finding someone I could connect to or love. I had resigned myself to a solitary life except for interacting with my coven. Corrine’s love was a lifeline to me, I needed her love, being without her was not an option for me now.