"No!"

Cassie shook her head in horror. "I could never make you an undead. I could never do that to you... or anyone for that matter," said Cassie with a shudder of revulsion.

I shook my head at her with a creeping feeling of desperation and said," But you have to don't you see. Its the only way. The only way I could be of use to anyone. Everyone is out there fighting for the Pall territory. Everyone but me."

Only I didn't want to fight. I wanted to save Lucian. Lucian was all that mattered. Lucian and Damon. But Damon was not the one captured by the enemies. But my Lucian was. And there was no one going to save him. No one but me.

"I will not drain you," said Cassie insistently.

"Fine! I will drain myself. I just need your blood in me to complete the turn," I muttered shortly.

"You will..? Oh fine! I will turn you. This whole world has gone to blasted hell. And its all David's fault! I told him I did. I warned him it would come to this. All we have worked for would come to naught. We are loosing grounds even as I speak. But that is not all... my whole family is at risk," Cassie gasped out fearfully. "You are right. This is the only way."

My knees started to shake in the realisation that it was actually going to happen. I was going to die. Worse! I was going to kill myself. Kill myself in the worst possible way. I would be plugging myself up to the blood bag and literally draining myself dry. Ounce after ounce, pint after pint. Till my veins shrivelled up coarse and dry.

Then my heart would stop and never beat again. It will be only Cassie's blood. And the blood of an original that would keep me going. Keep me going with a gulp of the red metalic embrosia that would literally become the nectar of sweet life fir the rest of my existence. It was not a pleasant thought. I was infact quite horrendous. But it was also I think inevitable.

A destiny I could no longer run from.

"I'll go hook myself up," I mumbled feebly feeling strangely weak. As if my entire being was against my actions. I believed it was. The gut crawling sensation was a warning that what was to come would be a reality from which there would be no return. My mind would be forever trapped in a body that was all but dead. A body that could no longer survive on the life essense of its own making. A body that will be weak in it dependancy on the life force of others for its survival.

Then there was the other gawning fear that had me chilled yo the bone. What if I was too late? What if I made the ultimate sacrifice only to find that Lucian was gone. Gone beyond my reach of help. Gone beyond my reach at all.

That gave me a pause like nothing else could but the solution to that was the same as always.

If Lucian died.

I did too.