There was a glowing brightness inside of me that represented my life, and it was dimming. I was drifting in a dark peaceful haze somewhere between living and dying. I was thinking about my summers in Florida and my Mom's Christmas cookies- all the tiny things that had made my life so special. There was no anger, no bitterness, just a quiet acceptance that my time had come.

I felt surprisingly peaceful and calm. All the little worries I had in my waking life vanished. It was surprisingly peaceful and my only regret was that I was dying young. My life had been too short, and my experiences too few to say that I lived a life fulfilled. All my hopes and dreams for my future had now been erased and all that lay before me was eternal silence.

I began to let go of my physical life allowing my spirit to drift away from the physical world. It was an odd sensation that felt like slipping into cool calm ocean or lake. The sensation was almost like floating. I felt light, free, and completely serene. There was no agitation or fear, only an infinite calm.

Suspended in the stillness that existed outside of physically reality, I suddenly felt an awful sense of unease creeping up on me, and slowly coiling around me. The tranquil silence began to crackle like white noise and I could hear the faint echo of a voice whispering incoherently. Straining I tried to listen closely.

Through the pops and snaps I heard the soft hushed gasps of breath coupled with tiny whimpers. It sounded like someone was crying, but it was stronger than that as if this person was weeping in despair.

Maybe it was my mother. Perhaps she had found out I was murdered and the strength of her grief was echoing into the after world... but the voice did not sound like my mother. It sounded lighter, more young- like me. The crying continued getting louder and louder. I didn't like this. I wanted to run away from the noise but I couldn't because an icy cold force had overtaken me.

Oh God, I am in Hell?

"Mia..." A woman's voice called to me, "Mia, help me..." her voice gurgled into a kind incoherent white noise that I couldn't understand. Panicking I tried to move away but I couldn't, I didn't know how to. Then through the darkness I heard a different voice, a man's voice.

He called to me as if I was his dead lover calling me 'my love', begging for forgiveness. His voice seemed to drive the white noise and the weeping woman away and surrounded me with an intimate warmth. I couldn't understand how this was even possible. I had no recollection of a boyfriend from my life. Who was this man and what had he done to me to beg for my forgiveness?

I could physically feel his sorrow crowding around me, willing me back to life.

"Drink," he whispered, "Drink to live. Drink to be with me forever. Drink my love."

A foreign life-force flowed into my body corrupting the very laws of nature and reviving it. My heart gave a beat and I felt myself being torn out of Death's embrace and thrust back into my body. My soul began to painfully reattach itself but not fully. A small piece of me decided to remain in the blissfully otherworld, the world where we went to die.

I began to feel my physical limbs of my body and then panic and anxiety hit me like a freight train. I had been dead- the kind of dead that modern medicine could not revive. The sensation was unnatural and odd and I almost felt repulsed by it.

The first physical sensation I felt was the metallic taste of liquid heat that ran down my throat and exploded in my stomach sending shock waves through my body. For what felt like a second but could have been an eternity, there was pain which ebbed away into awareness. It felt like I was waking up from a deep sleep and all my senses were returning to me.

I became conscious of the cotton sheet underneath me and warm blanket above me. I moved my fingers and felt the warmth of a body lying next to me.

I hadn't even opened my eyes but I could tell it was him, the Prince of Darkness. His heavy arm curled around my waist splaying his hand across my stomach, holding me closely to his body. I could feel the gentle rise and fall of his chest against my spine as he slept quietly.

I should have felt freaked out or scared but him being so close felt strangely natural and easy as if we were real lovers.

His arm moved slightly, perhaps only a centimetre or two across my waist but just enough to make my eyelashes flutter and open. I couldn't see a damn thing.

For a split second I waited for the mystery man who had abducted me to dissolve into nothingness just like any other dream, but when his solid arm tightened around me and I knew that he was real.

Sleepily I searched my brain trying to remember how I got to be in this bed with this guy. Fuzzy memories of Laura Taylor and that stupid wedding dress taunted me. I then remembered the graveyard and the Hangman's tree, and that stupid story about that man... that handsome man in the graveyard with his very sharp teeth.

My body went rigid in fear.

The Prince of Darkness inhaled, stirring from his sleep. His arm pulled me closer to him crushing me against his chest. Sleepily he whispered into my ear, "I am so sorry my love. I never wanted to want to hurt you."

I screamed loudly violently pulling away from the stranger next to me. I dug my heel into the mattress and pushed backwards, virtually somersaulting across the bed.

A hand reached out and brushed against my arm, "Calm down my love," he said softly.

I snatched my arm away and pushed myself blindly away from the direction of his voice.

"Stay away from me!" I yelled hysterically.

"Okay," A soft masculine voice replied, "I will stay away from you."

"Please, can you turn on a lamp or something? I cannot see a thing," I asked.

"I can but it would not make any difference. You are blind my love- it is only temporary, until the change is complete," He said softly.

"Change?" I echoed dryly.

Lifting my hand to my neck I reached out and felt with trembling fingers where his teeth had sunk into me. Carefully I ran my fingers across skin and found nothing there- no broken skin or painful bruise. No evidence that this man had ever killed me.

"Are you frightened my love?" He asked.

"I am frightened of you, and what you have done to me," I replied.

"What do you think I have done to you?"

"I don't know, but I know I am not the same," I said.

He exhaled harshly and replied, "Look, this was probably not the right way to do this."

"What do you mean the right way?"

"It doesn't matter now. You are scared and frightened, and as your husband I have to respond to that-"

"Um, please don't. Look I do not know who you are, or why you thought it was acceptable to bite me but let me get this one thing straight- tonight we did not get married. That wedding was a sham. We did not have a license or a blood test or get married before a judge, and more importantly you certainly did not have consent from me to be your lawfully wedded wife," I snapped.

"You stood under the tree," he said flatly.

"I was forced to stand under that tree because of stupid Laura Taylor! And furthermore on what planet does standing under a tree mean 'I consent to marry you'? Could you ever imagine trying to explain to a judge that I am your legally wedded wife because I stood under tree in a graveyard?"

"It would in vampire court," He replied waspishly.

"There is no such thing as vampire court!" I yelled.

"Sorry darling but there is. I am a vampire and you are now a vampire," He replied.

I shook my head in disbelief- vampires do not exist.

'Yes they do.' His voice suddenly echoed inside my mind.

"Please do not tell me that was you in my mind," I said numbly.

'Yes, telepathy is one of my many vampire gifts,' he replied smugly.

I suddenly became aware of his mind wandering into my thoughts like it was public property. Casually I felt him picking through my memories, trying to piece together information about me. Shocked by his lack of respect of my privacy I slammed him out of mind, yelling, "Get out of my head!"

"I'm sorry," he apologized, "I was trying to find a way to help calm you."

I almost burst out laughing, "Calm me down? You bit me like some rabid bat then kidnapped me. I am blind and I have no idea where the hell I am! Unless you have strong sedatives I doubt there are any words that you could pick from my memory to calm me down!"

"Look I know I bit you and I am sorry, but I had to because you were mortal, you would have died-" He said.

"Because you bit me!"

'Ah, to hell with it,' I heard his voice echo in my mind.

I opened my mouth to say something, but suddenly felt two hands clamping down on my shoulder and push me back into the mattress. I screamed in panic and tried to push him off of me, but he caught my wrists and with a single hand pinned my arms above my head.

"What are you going to do?" I whispered brokenly.

"Take you home and put you back to bed," He replied.

"What? Do you really mean it?" I asked.

"Yes," He groaned, "I am going to have to court you Amelia Hayden and make you fall in love with me."

I suppressed a laugh and replied, "Yeah, well good luck to yer."

"We are destined to be together Mia," He said finally before leaning down and brushing his lips across my neck.

I groaned involuntarily as his teeth scraped across my skin.

'You taste really good Mia.' He murmured in my head.

'GO TO HELL!' I yelled mentally back at him.

His tongue flicks over the pulse in my neck and feel myself shudder underneath him. My body no longer felt like my own, and instead it wriggled uncomfortably beneath him longing for more physical contact.

"Mmm.. this seems to be a very effective method for calming you down Miss. Hayden," He breathed against my neck.

My mind felt hazy, flooded with the sensation of him.

"I wish it could last longer but I need to take you back home," He said.

With that pain exploded in my neck as he bit down once again. I gasped loudly and felt the darkness closing in on me again. He released my arms, and dragged me up into his embrace. I flopped against his chest noting how warm his skin felt against mine.

'I love you Mia Hayden,' He whispered in my head before I finally passed out.