After work the next day, I made my way over to my friend Amy's house in the next town over. She owned an old house that had been converted into a duplex. She and her boyfriend David rented out the bottom half while they remodeled the upper unit.

I parked on the street and made my way around to the back stairs. A knock on the door before letting myself in had been the routine for years. "Ello, ello!" I called making my way through the laundry to the kitchen.

"Good timing!" Amy held a stemless wine glass with rosé to me.

A grin enveloped my mouth with thanks. "Perfect." I chimed before a sip.

My Tuesday nights were spent painting with wine. Sometimes we doodled or made food, but it was always a relaxing and creative evening. We did a lot of venting about work, relationships, and whatever life was throwing at us at the time. Hence the subject of vampires.

Amy was staring at me digesting what I told her about my insanely fast-paced vampire relationship. She was a bit more level headed than Molly and she had me beat in responsibility. As a nursing student who also ran a Kung-Fu studio and owned a rental property, her ambitiousness was an obvious strong suit.

But more than anything, I trusted that she knew me well enough to properly gauge the situation.

My best friend took a deep breath and then looked like she was going to speak before holding one finger up to signal for me to wait. She finished the pink tinged liquid in her glass and exhaled before continuing. "The real question here is: do you want to be a vampire?"

I felt my eyes go wide as I was faced with what I couldn't stop thinking but had refused to acknowledge. "No." It was an automatic response.

Amy waited, keeping silent so that I could elaborate.

"I mean, that's ridiculous right?" I kept her gazing hoping she would affirm my statement. "Just because vampires are real doesn't mean we live in a world where people are volunteering willy-nilly to join the undead."

"Some have." She countered.

"That doesn't make it less ridiculous." I huffed.

"Jo, three states are trying to add legal vampirization to their ballots in the next voting. For consenting adults only, of course.

"I'm not trying to talk you into it, but you are not close minded. Don't pretend you are to make this easier." Her gaze told me she was seeing into whatever future she could imagine with me as a member of the skeleton shift.

I sighed knowing I couldn't properly lie to save my life. "You know I've always wanted more." My voice had dropped a decibel.

She nodded and we reminisced on our high school days, when we used to dream of fantastical lives made out of daydreams and fueled by beliefs that there was more to the world than we were being taught.

"What about kids?" She asked. Onto the tough question.

I felt my face lose all trace of joy. Kids had been something I wanted, but I felt like my lack of relationships was a testament to my inability to settle down. There was a sense of wonder that kept me from being satisfied with the idea of settling down with the average Joe.

We would be terrible together- Jo and Joe. With their 2.5 children and a white picket fence. The fact was, that I loved kids but didn't know how to accept the life of a wife and mother.

The night ended shortly after the lovely topic of being infertile by choice fizzled out. I made my way home glad to have gotten Amy's input even if it left me melancholy.

Later that evening, I sang to the music emanating from my phone while I did my dishes. My voice echoed solo as an incoming text interrupted Pandora's streaming of Shadowboxer. I rushed to get my hands dry to check it but caught myself in the action and mentally slapped myself for getting in such a tissy. There had been no word from Eric, but I was bound and determined I wasn't going to be the one to contact him.

Lo and behold, I didn't have to.

Meet me at Athena's Wardrobe tomorrow at 8:30. Eric's message came across as so straightforward yet so incredibly cryptic at the same time. The store wouldn't even be open at that hour. I pondered what on Earth he was planning.

Either way, it appeared I had plans. There was an excitement that flowed through me at the prospect of my next adventure with the blonde vampire that I've been letting invade my life. And I was liking it.

Before I had a chance to respond, another text came through.

I'll take that as a 'Yes.'

I felt myself flush as the realization that he could feel my emotions now. He was God-knows-where and could tell I was ellated from a few drops of his blood. I took a deep breath and decided a response was still the polite thing to do.

Indeed. It felt lame to speak that way to someone so cultured, but it was my natural response with my social circle and Eric did say he wanted to get to know me. Well here I am.

After the dishes were finished, I moved to the bathroom to get ready for bed. I brushed my teeth and hair before slipping off my tee so it could be replaced with a slinky nightgown. I crawled into bed trying to think about anything but Eric Northman. He had warned me of what was to come, but I was most concerned with trying to deny him the satisfaction of feeling my lust for him. If only I could stay strong during my unconscious state.

His hands were on me; every part of me all at once. At least that was what it felt like. I couldn't see anything. The blackness was absolute. I could hear my breathing, but that was all. My feet slid up and down the sheets, tangling in the top layer which constricted my writhing.

"The noises you make are intoxicating." He mused into my ear. I could feel the lightest breath with his words. There was no heat behind it, but the vibrations that ran through me had me straining to try and reach him. As hard as I tried, my arms were restricted to the corners of the bed. I whined in protest and shook my head to try and discover some release.

Suddenly, his hands were at my face. They traced my lips and then grazed up past my nose to my temples and through my hair as it splayed out around me. His movements seemed to cure my blindness as flecks of light came into view around us. My vision slowly cleared to reveal the vampire adonis and myself laid out on my bed with a plethora of candles lit around us. They lined the room to illuminate our figures; the shadows accentuating the curves of my soft body. His sharp lines contrasted boldly and continued to trace up each arm as they laid out towards the top corners of the mattress. Soft cuffs attached straps to the bed-frame keeping my body in place.

"I can't wait any longer..." His words lost their strength towards the end. I wasn't sure what he wanted in that moment, but I couldn't imagine denying him anything he could ask from me.

My eyes locked with his. "I'm yours." I spoke with certainty despite my hooded gaze and breathy voice.

His hands were back in my hair and he gripped causing me to hiss. He snarled in response before bringing his mouth to mine. We shared an urgent kiss that would be worthy of the End of Days. Oxygen was greedily taken in after our lips disconnected and I was aware of my obnoxiously loud breathing again. Why were humans so noisy?

I was distracted from my scolding as his lips moved down my jaw and into the crook of my neck. A sigh escaped me as a pressure formed from his sucking before it was turned into a piercing jolt from his fangs. I hadn't even heard them descend over my ragged breaths.

My lungs worked overtime as the rush of his drawing my blood only increased the flow. Fingers twitched as they desperately yearned to touch my assailant. His hands were still gripping my hair as his body began to envelope me; crushing my frame beneath him in his fervor. I gasped as my once grasping hands curled in with the onsetting weakness.

A grunt of sorts escaped me in protest as he continued to drink hungrily. I wanted to make more of a fuss but realized I had waited too long to object. My voice was as useless as my trapped body.

I found my gaze vacant as it faced a group of candles that were dripping over their edges. The pillars had steady streams of red wax that flowed down the length of them to continue down the finished wood of the nightstand. Soon there would be a pool collecting on the carpet. Why was he always ruining my bedroom floor?

I continued to watch the flow of melted wax as my vision tunneled. It was then, when I felt his hands replaced by those of Death upon me, that I tasted his blood as it poured down my throat, thick and bitter and sweet all at once.

One word echoed out in finality. "Mine."

My eyelids shot open and I felt my pulse pounding. That wasn't what I had expected at all. Air rushed in and out of my lungs until I realized that my hands as well as the tip of my nose was becoming numb and cold. I had to stop hyperventilating or I was going to pass out.

Closing my eyes, I counted in my head while I tried to find a rhythm for my breathing. A moment went by and I felt my heart start to slow before my phone went off, startling me again. I grabbed the glowing device and slid my finger to the volume button to silence it but stopped short when I read Eric Northman on the screen followed by an emoji that looked like vampire fangs. When had he had time to do that?

Fingertip hovering over the green answer key, I hesitated for only a moment before connecting the line. "Eric?" I spoke quickly so as to fit his name between breaths that were still slightly too fast.

"What is wrong?" He asked. His voice was concerned and strained as if he were trying to contain his urgency.

I took a deeper breath to continue to slow my body's panic. My jaw was slightly chattering and I realized there was an evident coldness to my body. A quick glance at my phone told me it was 3:27am. I pulled the comforter up further around me before settling in against my pillows.

"I had a dream." I took a measured breath. "You were there. It started out erotic," My lungs were working in time now. "But then you killed me."

No response.

"You didn't mention dreaming of my own demise." I waited a moment before growing impatient with the silent treatment. Thankfully, my panic attack seemed to have passed for the most part. I was chillier than should be bundled in blankets but my body was beginning to shut down now that the adrenaline was draining from my system. I could feel my eyelids drooping and my grip on my phone slacking.

"Jo." Eric's voice was soft as if he were rousing me through the phone. I stirred and made a noise of incoherent nothings. "I'm glad you are alright now. Get some sleep."

I recognized the soundlessness of the line going dead. With my eyes already closed, I deposited my phone back on the nightstand just before falling back into the abyss.