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“Mina,” Lucy whispered, her voice soft as a prayer, “I can’t do this.”
Mina took a deep breath, looking over her shoulder to meet Lucy’s eyes. “You need to,” she said. She spoke firmly, but gently, her words dripping with anxious sympathy. “I know you’re starved. If we’re going to find a cure…” she trailed off, her gaze shifting down to look at the tender curve of Lucy’s mouth, and the subtle points of sharpened teeth peeking over her lip. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath in, meeting Lucy’s eyes once more. She reached down, taking Lucy’s hand in hers, lacing their fingers together tightly. “Just take what you need.”
Hesitantly, Lucy bent her head, pressing her closed lips against Mina’s exposed shoulder. “You’re so warm,” she murmured. “If it hurts at all, please, tell me to stop.”
With Lucy’s cold breath on her skin, Mina shuddered in spite of herself. “It’s going to hurt no matter what,” she said, squeezing Lucy’s hand. “I trust you to know when it’s too much.”
Lucy blinked slowly, her eyelashes hooding her expression. She raised her freehand to Mina’s chest, pulling her in closer. “We have to?” she asked.
Mina steeled her courage, nodding. “We do,” she agreed solemnly.
“I’m afraid,” Lucy said, swallowing as if she could slake her thirst without drinking. “I’m thinking all sorts of horrible things, Mina. If you could only hear my thoughts, you would never forgive me.”
Mina shook her head. “Don’t say that,” she said. “You’re one of the dearest people in my life. I would forgive you anything.”
Lucy ran her fingers up Mina’s chest, tracing her exposed collarbone lightly. She came to rest them at the base of Mina’s throat. With each breath, Mina could feel their touch more vividly. “Don’t make a promise you can’t keep,” Lucy said quietly. “The moment you pulled the dress collar from your neck I started having terrible feelings. My mind is racing with thoughts of how tender you are. How fragile.” A wet tear fell on Mina’s shoulder. “I can’t look away from your exposed throat, can’t help but wonder how easily it would break. Can you honestly tell me feeling that way does not make me a monster?”
Mina bit her lip. “Lucy,” she whispered. “Lucy, you didn’t ask to become this. I am asking you—begging you to feed from me. If you starve yourself, how long before your hunger takes your choice from you? Your guilt shows you don’t want to hurt me. I trust in you, Lucy. I have more faith in your strength than the strength of the monster inside of you.”
Lucy took a long and slow deep breath in. “I will put my faith on your trust, then. I am going to begin, if you are ready.”
“I am as ready as I could possibly be,” Mina said.
Lucy parted her lips, gently pressing her pointed teeth against Mina’s exposed skin. She teased at the skin lightly, pinching the skin without piercing it.
Mina gasped despite herself, shutting her eyes tightly. “Are you going to begin or not?” she asked, the blood rushing to her cheeks as her heart began to beat faster.
“Sorry,” Lucy said. She pulled back, looking Mina’s neck over. “I’ve never done this before. I’m trying to find a vein so I can do this as quickly and gently as I can. Did that hurt?”
Mina looked away, taking a deep breath in. “It didn’t hurt yet, not particularly,” she mumbled, her face burning. Her heart beat faster, racing with the flurried panic of a rabbit in the wolf’s jaws—but the fear in her heart didn’t reach her head, kept at bay by her trust in Lucy. “You don’t have to stop.”
Lucy nodded, bending down to explore the curve of Mina’s neck again. She gently nipped at the skin a few more times, before eventually, her teeth came to rest on the skin beside Mina’s throat. She hesitated, briefly, before sinking her fangs in.
A faint whimper parted Mina’s lips. She sunk back against Lucy, letting her eyes flutter shut. The teeth in her neck felt like a doctor’s needle four times over, pressing deep inside her. They worked through her skin with impassioned hunger. Her eyelashes began to flutter shut. Lucy bit down harder, and a small whine broke Mina’s voice.
Lucy pulled out, her ruby teeth dripping blood down her chin. She gasped faintly as though catching her breath. “Are you hurting?” she asked, her voice pained with worry.
Mina shook her head, to overcome to answer out loud. She lifted her hand, grabbing Lucy’s from where it lay by her throat. “Keep going,” she said, her voice oddly hoarse, almost desperate.
Anxiety and desire crashed like a storm in Lucy’s eyes. Hesitantly, she slid her fangs back into the same place as before, the bite mark guiding her back to the sweet and delicate vein in Mina’s neck. Her restraint seemed to have eased somewhat—she seemed to drink more eagerly, working her mouth against Mina’s neck to coax the blood to flow more freely. Her hand slid across to Mina’s collar bone, and she gripped it tightly, using it as an anchor to pull Mina into position. The more she drank, the hungrier she became. She only parted her lips to steal a breath of air before drinking more, drinking deeper.
Mina tilted her head back, flinching each time Lucy pressed deeper. The candlelight of her bedroom seemed to swim before her eyes, so she shut them tightly, focusing instead on Lucy’s bite. The starving fervor of the bite ached, but she didn’t dare say as much aloud, worried she might frighten Lucy. A little bit of pain was worth suffering, if it was for Lucy’s sake. She pressed her lips shut tightly, trying to muffle her own whimpers.
Lucy’s hand slid up Mina’s throat, pressing against her windpipe harshly, until catching on her chin. Lucy gripped Mina’s chin tightly, forcefully pulling her head back, fully exposing her neck. Her nails dug into Mina’s cheeks, holding her so tightly it seemed certain she’d bruise.
Mina went limp in Lucy’s grasp, finding herself without the strength to sit upright on her own. Her breathing fell shallow, quick, her heart frantically pounding in a desperate attempt to keep blood moving. She moaned, using what little strength she had to lean into Lucy’s bite.
Suddenly, the teeth were torn from her neck, the cold lips teasing her skin suddenly absent. Mina whined, forcing her eyes open to look up at Lucy.
Although her cheeks were flush with new life, Lucy was startlingly pale, her beautiful blue eyes wide with horror. She had let go of Mina’s chin, wiping the blood from her own mouth with the back of her hand. “My God, Mina,” she said, wrapping her arms around Mina tightly, holding her close. “You’re so weak—why didn’t you tell me I’d taken too much? I’m so sorry. God, no apology is enough. We never should have done this. Mina, my dearest Mina,” she said, tears welling in the corners of her eyes. “I should have been paying more attention. I could have killed you.”
Mina lifted her chin, staring up at Lucy. “Keep going,” she said faintly, her eyes unfocused.
Lucy’s lips parted in disbelief. The tears building in her eyes became too much, slipping down her cheeks, falling onto Mina’s chest. “Mina, you’ve lost too much blood!” she insisted, her voice cracking. “You said you trust me not to hurt you! Where is that trust now?”
Mina whined like an injured child, using her faded strength to reach up. She tried to pull Lucy’s head back down to her neck. “Don’t stop,” she whimpered. “You’re hungry. I know you are. You want to drink from me—so drink.”
Lucy pulled away, her face alight with despair. “Mina, what in God’s name has gotten into you?” she cried, clenching her teeth shut, as if to physically resist the temptation Mina was offering. “This isn’t like you—you’re clever and kind and practical. Please, think clearly! If I take any more, you’ll need to see a doctor, or you’ll surely die!”
Her eyes seemed glossy, distant, as if no longer seeing what was right in front of her. “I don’t care,” Mina said, smiling faintly. “I’ll gladly die to feed you.”
Lucy froze. “I— Mina, no,” she whispered. “Don’t say that.”
Shakily, Lucy got to her feet, struggling to support Mina’s weight against her own. Mina slumped over, her head resting against Lucy’s chest as Lucy tried to guide her over to the bed. “Please,” Mina begged. “Kill me, Lucy, kill me. We can be together. I know you want that as much as I do. If my blood ran through your veins, we’d be as one. I could sustain you, body and soul. I’d be yours forever.”
Lucy shuddered, laying Mina down on the bed. “Mina,” she said, her voice tense with warning. “Stop, you don’t want this. Why are you talking like this?”
Mina’s smile widened, staring at Lucy with a vacant expression almost like love. “I want to be yours, Lucy,” she pleaded. “Devour me. Take everything I am and make it yours.”
Animated by some force that was not quite life, what remained of Lucy’s heart dropped. “Oh God,” she whispered. “This is hypnosis, isn’t it? I didn’t—Mina, I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” She bent over, gently pressing her hand to the bite wound on Mina’s neck. It had already stopped bleeding, closing over with nothing but a scar. She bit back a sob. Although she could fight back her instincts, she could not do the same with the overwhelming guilt that stole over her.
“Lucy,” Mina said, still smiling vacantly. “I forgive you. I love you.”
Lucy flinched. “Mina,” she said weakly, pulling the bedcovers up over Mina. “Don’t say that. It isn’t true.” She took both of Mina’s hands in hers, holding them tightly. “Sleep.”
As if on command—and perhaps, it was by command—Mina’s eyes fell shut, and her breathing became soft and even. She seemed stable, at the very least. No doubt, she’d feel ill for a week at least, but she wouldn’t need to see a doctor. If the feeding had been much longer, however, a doctor wouldn’t be able to give as much aid as a gravedigger.
Lucy wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. How long had she had Mina under her control? Had it even been Mina’s idea to let her feed? Could she ever be certain? She bent over Mina’s bed, gently brushing the dark hair out of her loved one’s face. Mina’s smile was gone, exhaustion clear on her peaceful face. Lucy recalled the nightmares she’d experienced herself when the Count had fed on her, terrors that kept even sleep from bringing solace. Heart aching, Lucy bent down, pressing a soft cold kiss to Mina’s forehead.
“I love you too, my Mina,” she said softly. “And I hope, come morning, you of your own volition can forgive me for leaving, if only to protect you from this demon I am to become.