Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 97229 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97229 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
It was absolutely beautiful.
I got flashes, like cards being dealt one after the other of all the things that had happened here. So many people finding faith in the Lord, so many ceremonies and powerful events. Weddings, christenings, funerals, over and over in a cycle. Sunday services, and candles being lit in reverence, and people praying to God. And now there would be me, taking my final breath at the hands of the man I loved. The vampire I loved.
The huge sense of fate was almost enough to sink my body into acceptance, almost. Until I saw the shadow of Hans approaching across the grounds.
No.
My body had a final surge of flight left in it. Just like on the cobblestones.
I kept stumbling further along the path, my bare feet soaked by the damp grass, until I broke from the familiar route and darted through the gravestones, just like I had as a little girl, and slammed straight into…
I fell back, landed on my ass. But I hadn’t slammed into anything. There was nothing there…
Be more careful amongst the dead, Katherine.
Whispers rose up into the cold night air all around me. The voices of those long gone. The dead that had watched me – watched over me.
Suddenly, with a weird sense of knowing, I felt free, not chased.
Truly free for the first time in my life. My God. It was fantastical.
Surreal but real. So real I could touch it, feel it in my soul.
I was free like the winds in the grounds, and the clouds sailing up above, and the soil in its earthy depths all around.
Free like the waters underground, and the moon overhead, and the essence of life flooding through the world.
I rose to my feet as if I was being lifted by invisible hands and it was the was most natural thing to dance and twirl as my soul took over.
For all of my time in the church with Mum and Grandma, I’d never felt anything so close to God as I spun around with the greatest feeling of joy.
It made sense. The journey beyond the body wasn’t just about transition, it was about transcendence. My body was a temple, but it was the flesh and blood of a human. It needed to give up the fight and sacrifice itself to for ever. That was the price to pay for lifetimes over with my fated mate. But that didn’t mean I was a sinner, or damned. I was pure, and loved, and guided by the force of it all.
I knew Hans was watching me from the shadows. I could feel his joy, too – his joyous soul lighting up with mine.
It made me twirl faster.
I was dancing for us. Me and Hans. For ever.
My spins had my soul soaring. My twists and turns through the gravestones were magical, just as they should be. And then came the intuition. I knew where I needed to be and my dancing feet were taking me there, twirling all the way to the bench by the old spring.
Dressed in my pretty white dress, with the moonlight glow over me, I stood by the bench and waited for Hans. There was no pressure or force in his approach, just his strong powerful steadiness as he listened to my spirit. A strength and steadiness that felt so much more powerful than before.
“You look absolutely divine,” he told me as he stepped from the shadows. “That was beautiful, little one. A display of pure, stunning soul.”
Thanks wouldn’t cut it, so I didn’t say a word, just opened my arms and smiled at my gorgeous love.
“Are you ready?” he asked, and I nodded. “Truly ready?”
“Yes.”
The heat of his presence was beyond comprehension, so I didn’t try. I let the higher forces of love soar free, and offered him my neck. My heart was ready, and my body was too. Finally, I wasn’t scared. Death of the flesh could take me, and I would go willingly.
Hans brushed the hair from my neck and his fingers gave me the finest tingles. He tipped my face up to his and brushed his lips against mine before he kissed me.
“Make me a vampire,” I whispered. “I’ve never been more ready in my life.”
“Or death,” he whispered back. “I’ll be right here for you. I’ll be here on the journey with you.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him in celebration as he blessed me with his touch. His hands trailed down and hitched my dress up, and I silently thanked him as he slipped his fingers inside my panties. I wanted him so much it hurt.
“I’ll be loving you as I kill you,” he whispered and tugged my dress up and off.
The night was cold as he stripped me bare, and my skin prickled with goosebumps as I smiled at him with the greatest adoration. We would be two bodies together, and two souls meeting as one.