Page 37 of A Vow for the Vamp

“Didn’t I...”

“Stab me? Yes, but I’m a vampire. I heal fast.”

My eyes jerk up to hers. “Can becoming a vampire fix other things? Like medical things?”

“Being a vampire doesn’t fix anything.”

She stands and walks to the dresser, grabbing a stack of clothes sitting on top. She hands me a black Rolling Stones T-shirt, black jeans, and boxer briefs, then steps back and crosses her arms.

“What if your blood could save lives?”

“That’s not how it works—”

“Save me.”

Her head jerks as if she’s been slapped.

“What?”

“Save me, Millie. I’m dying. I found out today. Well,” I glance at the clock on the bedside table, “yesterday now that it’s past midnight.”

“I told you that’s not how it works,” her voice is barely a whisper, but the room is quiet enough I hear every word.

“Then explain it.”

“Our blood isn’t a miracle cure. It doesn’t heal anything.I’mable to use it to heal bite wounds to keep our existence a secret, but that’s it.”

“But if you were to turn me…”

“If we saved every terminally ill person, the world would be overrun with vampires. We’d have no food. The human race would end.”

Her words sting because I’d expected her to want to save me… to be with me. For what? Eternity? The thought is insane. I’ve known this woman for less than a day.

Then why does it feel as if it’s been a lifetime?

“How long do you have?” she asks, her voice softening and full of compassion.

The vamp has a heart after all.

“Four months.”

“Cancer?”

“Inoperable brain tumor—” My voice cracks and pressure builds behind my eyes.

I start crying.

It’s the first time since finding out that I’ve let myselffeel.

“Teddy,” she says, returning to the side of the bed. She stands in front of me, and I bury my head into her barestomach because she hasn’t pulled her robe closed. “Did you get a second opinion?”

“I got three.” I wrap my arms around her waist and sob. “I don’t want to die.”

Her fingers comb through my hair and her touch sends a wave of comfort through my body.

I don’t understand that. Any of this.

She’s a stranger, yet she feels like my soulmate.