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I lifted my hands to the sky, savoring the feeling of the cool red mist that stuck to skin. My skin.

The Void staggered through my head, searching for something I didn't have to give. None of it mattered, not now, not with the life that breathed into my lungs.

I was nothing, and it was perfect , a symphony of vibrancy. The sights, with broad arrays of colors decorating dresses and suits. The array of lights that flickered across hard marble, glittering and glowing. The sounds, the quickening of heartbeats and intakes of breath, stuttering and begging to be chased. The scents I'd surely never enjoyed before, sucking in a lungful of the fresh air that mingled so sweetly with the fear and outrage of those around me. The touch of my skin against the silken clothes I wore.

I was free.

My heart thundered at the sight of my purpose, the same sight I'd followed since I found her. Elation was a blow to the chest, the pain a welcome delight as I purred.

She had bled life back into my soul, brought me back to the world of the living.

Aaliyah . My sweet Aaliyah.

My sweet obsession. The reason I breathed, the reason I lived. Memories of a past that was no longer mine fractured in my skull, fading entirely as I took a step toward her. I didn't need them; they were useless in comparison to her. Her eyes went wide with a fear that was misplaced, one I sought to wash away.

I cracked my neck, wiping that drying mist from my face, metallic and so delicious. A blood that was my own? The room narrowed on her, the pulsing vein in her neck, the men that stood by her side like warning signs that I was all too ready to ignore.

Thud. I licked my lips. Thud. My breath quickened. Thud . My mouth watered, my eyes rolling back at the delicate scent of her as I realized that the consistent sound was her heart.

Outcry echoed, and I was on her in a flash, pulling her into my arms and savoring that warmth. Something tried to stop me, something that reached for the same thing the Void had … meaning to control me.

It found nothing.

I sank fangs deep into the thin flesh of her neck, feeling whole for what had to be the first time, the drag of her blood down my throat enough to make me moan against her skin, drowning in the ecstasy of her sugary sweetness.

She gasped, held tightly in my arms, safe only when close to me, and I could hear the sound of her heart more clearly.

I split my tongue open, allowing our blood to mix as her wound started to close. I felt her in my chest, in my heart, and in my skull. Pulsing like that strange beat that didn't feel real in my veins. My vision went red, and I licked my lips again.

Exactly as it should be.

Her other men tried to stop me, too slow. Hands on my body that weren't able to hurt, digging as deep as they were able. They tried and failed to pull us apart. My wrist burned, and I watched with glee as a mark slowly grew across it, my entire body aching for one glorious moment.

A lavender band shined back at me.

She clutched her own wrist, staring up at me with those wide eyes I'd coveted. She slid to the ground, and I followed, ripping out of the arms that thought to hold me back. I reached for her, needing to be the comfort she went to. I needed it. More than I needed to be alive, there was no me without her .

She was everything, as she had been before. She was my beating heart and my reason to be. I was her Void and her anchor. I was the one who'd protect her.

I was her Red .

To Be Continued