"You have to do it"

Wendy had never heard that voice, it seemed like it was miles away. Listening to her was like running her hand through velvet or eating the most delicious dessert in the world. It was soft, as if the person behind her didn't put much effort into giving a tone to her voice

"I can't ... I'm afraid of losing her forever and being alone again. God knows I couldn't endure another hundred years without her"

That voice did sound familiar... it was so full of anguish and worry. It was Seulgi, Wendy's fiancee since just a few weeks ago. They were planning their wedding, too excited to pay attention to the rest of the world. Wendy was really happy about the idea of ​​wearing a white dress in front of an altar and celebrating her union with the love of her life

"Do you realize how selfish you sound? It seems that all of these centuries of living haven't taught you anything of human values"

"Unnie, please!" Seulgi exclaimed, still anguished, "Things shouldn't go like this! Why should I condemn her to never break that cycle?! The last time nothing went right!"

Condemn her? What was she going to condemn? Wendy couldn't understand anything that she was listening. She tried to move, to open her eyes so she could see Seulgi and ask for an explanation of everything that was going on, however, Wendy's body didn't move a bit. There was a throbbing pain running through her body accompanied by deep darkness. She could only hear what was happening around her

"Then what the hell would you do? Let her die? You would spend another hundred years looking for her in every corner of the world and you'll always regret not having tried to rescue her. Do it now"

There was a sepulchral silence followed by an anguished growl. Wendy soon felt cold hands touch her cheeks. For some reason, they felt colder than usual

"Forgive me" Seulgi's voice was heard just above her lips, so broken and pained "I didn't want to do this, forgive me"

Seulgi kissed her forehead for a long moment to then kiss her cheek and hide her face between her neck

"Remember that I love you"

Wendy felt a pair of fangs in her neck, sinking and going through all the layers of skin, tissue and muscle until they reached one of her arteries. A slow, aggressive, painful substance leaked into her bloodstream and began to take effect quickly. Wendy could feel it changing her... there was no pain but she just felt different

Soon she lost consciousness

---

"Was it too late? Oh God, why don't you wake up, Wendy? Why don't you come back to me?"

The broken voice of Seulgi left a deep hole in Wendy's soul. She didn't want to hear her fiancee suffering not even a little bit. She didn't remember anything about how the hell she had come to this state and had no idea what was happening but she hoped that Seulgi could finally explain everything to her

At last she could move her body now but what interested her the most was being able to open her eyes. As soon as she opened them she could see a room that wasn't very dark, it was rather illuminated by the faint rays of the sun at dawn. The ceiling was white and a single light bulb was the only thing that illuminated it although at this moment it was off. The curtains in the windows were too thick and the feeling under her body was that of a comfortable and soft bed.

She tried to test her voice

"S-Seul?" She threw a name into the air, after all she heard her fiancee's voice barely moments ago.

"Wendy?" Seulgi immediately approached her fiancée and hugged her tightly until her hands wrapped around her neck, a hug that no longer felt as empty and cold as other occasions. Seulgi then kissed Wendy's forehead and sighed

"You finally came back, you have no idea how terrified I was. Are you okay?"

The confusion continued to plague Wendy's thoughts

"What happened, Seul? Where am I?"

Seulgi looked at her straight in the eyes and soon her own look filled with surprise, her eyes opening wide after looking at her

"Wendy... your eyes changed. They are still dark brown but they shine a little more"

Wendy just kept making eye contact with her lover while Seulgi cradled her face in her cold hands and caressed her cheeks. Seulgi tilted her face to the side and smiled gently.

"It seems that you handled everything just fine. You are a vampire now"

This time it was Wendy who opened her eyes in surprise.

Seulgi had told her about their lifestyle since they barely had a couple of months of dating. The blonde talked about being a vampire and having a couple of hundred years living on earth, having lived all kinds of catastrophes and prosperous times for humanity in addition to having learned as many arts as there were out there. At first, everything was too much for Wendy... the girl always thought that the love of her life, no matter how beautiful she was, was human and that beauty was just another privilege. It took a couple of weeks for Wendy to realize that the fact that Seulgi was a vampire didn't change anything in the love she had for her and her desire to be forever by her side

Seulgi was never convinced to transform Wendy. She always defended the idea that Wendy should be ready for change because if she did it in a forced way things wouldn't work even when the vampire's wishes were to keep her lover forever with her. When Seulgi proposed marriage to her a few weeks ago in the middle of their trip to Vienna (the city where Seulgi had first met her while Wendy was sightseeing and the blonde was taking pictures of the surroundings) Wendy thought that she was finally ready to transform into a vampire

Apparently everything had been aligned

"Transfor-? But you said I wasn't ready"

The vampire's excited smile faded faster than it had appeared

"It was a matter of life or death, beautiful." Seulgi her lover's face with the back of her hand, so gently that it seemed like she was touching porcelain. "As you were driving home, your car hit a truck and you were about to die. If I didn't transform you I would have lost you forever"

The blonde moved a little closer to Wendy, touching their foreheads with each other before joining their lips in a romantic kiss. A deep one, a constant play of lips that wasn't enough to express the passion they felt for each other. Wendy gave herself completely to Seulgi's fierceness, letting the vampire drain all the frustration and fear of being so close to saying goodbye. The blonde's fingers slid slowly to Wendy's blouse trying to it and accomplishing her task with the first two buttons of the blouse

However, someone cleared their throat

The noise came from the door of that empty room. Wendy immediately buttoned her buttons (with the same awkwardness as when she was human, at least she knew that the vampire genes didn't do miracles) while Seulgi turned her honey-colored eyes to the door

"Unnie" the blonde said with a slight bow "Wendy is better...the poison had no consequences"

The woman at the door was beautiful: blonde like Seulgi although her hair was slightly wavy, her eyes were a mix between shades of gold and dark brown, ahe didn't have much height but it wasn't something that mattered especially when she was wearing clothes of expensive brands from head to toe. Wendy had never seen her before and wondered if she had been the one who instructed Seulgi to inject the poison into her blood

"We don't know each other, do we?" The woman suddenly said looking in Wendy's direction "My name is Irene, you're in my house right now, Seulgi brought you here"

Irene, that's the most appropriate name for such a beautiful woman

Irene walked up to her and began examining her from head to toe, looking for some serious injury along her skin but there wasn't a single mark beyond Seulgi's bite on her neck.

"You're right Seulgi" Irene spoke with a soft voice "She responded well to the poison, for now it must be enough maybe she won't have to feed until tomorrow"

Wendy alternated her gaze between Seulgi and Irene like a child who doesn't understand the words of her parents. They were using vocabulary that for her were strange words, almost otherworldly

Seulgi had a lot to explain to her

Irene turned around and left the room without saying much more. Seulgi looked at her fiancée with an outstretched hand, she knew that Wendy would be full of doubts about her new life and what was supposed to happen from now on.

Wendy took Seulgi's hand because even when everything had been spontaneous, she still had a deep trust in her

As soon as she took the hand of her fiancée, Seulgi pulled her to her body and lifted her into her arms, entangling her feet around her waist and holding her by the thighs. Wendy tangled her hands around the vampire's neck

"You have many explanations to do, Miss Kang" Wendy whispered against her lover's lips "Among them, what will you do with me"

"Do you think they can wait a few hours?" The mischievous smile on Seulgi's face told Wendy that she would enjoy whatever her beloved's plans were.

Wendy joined her lips in a brief kiss

"Of course"

---

The night stalked the city and along with it, Wendy and Seulgi watched their next prey from the roof of one of the huge buildings that decorated the metropolis

"Remember, aim at her neck and don't hesitate a lot, these people aren't any good"

Seulgi had explained to Wendy the rules of their hunt. Vampires had long since forgotten about ethics and moral divisions between what was right and what was wrong and Seulgi learned to hunt down humans who were dedicated to hurting others: thieves, abusers, rapists and murderers. Every night Seulgi looked for some of those people to quench her thirst and now Wendy had joined that process

Wendy only nodded at the words of her lover and again saw the man walking on the sidewalk, between his hands he carried the handbag of a woman who he robbed a few streets back. With a sharp leap, Seulgi fell right in front of the man and immediately attacked her neck by piercing the skin with her fangs with lethal force. The poor victim tried to free himself several times without success and life slowly escaped his body until he no longer resisted

Seulgi looked at Wendy who had stayed in the building

"Come here, you need to try this before you feel weak"

Relying on the strength of her legs and perhaps the new skills she had gained, she jumped out of the building and fell awkwardly at the side of Seulgi who was holding the still warm body of her victim with blood gushing from the wound in his neck. In a timid way, Wendy approached the wound and tasted the blood... it didn't taste exactly delicious but it wasn't too bad either and it seemed to calm any need that had been in her body since the previous day

She was so lost in the metallic taste of the blood that she didn't hear Seulgi's voice calling her until she gently pulled her from the waist and removed her from the body

"It's enough, Wen"

Seulgi's whisper over her ear sent a shiver down her body and made her tremble in her arms. Conscience returned to Wendy's body like a bucket of cold water and made her see the reality of it all: she had just killed a person, someone who was probably committing a crime in order to survive, someone who probably had someone waiting for him at home in the same way in which she waited for Seulgi for many nights

Her thoughts were disturbed when Seulgi left a brief kiss on top of her bite mark. Wendy was carried away by the feeling of protection she felt inside her arms, helped her to feel better about herself

"You did very well, beautiful" Wendy had no idea if Seulgi knew what was going through her mind and that was why she was trying to cheer her up

"I wish to never do it again" the newly converted girl answered with sincerity

Seulgi said no more and instead took her back to Irene's house, in the background they could hear the police sirens roaring through the streets with fury perhaps alerted by the theft that occurred a few streets before ... what a pity they would find something else

Upon returning to Irene's house, Wendy's mind was clearer and free of the moral dilemma she had submitted to after drinking the blood of the criminal. Seulgi opened the door to let Wendy enter first and they both found a scene not exactly very private

Irene was sitting on the sofa in her living room, her button-down blouse was half-removed, and her long blond hair was untidy between the fingers of someone else, a girl with red hair and perfect silhouette in a semi- state. Wendy knew that she was no longer capable but still felt a blush on her cheeks and she looked to another point of the room hot scene in front of her.

Seulgi raised her eyebrows in surprise and then cleared . She wasn't prone to ruining this kind of moments but now she definitely had to do it (as a little revenge for what Irene had done when Wendy had just woken up the day before)

Irene slightly diverted her gaze to the couple at the door while the girl on her lap moaned and threw her head back, you didn't have to be a genius to know what was happening.

"Good night, unnie, good night Sooyoung-ah" Seulgi wanted to laugh out loud when Wendy turned her body completely to turn her back on that scene and not see it anymore "Wendy and I went to dinner...it seems you did too"

'Sooyoung' the girl in Irene's lap, hid her head between the vampire's shoulder and neck while a new moan fell from her lips. Irene raised a hand to signal Seulgi and Wendy that they shoud leave

"We are even now, Seulgi"

Seulgi took Wendy's hand and they both ran towards some point in the house, Seulgi laughing out loud and Wendy bursting with embarrassment. After what she just saw, she wasn't feeling really well.

---

Seulgi was sitting in front of a huge canvas with a painting partially finished. Wendy was sitting next to her carefully watching the progress of her lover, it was amazing all the skill she had with a brush but at the same time it wasn't something that should be surprised after she surely had years and years of practice

Wendy now knew that Seulgi and Irene shared the huge house they were in right now. Irene had bought it several years ago and every so often she left it to avoid raising too many suspicions, which is why Wendy had never met Irene or the house. Seulgi also told her that Irene was the person who transformed her hundreds of years ago when Seulgi was only 24 years old after the girl fell from the top of a mountain while trying to climb it. Irene happened to be there by chance and her heart was moved by the scene of the dying girl

Since then both became companions and had traveled the world with all kinds of adventures documented by journals, letters and, once the technology was enough, photographs.

"Where do you have all of that, Seul? Your memories, I mean" Wendy asked as she rested her head on her fiancée's shoulder

"Mhm... if I remember well they have their own room" Seulgi didn't stop looking at the canvas on which she worked "You could ask Irene but she is probably very busy right now, just look for it on the second floor. You can take what you want"

Wendy nodded and left a kiss on the blonde's cheek before leaving Seulgi's studio and starting to wander around the huge house they owned.

After a couple of minutes walking room by room, Wendy finally managed to find the place Seulgi said: it was a huge warehouse full of all kinds of books and documents some as recent as last year and others from several periods ago. Above an old desk was an album of photographs: the first one wasn't a photograph but the pencil drawing of a huge oak tree in the middle of a meadow and it dated more than three hundred years ago. Wendy felt her breath going away, definitely this book belonged to Seulgi

"Are you surprised?"

Wendy jumped slightly in her place and looked at the person at the door. Irene leaned against the doorframe, dressed in the same clothes she had seen her with just a few hours ago in the worst way possible on the sofa in her living room. Wendy made a slight bow to greet her

"I'm sorry you saw me that way, it wasn't really my intention. I thought you and Seulgi left that's why I brought her here...I couldn't think much when I had Sooyoung almost on top of me"

Wendy let out a laugh as Irene strolled through the huge bookshelves that contained the diaries and memories of her many trips. Irene took one of her own diaries in her hands and began to browse the pages disinterestedly while Wendy continued to review Seulgi's photo album, this time she had come across a black and white photograph probably much more recent than all the drawings and portraits she'd seen before

"Where is Sooyoung now? Did you take her back home?"

Irene sighed, placed the book on the shelf and then took a new one

"She is sleeping"

Wendy shifted her attention from the album to the oldest vampire

"Sleeping? But-?"

"Sooyoung is human" Irene quickly interrupted without wanting to give more explanations than she should give and the silence that came after her explanation made Wendy feel uncomfortable with that spontaneous question. Irene continued without anyone asking her "It's my fault... she wants to transform but I don't want to"

For a moment Wendy remembered those days when she argued with Seulgi relentlessly that she wanted to become a vampire but her now fiancee wasn't able to do so. Maybe this was the perfect time to ask a question after Seulgi refused to explain

"What's wrong with turning humans? Is it forbidden?"

"Not at all, we are vampires and there's no law that can harm us" Irene approached the desk where Wendy was and took the album she had been reviewing, turning page after page without stopping to look at the pictures "They say we are a cursed race, everyone thinks that is because we live forever but in reality I would say it is because we see those who we love die"

Irene stopped in a photograph and stared at it blankly, Wendy couldn't see what it was

"There is a legend that says that each person will reincarnate every hundred years and although they will never remember their past life, they will end up meeting people they lived with before"

Irene reached the photograph towards Wendy and the newly transformed girl almost dropped it on the floor

In it was Seulgi with a girl identical to Wendy, the picture looked very old since it was still black and white, they had the city of Vienna as a background... right in the same place where Wendy and Seulgi had met a while ago

"What is this?"

"Seulgi found you a hundred years ago in Vienna, you two were very in love and about to get married but then, when she tried to turn you into a vampire, you couldn't handle the poison and died in her arms. Seulgi has been looking for you for a hundred years and that's why she didn't want to turn you"

Wendy couldn't cry anymore but if she could at this moment she would. The girl looked at the picture one more time and she traced the silhouette of her blonde lover in the photograph

"I've also looked for Sooyoung in every corner of the world, I wouldn't mind looking for her for another hundred years, but... I couldn't bear to lose her again"

Irene sighed and continued roaming among the bookshelves. Wendy took out the photograph from the album and kept it in her pocket while she saw the beautiful woman getting lost in her memories

"Enjoy your new life, Wendy"

Irene's words echoed in her mind as she returned to the place where Seulgi painted. The painting was already finished by the time Wendy returned: a wonderful sunset landscape decorating the beach. Seulgi cleaned her utensils when she saw that her lover entered her studio again

"Hey, I was about to finish"

Wendy almost ran into her lover's arms, wrapped her arms around Seulgi's waist and smiled when she felt a kiss on her forehead. For now she wouldn't say anything to Seulgi about what Irene had found…

"I love you, Seul"

Seulgi giggled and Wendy's hair

"I love you too, beautiful"

Wendy would remain silent for now

After all, they had a lifetime to discover each other