The stars above watch silently as your breath becomes more shallow. The mud beneath you seeps through your clothes until you cannot tell if you are cold because of it, or from the life slowly draining out of you.

The vampire squats next to your quickly weakening body and swipes the blood from his lips with the back of his hand.

Through the fog of your mind, you wonder what it’s like among the stars. It must be better than here, right?

“I can save you if you want.”

You have no strength to tilt your head so you settle for only moving your eyes to look at your murderer.

“Daehyun,” you gasp. It is becoming harder to breathe and your heart feels awfully still behind your ribs.

“Yes, love?”

“Liar.”

“Ha, that I am. But are you referring to the lie that was our relationship, or about me saving you?” He wipes mud from your cheek and frowns, “Because the latter is absolutely true.”

“Why?”

He shrugs and trails a finger over the two puncture marks in your jugular. “I think I grew somewhat fond of you through our time together. Besides, eternity is frightfully lonely without someone to keep me company.”

You glance back to the quiet sentinels scattered across a velvet canvas. If you could not spend eternity in the sky, then perhaps you could spend it with him.

“Not to rush this important decision, love, but every second is another heartbeat wasted. And I wager you don’t have many left.”