He knew he was being punished by whatever deity that controlled his realm of monsters. He stared at his hands, pale, with no hint of the warmth of blood coursing its veins and let out a snarl. He knew that Satan, because there was no other god for him, was laughing at him with smoke curling from the corners of his curved smirk. He had been warned and he acted despite his better judgment.

            “Youngjae?” He heard her feeble voice and turned around, trying to smooth his face so that she couldn’t see how worried he was.

            “Yes, sweetheart?”

            “What did the doctor tell you?” Her lips were pale and he stared at her. His heart yearned for the blush that spread across her face and for the red tint that normally decorated her lips. He could hear her harsh breathing, a beautiful breathing that he longed to always hear and his mouth twisted for just a second.

            “You’ll get better. I just need to get your medication and I promise you will be better.”

            She smiled and her dry lips cracked. His grief overrode his innate thirst and he didn’t even notice when she started bleeding. She noticed and covered . “Youngjae, don’t breathe in.”

            He took her hand away and clucked his tongue. “We’ve been married for nearly five years. How can you still think that I want to your blood?” He lowered his voice and spoke in an accent for the last few words, in hopes of eliciting a smile from her.

            She laughed, accomplishing his goal and then coughed. “Don’t lie to me. I know an illness when I see one. And I’m definitely, one hundred percent, bedridden. How long do I have?”

            Youngjae stared at her. The truth was less than a month, but his fantasy refused to permit it. “I have the money to provide the best care. I’ve been around for a while now. I’ve seen medical advancements and I know that there is a treatment out there that if only I had more time, I will definitely find it.”

            She placed a finger by Youngjae’s lips and shook her head. “I’m not as out of touch with the human world as you think I am. I know that leukemia is impossible to cure once it’s at this stage. I know I’m going to die, Youngjae.”

            He shuddered at the words and shook his head. It was the one problem he would never have to worry about. “No, don’t say it,” he begged. “Please.”

            She inched herself up and he held her until she settled back on the pillows. There was a slight rouge on her cheeks as she looked at him. “Isn’t it ironic? The vampire prince marries the human who ends up with blood cancer.” She looked wistful and he leaned against her, feeling the blood surge and pump throughout her body as her heart thudded steadily, not faltering.

            “Talk to me, Youngjae. Tell me about how we fell in love?”

            He held onto her hand and felt how cold it was. In his mind he pictured all the treatments that the doctors had crossed off, one by one as they failed to make her better. She tugged on his hand and looked at him expectantly. “Tell me our story,” she whispered.

            He placed her fingers and kissed her wedding ring, remembering how they had met and how he had defied everyone else’s judgment to finally love her. “I was sent on a mission, a mission that all princes had to complete before they could be put on the line for the throne. We were already a hunted species but the royal line still had the responsibility of making sure our subjects were able to be kept under control. We didn’t kill, we only took blood, scattering the prey in different areas. Our goal was to survive, but never to kill or to take.”

            Youngjae paused and looked at her. She had her eyes closed and he thought she fell asleep. “Keep talking. You haven’t gotten to the best part.”

            “I had found all my possible targets. My mission was complete. All I had to do was find the perfect operation to bring them into the palace, into our world, make sure they leave with no memories. Your sister was one of them. She was perfect. She eagerly offered herself but without knowing why. But I had missed one loophole. I didn’t realize she would tell you.”

            She was staring at him again and he glanced at the crescent marks on her neck, a scar left after years of his mark. She reached up and touched it. “Keep going.”

            “I made a mistake and marked you instead. But you already knew, and rather than submitting complacently, you put up a fight.  But it was too late, and I drank too much. I knew too much. I drank in more of your essence than I would like, and you were mine. Mine in the sense of the word that I could no longer let you go. I had to bring you back.”

            “You took a long time to adjust. You fought me every step of the way and I was nearly kicked out for it. But I, I fell in love with you. I fell in love with your fire, a passion that the other bloodless vampires didn’t have. I fell in love with the way you had no fear around me, refreshing after years of being looked up to. But you took a little longer.”

            Youngjae looked at her and she laughed a little. “That was only because it was freaky. I couldn’t tell whether now was the time when you would all of a sudden all my blood. But you were kind of dorky for a prince, and not at all scary for a vampire.”

            He leaned down and kissed her, ran his tongue over her lips and sighed. “If I can find someone to donate blood for you, to fight the cancerous cells, I would.”

            She shook her head and entwined their fingers. “No, Youngjae. You keep living on and maybe you’ll be able to replace me. Look for another fire. Fire, you know, never burns out.”

            Her breathing was gradually shallower and he swallowed. “No, please. There can be no replacement.”

            She flicked his forehead and then giggled. “I don’t think a lot of humans can say they abuse a vampire prince and get away with it.”

            Youngjae held her hands through the rest of the night. He watched her wake up three more times before closing her eyes. He sensed the blood cooling before he saw that she wasn’t breathing. And even though he could not physically feel cold, he asked the servants to keep a fireplace burning just so he could feel her presence.

for NickHippo

mehhh I wanted to do more with this, but... no inspiration :(

I'm sorry