THE BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS

TWENTY-NINE (TASSIA POV)

I must give some time to my partner because I know this is hard for her, she's barely moved this past hour, watching the hospital building in the distance with her hands in her pants pockets, her shoulder leaned against a lamppost casually. Her eyes are fixed on a window... People walk around her, ignoring her, doctors, nurses and patients' families walk across the parking lot to get into their cars and go back home but none of them are paying attention to us and they forget our faces a few seconds later.

I can't help smiling thinking that, if they could see Bluma the way she really is, they'd end up hypnotized with their eyes caught by her flawless facial features. The illness is gone after the change and her skin isn't pale anymore, her white hair is soft and thick again, her muscles strong and flexible, her lips plump and, even if she still has high cheekbones and a chiselled jawline, she's not skinny anymore. Her skin is smoother now but she still keeps some wrinkles, above all around her eyes when she laughs, no one would say she's a young girl in her 20s despite she's a beautiful woman, that's for sure. Well, I wasn't young when I turned into a vampire either, I fact, I was 43, an old lady according to the standards of the 15th century, even if I didn't look old at all.

"Do you think someone has noticed it?" she whispers quietly knowing that I can hear her despite there's heavy traffic on the road nearby. I get closer rolling my eyes, frustrated and a little offended, to be honest.

"Buma, I'm a real doctor, you know. I may have started in this career as a healer centuries ago but I've been learning too, I studied at several medical schools and have so many PhDs that I lost count of them, I've worked in hospitals and labs... I was a paediatrician, oncologist, surgeon, neurologist, gynaecologist... I contributed to the discovery of innovative therapies and medicines that have saved millions of human lives over the past century."

"Yes, I know, and you're a powerful vampire who can manipulate the minds of weak humans... but maybe a stronger and smarter human saw you."

"Baby, please, I know how to behave inside a hospital. I wore a white lab coat and walked firmly down the corridors, never hesitating, no nurse dared to stop me when I sneaked into the emergency room where Ruby was waiting while they got the operating room ready. No one was watching while I put one drop of my blood in her mouth..."

"Only one?" she asks in disbelief.

"It was enough to keep her alive while the surgeons did their job, I couldn't give her more, she was weak and had lost lot of blood... I could've started the change in her body unintentionally. She's okay, Bluma, weak and tired, but will recover. I checked on her a couple of hours ago, she was sleeping soundly... Iselen too although she'll wake up with neck pain, those armchairs aren't comfortable to take a nap, I'm afraid." My mate nods and remains silent, keeping her eyes fixed on the window. "Shall we go? We have to take a plane..."

"I can't do it," Bluma turns around abruptly to look at me, her gorgeous eyes shine with unshed tears like two stars falling from the sky. "Tassia, please..."

"Babe..." I whisper hugging her, surprised when I feel her arms holding me tight against her body, squeezing me against her torso. Her grief is overwhelming, I can feel it through the blood bond that binds us: not even in the worst stages of her illness, before we fell in love and I decided to save her life giving her the gift, I felt so much despair inside her. "Are these humans so important to you? I thought the love you felt for me was stronger than anything else, I understand they're your family but we leave our people behind when we turn into vampires. That's the way it works, I thought you understood it..."

"I'm sorry, Tassia, after all the things you've done for me... but I can't do it."

"I did nothing, Bluma, only loved you..." I whisper cupping her cheek with my hand.