Party All Night

Chapter 9

I groaned as I came to. Something wasn't right. I was laying on a bed when I should have been laying on the ground in a crumpled heap. I felt cold and it felt like there was dried blood around my mouth. I squeezed my eyes shut as what happened came back to me. Falling out of my open window was not the way I had planned on going but the look on David's face as I fell was the worst. Sadness crept into me when I realized that David had been too slow, for all his speed and strength he didn't get to me in time. Turning on my side, I saw David. He was at my side in seconds, a smile breaking out across his face.

"Oh thank God." He breathed. "You're ok. You're alive." I reached out and cupped his cheek. David turned into it and kissed my palm, holding my hand where it was. "I thought I had lost you for sure." David shut his eyes and kissed my palm again.

"I'm not dead?" I asked. David looked at me sadly. I could tell something was bothering him. "David, what happened?"

"I'm so sorry (Y/N)." He whispered, gently brushing some hair out of my eyes. "I'm so so incredibly sorry." I rubbed my thumb against his cheek as my brain caught up.

"David. What happened?" I asked softly. An idea of what he had done was seeping into my brain but I wanted him to tell me.

"I had to." He said, tears forming in his eyes. "I didn't want to but there wasn't any other way. It takes too long for ambulances to get anywhere in Santa Carla. Too much happens. I couldn't lose you." David leaned in closer and rested his head against mine, tears freely flowing down his face. "I'm so sorry." I leaned against him.

"What did you do?" David shook his head. "David. You can tell me." He pulled back and watched me for a second before pulling me closer and kissing me. I smiled into the kiss. David pulled away and sighed.

"I had to (Y/N). You have to believe me. It was the only way." He pulled up his sleeve and showed me the slight scarring that still remained on his wrist. "I didn't want to. I had no other choice. I had to give you my blood. I had to turn you. If there was any other way I would have." David's voice broke as he tried to make me understand his side of it. I pulled him close and held him tightly as he cried.

"It's ok David." I shushed him. "I believe you. There was no other way." I pressed a kiss to his head as David pulled me closer. "I believe you." We stayed like that for a while.

"You're not a full vampire." David pulled back and sat on the edge of the bed I was on. "You're not even really a half vampire. You're like a quarter vampire. In theory." I sat up.

"How's that possible?" I laughed. David smiled at me, glad I could see the humor in my situation. "I drank directly from you."

"It's because you drank directly from me." He said, a smile making its way onto his face despite his nerves. "I'm not the head vampire. Max is. You need to drink his blood if you want to become a half vampire." David looked over at the bottle that was sitting on the nightstand next to me. It was only then that I realized I was in the cave.

"So what does your blood actually do then?" I asked him, gently putting my hands in his lap. "If it can't make me a vampire, is there anything it can do?"

"Save you." David whispered, looking at my hands. "Heal you. Speed up your healing." He gently grasped my hands and rubbed circles into the backs. "Do what it needs to for you to survive a broken neck and a punctured lung." My eyes went wide as I stared at David in shock.

"You could tell what had happened?" My voice broke, concern for David leaking into my voice. David nodded sadly.

"I even knew the exact moment your heart stopped." He whispered. "I got scared. I thought I was too late. That not even my blood could save you." He finally looked up at me and tears were streaming down his face again. "It broke my heart. I didn't know what to do. What I would do if it didn't work." I pulled David close again. He held me tightly, head pressed against my chest.

"Wait. If my heart stopped..." I was trying to think things through. "Shouldn't it have stayed stopped? I mean if I'm even partly a vampire, why do I still have a heartbeat?" David chuckled, the noise music to my ears in the moment.

"Our hearts don't actually stop." He said, gently pressing my hand against his chest. I gasped as I felt his heartbeat. "That's just part of the myth. It's why stakes through the heart work so well." I laughed as David glanced up at me.

"No duh!" I gasped between laughter. "A stake through anyone's heart would stop it! Talk about internal bleeding!" David smiled as I looked down at him. After I had calmed down, he looked back down at our intertwined hands.

"But that's why I brought you back to the cave. I wanted to give you a choice." He took a deep breath before pulling away from me. He leaned over and took the bottle off of the nightstand. "You can get up and leave and be a quarter vampire or whatever I made you into and we can figure it out together," He looked down at the bottle in his hands, turning it from one hand to the other. "Or you can drink Max's blood and become a half vampire. Maybe eventually become a full one like me." David looked up at me. "I don't want to pressure you. This is completely your choice. But I am giving you the option."

"But no matter what, we do this together right?" I asked as I looked up from the bottle. David nodded.

"No matter what." He promised. "I love you. Seeing you fall and die...." He trailed off. I nodded as the weight of what had happened finally hit me.

"Yeah." I murmured. David took in the look on my face.

"It wasn't your fault. No one could have predicted you would fall out of the window. It was a shock to both of us. If I wasn't so shocked I would have gotten to you in time. It scared me to death." David gathered me into his arms, ensuring that I knew that there was no way of knowing what would have happened. "When I saw your body hit the ground and your heart stopped pounding in my ears, I was already by your side and slitting my wrist. The worst part was waiting to see if it worked. I actually started thinking of ways to kill myself if you didn't pull through." David shook his head at me when I pulled back to look at him. "I hardly even realized that your heart had started again. I was so worried you wouldn't pull through." I gently grasped his jacket and pulled him in for a kiss. He rested his forehead against mine when we broke away. "But you did. And now you have to make the most important decision of your life." I nodded before kissing him again.

A million thoughts ran through my head, all at the speed of light. I felt David's grip on my arm tighten as the kiss became more passionate. Cupping his cheek, his stubble tickled my palm and reminded me that everything was ok now. Making up my mind, I pulled back from David. I gazed into his crystal blue eyes and nodded. He held my hand against his cheek and waited for me to say something.

"I'll do it." I said confidently. "I'll drink Max's blood."