Inside of Jessica, there was a glimmering brightness that represented her life and it was dwindling. Jessica was drifting somewhere between life and death in a dark tranquil cloud. Jessica was remembering her summers in Miami and her mother's Christmas cookies- all the small details that had made her life memorable. There was no rage or resentment, only a quiet realization that her time has come.
Jessica was pleasantly surprised by serene and calm she felt. All of her minor concerns from her waking life gone. It was eerily quiet, and her one sorrow was that she was dying so young. Jessica life had been far too brief, and her experiences for too few, for her to consider herself to have had a fulfilled existence. All of Jessica ambitions and dreams for the future had vanished, and all she could hear was unending quiet.
Jessica started to let go of her corporeal existence, permitting her soul to drift away from it. It was a strange experience, like slipping into a quiet, tranquil sea or lake. It was almost as though Jessica was floating. Jessica felt lighter, more liberated, and utterly at ease. There was no stress or panic; instead, there was an infinite serenity. Jessica felt a dreadful sensation of unease creep up on her and slowly wrap around her as she was suspended in the stillness that existed outside of physical reality. Jessica could hear the faint echo of a voice talking incoherently as the peaceful silence began to crackle like white noise. Jessica, who was squeezing her ears, tried to pay attention.
Jessica could hear little quiet breaths of breath mixed with tiny whimpers between the cracks and snaps. Somebody was crying, but it sounded more powerful, as if this person was wailing in despair. It could have been her mother. Perhaps she had discovered she had been murdered, and her grief was resonating in the afterlife... but the Voice did not sound like her mother. It sounded more youthful, like Jessica. The crying became increasingly deafening. This did not sit well with Jessica. Jessica tried to flee the sounds but was unable to do so since she had been overtaken by an icy cold force.
Oh, my God, am I in Hell? Jessica pondered.
"Jessica. Jessica, please help me..." said a woman's voice. Jessica couldn't comprehend her voice as it gurgled into a kind of incomprehensible white noise. Jessica tried to get away, but she couldn't because she didn't know how. Jessica then heard a new voice, a man's voice, through the darkness.
He addressed Jessica as if she were his long-dead sweetheart, addressing her as'my love' and pleading for pardon. His words seemed to drown out the white noise and the sobbing woman, enveloping Jessica in a warm embrace. Jessica was baffled as to how this was possibly possible. Jessica had no recall of ever having had a boyfriend. Who was this man, and why was he pleading for Jessica's forgiveness?
Jessica could literally feel his grief encircling her, pleading with her to come back to life.
"Drink to live," he said quietly. "Drink if you want to spend the rest of your life with me. My darling, please drink." A strange life-force entered her body, distorting the natural laws while also rejuvenating it. Jessica's heart skipped a beat, and she was yanked from Death's grasp and put back into her body. Jessica's soul began to rejoin itself, but not completely. A small part of her chose to stay in the lovely otherworld where she was about to die.
Jessica started feeling her physical limbs, and worry and anxiety descended over her like a freight train. Jessica had been dead for a long time, the kind of death that modern medicine couldn't bring back. Odd and Jessica were nearly revolted by the experience because it was abnormal.
Jessica's first physical feeling was a metallic taste of liquid heat running down her throat and exploding in her stomach, sending seismic waves through her body. There was pain that ebbed away into consciousness for what felt like just a second but might have felt like an eternity. Jessica felt as if she was coming up from a deep sleep, with all of her senses returning to her.
Jessica became aware of the warm blanket above her and the silk sheet underneath her. Jessica flexed her fingers and sensed the presence of a body nearby. Jessica hadn't even opened her eyes when she recognized him as the Dark Prince. Jessica was held close to his body by his massive arm, which curved around her waist and splayed across her tummy. As he slept peacefully, Jessica could feel the soft rise and fall of his chest against her spine.
Jessica should have been terrified, yet his proximity to her felt wonderfully natural and effortless, as if they were true lovers.
His arm moved slightly across Jessica's waist, perhaps a centimetre or two, but just enough to make her eyelids flutter and open. Jessica was completely blind.
Jessica waited for the mystery man who had taken her to vanish into oblivion like any other dream for a brief second, but when his firm arm tightened around her, Jessica knew he was real.
Jessica racked her brain, trying to recall how she had ended here in this bed with this person. Sarah Turner's wedding gown and her hazy memories of her mocked her. Jessica was then reminded of the graveyard and Aman's tree, as well as that stupid story about that man... that handsome man in the graveyard with his razor-sharp teeth.
Jessica's body stiffened in terror. Inhaling, the Dark Prince awoke from his slumber. Jessica was crushed against his chest as his arm drew her closer to him. He whispered into her ear, sleepily, "Please accept my heartfelt apologies, my love. I've never wanted to hurt you." Jessica cried angrily, yanking away from the stranger standing next to her. Jessica sank her heel into the mattress and propelled herself backwards across the bed, almost somersaulting. "Calm down, my darling," he whispered quietly as his palm brushed against Jessica's arm.
Jessica wrenched her arm away from her body and pushed herself blindly away from his "Stay away from me!" Jessica burst out laughing.
"All right," said a quiet masculine voice, "I'll stay away from you."
"Could you please turn on a light or something? I'm blind, and I can't see anything "Jessica was the one who inquired.
"I could if I wanted to, but it wouldn't make a difference. You are deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deaf "He said something. "Change?" Jessica agreed with a dry remark.
Jessica reached out with shaky fingers to her neck, feeling where his teeth had sank into her. Jessica carefully brushed her fingertips around her skin, looking for any broken skin or severe bruises. There was no indication that he had ever killed her.
"Are you scared, my love?" He inquired.
Jessica said, "I am terrified of you and what you have done to me."
"How do you believe I've treated you?" "I'm not sure," Jessica said, "but I know I'm not the same."
"Look, this was probably not the best way to accomplish this," he exclaimed sharply.
"What do you mean by the proper manner?"
"It makes no difference now. You're fearful and worried, and as your spouse, I have to respond-"
"Please don't do it. Look, I have no idea who you are or why you thought it was okay to bite me, but let's get one thing straight: we did not get married tonight. That wedding was a complete farce. We didn't have a license, take a blood test, or get married in front of a court, and you didn't have my approval to be your lawfully married wife "Jessica became enraged.
He said plainly, "You stood under the tree." "Because of Sarah Turner, I was obliged to stand under that tree! Furthermore, on what planet does 'I agree to marry you' entail standing under a tree? Could you imagine trying to convince a judge that I am your legally married wife because I stood beneath a tree in a cemetery?"
He responded, "It will in vampire court."
"Vampire court does not exist!" Jessica screamed angrily.
"I'm sorry, but there is." He said, "I am a vampire, and you are also a vampire."
Jessica shook her head, denying the existence of vampires.
"They certainly do." My head immediately resonated with his speech.
Jessica replied numbly, "Please don't tell me that was you in my head."
He said smugly, "Yes, telepathy is one of my many vampire gifts."
Jessica became acutely aware of his consciousness straying into hers as if it were public property. Jessica sensed him casually rummaging through her thoughts, trying to piece meaningful information about her. Jessica slapped him out of thoughts, crying, "Get out of my head!" shocked by his lack of respect for her privacy.
"I was trying to find a method to assist you to calm down," he apologized.
Jessica was on the verge of giggling "Calm me down, please. You snatched me after biting me like a crazed bat. I'm blind and don't know where I'm going! Unless you have strong sedatives, I doubt you could find any words in my memory to calm me down!"
"Look, I'm sorry I bit you; I had to since you were mortal and would have perished otherwise," he explained.
"You bit me!"
'To hell with it,' Jessica thought, hearing his voice resonate in my head.
Jessica opened her mouth to say something, but was abruptly pushed back into the mattress by two hands pressing down on her shoulder. Jessica shouted in terror and tried to push him away, but he grabbed her wrists and trapped her arms above her head with a single hand.
"How are you going to handle it?" Jessica said something haltingly.
He said, "Bring you home to put you straight to bed." "What? Do you mean what you say?" Jessica was the one who inquired.
"I'm going to have to court you Jessica Madison and make you fall in love with me," he grumbled.
"Yeah, well, good luck to you," Jessica said, holding back a giggle.
He finally whispered, "We are supposed to be together, Mia," before leaning in and brushing his kisses across Jessica's neck.
As his teeth dragged across Jessica's skin, she groaned involuntarily.
'You have a great taste, Jess.' In Jessica's mind, he murmured.
'GO Burning In Hell!' Jessica mentally yelled back at him.
Jessica shudders beneath him as his tongue sweeps over the pulse in her neck. Jessica's body no longer felt like her own, wriggling uncomfortably beneath him, yearning for more physical touch.