Louisa's POV
"Am I dying, Vincent?" I whispered in a pool of my own blood.
"No, young lady. You're too young and innocent to have a dangerous thought like that." Vincent bent over and lifted me in his arms.
He looked so gentle and kind.
I tilted my head and saw Will. He was crying so hard that he couldn't even catch his breath.
I tried to lift my arm towards him, but I couldn't feel my arm anymore.
"Don't... cry... Will..." I whispered.
Will crawled to me and sat next to me like a little puppy.
"I'm so sorry, Lisa! I didn't mean to stab you! I was aiming at him! I was trying to save you!" He wept and lowered his head.
"It's not your fault, Will... I chose to do this... You didn't kill me..." I said.
I felt a wave of warm liquid of bitterness coming from my throat. I started to cough blood.
Vincent looked up at Lucas and said, "I need your answer right now."
I turned to Lucas.
He looked so terribly handsome and heart-throbbingly alone, standing there like a hopeless child. I recognized the vulnerability hidden carefully behind his arrogance and aggressiveness when I saw him for the first time in my life.
He carefully hid it away from others, but he couldn't hide it from me.
When he met my sight, the ice in his eyes melted. He approached me and sat next to Vincent, holding my hands.
His hands felt so warm.
"I can't decide for you," he said, "It's your fucking life."
He was so close to me. I wished I could lift my hand and touch his face, but I couldn't. But the apathy in his eyes reminded me of cruel reality.
Nothing I could do to make a man without a heart love me.
"I don't want to die..." I whispered in a trembling voice, "but I don't want to... live in a world without love, either..."
"You'll meet someone that you love and loves you back," Lucas said. "But that someone won't be me."
"What have I ever done to make you hate me so much?" I asked. "Tell me that you have never loved me... Not even for one brief moment in your life..."
"I won't fucking tell you shit like that." He dropped my hands and stood up. Then, he turned away from me and said, " Before I reject you, you have to survive. I don't care if this fucking vampire will change you into a walking dead corpse or a fucking puppet or anything. You have to live. That's an order."
Tears blurred my sight. My wound hurt. But compared to the throbbing pain in my heart, it was nothing.
Vincent held me tightly in his arms and said, "He has made up his decision. What's yours?"
I lifted my chin. Blood and tears fell from my eyes.
"I... don't want to live like this anymore..." I gasped in despair.
Will held his father's hands and said, "No! Lisa! Please! Father! Save her! I'll never forgive myself if she dies!"
"We can't decide for her, son," Vincent said. "I've made the decision against your will, and I'm regretting it for the rest of my life. I can't make the same mistake twice."
"No! She's kind to me! She held me and hummed a lullaby to me..." Will shouted.
"She's not your mother, Will," Vincent said.
Will raised his voice and shook his head, "I don't care! I've already lost my mother and I can't afford to lose her! Father, don't you understand?! I can't be the one who's killed her! If you don't want to do it, I will!"
As he said, he took up my arm and bit on my wrist.
"Will..." Vincent tried to stop him, but it was too late.
Blood had already transferred from my body into his mouth.
Will looked at me while sucking the blood out of my body. His puppy eyes were filled with tears and determination.
Then, the smothered anger and fear were gone.
My vision started to get blurry.
I heard my wolf's voice in my mind -
"Everybody wants you to live, but you're the only one who wants to give up."
"It's just... so hard..." I said.
"You were born to achieve great things, so you have to go through this trial," my wolf said.
"I don't want to achieve anything. I just want to spend the rest of my life with someone who loves me."
"You just don't get it," my wolf sighed. "Your life and mate are granted by the Moon Goddess, but you have to fight for love and dignity. It's hard. I know. But you need to try harder."
I felt indignant.
"How am I going to stop a bleeding wound? How am I going to mend a broken heart? How am I going to make a person who's incapable of loving anyone fall in love with someone so pathetic like me?" I burst into tears, "I've sacrificed my life for him, but yet it doesn't seem to be enough! What else am I supposed to do? To be taunted, tamed, and tortured by him? To be manipulated, exploited, and eventually abandoned by him? What do you expect me to do?"
My wolf said in a plain voice, "He wants you to be alive. I offered him your real name, but he didn't take it. Do you understand what that means? You're getting stronger and he's wavering now. He's reconsidering if he's going to reject you. But what you're doing right now, this display of fear, weakness, and vulnerability, is making him confused. He's angry at you all the time because he's afraid of losing you. It's your job, as his mate, to work with him to overcome this fear. Then, you'll live your life to the full. You'll become his righteous life partner. Your life will be long and spectacular with him because he's powerful enough to make any of your wishes come true. Isn't that what you want?"
I closed my eyes and fell into oblivion.
Then, I heard a familiar voice in my mind -
"It's so easy to give up on your life, but it takes courage to survive."
I recognized that it was my mother's voice.
I reopened my eyes.
Everything around me seemed to be clearer and louder than before.
I gasped in more air into my lungs and struggled to lift my head.
Several grey geese flew above my head and I could hear the flapping sound of their wings. I could see the feathers on their wings even though we were miles apart. The way they flapped their wings seemed to be in slow motion.
I turned my head and looked around.
It was an amazing feeling. My whole body felt lighter. As if there was a gust of wind, I could be easily blown into the air.
The elements of the universe were woven into a web of light, wrapping me around my body, penetrating my skin, and sprawling through my veins.
Every single molecule of me resonated with every single movement of the outside world.
The ebb and flow of life, the everlasting quest for eternity, the never-ending spinning wheel of time, the perpetual chanting of Moon Goddess...
Ceased.
I became lifeless and deathless.
Then, I heard my wolf's voice in my head, louder than ever -
"Rise, Louisa. It's about time."