Baby Steps

40

Our honeymoon ended too soon, but maybe going back was good. From the three coolers of blood bags, only two remained, just enough to last Demetri the last day.

The jet returned and we boarded. I felt my heart aching as we left the ground, and the island becomes smaller and smaller in the distance. Not even the turbulence activity outside the plane could make me worry instead of missing the island. The house was barely visible from up in the sky if you knew how to look of course. So many memories in that little shack... We took a lot of pictures, but somehow Demetri managed to find an old Polaroid camera. We left ten pictures taped against the wall for whoever might find it later.

"You okay, love?" He asked and snaked his arm around my waist.

I sighed, "I hate leaving this place. We could live here you know? Have a shipment of supplies delivered to us once a week, spend every night cuddled up in that room, long hours walking on the beach. We could do that."

He chuckled, "Tell you what, this island doesn't belong to anyone anymore. The nomads that gave it up were destroyed by their own newborns, who have no idea that this place exists. We could buy it and name it?"

I sat upright in my seat, "Really?"

"Yes, love."

I squealed in delight and crushed him in a hug, "Oh, we can name it Paradiso?"

He cocked one eyebrow impressed, "Italian for 'paradise'. I like it. Since when does my lovely wife speak Italian?"

I smirked, "Dal momento che mi sono innamorato di te, cara." (Since I fell in love with you, darling.)

He brought our faces closer and enchanted me with a deep, passionate kiss. His hands went straight for my hips but I pushed him to the back of the plane, where the small bedroom was located. He wasn't easy to push onto the bed, but I somehow managed. I crawled over him and straddled his hips and slowly started undoing his shirt.

"What's gotten into you?" He smirked and easily flipped us over, foiling my plans to be the dominant one for a change.

His whole body covered mine as he pinned my arms above my head and feathered my neck with kisses, his fangs lightly grazing my skin. A small sting made me slightly tense up, and I could feel him licking up the small amount of blood that escaped my neck. However, while he was working on that spot, a strong gust of wind hit the plane and made everything shake and rattle. Demetri lost concentration just for a split second, and that same second, an agonizing burn erupted from that tiny wound and spread through my entire body. I screamed as the fire devoured me from the inside, eating away my cells and blood tissue.

"Grace!" Demetri's voice rang somewhere in my head through my pain-filled cries, "Grace, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Grace, look at me, keep your eyes on me! I'm going to suck out the venom, alright? It'll be fine, Grace, I'll control myself!"

Through all the pain and burning and aching and shaking, I managed to blurt out a faint 'no'. My hands fisted around the sheets and my whole body arched and curled in pain.

"It would've... happened sooner or... sooner or later..."

His eyes held so many emotions that moment; regret, sadness, worry, anger, pity. I understood why Dad told me it's a painful process. My screams became hysterical whimpers, my breathing was rapid and uneven, my skin was burning, and my throat was raw and dry. At last, everything became too much for me to handle and the world around me faded into unending darkness.

Third POV

Demetri felt the wave of anger and regret get the best of him as he watched Grace blackout from what he did. How could he be so reckless? He knew to take the risk to draw just a little of her golden blood was gambling with her life, accidents could happen any moment. Accidents like him losing his control, not damn gusts of wind hitting the plane out of nowhere! He slammed his hands against the small cabinet behind him, shattering it into shards and splinters. She was in so much pain...