FicWad

The next day I still sat in perfect silence, letting my thoughts run free. It tortured me to think that today, our fates would be decided, that Killian and I could easily find our end here. I closed my eyes and let my head roughly fall to the stone ground, the cool and hardness making me feel less comfortable than before. My hands wiped over my face, trying to take everything in...I didn't want to end this way, but I had excepted that this was the only way.

Just as I got deep into thought, I heard the door open and the bright light filled the room just as yesterday. Gerard walked through the door and reached up to touch the light hanging from the cieling. When it turned on he closed the door and sat across from my lying form, looking at me.

"What are you doing Frank?" he asked.

"I'm trying to prepare myself for death...even though I thought I'd never die after you turned me," I replied, sitting up and staring at him. His face didn't hold a trace of hardness or sadness; it was stoic and unchanging, never taking his eyes off of me.

"So how did the council find this?" I asked, trying to move along the conversation; I knew he was here for that reason alone.

"Well the majority voted that both of you should be killed this evening," Gerard stated, his face now holding sypmathy. His eyes searched me as I felt every ounce of hope dwindle out of my body. I stared at the blank walls, trying to register it...I would no longer exist...and neither would Killian.

"But...Claudius came up with something. He called Killian into his office last night to ask if she had another way around the punishment...what she thought was more justified than killing you both. She convinced him to let the council drain her only if they let you free unharmed."

My eyes shot to Gerard and I looked at him, trying to search for any trace of lies. She couldn't do that. I thought she understood that no matter what happened, that I couldn't go on without her. To hear that she is really considering saving me, by giving her life made me feel sick and horrible. She needed to go with me. I wasn't going to leave her without her.

"What?" I finally choked out, my voice coming out more strained than I wanted it to.

"She's offered to give her life so that you can go free, so you won't have to die," Gerard repeated, looking at the ground now, knowing the gravity of the words he'd just spoken.

I choked on my breath and noticed that tears were streaming down my face at an uncontrollable rate. I stared at the floor beneath me in disbelief. I no longer wanted to live. I couldn't go on knowing that the woman I loved gave her life to save mine and I did nothing in return.

"She can't do that...it's not fair...it's not RIGHT!" I shouted, making Gerard look up quickly and the sound echo off of the walls that sealed me off from the world.

"Frank, we have no choice. Killian has made this decision for herself and you. She is sure that this is the fate she wants. Claudius worked something else out with her. She'll be drained of all her blood, but changed."

I stared at Gerard now with fury. They couldn't condemn her to a life like this. They couldn't let her do this! Why didn't I get a say in any of this?

"WHAT? Why?" I asked urgently, still surprising Gerard.

"Because she wants you to live Frank...she wants to know that you'll go on with your existance without having to face the fate of being killed. You should really be thanking her that she's considering this instead of letting both of you die together. She made a sacrifice for you," Gerard said.

My eyes scanned him and I felt weak. I lied back and sighed deeply, not sure what I was doing now.

"And besides, what's so bad about her becoming one of us? Are you thinking that what I've done to you is a life sentence?"

"Yes. I thank you for that day when you saved me from near death, but ever since I've never felt alive, not until Killian came into my life at least. What was the point of making me immortal if I felt no life? Why condemn me to an existance that means nothing, that requires you not to feel, that requires you to be dead?" I asked. My anger was more agressive now.

"Frank, I never wanted you to be condemned to this. Immortality is a gift that takes refining. Why would I do that to you? You know I was only trying to save you," Gerard said, a little hurt by my outburst.

"I know...it's just...I've felt empty ever since...ever since Carmen left."

"I understand how you feel...I never stopped caring for Giselle, even after she left. It killed me to see her paintings, to hear news of her success with the underground vampire clans in Los Angeles. Whether you accept it or not I've felt that emptiness...I've felt that pain. But your existance goes on, even though they're gone."

I sighed deeply before I heard clanking and the door open.

"Sire, Claudius has sent me to find you, the sentencing is about to start," said the guard. He turned to look at me with a sad smile and he moved aside to let Gerard move out of the room.

"Frank, follow me," Gerard said.

And I followed him down the same bright corridor and into the same room from yesterday...