Chapter 4
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Yet Adrian couldn't forget the young nun from a millennium ago. Newly Transformed and naive, he'd watched helplessly as time reduced her to dust before his eyes.
One evening, watching Lucy bustling about the kitchen, a desperate resolve crystallized in Adrian's heart. He couldn't bear to watch history repeat itself.
"Lucy," he said quietly, "there's something important we need to discuss."
"Hmm?" Lucy replied absently, her attention on the sizzling wok before her.
"I want... I want to make you like me. A vampire."
Lucy's hand froze mid-stir. Slowly, she turned to face him, her eyes wide with shock. "You want to... turn me?"
"Yes," Adrian nodded, his eyes burning with intensity. "We could be together forever. You wouldn't age or die. We'd have eternity to love each other, to see every wonder this world has to offer, to experience endless joy together."
Lucy stood motionless for what felt like eternity. Finally, she shook her head. "No."
The single word pierced Adrian's heart like a silver stake. He stared at her, stunned. "Why? Don't you love me? Don't you want us to be together forever?"
"Of course I want to be with you," Lucy's voice was gentle but resolute. "But I won't surrender my humanity. I cherish feeling hungry, tired, the process of aging—these limitations are what make life precious. If we had endless time, what value would each moment hold?"
"But you'll leave me," Adrian's voice cracked with anguish. "I can't bear losing someone I love again. A thousand years of solitude nearly drove me mad. I can't go back to that emptiness."
"Then why can't you choose to grow old with me?" Lucy countered softly.
Adrian shook his head. "Then you'd lose the gift of immortality."
"I don't want to give up being human," Lucy said firmly. "I don't need eternity. I just want the time we're meant to have together—fifty years, eighty years, whatever we get. If we truly love each other, that's enough."
Adrian couldn't comprehend her reasoning. To him, immortality was the ultimate gift, the most precious thing he could offer his beloved. Her refusal left him bewildered and wounded.
"You don't understand," Adrian said, desperation edging his voice. "Humans are so fragile—you could be taken from me by illness or accident at any moment. As a vampire, you'd have power, strength. You'd be safe by my side forever."
"But would I still be me?" Lucy asked, tears welling in her eyes. "Would I still taste the flavors I cook? Feel the sun on my face? Experience joy the way I do now? If I lost all that, would I still be the Lucy you fell in love with?"
Adrian fell silent. She was right—becoming a vampire meant sacrificing countless human pleasures. He knew this better than anyone. The taste of food turned to ash, the sun became a deadly enemy.
Finally, Adrian turned and stormed out of the restaurant, his tall figure cutting a lonely silhouette against the night.
"If you won't be with me forever, what's the point of any of this?" he called from the doorway before vanishing into the darkness.
Lucy watched him go, her heart breaking with each step he took.
She loved Adrian deeply, but she couldn't surrender her humanity. She treasured her finite, precious existence and couldn't understand his obsession with eternity.
