7 Full acceptance

Raina looked at him with distrust and mocking in her eyes. How could she even begin to trust such a farfetched story? Gods? Demi-gods? Was she in a rabbit hole? Was she in a coma and her mind was creating some crazy story for it to cope? But everything seemed so real. She remembered all the new sensations she felt, all the shocks she got from the sharpening of her senses. She even looked at the back of the seat that she almost broke and touched lightly it to feel its hardness. She even pinched herself several times to convince herself she was not dreaming. She finally turned her attention to Eric. He was one of the reasons she thought she was dreaming. His perfection was stunning her through and through.

She finally gathered her courage to ask him "What does it take to complete my transformation?"

"There's one final thing for you to do before completing your transformation. That is to drink blood, my blood in fact," Eric said in the same calm tone.

"What? No way! How could I drink… drink blood?", she stuttered thinking about what he said.

"This is the hardest part, I know. This is the test for your final acceptance that you have to take," Eric whispered worriedly.

"But…," Raina started but stopped what she was about to say. "What will happen to me if I don't drink blood? And why do I have to drink your blood and not anyone else's?"

"If you don't drink blood, your body will start rejecting the transformation and you will go berserk. Your mind will begin to be taken over by your instincts and you will probably end up killing yourself like others did before you. Only death awaits you if you don't complete the transformation. As for why my blood. It is necessary for your transformation because it was me who started it," he concluded looking straight in her eyes.

"You? You were the one who destroyed my entire life?", she roared as Eric expected. "I should kill you right this instant, you mother*cker!", she said while already leaping towards him.

He easily caught her wrists and kept her at one arm's length. She was too enraged to stop herself, but, as she attacked him, she felt her nails and her canines elongating themselves. What the hell was going on? She became confused and forgot about her attack. Looking at her nails, a puzzled look appeared on her face. She touched her right hand's nails with her left palm and immediately felt her skin ripping and blood gushing out. But it only took one second and her skin repaired itself, leaving no trace of the tearing before. She looked with disbelief at her palm and then she also touched her canines. The same tearing happened on her skin, proving their sharpness to her. What in the name of God was going on with her body? She looked with more confusion to Eric.

"This… how is this possible… how can this be… am I dreaming?", she asked incoherently.

Eric, who stood there the whole time without moving, tentatively reached for her hand with slow movements. "Raina," he whispered looking directly in her eyes and continuing to reach out for her hand. "It's okay," he tried to coax her in his calm voice. "You have to accept it, love. Come to me."

He softly touched her hand and tried to bring her closer to him with slow movements. He knew any sudden move on his part will push her in a defensive stance again. So he tried to keep as calm as he could while guiding her gently to the final step she needed to take.

Raina looked hypnotized in his eyes. She felt like the little rodent she heard before, grasped by the hypnotizing stare of the snake, unable to resist him. He brought her close to his body and repeated in a gentle tone. "Raina, this is the final step, you have to take it, or else your son will lose his mother. You might hate me for not giving you a choice, but I know you love your son and you wouldn't want to hurt him by leaving him all alone in this world. Come, Raina, you have to drink," he coaxed her and brought her head close to his throat.

She saw his veins pulsating through his creamy skin and her fangs instinctively shot up. Like in a trance, she closed the gap between her mouth and his throat. Her mind was telling her to stop. How could she do this? How could she accept this? What will she become when this damn transformation was complete? But how can she embrace death that easily? How could she leave her son all alone in this cruel world? As all these thoughts ran through her head, she let herself go. Her instincts seemed to have kicked in. Her gaze was fixated on his pulsating vein and she could imagine the flow of blood under the skin. Her mind shut completely and in a second her canines were piercing his skin and she started sucking hard on his blood. He stood there unmoving, letting her have her fill. When he realized it was enough, he gently caressed her head and pulled her away.

"That is enough, Raina," he gently said. "Your transformation will be completed in a few days' time. But now, you should rest as the final phase will be a painful one. I will be here by your side," Eric added. He took her hand and guided her to the bed in the room. As she sat, a sudden pain hit her. It was a pain that engulfed all her body and she let out a scream, clenching her chest. The pain seemed to be at its peak in her heart. Eric helped her lay on the bed and held her hand. "It's okay," he kept repeating, "the pain shall pass. I'm sorry you have to go through this. I'm sorry…"

But Raina could hardly hear him. She felt like her body was breaking in millions and millions of bits that brought an excruciating pain each time. She felt like her every cell was disintegrating only to rebuild itself into something new. The pain intensified in the process of rebuilding and she could only scream and writhe on the bed, powerless in the front of this whole process. Not a single thought could be formed in her head.

The whole process took two hours. Eric stood by her side looking guilty all through the process. At some point he asked Howard to bring him a clean cloth and some water to clean the sweat on her body. He kept one hand in hers and he used the other to clean her forehead, her face, her neck, he collarbone, her arms, while repeating "It's okay" over and over again. Her hand was squeezing his so hard that his bones cracked a couple of times. Luckily, his recovering rate was fast, and they repaired themselves as soon as they cracked. He didn't mind the pain that came with the cracking of his bones. In fact, he welcomed it if that meant her pain lessened.

The pain in his heart watching her writhe in pain was more unbearable than her physical pain. He knew this was inevitable, but he often wondered if it was worth it. He was selfish not to let her remain human for the rest of her life. He waited for her for such a long time, he couldn't wait any longer. He let her in the past, but not anymore. And this time he was also forced due to the moves of their enemies. Of course, with power came enemies and although he did his best to hide her from their world, he couldn't hide her forever.

But now she was here, she was by his side and that was all that matter. Their journey had just begun again, and he wanted to make sure that she stays by his side this time. He took the choice away from her this time. He might have been in the wrong, but he couldn't help it. She might hate him for a while, but he couldn't let her go. He had all the time in the world to make it up to her and to make her love him again.

Her memories might come back as well, she might remember her past. He hoped that would be the case because he wanted her to remember. But he was not sure. He just stood there by her side, watching her as her screams teared at his heart. It will soon be over, he kept telling himself.

After two hours her screams stopped, and her body went limp. Her eyes were half opened, and she looked like the life was leaving her. Her heart was beating slower and slower and for what looked like an eternity it stopped. After ten seconds it restarted, but the rate of the heartbeats was now slower than a normal human. She opened her eyes and looked around. She was in a daze as she took everything in. The images around her became clearer and the details became sharper than before. The specks of dust became even more detailed to her and she was fascinated in a second as every atom became known to her eyes.

"Raina," Eric's beautiful voice jolted her out of her daze, "how are you feeling?" Her mind was now clear, and she seemed to have millions of thoughts, memories and images run through her head like before, but now they were not making her dizzy and didn't gave her a headache anymore. She could register everything and without her knowledge a smile came to her lips.

"Ah, so this is the difference, I can feel it now," she whispered mostly to herself. "I couldn't have understood before," she continued. "Everything is so… clear and amazing. How could this be?"

"You should rest for now," Eric said, and she felt the power enveloping her again, his power she realized. Before she knew it, her body and mind shut down and she was unconscious again.