Maid of death:

Kira:

—How did you know?- I smile radiantly looking at Yolie through the webcam.

My friend shrugs.

— It was just a feeling. -She looks at me through her glasses. - Are you happy?

— So much. I feel like going out and feeding the homeless, giving all my money to the poor, running barefoot through a park and hugging all the people I don't know.

— Wow, that sounds like a phase of mania, I imagine you'll cry your eyes out when you fall into depression.

— No. I already cried what I was going to cry.

— So, when is the big event? -she questions.

—Next year.

— In which month?

— November.

— I wish you the best. Take care and preserve yourselves.
— I would like you to be my godmother.Well, my godmother of death, so to speak. If it hadn't been for you and your horrible hair, Patrick and I wouldn't have met.

Jolie grins from ear to ear.

— I'd love to, but since the process involves your conversion and you're going to wake up wanting to suck someone dry ... um... nah. I want to live, you know? More or less until I’m eighty years old.

We laugh like hyenas, she’s right.

—Anyway, I appreciate the intention and I wish you all the happiness in the world.- she says sincerely.

— I also want you to be happy, friend.

—I am, I will be.- She winks at me. - Remember that I am a witch, I know what I am talking about.

Patrick:

—Yolie is acting weird. She smiles and looks at me like she knows something I don't.

—She's a witch, of course she knows things you don't, kitty.

—What if Alex didn't die?

—Where do you get that idea from?- I purr against her succulent breasts.

— Think about it. We thought they were both dead and yet Yolie just went back to her country. There's a chance...

—No.

— But Patrick.
—No. If my Lord were alive I would be the first to know.

She moves her skin away from my lips and looks at me strangely.

—Why?

I support my chin in a fist and look at her. Holy Buddha! I can't wait for us to celebrate our nuptials. Then I will rest from this irrational fear of losing her. Too many things can happen in a year, an accident, an illness, being a human she’s very fragile.

Besides, she’s right. The fastest and most effective way to make me suffer is to hurt her. She’s my weakness... my most beautiful, sexy and insatiable weakness.

—My lord and I shared a mental bond. It was very useful to us through the centuries. If Alexandros were alive, I would be able to communicate with him no matter where he was in this world.

— What if he's unconscious?

I raise an eyebrow and shake my head.

—There is no way to render unconscious a vampire.

— But, what if...

I growl and lunge at her, she smiles and squeals with delight.
— I understand that you want to keep your hopes up and that you want to see your friend happy, but reality cannot be changed. The spell was designed to set him free, and my lord wanted the rest. I suspect that perhaps he suffered the weight of his millennia suddenly and was reduced to dust.

—B-but.

I kiss her lips to silence her.
—No one wants my lord to return more fervently than I do, Kira. But it's been six months since he disappeared. It hurts. It is immensely painful, but I am convinced that he will not return.

Somewhere in Iraq:
The prisoner drew a transverse line on the wall, this line crossed another six marking another week of his confinement.
Six months, according to his calculations, he had been locked up in this horrible place, surviving by force of will and thanks to the memory of happier days.
Will he ever be free? Will he ever see the sunlight again and if he wins his freedom will he be welcomed back by the woman he loves?
Now that things have changed so drastically, the prisoner finally fears tomorrow.